Summer is spruce-up time in Alaska, and heading into August I have to admit there are more than a few chores still on my list. Here’s one you can help with: our Northern Favorites shelf (see the sidebar to the right) is dusty. Leave a comment below with a title (one per reader, please), and I’ll add it to the collection. By clicking on any of the books on the shelf, readers can get full information on the book. It’s a great way to promote worthy reads.
If you like, feel free to nominate a title you wrote. I learned that lesson in eighth grade when I lost the election for Biology Club president by one vote. To be polite, I’d voted for the other guy. The club sponsor pointed out that if I didn’t vote for myself, I couldn’t really expect others to find me worthy.
So bring on the titles. And if the cleaning fairy doesn’t show up soon, I could also use some help with the windows.
I'd like to nominate my Alaskan thriller, Baxter Bog Interlude. Information on this book is here:
http://home.gci.net/~bue/Page7.html
Reviews of this book follow:
Jan O'Meara, Homer News, June 9, 1994, said: "Baxter Bog Interlude starts right out with a scene guaranteed to pull the reader forward: a lone walker is attacked by a crazed moose, and a body of a man with a bullet hole in his forehead and an empty brain cavity is found. What caused the moose's aberrant behavior, who killed the man and why, and what happened to the brains are the mysteries to be resolved … Bue's real strength is in his storytelling, so it's no surprise that he writes good, suspenseful action scenes that keep his plot moving and the reader engaged. His chase and hide scenes are tense." San Francisco Bay Area radio personality Ann Arbor read "Baxter Bog Interlude" on the air during January and February, 1996 and interviewed the author live on February 7 as part of her popular radio program "Unbedtime Stories." Norma Goodman, The Norma Goodman Show, CBS, KTVA Channel 11, November 1995, said during a live TV interview of Arne L. Bue: "… an Extremely interesting book…" Don Pacis, book reviewer, Philippine News, San Francisco, Nov. 15, 1994 said: "To the new generation of environmental writers, add the name of Arne Bue … a book that explores the mixed-up world of technology and how it fouls up one of the last pristine parts of the world … by its very subject it links itself to a bigger movement against those who would despoil what's left of the natural world …[Bue's] work is a moral response to the horrors of modern technology …The writing is … direct, often tense and taut. The plot … overlaps and leads to an often meticulous … piece of detective work." Debbie Briscoe, Chugiak-Eagle River Alaska Star, August 13, 1994, said: "Those reading "Baxter Bog Interlude" get more than n Anchorage/Wasilla-based thriller. They get a glimpse into the subconscious mind of author Arne L. Bue of Anchorage …. "Baxter Bog Interlude" is the product of internal and external occurrences in his life at the time he was writing the novel." Ted Leonard, author, "Neath the Midnight Sun," columnist, North Pole Independent, March 3, 1995, said: "Baxter Bog, a well loved swamp near Anchorage, is the setting for a gripping thriller, "Baxter Bog Interlude." Once I picked up this fast-moving mystery/adventure, I couldn't put it down until I finished it. This novel is a good read."
Some nice reviews. BTW it's not necessary to justify a nomination for the shelf, but feel free to tell us whatever you like about your favorite.
Fifty Miles From Tomorrow by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley.
Children's Literature
Highest recommendation for
ORCAS AROUND ME: MY ALASKAN SUMMER
Here are true tales as strong and beautiful as the family who inhabit the book. Taiga, a young boy, narrates the stories of life on the family fishing boats with little brother Ryland, mother Deborah(author), and father Bob-O.
A perfect pairing of Author Deborah Page and Illustrator Lillian Bowman. Watercolor illustrations are classically beautiful and true to the place. Kids give this book a big thumbs up every time.
Nice additions, Molly and Terese. I've added them to the shelf – it's getting deeper!
Interpretive Work, by Elizabeth Bradfield. This book of poetry has many poems featuring Alaskan themes, settings, and animals. Liz got her MFA from UAA a few years ago and while she's back on the East coast now, she'll always be part Alaska.
Nice to add some poetry to the shelf.
Don't know if audio-only books count, but if they do check out 65 Below, by Basil Sands.
http://www.basilsands.com
Ooh…wait…that's me.
Actually, the e-book of 65 Below is also available at the website.
I checked on Shelfari, but no 65 Below. They have an add-a-book option, though, so you might want to get it added and let me know so we can slide it onto the shelf. In the meantime I'll add http://www.basilsands.com to our web list.