We get a lot of great books for review at the Capital City Weekly. Sadly, we aren’t able to review them all, though we do try to write about most of those either by Southeast Alaskan authors or explicitly about Southeast Alaska. Here’s a round-up of the books we’ve received in the last few months. I’ve put stars by the ones I’ve read, and for which I’ve written my own opinion.
Novels
*“The Alaskan Laundry,” by Brendan Jones.
Sitka resident Brendan Jones’ debut novel is a beautifully written story about an independent, troubled young woman who flees her life on the East Coast to live, work, and find herself in Southeast Alaska. Jones’ writing draws you in right away, as does the inspiring, very Alaskan narrative.
Made up of 100 short chapters, “The Alaskan Laundry” offers much that will resonate with Southeast Alaskans and is a great introduction to Southeast for those that are new or visiting. See the Capital City Weekly’s article about the book, and about Jones, here: http://bit.ly/29chJlr
*“This is How it Really Sounds,” by Stuart Archer Cohen
Juneau resident Stuart Archer Cohen’s fourth book follows three men with very different lives and similar names — an aging rock star, an infamous financier living in China, and a former extreme skier living in Juneau.
It’s a fun, captivating read. See a review here: http://bit.ly/29rAcZl and an article about Cohen here: http://bit.ly/29rzV8C.
*“Heroes of the Frontier,” by Dave Eggers.
Set to be released July 26, “Heroes of the Frontier” follows a dentist who flees her crumbling life in the Lower 48 for Alaska with two kids in tow. Eggers is incredibly talented; I’ve been a fan ever since “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.” I really enjoyed this book, but I hope someone tells him, ahead of the book’s release date, that there are no snakes or “ten-point bucks” in interior Alaska. He’s wonderful with anything relating to people or modern-day life, but to me the wilderness — in spite of its disasters — seemed more like California. According to its write-up: “A captivating, often hilarious novel of family, loss, wilderness, and the curse of a violent America, Dave Eggers’s ‘Heroes of the Frontier’ is a powerful examination of our contemporary life and a rousing story of adventure.”
Nonfiction about Alaska
*“Where Water is Gold: Life and Livelihood in Alaska’s Bristol Bay,” by Carl Johnson. Foreword by Sandra Day O’Connor.
This gorgeous book took Carl Johnson five years of photographing Bristol Bay to complete. In its vivid pages, foxes run past brown bears, people protest Pebble Mine, salmon swim up rivers that thread through the landscape, and — of course — fishermen fish. Dave Atcheson, Nick Jans, Anne Coray, Steve Kahn, Bill Sherwonit and Erin McKittrick contribute writings to the book as well.
It’s both a paean to an incredible, unique place and a protest against forces that would put it at risk. As Sandra Day O’Connor puts it in the foreword, “Although our lifestyles often require the development of resources, I believe that there are places that are too environmentally sensitive for mining or other unsustainable development to occur. One of these special places is Bristol Bay.”
“The Giant’s Hand: A Life in Arctic Alaska,” by Nick Jans.
Nick Jans’ 12th book is a collection of 37 true stories “folding into a memoir of my 37 years of experience in arctic Alaska — where I lived half my adult life,” Jans said.
From the book’s description: “Weaving tales of life-or-death adventure, everyday life, and personal experiences gleaned from over three decades of arctic experience, Jans creates vivid, poignant images of a land and its people on the cusp of change. The Giant’s Hand is at the same time an inner exploration, brimming with moments of profound, often poetic insight.” (I haven’t gotten a chance to read this yet, but I’m looking forward to it. Keep an eye out for an interview with Jans in a future issue of the Capital City Weekly.)
