Northwest Books

As someone who used to reside in Olympia, I enjoyed looking at all of the old photographs from Olympia. A well compiled little history. Book contains very little text, mostly pictures. For me, that's what I enjoy about history anyway.

This historic review of Olympia High School is great! If you like to learn about the history of Olympia (not only the school but the city too) this book keeps you turning the pages with so many wonderful pictures and great tidbits of information.

Brilliant piece of work! Whether or not you grew up in Olympia, attended OHS or know someone who did, this books is a must. So much history, and so many great pictures all packed into 125 pages. What a great gift.

This book brings back lots of memories. Our family has several generations and branches of people that attended and graduated from Olympia High School. Now we have another source to show people about our town and our families. Future generations will have a great time snickering at the outfits and hair styles. Love all the great photos of our town. Jim did a GREAT job. If you are a Bear or know one, get this book.

So many historic images, it's highly pictorial. Many pieces of history I never knew. What a great piece of work. I'm using it for Christmas gifts for family and friends.

If you want a book to use a jumping off point for more learning about Oregon's rich, interesting history, the Oregonian's book on Oregon is a great place to start. Great for any personal library, I highly recommend it!

PURCHASED FOR MY HUSBAND FOR HIS BIRTHDAY AND HE HAS HARDLY PUT IT DOWN SINCE RECEIVING IT! AS WE ARE FAIRLY NEW TO THE STATE, WE UNDERSTAND THE PLACE WE NOW LIVE AND WHAT LEAD UP TO THE WAY WE FIND OREGON TODAY. WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND TO ANYONE INTERESTED IN NORTHWEST HISTORY AND IT PEOPLE.

Although we did purchase this as a gift for a friend and colleague moving to Sisters, Oregon we did scan it and it is a wonderful book.

Being a former Oregon resident and to this day occasional Oregon visitor, I was fascinated by this book, which is a history of the Beaver State, and one that is done quite well. From the chronology of the state, to recording historic events, and sidebars about influential people in its history, this book takes a wonderful look back over the past 150 years.

Since the book was written by staff members of the Oregonian, it reads like a "newspaper account" of the days leading from Oregon's inception to the present. But what an entertaining account. From the early days, through the "turn of the century, the roaring 20's, the Depression, wartime, the fifties, turbulent 60s, up to the year 2000, all events are well-documented.

I never knew for example that Tom McCall when he was governor in 1970 staged the only ever state-run rock concert. I only saw him years later when I lived in Oregon and saw him deliver commentary on the evening news. I knew of course about Vanport and its horrendous end. I also remembered the bad flooding in 1996, having been in Portland the weekend before it happened. And of course, who could ever forget Mt. St. Helens erupting in 1980? These of course are just a few of the events that have occured in Oregon's history

I mentioned sidebars about influential people. People like McCall, Artie Wilson (a famous Pacific Coast League baseball player now living in Portland), Beverly Cleary (who wrote the Henry books I loved as a kid), Neil Goldschmitt, and the current Portland mayor Vera Katz, among others.

I have always loved the state of Oregon and its people, even if I'm a dreaded "Californian." This book reinforces my love and admiration of the state to the north of me.

This is better than a history book. I lived in Oregon for years and never knew half of the things that are in this book. It is laid out so that you can pick it up for a few minutes of quick facts or read it as a novel; I did both. I think this will be a great gift for someone who has roots in Oregon

This is the perfect companion to Jack Kerouac's classic novel, offering a wealth of information, fascinating stories, and gorgeous photographs about the world chronicled in that novel's pages. But it offers so much more -- a richer understanding of Gary Snyder & Philip Whalen, as well as their poetic work, and an in-depth look at the times & experiences that shaped all three writers. There are countless books about the Beats, many of them quite good indeed ... but this is surely one of the best. The author truly knows & loves his subjects, without being blinded by any need for glossy hagiography. It's as honest a book as you'll find about these three remarkable men & their times. A very enthusiastic recommendation!

