Wallace Books

Reviewed by Lynn Downs for Reader Views (4/06)

"Live Well" is a collection of insightful letters written by Sigrid Lillehaugen to inform relatives in Norway of the day to day living conditions and health of her family. Through these letters, which are sent mostly to her father and stepmother, Sigrid shows herself to be a determined, strong woman who lets no adversity get her down.

Sigrid writes about things as mundane as the price of grain at market and the daily running of her farm to the academic and religious education of her children. The mother of 12, Sigrid dotes on her children and their abilities. Even when she laments to her father in a letter about how one of her sons is physically handicapped and will never leave her care, she adds that the child is "intelligent and bright". She also writes frequently of church and community happenings that she feels may interest her father and family back home. At the end of each letter, Sigrid bids her family to "Live Well", for as Sigrid says " If a person is satisfied, it doesn't tae much to live well."

"Live Well" gives an accurate and enjoyable account of early pioneer life in the Dakota's. I found the book to be a wonderful example of early settler's perseverance during times of real despair. And the never ending love of Sigrid for her family, both near and far, shines through in each letter.

My wife passed on two and a half months ago. As I started to come out of shock I began to look for reassurance that I am doing the right things and not crying too much. My wife and I were used to fighting her disease for fifteen years before Melanoma took her suddenly (prior to that Sclero Derma had robbed her of her breathing, ability to eat, sight without constant eyedrops, and many other horrors). I appreciated Mr. Wallaces "Trap" that some thought that since it was such a long process it was different from someone lost suddenly in a car accident. It is all sudden. It all hurts just as much. I also appreciated his careful guidance on future relationships since I had no roadmap for this prior to reading his book. Each chapter helps me see my grief process for what it is and helps me to sustain my belief that I will eventually stop hurting so much. Thank you for the time and effort it took to record this book.

There are moments in your life when poetry is the only way you can feel safe in a world that hurries past all you want to enjoy and observe. Long for This World by Ronald Wallace allowed me to slow down, access a wide range of subjects and enjoy some stunning moments that are reflections of his appreciation for beauty. I found his memories of women to be especially stunning.

Not only does Ronald Wallace display a keen sense of observation, he weaves a subtle thread of memory through some poems and then presents a surprise ending. I loved "Oranges" because in this story he tells of how he eats an orange, how it tastes, what he thinks about in regards to how the world appears and then ends the poem with an exotic image of sensory bliss. I was so delighted with this poem I had to read it to a friend, who appreciates poetry. I think I've peeled the zest from so many oranges, that the poem was filled with the scent of orange oil in my own memory. While I thought this might be the most interesting poem in the book, I was to be surprised again and again.

The Nude Gardener will be an absolutely amusing poem to anyone with a good sense of humor and a bit of insight into the world of men's minds. The ending is again almost an abandonment of all the former observations. Some of the last few lines of his poems change the entire tone and awaken a deep appreciation for life itself. They are almost a submission to the inevitability of feelings.

I was not prepared for Fresh Oysters & Beer and it struck me as being especially humorous. There is a line in this poem that is silly, but quite amusing. Ronald Wallace breaks free from melancholy mediocrity during a situation that might be trying to some parents and sees the humor and there is so much love in this poem for his daughter who is at this time still trying to find herself in a world of conflict about survival.

While I will never rummage through an attic, because I've moved too many times, I thourally enjoy reading about people who have attics filled with memories. Here, Ronald Wallace finds notes his father wrote in college and has his own contemplations about imagination.

Maybe imagination is just
a form of memory after all, locked
deep in the double helix of eternity.

Ronald Wallace once said that he wanted to make something beautiful that didn't exist before and in this book, he creates worlds I didn't know men experienced. I will never think of oranges in the same way again.

This book is a collection of poems from a career spanning two decades and it took three years to complete the selection process. Wallace is the Felix Pollak Professor of Poetry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and codirects the creative writing program. He also spends time at his forty-acre farm in Bear Valley, Wisconsin. You may also enjoy additional collections of poetry, including: The Makings of Happiness, Time's Fancy and The Uses of Adversity.

~The Rebecca Review

In the dim past, men had fled to Mars for refuge, but now the red planet was a dying world, and the Martians returned to colonize Earth and rule over the Titans - descendants of those who had stayed behind at the time of the now-legendary catastrophe.

But the rulers of the Titans, retained by the conquerors on their ancestral thrones, grew restless under the benevolent progress of the Lords of Atlantis, looked back to a so-called "golden age", and plotted rebellion.

