September Book Swap

We had crepes with cherry and fig jams made from our garden and then got more great books for the library:

First up was Katharine Whitcomb a poet and Associate Professor at Central Washington University who brought along Valley Walking: Notes on the Land by Robert Schnelle "about taking walks around the valley" in the high plains desert of central Washington State where she's from, famous for its Timothy hay which is "mostly grown for Japanese racehorses."

Kathy's inspiration book was Anne Carson's  The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos because as a book it is "a breakdown of boundaries between genres and the breakdown of a relationship."

Cathy also very generously donated two of her own collections of poetry: Saints of South Dakota and Lamp of Letters.

Kerrie Maynes talked next about how she started out in college as an art major and ended up working as an editor in publishing for the last 10 years, right now at the University of Washington Press. Kerrie is here working on her website, inspired by the idea of "quiet, beautiful spaces."

As her inspirational book Kerrie donated the "beautiful" Abstract Painting: Concepts and Techniques by Vicky Perry.

As opposed to a book about where she's from - she lives in Seattle - she donated a book that she says she's "more at home with": Owls and Other Fantasises: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver.

Jaclynn Gereluk a non-fiction writer from Vancouver, British Columbia, was up next.

Jaclynn spoke about her love of graphic novels and the book she donated that inspires her, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi.

For a book about where she's from Jaclynn was resolute about not giving a "drab, boring, prairie lit." novel in the vein of Alice Munro, a genre that "makes her crazy."

So, to represent the "new movement in Canadian literature" she gave the novel Stanley Park (which is a park in Vancouver) by Timothy Taylor "about the story of a foodie."

Lynne Hollander, a retired children's librarian from California, who is here "editing and weeding through discs of photos" she took 2 years ago when she was in Cuba for a month, was up last.

The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman is the book Lynne donated as the one that inspired her because of the fact that it "makes you aware of the artistic choices you're making or should be making."

The book she donated about where she's from was a "biography of my late husband" Mario Savio, by Robert Cohen: Freedom's Orator. As Lynne humbly put it herself, "I was a part of the free speech movement" of Berkeley in the mid 60s. Here's a clip of Lynne's husband on what are now called "Mario Savio Steps" in Berkeley:



Thanks again for all your great books!