Leif Enger's New Book

Leif Enger, the author of the New York Times best seller, Peace Like A River, has written a second novel. So Brave, Young, and Handsome is a lively picaresque tale that begins in the Midwest and migrates across the West to a California orange grove.

In the opening scene, Monte Becket, a Minnesota writer, sits on his front porch slogging away at his seventh unfinished novel in five years. Then he spies "Glendon Hale rowing upstream through the ropy mists of the Cannon River." Naturally, Becket's life becomes instantly more interesting. And it soon becomes downright thrilling as he and Hale travel toward Mexico by train, car, horse, and foot power to find Blue, the wife Hale deserted more than thirty years ago.

True to the form, adventures, bad guys, heroes, and horses populate this book. The self-deprecating and stoic narrator, a writer in way over his head, delivers the tale with confidence.

Enger's prose is crisp and clean, sprinkled with just the right amount of delight:
"She could squeeze a conversation to its rind..."
"...an upstart wind whipped the grasses into confusion."
...his face was chaos"
"she gave the old cloud an insouciant sneer"
"the wallpaper slumped"

Amazon.com has awarded So Brave, Young, and Handsome 4.5 stars, based on thirty-eight customer reviews.

Mary Clearman Blew at Fact & Fiction

Mary Clearman Blew will read from her new book, Jackalope Dreams, at Fact & Fiction Bookstore in downtown Missoula on Thursday, April 24, at 7 p.m.

Here's a synopsis of Jackalope Dreams from the Fact & Fiction Web site:
"The departed men in her life still have plenty to say to Corey. Her father, a legendary rodeo cowboy who punctuated his lifelong pronouncements with a bullet to his head, may be the loudest. But in this story of Montana--a story in which the old West meets the new and tradition has its way with just about everyone--it is Corey's voice we listen to. In this tour-de-force of voices big and small, sure and faltering, hers comes across resonant and clear, directing us to the heart of the matter. Played out against the mythology of the Old West -- a powerful amalgam of ranching history, Marlboro Men, and train robbery reenactments -- the story of the newly orphaned, spinsterish Corey is a sometimes comical, sometimes poignant tale of coming-of-age a little late. As she tries to recapture an old dream of becoming a painter -- of preserving some modicum of true art amid the virtual reality of modern Montana -- Corey finds herself figuring in other dramas as well, other, younger lives already at least as lost as her own."

Meet Mary Clearman Blew and get your book signed at Fact & Fiction at 7 p.m.

Greg Patent's Book Nominated For A James Beard Award

A Baker’s Odyssey (John Wiley & Sons, 2007; hardback), Greg Patent's newest book, has been nominated for a James Beard Award.

A Baker's Odyssey is a celebration of America’s rich immigrant heritage. It is about preserving heritage and tradition through cooking and baking. Patent worked with women (and a few men) from thirty-two different nationalities in their home kitchens to learn their special techniques and to gather the recipes in this collection. The book comes with a companion DVD. Color inserts illustrate more than three dozen recipes.

"Deemed 'the Oscars of the food world,' by Time magazine, The James Beard Foundation Awards are the country’s most coveted honor for chefs; food and beverage professionals; broadcast media, journalists, and authors working on food; and restaurant architects and designers." (quote from JamesBeard.org)

Baking in America (Houghton Mifflin, 2002; hardback) was a finalist in the 2003 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Awards. It won the 2003 James Beard Foundation Award for best baking book of the year and the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards for best baking book in the English language.

Read more about Greg Patent, find recipes, and get information about his books and articles at GregPatent.com.

And Speaking Of Craig Childs...

This announcement came from University Relations, University of Montana:

Author To Share Tales Of River Adventure

Author Craig Childs, UM's Kittredge Distinguished Visiting Writer in Environmental Studies, will host a reading and slide show about his September 2007 first descent of a river in Tibet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 7, in Turner Hall's Dell Brown Room.

At the presentation, titled "Lost in Tibet," Childs will share astonishing stories and images of running 200 miles of uncharted water through 17,000-foot mountains.

Childs is the author of "The Animal Dialogues," "The Secret Knowledge of Water," "House of Rain," "Soul of Nowhere" and numerous other books. His recent essays have appeared in Orion, High Country News and The Sun, and he is a regular commentator on NPR's "Morning Edition."

Reading It Real

Craig Childs, from Colorado, recently stopped by Fact & Fiction in downtown Missoula to read from his new book, The Animal Dialogues.

Rarely have I felt so completely drawn into a story read by its author. Somehow, Childs' voice and words conjured images of wild places and animals, and made the tension real, right there in the safety of a book store.

Childs is the author of nine books, including The Secret Knowledge of Water and House of Rain.

David Frey's review of The Animal Dialogues on NewWest.net

University of Montana English Professors Receive Awards

Congratulations to University of Montana Professor Deirdre McNamer, whose novel Red Rover won the 2007 Montana Book Award.

Penguin Group Red Rover reading guide.

A review of Red Rover from the New York Times.

A review of Red Rover in the Los Angeles Times.

McNamer was a guest on The Write Question on August 19, 2007:
http://www.mtpr.net/program_info/2007-08-19-308

And congratulations to Professor Casey Charles for receiving the Pantzer Presidential Humanitarian Award, and Professor Katie Kane for being awarded a research grant by the Montana Committee for the Humanities.

The Smoking Poet Spring 2008

The Spring Issue of The Smoking Poet is now available online. TSP publishes poetry, fiction, nonfiction, travel essays, book reviews, and interviews.

Russell Rowland, the new fiction editor, acknowledged the challenge of his postion: "I was a bit overwhelmed with how difficult it was to choose which submissions to include. Saying no is harder than I expected it to be."

But choose he did: Lynn Stegner, Mark Bastable, Kris Saknussemm, Lauren Baratz-Logsted, and Cynthia Graham, among others. He chose Sue Miller, author of The Good Mother, While I was Gone, and Family Pictures, as his "Feature Author" and posted a meaty interview with her.

(Russell Rowland was a guest on The Write Question November 25, 2007.)

The new issue also features a poignant nonfiction essay by R. A. Evans, a travel piece about Santorini Greece by Jeannie Dugan Sanders, and a review of Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men, by Lundy Bancroft. The Feature Poet is Harry Owen, first Poet Laureate for Cheshire (England).