Cool Montana Reads

by barbara theroux
photo by kurt wilson

It is a gray, rainy day as I think about the books coming out from November to January. This list has books to consider giving as a gift or books to consider reading by a cozy fire. There are books to make you think and books to entertain and books to take you to other places, so let’s begin.

Two South Dakota natives, and favorites of Missoula readers, reflect on America today:

“The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation about America”

by Tom Brokaw

“What happened to the America I thought I knew?” Tom Brokaw writes. “Have we simply wandered off course, but only temporarily? Or have we allowed ourselves to be so divided that we’re easy prey for hijackers who could steer us onto a path to a crash landing? ... I do have some thoughts, original and inspired by others, for our journey into the heart of a new century.”

Rooted in the values, lessons and verities of generations past and of his South Dakota upbringing, Brokaw weaves together inspiring stories of Americans who are making a difference and personal stories from his own family history, to engage us in a conversation about our country and to offer ideas for how we can revitalize the promise of the American Dream.

“What It Means to Be a Democrat”

by George McGovern

George McGovern has been a leading figure of the Democratic Party for more than 50 years. From this true liberal comes a thoughtful examination of what being a Democrat really means. McGovern admonishes current Democratic politicians for losing sight of their ideals as they subscribe to an increasingly centrist policy agenda.
Applying his wide-ranging knowledge and expertise on issues from military spending to same-sex marriage to educational reform, he stresses the importance of creating policies we can be proud of. Finally, with 2012 looming, McGovern’s “What It Means to Be a Democrat” offers a vision of the party’s future in which ideological coherence and courage rule.

Several new biographies sure to be popular include:

“Tolstoy: A Russian Life”

by Rosamund Bartlett

In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station. At the time of his death, he was the most famous man in Russia, with a growing international following, and more revered than the tsar. Born into an aristocratic family, Tolstoy had spent his life rebelling not only against conventional ideas about literature and art but also against traditional education, family life, organized religion and the state.

In this biography, Rosamund Bartlett draws extensively on key Russian sources, including much fascinating new material made available since the collapse of the Soviet Union. She sheds light on Tolstoy’s remarkable journey from callow youth to writer to prophet; discusses his troubled relationship with his wife, Sonya, a subject long neglected; and vividly evokes the Russian landscapes Tolstoy so loved. Above all, she gives us an eloquent portrait of the brilliant, maddening, and contrary man who has, once again, been discovered by a new generation of readers.

“Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman”

by Robert K. Massie

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Peter the Great,” “Nicholas and Alexandra” and “The Romanovs” returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at 14 and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful and captivating women in history.

Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers and enemies – all are here, vividly described. These included her ambitious, perpetually scheming mother; her weak, bullying husband, Peter (who left her lying untouched beside him for nine years after their marriage); her unhappy son and heir, Paul; her beloved grandchildren; and her “favorites” – the parade of young men from whom she sought companionship and the recapture of youth as well as sex.

History offers few stories richer in drama than that of “Catherine the Great.” In this book, this eternally fascinating woman is returned to life.

“Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan”

by William Hjortsberg (January 2012 publication)

Confident and robust, “Jubilee Hitchhiker” is a comprehensive biography of late novelist and poet Richard Brautigan, author of “Troutfishing in America” and “A Confederate General from Big Sur,” among many others. When Brautigan took his own life, his close friends and network of artists and writers were devastated though not entirely surprised. To many, Brautigan was shrouded in enigma, erratic and unpredictable in his habits and presentation. Brautigan’s career wove its way through both the Beat-influenced San Francisco Renaissance in the 1950s and the “flower power” hippie movement of the 1960s; while he never claimed direct artistic involvement with either period, “Jubilee Hitchhiker” also delves deeply into the spirited times in which he lived.

Ultimately this is a work that seeks to connect the Brautigan known to his fans with the man who ended his life so abruptly in 1984 while revealing the close ties between his writing and the actual events of his life. Part history, part biography, and part memoir this etches the portrait of a man destroyed by his genius.

Popular authors will help us escape the news and weather of the day:

“Slash and Burn: A Dr. Siri Mystery Set in Laos”

by Colin Cotterill

Dr. Siri might finally be allowed to retire (again). Although he loves his two morgue assistants, he’s tired of being Laos’ national coroner, a job he never wanted in the first place. Plus, he’s pushing 80 and wants to spend some time with his wife before his untimely death (which has been predicted by the local transvestite fortune teller).

But retirement is not in the cards for Dr. Siri after all. He’s dragged into one last job: supervising an excavation for the remains of U.S. fighter pilot who went down in the remote northern Lao jungle 10 years earlier. The presence of American soldiers in Laos is a hot-button issue for both the Americans and the Lao involved, and the search party includes high-level politicians and scientists. But one member of the party is found dead, setting off a chain of accidents Dr. Siri suspects are not completely accidental. Everyone is trapped in a cabin in the jungle, and the bodies are starting to pile up.

