What are you reading right now?

[mavericksman]

step into the liquid the screenplay.

[rveesurfdawg]

Quote: "What are you reading right now?"


The tag on your mums panties.

[Spider]

getting stoned with savages - a trip through the islands of fiji and vanuatu.
by j. maarten troost.

[navier-stokes]

pattern recognition - william gibson - father of cyper-punk.... though this one is sent in the post 9-11 world... classic gibson story... was nice to read one of his stories again....

alsoworking on 'priate hunter:the true story of captian kidd." fun tale of pirates... and well like most sailing tales from that time makes you really wonder what compelled these men to leave land for months at a time......

[FoulWeather]

i just picked up 'Broken Bodies, Broken Dreams: Violence Against Women Exposed' The wife picked it up at the UN in New York. Harsh. I knew of female circumsicion in Africa, slavery, facial burnings in Asian subcontinent, child prostitution everywhere etc but this context makes it very real. Real accounts by real people. At first I thought it was a bit sick to present such horror in a 'coffee table' format but as the book says these are things that are often 'sanctified by custom' and 'reinforced by institutions.'

If you have a mother, wife, sister, daughter and so on, you should check it out.

http://www.irinnews.org/broken-bodies/default.asp

[Fish]

An Inconvienient Truth, Al Gore

Everyone in the US, Europe, and the rest of the world should read or at least watch this movie as well as every surfer.

If you have something against Al gore, drop the politics and watch it.

[Ceedog]

The Next Ice Age

[redalert]

Kentucky Straight
by Chris Offut
for about the tenth time.
was reminded of it when someone posted on here something about Pennsatucky. Ive enjoyed all of his books.
The Same River Twice.
The Good Brother
No Heroes
Out of the woods
I wish there was someone writing about the homelands of the NW coast range with the same admiration, raw honesty and plain outlook of clarity as dude writes about Appalachia, with expression of how people fit into and are shaped by a place. Say perhaps if Art Spence had been a writer, as well as a video artist. I remember my older relatives, dead now, passing along story from the old days (well, only as far back as whites have been here) speaking in a vernacular that is fading out to nearly gone today, but was probaly unique to the region.
Are there are any contemporary writers of this region, writing about the place and in the voice of the people that have been here awhile.
I can only think of Sherman Alexie...
Any suggestions? Native authors? White authors?

[Gazsurf]

David Duncan.......The River Why.

[gills]

Kentucky Straight
by Chris Offut
for about the tenth time.
was reminded of it when someone posted on here something about Pennsatucky. Ive enjoyed all of his books.
The Same River Twice.
The Good Brother
No Heroes
Out of the woods
I wish there was someone writing about the homelands of the NW coast range with the same admiration, raw honesty and plain outlook of clarity as dude writes about Appalachia, with expression of how people fit into and are shaped by a place. Say perhaps if Art Spence had been a writer, as well as a video artist. I remember my older relatives, dead now, passing along story from the old days (well, only as far back as whites have been here) speaking in a vernacular that is fading out to nearly gone today, but was probaly unique to the region.
Are there are any contemporary writers of this region, writing about the place and in the voice of the people that have been here awhile.
I can only think of Sherman Alexie...
Any suggestions? Native authors? White authors?

Barry Lopez, Don Berry, Debra Earling, Annie Dillard-- all regional authors. I'd suggest Don Berry's book, 'trask'-- frontier mountain man story, but with a zen infused protagnist, kind of unlike anything else-- everything in that 'genre' tends to be christian influenced, this approaches nature for its majesty instead of the normal, 'savage puritanical view' of 'chaos'.

[Nasty]

What about Raymond Carver? The Robert Altman film Short Cuts was based on several of Carver's short stories meshed into a single script. Both Carver's writings and the Altman film are worth the time.

[The Betty]

Dangerous Astronomy- Sherman Alexie.

Good poems.

[redalert]

.Thanks alot for the suggestions,

yes Betty, Alexie is a hoot. A (white) friend of mine interviewed him, quite a challenge as he likes to skewer the questioner whom asks all the usual, expected questions, however didnt turn out quite that way. it was good. The interveiw was for promotion of a benefit project for the Chinook tribe a few years ago.

Gaz, thanks. Duncan nails it pretty good, especially the depiction of how the climate creates mood and affects us over the seasons. I remember something about a "low ceiling of grey clouds" overall, maybe its why I can tolerate the low ceiling in my single-wide shack. haha

Nasty, you right too. I came across Short Cuts while I exiled myself to So. Ca. for ten years looking for "other" role models. Interesting because the stories were drawn from northwest experiences and transferred to california locations for the movie version...hmmmmgood effn great movie adaptation.

Gills, thanks man I'll check out Earling and Dillard. My grandfather who went to school up to the seventh grade. He went to work as a farm hand for the Birkenfelds, then later took his first job in the woods, splitting wood and keeping fires going so the water pipes that supply the steam engines wouldnt freeze up during the cold winter. He had a few books, the only novel he had was Trask. I didnt start reading books till I left home and somehow I had, (and still have) his copy of Trask. Also, there are lots of ancestors of the characters from Berry's stories living in Tillamook county, fifth generation. Not so many natives around.
Barry Lopez Is a master. Really good. Ive met and had the pleasure of working alongside on a project (more like in his shadow) about NW creation legend invloving whale as creator of the people and the culture. However, he doesnt speak like anybody else I know from around here, which is of course why he's so good. I dont think too many write like he does, anywhere. "About this Life" is a favorite. As well as the Kids story, "Crow and Weasel" .

Dont forget Kesey for local vernacular. "Sometimes a Great Notion", and a hoot kids story, "Little Tricker the Squirrel Meets Big Double the Bear".

Tom Spanbauer

Denis Johnson, "Jesus' Son" excellent .

OH yeah, A book called "Housekeeping" cant remember the ladies name, great story about two girls growing up in Idaho, and what happens when there are no adults around and they are allowed to follow their nature and turn wild. I remember hearing She just put out another book, maybe ten years later. Probably worth looking into.

I really appreciate the great suggestions, any more come to mind?
I got to shut up for a while already.

[gills]

Red-- is that Trask, Hardcover with a dust jacket???? Don't know how old you are, but if that was your Grandpa's copy that book might be worth quite a bit---- First Eds of that go for a pretty, pretty penny.

[Nasty]

G man - How much would a 1st ed of Ken Kesey's Grarage Sale worth? Hard cover with jacket. I don't want to sell it - just curious.