WC has reviewed and praised David James Duncan’s writing, and especially his first book, The River Why, several times. If Duncan wrote more, he’d be on WC’s list of very favorite authors. So when Duncan came to Boise for a reading, you can bet WC was in attendance. Duncan did not disappoint. Duncan treated the 200-plus…
The weather sucks, WC is struggling with a head cold and it’s the same old same old among the yard birds. So WC has been doing a lot of reading. Much of it has turned out to be pretty good. Here’s a quick overview of recent, decent stuff. Michael Lewis famously write Moneyball, which somehow got…
One of WC’s favorite authors, Ursula K. Le Guin, recently wrote a letter to the Oregonian objecting to the characterization of President Trumpster’s “alternatie facts” as science fiction. In her own inimitable style, she describes the difference. WC sets out her letter in full. A recent letter in The Oregonian compares a politician’s claim to tell “alternative facts”…
Before we all take ourselves too seriously, let’s make a brief digression into Jasper Fforde’s Well of Lost Plots, where we find this gem. “Good. Item seven. The had had and that that problem. Lady Cavendish, weren’t you working on this?’ Lady Cavendish stood up and gathered her thoughts. ‘Indeed. The uses of had had and that that have to be strictly controlled; they…
A disclaimer: Carl Battreal is a personal friend of WC, and WC was a Go Fund Me supporter of Alaska Range, Carl Battreal’s book on Alaska’s biggest mountain range. So feel free to take that into consideration as you read this review. Denali – the mountain formerly known as Mt. McKinley – gets all the press.…
WC isn’t really much of a fan of things French. Some might blame the dislike on the shabby treatment WC got on a trip down the Rhine in 1972. But WC has always made an exception for Anatole France, the Nobel Prize-winning author, poet, playwright and philosopher who brightened French literature from 1844 to 1924.…
WC isn’t so old he can’t remember reading looking at books that focused his attention like this. Luckily, WC’s parents never found out. We’ll pretend this is about the excitement of the autumn equinox, even though the event is mostly irrelevant 10° from the equator. WC reminds reader he has only intermittent access to the…