John Suiter's work on the founding fathers of Beat poetry and prose is a marvelous read. Suiter takes us along the trail through post war America and ties together the Beat poets, Jack Kerouac, McCarthyism, San Francisco and the North Cascades Forest Service Fire Lookout system of the 1950's. Imagine the poet/Zen Buddhist Gary Snyder being blacklisted from working for the Forest Service! Do you want to know how Jack Kerouac got the idea for his Dharma Bums work? What was it like spending a month and a half completely alone on top of a mountain in the Pacific Northwest, looking for the telltale smoke of a developing forest fire? Do you know what a "lightning stool" is, what you do with it and would you like to see a photograph of one? What was it like being at the famous Six Gallery poetry reading in 1955 when Allen Ginsberg first read "Howl"? If these questions interest you, or if you want to know about the origins of Beat writings-this is the book to get. Author Suiter launches the reader away through Old Mexico to visit with young Robert Mitchum as Christ in a glass coffin and William "Junky" Burroughs, up through Yosemite to camp with Kerouac and Snyder, a stop in San Francisco at City Lights Bookstore and Lawrence Ferlinghetti and finally Japan and Hozomeen, and the Void from Desolation. A delightful Masterpiece of fact and photographs!

"Poets on the Peaks" by John Suiter is a beautiful and insightful book. The text and pictures hold your hand through wonderful reminiscing with and about some of the greatest poets of our time. The landscapes that inspired the poetry that Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Jack Kerouac are famous for is staged perfectly throughout the book. It gives you a sense of time and place that makes you feel as if you were in those look out towers and you experienced that electric and quiet time. Learn, escape, and love with this book. It is well worth it!

Writer-photographer Suiter provides a literary portrait of Beat era poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, and Jack Kerouac in Poets On The Peaks, which centers around their early experiences as fire lookouts in the 1950s. As such, Poets On The Peaks provides a hard book to easily categorize: it covers beautiful Cascade Mountain scenes and peaks, fire lookouts, and literature and biography alike. The writings of these three juxtapose nicely with the photos and images, making this a recommended gift choice for the holiday season.

In his first book, John Suiter has produced a work that contributes significantly to the literature on early development of the Beat literary movement and to understanding the disparate characters of Snyder, Whalen, and Kerouac. Using the common experience of all three men serving as fire lookouts in the Northern Cascades in the early to mid 1950's, the author evokes portraits of how each writer was influenced by wilderness and the isolation of a fire lookout, and how each used the experience in his work. Drawing from recent interviews with Snyder and Whalen and others who knew them during the early 1950's, from previously unpublished letters and journals, and from extensive close readings of all three writers, the author crafts a portrait of the evolution of a literary movement, of a wilderness ethic, and perhaps unintentionally, the devolution of Kerouac contrasted against the focus and dedication of Snyder and Whalen. The book is illustrated with photographs of the fire lookouts and their locales.

Great book, a lot of facts, a lot of information, interesting. A well roundes researcher as well as author. Eric J. Mazzi

Alaska is rarely included in Bigfoot books and Rob does a fine job of cataloging sightings in the Southeast part (Panhandle) of Alaska. He adds some good Northwest Native folklore as well as very good timelines and sighting location maps.

I give high praise to Mr. Alley for a job well done and may he write many more in the future!
This is the way to research and write about Bigfoot/Sasquatch, with facts and without contradictions or second guessing one's self!
Where I'm from, Maine, the French call Bigfoot "Loup Garou," which is french for "werewolf; wild beast."
I highly recommend this book. AAAAA+++++
Ken T. ~~

I've been caught-up in the whole Sasquatch/Cryptozoology phenomenon since Jr. High, and consider myself very well read on the subject; John Green, Rene Dahinden, Loren Coleman, etc. But found this particular book extremely interesting. I was aware of several remote sightings in our 49th state, but didn't realize how frequent the sightings, and the rich prospect of scientific breakthrough. I wouldn't be surprised if the final solving of this mystery occurs in Alaska. I did however expect more reports from British Columbia and Washington State, but past publications, and the numerous Internet websites cover those areas quite well. Stunning eyewitness accounts, and absorbing data. I can't wait for future works on the subject from Mr. Alley.