Here is a thrilling novel of what might have been the basis for the Greatest Legends that have come down to us: of the "Gods," of Atlantis, of Zeus, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Jason, Medea - and of a mighty empire which was weighed in the balance and found wanting!

star's so happy that she's finally going to the library to get her OWN library card! she checks out a wonderful, brand new book and hurries home to show it to her best friend. as they share the book they also share a pizza, and after her friend accidentally leaves a pizza thumbprint on the book, star becomes frantic! in an effort to earn money to replace the book, star has a yard sale of her old toys and cast-off items. as neighbors attempt to buy each item, they point out its value, and star realizes that her treasures are more precious than money.

this is a delightful book, and an excellent story for new readers, with a rich storyline and enjoyable characters.

I first read this book in the early 1970's, fell in love with it and its images have been in my mind ever since. I retrieved this book from a dusty bookshelf in my garage today, and I was immediately taken back to its beautiful descriptions of the pond where robins, herons, turtles, and spiders live out their wondrous lives. When reading this beautiful book, you feel as if you are there (and you wish you were). The drawings are very memorable, also. If you want to "get away from it all" and be an observer of the natural world in all its glory, read this book. It will stay with you for a lifetime.

this book came in very very good condition - delivery was before expected very reliable vendor

Although the author himself says he is no writer, he is patently wrong - this book is full of wonderful descriptive, poetic passages, which underline this charming man's love of nature and dedication to the truth of scientific study, as opposed to the accepted 'truths' of the day.

An interesting insight into the groundwork that helped to develop the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, it also compares the British and the Dutch methods of colonisation, and controversially comes out on the side of the Dutch - against all current (and our received) perceptions of the Dutch as ruthless, money-grubbing opportunists.

Wallace was also unusual in using geographic and geological features combined with population spreads (human & biological) to support the new theories of continental drift and a world older than the Biblical model.

I'm lost in adsmiration for the way he managed to survive deprivation, lack of company, housing, support, money and produce the finest collection of birds and insects that the world had ever seen; make comparative studies of the linguistic traits of all the major tribes; keep a detailed diary of all his travels ... all this in a known area of cannibals and head-hunters with only 3 or 4 assistants and he the only white person for hundreds of miles.
Compare this to other explorers like Richard Burton who needed an entourage of several hundred for all their 'essentials'.

This book is a very readable profile of an enigmatic Victorian naturalist at a crucial period in scintific history - would that I could have met him!

Another simply told tale from Ian Wallace. His text is spare, straightforward, and compelling. The illustrations, like so many of his, are evocative of place and time, with enough detail to make us feel the homeliness of the house and its inhabitants. The warmth of lamplight spills into each scene, guarding us and the characters of brother and sister and mother against the harsh cold of the out of doors, really of the world. The arrival of the stranger out of the cold, his magic tricks, his presentation of gifts, and his departure happen so fluidly that we, too, are caught up in the surprise and delight of his visit. The best of his gifts brings this story to its close, and we want to read it again to recapture the magic.

Wallace Stevens is doubtlessly one of the best poets of the twentieth century, up in the same category as Frost and Yeats. His "Man With the Blue Guitar" is a pretty short collection in comparison to the sprawling "Harmonium" but it's a solid collection anyway.

It begins with the title work, a 33-canto work with an almost singsong rhythm. The only thing each canto has in common is the blue guitar, usually mentioned in passing. Around that image, Stevens spins visions of cold moons, empty partying, music and beauty, storms, glorious explosions of pure light, and much more. "Each is both star and orb; and day/Is the riches of their atmosphere..."

But then Stevens stretches to somewhat more luxurious poetry: the sprawling "Owl's Clover," a rich and evocative poem that stretches from graveyards to Africa to the mind of mankind. Finally he includes two poems that seem almost tacked on: the more modern "A Thought Revolved," and the sleepy, almost songlike "Men That Are Falling."

"Man With the Blue Guitar" (the book, not the poem) is not one of Stevens' more even collections. But it is remarkably beautiful and accomplished, showing that Stevens was gaining skill in his writing. His style of poetry is rich and full of surrealistic detail, such as "A group of marble horses rose on wings/In the midst of a circle of trees, from which the leaves/raced with the horses in bright hurricanes."

Stevens also weaves in a few of his personal views, such as the apparent belief that art (especially poetry) could replace typical religion. Obviously very few people think that, but it's still striking to see his opinions turned into verse: "The earth, for us, is flat and bare./There are no shadows. Poetry/Exceeding music must take the place/Of empty heaven and its hymns."

Wallace Stevens' brief "Man With the Blue Guitar" is a dreamy, songlike collection that sticks to your mind long after it's done. Exquisite.