Steve Picks
Steve’s Picks
The Complete Stories
by Flannery O'Connor
Kurt Vonnegut called her the best writer of his generation. This National Book Award-winning collection shows why. Her dark sense of humor and spiritual outlook depict characters given opportunities for grace. Some of them rise to the occasion; others, well . . .
A Line Made By Walking
by Sara Baume
The Irish award-winning writer and artist Sara Baume presents some of the finest observational fiction currently being written. In this novel, a disaffected young artist who has retreated to her grandmother's bungalow in the Irish countryside reflects on life, death, and specific works of fine art as she seeks her own sense of equilibrium.
Devotions
by Mary Oliver
When I wrote my book Mole and it came time to address moles' place in poetry, a heap of dead-mole poems turned up. Only Mary Oliver presented living, thriving moles going about their business with dignity. If you seek a poet who affirms the embodied experience of being alive, read Oliver.
The Horse
by Willy Vlautin
Think of this novel as a portrait of the artist as a Reno songwriter. Al Ward never hit it big but has made meaning throughout his life by penning tunes for himself and others. His heroic effort to help a blind horse brings the past––and the music he made through it––back to the surface. Tsunami friend Willy Vlautin rhapsodizes the dignity of the hardscrabble artistic life like no other.
Mink River
by Brian Doyle
Do you heed Emily's staff picks? If so, this is the first book Emily recommended to me—a staff pick for fellow staff. As it stands, I am grateful. Doyle is not just a writer's writer, he is also an Oregonian's Oregonian. In this novel he braids the lives of characters living in a town on the coast with threads of interconnectedness, mystery, and humor. For the first time in a long time, I had to mourn that books have to end.
Washita Love Child
by Douglas K. Miller
I wish this book existed when I wrote my master's degree thesis on the song lyrics of Jesse Ed Davis. Miller brings this Native American rock legend and true musicians' musician into the spotlight. Davis played with Beatles, Dylan, Taj Mahal, and inspired Duane Allman to take up slide guitar. Dylan told Rolling Stone that Davis's 1985 album with John Trudell was the album of the year. Now we finally have his life story, told with heart at page-turner pace.