If you are seriously interested in bigfoot or if you just find the topic intriguing or if you are looking for a good casual read, then you need this book. Its well written and easy to read. It is limited in scope, spatially. The author only considers the raincoast region of NA. Yet, the author has a good geographic knowledge of the area and places everything in that context. For that reason, the author doesn't fall into the "I'll hinge all bets on the Patterson footage" pitfall that so many of these guys can't avoid. All-in-all its a very good book with Coleman's book pulling up second. Plus, you won't have to hide it when the neighbors come over. Let them read a few pages and get drawn in.

I am new to local geology and found this very readable. It read like an interesting book, as opposed to a textbook.

It isn't often one finds a simply written, slender volume
that covers this much ground (sorry). Williams uses analogy
and simple illustrations to present a smack-up-to-date
understanding of Pacific Northwest Geology. Best of all,
he does it in a way that draws the reader into the
scientific process -- the geologists in the submarines
exploring ocean vents and fairylike mineral castles,
or scrambling through brush looking for places where
the pattern of rocks changes dramatically very quickly,
or frustrated in their efforts to gain access to layers
deeply embedded in the earth that might help answer their questions.

From beaches in West Seattle, to tree rings underwater
in Lake Washington, Williams tells great stories of
the puzzles presented in the earth around us, and the
people who figure them out.

Once, while hiking the North Cascade mountains with my uncle, Duwayne Marlo Anderson (a noted geologist), he pointed to a particular mountain and explained to me how it had moved, by the forces of plate tectonics, from a position far to the south, northward, up the coast, to be lodged in its current location in northwestern Washington.

Four years later I found myself at Paradise, in Mt. Rainier National Park. I'd come there for a weekend of snowshoeing with my wife and her parents, but I'd inadvertently forgotten to bring the book I was reading ("The New Science of Evo Devo, Endless Forms Most Beautiful," by Sean B. Carroll). Desperate to find something to read (I feel naked without a book in tow) I found my way to the gift shop and stumbled across "The Restless Northwest" on display. Leafing through the book, I happened to turn to page 58, which describes two superterranes that were lodged against the northwest coast of ancient North America roughly 50 million years ago, pushed into place by the movements of the ancient Kula and Farallon plates. Here was the explanation for the mountain that my uncle had pointed out years earlier. I snatched up the book and read it cover to cover over the next 5 days.

This is an absolutely great book. Hill Williams is a respected and accomplished science writer with a distinguished carrier. He understands the story, and has the writing skills to make it interesting. And what a story it is.

Williams begins by taking us back 200 million years ago to the super continent Pangaea and describes how it broke apart, pulled in different directions by the forces of plate tectonics. He tells the story from a story teller's perspective, weaving the various narratives of plate tectonics, seafloor spreading, volcanism, glacial activity, etc. into the chronicle that describes how the Northwest came by its unique landscape. Of the many topics Williams covers, a few stand out in my mind as the most interesting. First on my list of favorites is his explanation of how the Rocky Mountains were formed. Second is the way he recounts the additions of superterranes and their part in forming the northwest corner of Washington, as well as the Canadian Rockies and Vancouver Island. Possibly the most interesting story he tells is that of the great basaltic floods that covered the Columbia River basin, flowing over much of eastern Washington, even following the course of the Columbia River all the way to the Pacific Ocean. My personal favorite, though, is his description of the great floods that accompanied the semi-cyclic emptying of ancient Lake Missoula.

While those were the highlights for me, there were many other fascinating accounts, including massive underwater flows caused by earthquakes, and the earthquakes themselves, powerful enough to lift whole sections of the landscape by meters, while equally depressing other regions. And, of course, there is the story of the cascade volcanoes, symbol of the Pacific Northwest itself.

This is a relatively short book (only about 160 pages - I read it in less than a week), but it's surprisingly complete and detailed. The illustrations add greatly to the book. They are well drawn, easy to read, and they speak to the text using the same terminology.

