Peace Like a River--Lief Enger

When I started this book I was skeptical about how the author was going to convince me as a reader that the main character's father was capable of miracles. Without going into my personal religious beliefs, and concentrating on my reaction to the book and the remarkable things that Leif Enger does in it let me just say that when something miraculous, something that defies the laws of gravity, does occur near the beginning that the author made this reader believe it. This novel is good on so many levels that it's hard to know where to start with it except that it occurs to me that maybe one of the reasons it resonates so strongly with me is that my parents were raised in the Midwest, and though I was raised elsewhere, I carry many of those values with me. This is just a super book. And everyone should read it. And always in my mind, this book is related strongly to Plainsong by Kent Haruf. There's a sweetness to it and the sense that even though it comes out of someone else's brain that it is a true story. Or perhaps it contains truths within it and so feels that way. Or perhaps it's just because the covers have the same tones as far as color, but I don't think so.

Worm Ouroboros-E.R. Eddison

Lessingham chooses a room to sleep in, but his wife won't join him because Mercury is too far. After the second chapter Lessingham vanishes from the book (and good riddance I say!). This masterpiece of high fantasy doesn't need him, and honestly his character has to vanish among the lords and ladies of Demonland and Witchland. How can Lessingham compete with Corund's giant hand, worn and gnarled from the countless times he's hewed his way to victory that is leathery like an elephant's skin and dotted with hair like an elephants? Lessingham is nothing when you consider the noble, Lord Juss of Demonland, who dares the impossible spurred on by loyalty and friendship. Even the romantic Lord Gro, drawn to losing sides and causes, causing him to be a traitor several times over until he is slain in the melee before the walls of Carce overwhelms Lessingham. These are not demons and witches as we think of them, but characters who stride across the world and its oceans, each footstep like an earthquake, with the thunder of high deeds and bloody warfare around their heads like storm clouds.

Just as important this is a book written by an author who was clearly in love with language. Perhaps this slows the story down, making it difficult for a reader accustomed to more contemporary writing, but it's worth it as memorable description follows memorable description, whether of people, places, or action. Who can forget the wrestling match between Lord Goldry Bluszco against King Gorice XI of Witchland? Or the glory of the court of Demonland? Or Corund's bony hand? The Fort Vancouver Regional Library does not own this book yet, but you can be sure it will soon. This book is loosely related to Eddison's Zimiamvian trilogy, but is the most accessible and interesting.

Ice Station--Matthew Reilly

This is a "guy" book with apologies to any women who might be reading this. When a wife comes into the library looking for a book for her husband because they're going on vacation this is the kind of book they generally choose: simple, with lots of action, and no distracting relationship stuff. Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler fit the bill to, but a Matthew Reilly book is like a Tom Clancy book on steroids. And, boy are they fun to read.

Ice Station starts with the discovery of what might be an alien spacecraft below a United States research station in Antarctica. A distress call is sent out and a U.S. Marine force led by Captain Shane Schofield responds only to find personnel from a French base nearby already at the U.S. Station aiding the survivors. Only the French personnel are elite commandos after the spaceship, and things just contiue to heat up from there. This author hooked me with book.

Arctic Dreams--Barry Lopez

I like everything Barry Lopez writes, but this one speaks directly to me just like Lopez's Of Wolves and Men does. I spent a lot of time in Alaska, fell in love with mountains, enjoy reading about explorers and the Arctic, and sense a lot of the same things about this majestic landscape that Lopez does. Having been in Alaska during the construction of the pipeline I know that the things and people he describes are true. He writes of the stress of change and the loss it entails very well. What most amazed me was the section on Frederick Church, a 19th century artist, and the description of arctic light. It will amaze you to.

A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush--Eric Newby

This book is for people who want to read about Afghanistan and mountain climbing, enjoy travel narratives, or like humorous books. Somehow this one satisfies all these desires. Newby works in a fashion design house in London when a friend decides they should go climbing in Afghanistan. After four days of climbing practice in Wales they set out by automobile, and of course, half the fun is getting there. Besides the climbing in Wales a scence I will never forget is the main character diving into the sewage channel somewhere in Persia in a vain attempt to locate a child who is feared drowned (and who turns up not soon after). And a last encounter with a famed explorer and doctor, Thesiger, is fascinating as well as funny.

Art.Rage. Us.: Art and Writing by Women with Breast Cancer

Even now this seems like such an odd choice for me, but then this is a unique and moving book in which women with breast cancer transform the experience into powerful art. I picked it up the first time because it had poetry in it, and then read through it. Pieces inside range from poems, to short stories, to collages, photographs of sculpture, and striking visual images. And breast cancer touches all of us. In my circle of friends and family one woman developed this, and two others had biopsies done.

Collected Stories--Frank O'Connor

My first introduction to Frank O'Connor was writing a term paper in graduate school, and after finishing I went out and bought a copy of this book. O'Connor is a master of the short story form, compared by some Chekov, and with Sean O'Faolain, another Irish author is acknowledged as such. This is a collection of the best of his short stories. "Guests of the Nation" is Ireland's answer to Elie Wiesel's Dawn. And they aren't all so serious. Take a look at "My Oedipus Complex"...well, not mine-you know what I mea.