Writers On The Sidebar

Eryl, aka The Kitchen Bitch, asked me to recommend some American Authors. My selections are eclectic, some of the books you will be able to find used --or if you want, tell me. I'll find them and send them to you. (Yes, my own little book trade has just been started...call it an even exchange. You send me stuff from Scotland, I'll send you stuff from here).

On my sidebar, I've listed a few that I really like. The common theme is that almost all of them are from or live in the western US and their description of setting is rich. Until the crass proliferation of identical beige houses and also the population explosion in this state, the western landscape was broad and sweeping --it was a rugged character unto itself. Thus, the ocean, forests, deserts and mountains all became part of a writer's lexicon. We came to know oaks, willows, joshua trees, hard clay soil, foggy valleys, and grunion runs on the beach.

I'd start with the late Harriet Doerr. Mrs. Doerr was an interesting writer. She was encouraged to finish her degree after an almost 50 year absence. When she was in her late 60's, Mrs. Doerr went back to Stanford and enrolled in creative writing classes. Given her breadth of experiences, she had a lot to write about. And she did it well. Her efforts culminated in the book "Stones For Ibarra," her first novel, which also garnered the National Book Award when she was in her early 70's. "Stones For Ibarra" can best be described as a book about life adjustments. A couple move to Mexico to create a new life, to find success in mining. They adjust to the new pace of the life, the intricacies of the town web, and ultimately, to loss on many levels. The strength of the narrative voice is shown in the poetic descriptions, which while beautiful, are spare. Doerr's clear writing goes to prove that not all first time novelists are in their 20's and 30's, despite what the industry would like to have you believe.

I'd also pick up the short stories by Thomas Steinbeck, son of the definitive California writer John. To be John Steinbeck's son and also have writing aspirations of one's own could not have been easy. Unlike Martin Amis, who followed his father Kingsley into writing, Thomas went the other way. He became a combat photographer in Vietnam, wrote screenplays, produced documentaries. When he was in his 50's, he decided to come out with a book of his short stories. "Down To A Soundless Sea" takes place in the Big Sur area, just south of Monterey, an area of endless beauty.

Then to bring you to the present, I recommend Thomas Farber's "On Water," a sumptuous feast of prose on the oceans of the Pacific. Diving, sailing, or surfing, Farber's richness of language manages to encompass the scientific, the philosophical and the poetic. He would die to hear me say this, but Farber is a two-fer. He's also a publisher with his own small literary press that puts out quality books. It's an important thing to know, especially since there are only 5 major publishers of books today. The rest are all small houses like El León Literary Arts.

Pick up a book by well known author Joan Didion. A native Californian who excels in both journalism and novels. She is the archetype of a Californian that is now buried beneath scores of beige houses. She wants no sympathy from the reader, but has a compelling way of making you stay to read her exacting opinions. Her journalism is in "the see it, experience it" narrative voice that came to prominence with magazines like Rolling Stone. Didion's prose is spare and sharp as a blade. Perhaps you're already familiar with "The Year of Magical Thinking," --an account of the sadness and turmoil following the unexpected death of her husband, writer Gregory Dunn. There are also two other books I'd recommend, which in a sense are bookends of the same topic. "Slouching To Bethlehem" is her account of the social development of and "Where I was From," chronicles the environmental and social disaster that is California (or as Arnold Schwarzenegger would say, "Cal-ee-forrrnnnn-ya").



And then there is the queen of American literature and the book that still inspires writers of literary prose, "My Ántonia," published in 1918. Willa Cather, whose story of the growth of a hardscrabble girl on the plains of Nebraska was a watershed in American writing. Her lyrical, pared down prose describes the often difficult life and wishes of Ántonia. There's not a sentimental bone in this book, which makes it all the more truthful and beautiful. Told by the wistful voice of her friend Jim, this book is as encompassing as the blue sky above them.