This book will appeal most to the casual weekend geologist (I place myself in that category). If you enjoy hiking the Northwest, and especially the Cascades, Columbia River Gorge, and/or Olympics, the book should have special value in helping to explain the formations you'll see, and the forces that created them. The next time you find yourself on a craggy peak deep in the Olympic National Forest, and you look down to see a marine fossil or sedimentary rock at your feet, you'll know why (if you read the book).

As I read this book I had only one regret. I kept wishing I could see a movie that illustrates the string of events described here. I've seen short animations that trace a billion yeas of continental movement in a few minutes or so. That's not what I'm talking about here, though. I'm talking about an animated, narrated production, 45-60 minutes long, tracing the formation of the Pacific Northwest with as much detail as that given by Williams. Until the movie comes out, though, you'll have to read the book. Needless to say, this is one that I highly recommend. Happy reading!

"The Restless Northwest" by Hill Williams is a well written commentary on those fundemental processes responsible for shaping our Pacific Northwest. Hill's straight-forward style of presenting technical subjects makes the book an excellent source of geologic information, particularly for the casual reader. His depth of understanding of complex processes and ability to explain them in a manner comprehensible to most readers is commendable. With numerous simple diagrams together with easily understood discussions, he has clearly explained such technical processes as plate tectonics, geologic terranes, the great floods from ancient Lake missoula and many others. Willams has a knack for accurately converting complex sientific data to a form well understood by the general public. I have read a number of books that attempt this challenge and in my opinion "The Restless Northwest, a geologic story" is one of the best of its kind.

The authour, Hill williams was a science writer for the Seattle Times for twentt-four years, not a professor of geology, there in lies his power as a story teller, and by God what a story.
The story of our great NorthWest spans 175 million years, to a time when there was no Atlanic Ocean,to a world pushed together, all in a prehistoric hairball-"Pangaea" (MOM).

This is a new look at a very complex history of the world, plate movement, over a incomprehinicble time span, but with the use of tons of maps, common but understandable nartive, this work is outstanding

The book is very well written. If you loved "Here Comes the Brides" you will love this book. If you don't know what "Here Comes the Brides" is, but love historic romances, this book is great. The writer caught us up on what happened to our favorite characters on the tv series. I read the book in just a couple days I couldn't put it down.

If you loved the TV Show "Here Come The Brides," you need to read this book. Charlotte does a wonderful job making this book a believable continuation where the series left off. I really enjoyed it.

I loved it. A wonderful historical romance. The author skillfully adapted these characters in time and adapted them to real historical events that were happening during that era. One of the best books I have read in this genre. This author has one of the best grasps of her characters that I have read in a very long time. Bravo.

For all fans of the TV series Here Come The Brides, Charlotte Fox has created a wonderful continuation story of the lives of the Seattle pioneers who risked their lives and fortunes to build a prosperous city out of the wilderness. The same lovable characters are there in their full glory, twenty years after the television timeline of their lives, facing dreadful community and personal crises but bringing forth their optimism, faith in the future, friendships and community bonds, and the unconquerable Spirit of the Northwest to overcome their problems and begin to grow again like a phoenix from the ashes. The characters are made real to us--friends and family--and the reader finds a message of hope and determination to seek out the best in life and in ourselves to create a better future for all.

This is a great book for fans of "Here Come the Brides". Charlotte Fox keeps the characters true to the TV series and shows us what has happened in their lives in the 20 years following the end of the television series. This would make a great TV movie.

Fantastic cookbook. Beautiful photos and recipes that are stunning.
Local foods and people. A must for anyone who enjoys food and life!

I received this book very quickly and in perfect condition. I will definitely do business with them again!

One of the best cookbooks in my collection.

What's really interesting to me is that almost every recipe in the book goes very well with a nice Oregon Pinot Noir.

Let me be clear - I have never laid eyes on this book. I bought it based on the description for a friend who lives in CA but is from the Northwest and is an avid cook. She absolutely loved it and continues to rave about it. Based on that, I give it a 5.