*“Unpleasantries: Considerations of Difficult Questions,” by Frank Soos
This insightful book by Alaska State Writer Laureate Frank Soos does just what its title promises. From the back of the book: “Even from upside-down in his recently flipped truck, Frank Soos reveals himself to be ruminative, grappling with the limitations of language to express the human condition. Moving quickly — skiing in the dark or taking long summer bike rides on Alaska highways — Soos combines an active physical life with a dark and difficult interior existence, wrestling the full span of “thinking and doing” onto the page with surprising lightness. His meditations move from fly-fishing in dangerously swift Alaska rivers to memories of the liars and dirty-joke tellers of his small-town Virginia childhood, revealing insights in new encounters and old preoccupations. Soos writes about pain and despair, aging, his divorce, his father’s passing, regret, the loss of home, and the fear of death. But in the process of confronting these dark topics, he is full of wonder. As he writes at the end of an account of almost drowning, ‘Bruised but whole, I was alive, alive, alive.’”
*“Best of the Skagway Police Blotter,” Volumes One and Two. Volume two by Jeff Brady and Dave Sexton; volume one by Jeff Brady and Mike Sica, with Dave Sexton.
The best of Skagway’s “crime” and crime, as well as remarks overheard by tourists, these quirky, funny books are quintessential Southeast Alaska. Check out the Capital City Weekly’s article at http://bit.ly/29n1xNr
“Wealth Woman: Kate Carmack and the Klondike Race for Gold,” by Deb Vanasse
Deb Vanasse, a co-founder of 49 Writers, has written a book about a fascinating woman inextricably wound-up with the Klondike gold rush. Carmack, or Shaaw Tláa, her Tagish name, was the wife of George Carmack and sister of James Mason, commonly known as “Skookum Jim,” who first struck gold and set off the Klondike Gold Rush. From the book’s description: “In Wealth Woman, Deb Vanasse recounts Kate’s life from her early years on the frontier with George, through the history-making discovery of gold, and on to her subsequent fame, when she traveled alone down the West Coast through Washington and California, telling her story and fighting for her wealth, her family, and her reputation. Recovering the lost story of a true pioneer and a fiercely independent woman, ‘Wealth Woman’ brings gold rush Alaska to life in all its drama and glory.”
“Fast Into the Night,” by Debbie Clarke Moderow.
“A captivating memoir of one woman’s attempt to finish the Iditarod, led by her team of spunky huskies with whom she shares a fascinating and inextricable bond,” from the back of the book.
“Connecting Alaskans: Telecommunications in Alaska from Telegraph to Broadband,” by Heather E. Hudson.
According to its back of the book description, it “tells the unique history of providing telephone, radio, television, and Internet services to remote communities scattered over more than 600,000 square miles” as Alaska “faced decades of infrastructure challenges as remote locations, extreme weather, and enormous distances all contributed to formidable conditions for establishing reliable telecommunications.”
“All for the Greed of Gold: Will Woodin’s Klondike Adventure,” edited by Catherine Holder Spude.
William Jay Woodin traveled north from Seattle on March 1, 1898 on the steamship Cleveland, along with his father and some others. Editor Catherine Holder Spude pulls together family photographs, Woodin’s diary and the 1910 memoir he later wrote for his family, provided by his great-niece, Sandra Bixby Dunn, to describe his journey north and over the White Pass Trail and the Tutshi Trail.
“His story offers a rare glimpse into ordeals suffered along this less common route,” says the back of the book.
“Alaska’s Mushrooms: A Wide-Ranging Guide,” by Gary A. Laursen and Neil McArthur.
This book has descriptions of 114 species and also includes color photographs, black and white drawings, directions for making spore prints, a section listing poisonous mushrooms, frequently asked questions, and tips on preserving mushrooms. It covers the entire state and, according to the back of the book, “provides authoritative natural history and lively notes from the field. It’s a must-have for anyone who has a passion for hunting mushrooms.”
*Made of Salmon: Alaska Stories from the Salmon Project. Edited by Nancy Lord.
From its description: “Alaskans have deep connections to wild salmon. It runs deep in all of us. ‘Made of Salmon: Alaska Stories from The Salmon Project’ is an exploration of these connections, and how salmon connect to our values, our families, and our deeply held hopes — and fears — for the future.
