Washington Books

I graded down the book because of the inexplicable lack of an introduction. What better subject for one than literary cartoons? The books in the series which featured such introductions are clearly more interesting than the ones that don't.

It was hard for me to pick a few cartoons to feature for you. I was tempted to include all but a few.

Author humor

(1) Man leaving home wearing suit and carrying a brief case: 'Wait a minute. Where am I going? I'm a writer.'

(2) James Joyce's refrigerator to-do list: 'Forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.'

(3) Raven says to Poe: 'Nevermore. And you can quote me.'

Publisher humor

(1) Editor to Dickens: 'I wish you would make up your mind, Mr. Dickens. Was it the best of times or the worst of times? It could scarecely have been both.'

(2) 'It doesn't work as a novel. But we're willing to publish it as a desk calendar.'

(3) 'Chicken Vindaloo for the Hindu Soul is but the tip of the iceberg in our initial strategy of global expansion.'

Book Seller Humor

(1) 'Let me get you another copy. Someone left a slice of salami in this one.'

(2) Book shelves organized by length of attention span.

(3) Book shelves organized by size of author advance.

Reader humor

(1) 'I do want to solve all my problems, but I'll wait till it comes out in soft cover.'

(2) 'Lately, I've been reading Jane Austen -- just to clear my palate.'

(3) Fan to author: 'I really enjoyed your hype.'

Media humor

(1) Talk show host holding enormous tome, addressing author: 'If you were to boil your book down to a few words, what would be its message?'

(2) 'Oprah is definite, Barnes and Noble is giving you front windows and Norman Mailer has agreed to a feud.'

The others are just as good or better. These are just samples to whet your appetite.

After you have read, chuckled, and enjoyed these wonderful cartoons, consider why we find these cartoons to be funny. Is it because books have become a commodity, rather than works of important ideas and art? Is that really so funny? What should we do about that? If you find these questions provocative, read The Business of Books.

After reading these books years ago, I took my family on a vacation to the Long Beach (Washington) penninsula where the stories are set and we were able to locate many of the landmarks mentioned in the books. There is the ring of historical accuracy, as well as the cold wet climate of this region.

For any students looking for historical fiction from a locale not usually written about, these books are to be recommended. They should appeal to fourth grade students and above.

All three of these titles were recommended reading by the Washington State Centennial committee in 1989. I still think they're wonderful and so do the students willing to give them a try!

Beatty's tale of seven spirited pioneer kids who hatch a plan to earn money for a brand-new stove has suspense, humor and affection. You're turning the pages eagerly until the very end, wondering whether they'll be able to come up with the money for the stove before the hard-headed general store manager sells it to somebody else.

Young readers will love the spectacle of kids taking charge and making things happen -- while keeping everything a surprise for their parents.

As for the big payoff scene when Mom and Dad are presented with the stove on Christmas morning, well, it doesn't get much better than that. Worth seeking out, for sure.

I've read many first novels, but this is certainly one of the best I've encountered.

"This is a violent and unsettling novel about terrorists, a cautionary tale, but also the deeply moving personal story of a conflicted police detective." says a blurb from an editorial review. A very good description. Certainly it is unsettling, and "violent" is no exaggeration.

The protagonist is Sgt. Denny Delaney, NYPD, who is assigned to security at Grand Central Station. He has a drinking problem which has estranged him from his beautiful wife, Monica, and he is threatened with suspension without pay for his drinking problem by his friend and supervisor, Big Mac.

The antagonist is "Felix the Cat," a middle easterner, Muslim and Palestinian sympathizer who hates Americans and Israelis. He is also a wannabe film writer, who is writing his Opus Magnus with actual events: he is staging his plot with bombing events, killing hundreds of New Yorkers, ala the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

This is a well-written thriller. The author, like the protagonist, is of Irish descent, judging by his surname, and both favor vodka martinis--the author, in moderation. according to his biography. He has a Masters from Columbia, and is an excellent writer as well as a great story teller--perhaps a result of the Irish in him. I predict a fine future for him. This book would make a great movie.

I want to read his next one, which I'm told will be a spy story. I can't wait!

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

I was raised partially in the Okanogan so I can't claim to be impartial in my praise of these poems. They do a wonderful job of bringing forth the dirt, hunger, poverty and violence of the pioneer days in the Okanogan. Therefore, the poems nicely counterbalance the tendency to idealize the pioneer era - this is no House on the Praire.

Jana Harris has done an excellent job of giving the pioneer women individual voices - these are poems of a collection of individuals not of a homogenious mass of "pioneer women".

Finally, as tightly written poems, the stories have more emotional impact than they might have had in prose.

(I will confess that I also recommend anything by Jana Harris but this or Mahattan as a Second Language is the place to start.)

Mr. Mitchell wrote two weekly columns for the Washington Post for a number of years--one of them a garden column I never missed reading. His garden columns have been preserved in several books. ONE MAN'S GARDEN follows his first book THE ESSENTIAL EARTHMAN which spread his well-earned reputation as a garden guru far beyond the Post market area. These two books were published while he was alive so one must assume they were collections of his favorite essays. The essays are arranged by season and correspond to the months he wrote them.

Mitchell can be read by gardeners living anywhere. Although his essays contain information helpful to those working in Zone 7, the reader can glean sage advice applicable anywhere. He shares anecdotes about his experiences in his own backyard, and while that might seem far from novel as every other Tom, Dick, and Henrietta is writing a garden book these days, his essays are the best. His writing is funny, philosophical, useful, and a joy to read, especially on a cold winter day when you need to be reminded of irridescent dragonflies hovering over lily ponds (former horse troughs).

In his essay on dragonfiles (July) he informs us they require lily pads for landing, they can't just plop on the water like a pelican. This little item helped me understand I needed to do more to make my back yard friendly to butterflies, dragon flies, and their insect kin. I now have shallow spots in my birdbaths where they can dip their tiny feet.

Mr. Mitchell shares all sorts of interesting insights from his adventures with clinging vines--planting them where they will not grow, growing native variants such as the American Wisteria. The American Wisteria is often overlooked by those who grow the "Oriental" kind from China which Mitchell says if left untended can form a 20-foot clump in the middle of your yard. The Chinese Wisteria is very ornate, and the U.S. Park Service has planted it all over the National Gallery of Art on the Mall, but the American Wisteria is a pretty little thing better suited for the back yard. Mitchell says you can see this Wisteria in bloom at the Henry Botanical Foundation in Philadelphia.

Mitchell's essays range far and near, from Jefferson at Monticello to flower shows in faraway places. He writes in December of bananas, not a local plant in Zone 7 by any means, but one Mitchell considered a "great good plant" nevertheless and he grows one in his back yard in a pot. Although MItchell died several years ago, his essays are every bit as timely useful and funny as ever, and not to be missed.