This beautiful book has been the source of wonderful meals, inspired by the deep, imaginative recipes, exploring the best of the Pacific Northwest. Schreiber puts his own interesting spin on classic flavor combinations. Recipes are complex, but are easily broken down into do-able steps. They are not overly chefy, and have been well tested for home kitchens. This was one of my favorite cookbooks of the year, and I own a lot of cookbooks.

I couldn't believe all the information that this book contained. It told us of all the great spots in Banff and we didn't miss a one. This was our first time there, but because this book was top notch, we're planning our return within a few months. I would highly recommend this book to anyone traveling in the Canadian Rockies. It's better than the best!!

This was an excellent guide for family travel. It provided first rate information on dinosaur adventures in the Red Deer region to Waterton NP to the Canadian Rockies including Banff and Jasper and all points in between. Includes tidbits of local history and written in such a user friendly manner that by the middle of our three week adventure we were fondly refering to it as Mr. Moon, as in, what does Mr. Moon reccommend for dinner. If you are traveling to the Canadian Rockies, the British Colombia guide by this publisher makes an indispensable companion to the Alberta Guide.

This book was indispensible for my recent travels through Alberta. It contains detailed descriptions of all the best places to go, including some great small town festivals that I would of otherwise missed. The book also has many hikes included, mostly in the Canadian Rockies. I budgeted to spend around $50 a night for motels, and found that this book described many good choices in this price range but also includes campgrounds and more expensive places. Overall, I found it to be very current, not only for restaurants and the like but also coverage of issues such as overcrowding in the national parks, which I found an interesting addition.

This handbook was packed with great spots to stop. There were many places listed that the AAA guidebook missed, and all were fantastic. The book was sectioned well, breaking up different areas into day-trips. If you are going to Alberta for the first time, this is a MUST BUY!

This book and its companion volume to British Columbia are undoubtedly the best travel books I have ever used. I just returned from a two-month trip that took me to the Calgary Stampede, through the Rockies, up to Yellowknife and through British Columbia to Vancouver. Alberta is an amazing place to visit and by buying this book I was able to enjoy it all the more. The author has obviously done his homework and describes the region in a colorful style but also with an incredible amount of detail. By using these books I managed to plan my trip before leaving home, even down to where I wanted to eat. The other guide I had with me was rarely used. I also found local information centers sending me along well worn tourist paths, and while this book covers all of that side of Alberta it also led me away from the masses to areas of equal beauty. I highly recommend this book to anyone planning a trip to Canada!!

This is a book that will delight readers of all ages. Not only are the illustrations masterpieces, the story is as well.

Anna is a beautiful husky who is the runt of her litter. She and her littermates train for a 2,500 - 3,000 mile run that will take them an estimated six months.

The curly tailed dog and her littermates are followed as they are being trained for the run. Mushers and dogs alike work well together; the bond of cooperation between them is not only strong; it is paramount.

The beautiful husky, once dismissed because of her small size proves herself to be up to every challenge during the training and the run. The Little Husky Who Could can take her place with Akiak, another husky who proved her stamina and determination even when her mushers wanted to retire her. An excellent family, classroom and general discussion book, the message can never be shared enough. This wonderful book makes me think of McFadden & Whitehead's 1979 classic, "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" and Matthew Wilder's 1983 hit, "Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride."

One of my jobs at our local library is to read stories to young children, sometimes also at elementary schools. I recently read this story to the 1st,2nd, 3rd and 4th graders and it received rave reviews. One teacher had each of her students draw a picture of his or her favorite story, and 25 of the 30 drawings were of Anna , the amazingly brave little sled dog. The illustrations were beautiful and large enough for groups of children to see them , while the text had a good amount of drama that held their interest.

Big Enough Anna is a winner all around. The message is encouraging without being patronizing or syrupy; the illustrations will draw in even children who might think dogs are a little bit scary; and the story itself is full of a sense of daring and adventure and, most of all, the love between the musher/storyteller and her team of sled dogs. A great classroom unit could be built around this book, using the adult/teen version of the same story (Alone Across the Arctic) for additional background info or activity inspiration. (Both books could be read by a teacher in a weekend.) You will fall in love with Anna and all the dogs, and be cheering for them throughout all 3,000 miles of their expedition!

