Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
My rating: 4 of 5 stars




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I zoomed through this beautifully written story of a family at tragic odds with each other as the children suffocate trying to live the dreams of their parents and race and gender haunt each of them.The relationships have an occasional hollowness and some character development was sketchy (e.g. relentless of the parental line and coldness of friends and neighbors), but the title says it all about the inability of some families to share feelings and communicate.

5th Chuckanut Writers Conference - "I've been all over the world and I've never seen a statue of a critic." Leonard Bernstein

I just wrote Chuckanut "reader's" instead of writer's conference but I am a writer and a reader.  I just returned from http://chuckanutwritersconference.com/ Gathering in Bellingham at Whatcom Community College, we were inspired and surprised about writing -- from daily practice to the author's platform in preparation for publishing. What did I learn? "If I am going to get anything right, I have to risk getting it wrong." From Poet Sam Green (Brooding Heron Press) we gleaned the importance of "small noticings" in which you write down observations on walks or sitting in waiting rooms or anywhere, jotting down phrases to be mined later.  From Elizabeth George (soon out with another Inspector Lynley, Banquet of Consequences) I learned to create a character and came away enthused to try writing fiction. From Brian Doyle we learned the invaluable gift of stories. A panel on process offered the varied ways each of the writers does their job from cutting and pasting (Erik Larson), to elaborate character studies and scenes (Elizabeth George) to daily morning practice in an office away from home with an outline on a large salvaged window pane (Steven Galloway) to the value of perfecting small manageable chunks into which she digs deeper rather than outline(Carol Cassella). All do extensive research which can become procrastination if you don't get to the writing. And send your stuff out counsels Brian Doyle (Mink River and The Plover)As do Jennifer Worick and Kerry Colburn who run the website   www.bizofbooks.com and www.twitter.com @jenandkerry and teach publishing preparation including author platform such as, who knew? writing a blog. Kay Lebo, whose essay on hearing won a place in current edition of Best American Essays, held us rapt with her talk. It was an intensive two days and I am delighted to have gone, only regretting I could not be in triplicate to catch all of the simultaneous workshops. And I'm grateful to have been hosted by Writer Marilyn McClellan in her roomy comfortable house with the Pacific Northwest's best view.

The Whites by Harry Brandt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I admired Price's Lush Life, The Whites did not grip me as thoroughly although my traveling companion liked it a lot. It was fine for sleepy vacation reading and the author (otherwise known as Richard Price) is a stellar writer, tossing out admirable metaphors and description like "In the middle of the cramped living room, Horace Woody, deep into his sixties but DNA-blessed with the physique of a lanky teenager, stood hands on hips in his boxers, the taut skin across his flat chest the color of a good camel hair coat. But his eyes were maraschinos, and his liquored breath was sweet enough to curl Billy's teeth." And this bit right out of a 30's film noir:
She'd been a golden girl once and she took her tumble hard.
"Hey how's it going?" Billy said as he took a seat.
"The meat's so tough that it got up off the plate and beat the shit out of the coffee, which was too weak to defend itself."
The plot, relationships, grudges and murders befuddled me but the writing and character sketches kept me going, a reversal from the usual thriller.

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The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History by Jonathan Franzen

Entertaining, well-written memoir from the author of The Corrections and Freedom. If you're not interested in the growing up story of Jonathan Franzen and his nerdy, bookwormy Midwestern youth and beleaguered, irritating parents, read it for the marvelous descriptions of birding in the last part of the book. We listened to it on a road trip and it was excellent fare.

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Self-Pity by D. H. Lawrence

I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

- See more at: http://allpoetry.com/Self-Pity#sthash.NQDfTfZ8.dpuf

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Refuge – what an excellent book to bring one up short about prejudices. I knew of this book for years but feared the theme was too religious and nature study for my taste. I knew the author was Mormon and lived in Utah and the book had to do with birds. As soon as I read a few pages, I was awed by the beauty of the writing, the themes of refuge and grief undertaken by the writer, a naturalist. I even became interested in the different birds described in each chapter and read the book with a Peterson’s Guide to Birds on my lap. The interesting thing about the story is that Refuge might be described by some as a book about losing one’s mother to cancer and seeking a way through grief and loss while others might say it is a book about nature and the birds losing their habitat due to climate changes and pollution. It’s both and richer for it. I can’t recommend it highly enough to both memoir readers and nature lovers and any thoughtful reader.


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Kindred by Octavia Butler

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Although I was not enthusiastic about this book club choice, I am glad to have read it. It generated a lively discussion about the themes of slavery and oppression which arise when a modern (1976) African American woman finds herself travelling back in time to 1819 on a Maryland farm, forced to rescue an ancestor to assure his and her own survival, and she must live as a slave in doing so. The writing struck me as clear but not lyrical. There was almost too much dialog at times but the story is a good one and trundled me along to its unsatisfactory ending. The protagonist and her husband do a little historical research but never really resolve this strange occurrence and how it permanently changed their lives.


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