“In these pages more than 20 renowned Alaska writers explore questions that resonate for all Alaskans — How do salmon fit in my life? What is our history together? How will they fit in our future and that of our state and our people?
“Editor Nancy Lord weaves these essays together with additional writings from 33 individual Alaskans and photography from Clark Mishler. Their personal stories, shared with The Salmon Project over the years of our work, capture the spirit of Alaskans’ connections to the lands and seasons of salmon across our state.
“More than anything, ‘Made of Salmon’ is a love story. It’s a testament to the powerful connections Alaskans maintain all across the state — connections to food, landscape, ocean, river, season, culture and joy.”
See a Capital City Weekly article about it here: http://bit.ly/29a4D39
“Finding Juneau: Its People, Places and Past,” by Larry Johansen.
This self-published book by Juneau resident Larry Johansen blends photos and stories. “Get to know… what makes Juneau (a) very special place to live and visit. (It’s) a ‘tour in a book’ that has been years in the making. Each page is handcrafted, each story is enlightening, and the photographs were chosen from across time,” says the website write-up. Find out more at www.rowdydogimages.com.
“Anguyiim Nalliini/Time of Warring: The History of Bow-and-Arrow Warfare in Southwest Alaska,” by Ann Fienup-Riordan and Alice Rearden. Bilingual.
From the back of the book: “In this powerful new book, longtime Yup’ik researcher Ann Fienup-Riordan teams again with Alice Rearden to bring a long-ignored oral history of warfare to light. ‘Time of Warring’ combines Yup’ik oral accounts and written records to understand the dramatic history of the bow-and-arrow wars fought in southwest Alaska between 1300 and 1800 AD. Yet warfare is not the only story being told. The book also explores the cultural history of violence, retribution, and ultimately peaceful coexistence. These narratives reveal the origins of place names and architectural practices in their cultural and historical context. Great warriors and heroic women of the past are also revealed and discussed.”
Memoir
“Warning Against Myself: Meditations on a Life in Climbing,” by David Stevenson.
David Stevenson, the director of the Creative Writing and Literary Arts Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage, is also a life-long mountaineer. From the back of the book description: “From his youthful second ascent of the north ridge of Mount Kennedy in the Yukon’s Saint Elias Range, an in-and-out-on skis for which he had not entirely learned how to ski, to a recent excursion across the Harding Icefield conceived under the influence of rain and whiskey, David Stevenson chronicles several decades of a life unified by a preoccupation with climbing. Reflective and literary, and also entertaining and funny.”
“A Couch Named Marilyn: My Big Fat Mess Called PTSD,” by Diana Martin.
Former Juneau resident — and 27-year Alaska resident — Diana Martin recovers from a traumatic attack suffered in the midst of the recent recession. “Desperate to sell (one of her homes) she opened to door to an interested buyer — who tied her up, pistol-whipped her, and forced her onto her bed to rape her,” says the back of the book. “This is the story of an indomitable woman who, with courage, uncanny humor, and the saintly embrace of Marilyn (the couch), climbed out of the abyss of PTSD into the next chapter of her life.”
Kirkus Reviews calls it “that rare inspirational book without a trace of pink-cloud saccharinity. Remarkably honest, powerful, and vivid.”
Short stories
“Alaska or Bust and other stories,” by Erma Ordrach.
Short stories by Yukon author Erma Ordrach, based in Alaska and the Yukon, including Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
We’ve also received:
“Vitamin N: The Essential Guide to a Nature-Rich Life. 500 Ways to Enrich the Health & Happiness of Your Family & Community and Combat Nature-Deficit Disorder,” by Richard Louv.
“Coloring the Universe: An Insider’s Look at Making Spectacular Images of Space,” by Dr. Travis A. Rector, Kimberly Arcand, and Megan Watzke.
“Wampum: How Indian Tribes, the Mafia, and an Inattentive Congress Invented Indian Gaming and Created a $28 Billion Gambling Empire,” by Donald Craig Mitchell.