I really like this book! It's a kid-friendly story with great pictures and message. Pam Flowers tells the true story of how the smallest dog in her dog-sled team saved the life of her biggest, strongest one...and also made possible the successful finish of her expedition across the American and Canadian Arctic. And she subtly sends the message that each of us can mazimize our strengths and lead useful, productive lives, even if others think we have too many weaknesses. We may even become heroes!

Anna's small; and small dogs aren't usually what mushers want in their teams. But Pam sees Anna has a big spirit and is curious, intelligent, willing to learn and a hard worker. So even though Anna's young, Pam puts her where her exceptionally-good leader, Douggie, can teach Anna the ropes of that critical position. Then things happen; and physically-small Anna is "big enough" to do what needs to be done. She saves not only Douggie but also the expedition.

I'd read "Alone Across the Arctic" (also by Pam Flowers with Ann Dixon,) and admired Pam's own fortitude, intelligence and perseverance. I wanted to know more about the adventure. Here's a gold nugget of a book that does that. And it's well written; both youngsters, and the adults who may share it with them, will read it all the way through...several times.

The great illustrations (paintings) by Bill Farnsworth perfectly capture the story and the attention of young children. I love looking at them each time, too.

This is a great Christmas present. If you've finished your shopping, surprise everyone for Valentine's Day.

This exquisitely illustrated book is based on the true story of a litle sled dog who rose to the occasion and became a hero in her own right. Anna, a small Alaskan Husky female, was judged too small to be of any use when Pam Flowers made her historic journey across the Arctic with a team of sled dogs(chronicled in ALONE ACROSS THE ARCTIC). But when Pam's wise old leader dog disappeared, Pam put little Anna in the front because in spite of her size she was such a hard worker. Douggie, the wise old leader dog, was eventually found, but was so exhausted that little Anna had to take over and take charge of the trip. This lovely book not only teaches an important lesson--- that what matters is how much heart and spirit you have, not how big you are--- it is so beautifully done that I'm giving it to all my adult dog loving friends for Christmas.

Meet Ollie Ewin, the young Irish carpenter who narrates this book. Ollie is a troubled lad, who has hallucinations during the day and cannot sleep because of his nightmares. We first meet him as a lowly clerk in a supermarket and are made part of the terrifying past that haunts him. But the details are never spelled out and one can only guess at the outlines. Then Ollie goes to London and the whole story congeals and unfolds. Ollie blames himself for some of the terrible things that happened that time in London while he is unable to understand the others. He is caught in a swamp of vicious crime and it slowly drowns him. The story escalates until it ends in a nasty persiflage of justice.

First of all, the author shows courage in starting a book with events that make little sense, trusting that the reader will not give up on him. Secondly, he shows incredible imagination in placing us into the tortured soul of this young man and succeeding in making us feel it. And, in addition, the language is superb.

This is a must-read!

The voice of Ollie Ewing in Sudden Times is haunting, terrifying. With morbid curiosity and creeping anxiety,the reader follows Ollie's dark journey and witnesses his psychological disintegration.

This is not a novel that I would recommend because I "liked" it; it is a novel that is uniquely constructed and well deserving of recognition. Take a risk. Lock your door. Read Sudden Times....

Stunning in its raw power, this novel, unlike many other Irish novels, draws its power from its simplicity, rather than from lush description or the accumulation of details. Stripping language to the bare bones here, Dermot Healy draws the reader, without embellishment, directly into the confused mind of the main character, a carpenter named Ollie Ewing.

