Mink River

by Brian Doyle

Figuring out how to describe this book is tough. It's kind of indescribable. It's a novel but a very nontraditional. I picked it up for two reasons: heard good things and it takes place on the north Oregon coast -- a place I know very well and was curious to see how others see it.

There are many characters in the book, interacting, thinking, doing things. But there isn't a singe quote mark. There are also animals and elements of nature with personalities, free will and their own philosophies.

The 'sense of place' as they call it, was very familiar. Coastal rain forests, salty estuaries, tumultuous seas -- check. Bitter, moody fishermen -- check. Vulgar, prickly hometown girls with round heels and soft hearts -- check. Brilliant artists with chronic depression -- check. Devoted sheriff deputy who married his high school sweetheart -- check.

The stream of consciousness style was hard to get used to but it came eventually. And by then I was entranced. It's a brilliant book, an amazing journey and very rewarding.   

so many books...

What do you get with a long commute? Audio books.
Since the last book I posted here I've listened to probably 15 or more books in the last several months but forgotten to post my thoughts about them here. And now I don't recall all their titles.

 I did finish something I started as a 'beach read.' Another Jodi Picoult. I always enjoy her books, even if they are not any fancy great literature. The characters are good, complex and the stories compelling. She reminds me of Stephen King that way, without the bite.

I'll try to recreate my book long, audio style, just for continuity's sake.

Snow falling on cedars

by David Guterson

I've had more reading time than is typical in the last few months, which has been awesome. I've had this book for a while but I've been avoiding it. I vaguely recall the film, which was high in the romance aspect.

The book takes place in a quiet Puget Sound island community. Farming and fishing sustain it and it's populated with immigrants of many types, the most recent pre-WW11 Japanese. There is an ill-fated romance, a mystery and feelings of distrust and regret.

It's a beautifully written book, elegant in its prose but not overly lush. I realize I've been reading a lot of books set in the Northwest lately. Not sure why but I have been enjoying them tremendously.

Border Songs

by  Jim Lynch

This is a mystery book. I have a whole shelf of books I haven't read yet, a product of my overestimation of how much I can read or gifts. I don't know which this is. It may have been a suggestion from the independent book store in Redmond. 

No matter. It's a character-driven, sense-of-place book, probably my favorite type. The book's 'hero' is a bit off, maybe autistic, or maybe just a genius. He lives in a town bordering the Washington/Canadian border. What it means to live in a border town is a major theme and plot point of the book but really it is about the characters. None are wholly good, or bad, smart or stupid. They just are, like all of us. 

This book snuck up on me. At first it seemed very plain but in fact could be quite lyrical.  I enjoyed this writer's style very much. 

Not enough time for too many books

Seven months since my last book report? I can't believe it. I have actually read a handful since then but haven't had a chance to list them. And now, of course, I've forgotten what they were. 

But now I've just finished "Stalin's Ghost" by Martin Cruz Smith. Another Renko detective book, I think this is my third or fourth. 

In this book he gets involved with a soldier-turned-cop-turned politician and some shady dealings with the blackmarket, the Chechnyn rebellion aftermath and a peculiar hobby of digging for bodies and WWII loot in the Russian countryside. 

I enjoyed it, although the first half seemed slow. It was not my favorite Smith novel however, I'm not sure why. I found it difficult to keep track of the characters, perhaps all of the Russian names. And, as in all Renko books, it was dark. Very dark. 

I also recently finished a Stephen King book, "Mr. Mercedes," that was fantastic. Not his usual supernatural thing but more of a suspense/crime novel, the story follows a serial killer and a retired detective obsessed with finding him. 

I know there are more but it's too late -- I can't recall their names. 

Little Century

by Anna Keesey

I almost didn't read this book because I was worried it was a thinly veiled romance. And it was a romance, in some ways, but well-written enough that I continued reading.

The story sounds like a Harlequin romance: a young city girl in the turn of the century is orphaned. She turns to her only remaining family, a distant cousin who owns a remote ranch in the high desert of Oregon. He is a single hard-headed rancher (can you guess where this is going?).

However predictable the romance, the book was enjoyable. I picked it up, of course, because it was set in my neck of the woods but I think I would have like it even if it wasn't. Keesey has pleasant writing style, neither too sterile or too florid. 

All Over but the Shoutin'

by Rick Bragg

I don't recall if I knew that this was written by a journalist before I read it but I realized that I truly enjoy nearly all books, fiction or non, written by former reporters.

This is a memoir, the story of Bragg's childhood in the South through his career culminating in a Pulitzer Prize. It was like the American "Angela's Ashes," with horrific poverty, very sparse language that manages to be poetic at the same time.

This is one I'd read again, definitely.