Ollie has just returned to Sligo, almost mute with shock from unspoken, terrible events which have befallen him while in London, where he has been working as a day laborer on construction sites. The narrative shifts back and forth in time and location, revealing Ollie's paranoia through flashbacks, brief scenes, and dialogue, which sometimes seem to have no context other than their revelation of his suffering. He is clearly trying to hang on to his sanity--and is only marginally successful--as he talks to the reader in quiet, almost confessional tones. Using unadorned, simple language, he describes things he sees that are not there and voices that no one else can hear. Never wasting a word, his earnest narrative forces the reader to share his thoughts while interpreting his state of mind.

Gradually, the reader learns of Ollie's almost paralyzing experiences in London, where he lived with a friend, Marty Kilgallon, in a trailer at an old construction site. Through Marty, Ollie learns firsthand about the protection rackets and extortion on construction sites, the common use of murder as a weapon of enforcement, and the unsympathetic judicial system. When his friend disappears and does not return for six weeks, Ollie gets caught in a whirlwind of violence and learns the true meaning of hell.

By the time he returns to Sligo, he has come to believe that there is a "glass sprinkler" machine, operating at night, which sprinkles glass over the streets of London, that the flecks in people's eyes are aliens, and that his own image in a mirror is someone imitating him. Though Healy's style is often difficult to follow, as the reader tries to piece together the events that are responsible for Ollie's current state of mind, Healy's use of detail is stunning. Casually inserted, bizarre observations about common aspects of life help create Ollie's inner life and illustrate his existential helplessness. The essential unfairness life, the power of chance, and Ollie's victimization catch the reader in a whirlwind of emotions, and his plaintive voice, crying out from all this, is unforgettable. Mary Whipple

Dermot Healy is amazingly talented. I have now read three books by him - 'The Bend for Home', 'Sudden Times' and 'A Goats Song' (still my favorite of the three). Each time I read him, I am stunned by how, well - perfect - his writing is. His characters tend to have lost thier minds (madness, drink, drugs,or some combination), and the line between what's 'real' in the novel and what the character is hallucinating is never clear. Why do they go about things the way they do? Well, because people do... Like many of Angela Carter's creations, Healy's characters are appealing and attractive, yet at the same time annoying and almost repulsive... In the end, the reader is offered no explanation of what went on - if the character himself doesn't know, how can he explain it to US? He told it to us the best he knew how, anyway. The books have some very undefineable beauty to them. I don't understand why Dermot Healy is not more widely recognised than he is.

One of the best books I have read this year is Jeffrey Lent's "In the Fall". So when I read the appraisal of this Author's work not only by Mr. Jeffrey Lent, but Roddy Doyle, and others, I thought the chance I was taking on an Author new to me was minimal. The man who wrote this book, Mr. Dermot Healy, has produced a work that will be on any short list of favorites from 2000 I will have. This book is unique and unconventional it is extraordinary. Some of the commercial commentators felt the need to go beyond what the jacket provides, and into events in the book. That decision was unnecessary, but thankfully it in no way detracts from the book. There are no simple explanations for this work, and were the story line known to you, because of the way Mr. Healy delivers his tale, little would be lost. This is a book that can be read and read again.

The book is written in the first person and that is about the only conventional aspect of it. The book is laid out in an eclectic manner. Actually it is presented in a bewildering pattern less structure that initially left me lost. Going back and reading a passage again does not help, because the subject of the book is lost, and the Author puts to paper the thoughts of what a person in the various frames of mind this individual goes through, would look like were thoughts visible. Once you get in step with the Author and his character everything makes sense, what seemed random is not, what was seemingly fragmented becomes perfectly assembled. This book does not say what it is like to feel a certain emotion; it causes the reader to feel as though he or she was experiencing the events themselves. The feeling when the book is read goes beyond the vicarious to something more akin to immersion.

The Author then demonstrates how masterfully and with what range he can craft language, how versatile he is, when, toward the end he lays down courtroom conflict between defense counsel and witnesses that is as well done as any such exchanges I have read. The dialogue is sharp, terse, and delivered in a hyperactive exchange. The Author demonstrates with ease what so many crime story pretenders struggle to produce and generally fail.

The book is brilliant, the Author a writer of incredible range, and he offers a reading experience you will not forget, and one that you will be hard pressed to repeat.