Can Dr. Siri get to the bottom of the MIA pilot’s mysterious story before the fortune teller’s prediction comes true?

“Contents May Have Shifted”

by Pam Houston (January 2012 publication)

Stuck in a dead-end relationship, this fearless narrator leaves her metaphorical baggage behind and finds a comfort zone in the air, “feeling safest with one plane ticket in her hand and another in her underwear drawer.” She flies around the world, finding reasons to love life in dozens of far-flung places, from Alaska to Bhutan. Along the way she weathers unplanned losses of altitude, air pressure and landing gear. With the help of a squad of loyal, funny and wise friends and massage therapists, she learns to sort truth from self-deception, self-involvement from self-possession.

At last, having found a new partner “who loves Don DeLillo and the NHL” and a daughter “who needs you to teach her to dive and to laugh at herself” – not to mention two dogs and two horses – “staying home becomes more of an option. Maybe.”

“A Good Man”

by Guy Vanderhaeghe (January 2012 publication)

In the ambitious and masterful final novel of his best-selling trilogy, Guy Vanderhaeghe returns to the 19th century Canadian and American West to explore the final days of one of the world’s last great frontiers.

Wesley Case is a former soldier and son of a Canadian lumber baron who sets out into the untamed borderlands between Canada and the United States to escape a dark secret from his past. He settles in Montana, where he hopes to buy a cattle ranch, and where he begins work as a liaison between the American and Canadian militaries in an effort to contain the Native Americans’ unresolved anger in the wake of the Civil War.

Amid the brutal violence that erupts between Sioux warriors and U.S. forces, Case’s plan for a quiet ranch life is further compromised by an unexpected dilemma: He falls in love with the beautiful, outspoken and recently widowed Ada Tarr. It’s a budding romance that soon inflames the jealousy of Ada’s quiet and deeply disturbed admirer, Michael Dunne. When the American government unleashes its final assault on the Indians, Dunne commences his own vicious plan for vengeance in one last feverish attempt to claim Ada as his own.

New paperbacks to take on a flight or ski trip:

“The Tiger’s Wife”

by Tea Obreht

In a Balkan country mending from war, Natalia, a young doctor, is compelled to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding her beloved grandfather’s recent death. Searching for clues, she turns to his worn copy of “The Jungle Book” and the stories he told her of his encounters over the years with “the deathless man.” But most extraordinary of all is the story her grandfather never told her – the legend of the tiger’s wife.

“Emily, Alone”

by Stewart O’Nan

When her sister-in-law and sole companion, Arlene, faints at their favorite breakfast buffet, Emily faces life changes in unexpected ways. So begins this bittersweet story about aging. As she grapples with her new independence, she discovers a hidden strength and realizes that life always offers new possibilities. Stewart O’Nan’s intimate novel follows Emily Maxwell, a widow whose grown children have long departed. She dreams of visits from her grandchildren while mourning the turnover of her quiet Pittsburgh neighborhood.
More than once I was reminded of my aunts living together in a small Pennsylvania town. Book groups will find much to discuss and others will want to revisit Emily in O’Nan’s earlier book, “Wish You Were Here.”

“The Hypnotist”

by Lar Kepler

In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness – the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die; he’s suffered more than 100 knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock.

Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option – hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes. It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again – ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

“At Home: A Short History of Private Life”

by Bill Bryson

With his signature wit, charm and seemingly limitless knowledge, Bill Bryson takes us on a room-by-room tour through his own house, using each room as a jumping off point into the vast history of the domestic artifacts we take for granted. As he takes us through the history of our modern comforts, Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world eventually ends up in our home, in the paint, the pipes, the pillows and every item of furniture. Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and the sheer fluency of his prose makes “At Home” one of the most entertaining books ever written about private life.

A book to entertain and send you to your own library looking for lost notes:

“Forgotten Bookmarks: A Bookseller’s Collection of Odd Things Lost Between the Pages”

by Michael Popek

It’s happened to all of us: we’re reading a book, something interrupts us and we grab the closest thing at hand to mark our spot. It could be a train ticket, a letter, an advertisement, a photograph or a four-leaf clover. Eventually the book finds its way into the world – a library, a flea market, other people’s bookshelves or to a used bookstore. But what becomes of those forgotten bookmarks? What stories could they tell?

By day, Michael Popek works in his family’s used bookstore. By night, he’s the force behind forgottenbookmarks.com, where he shares the weird objects he has found among the stacks at the store.

“Forgotten Bookmarks” is a scrapbook of Popek’s most interesting finds. Sure, there are actual bookmarks, but there are also pictures and ticket stubs, old recipes and notes, valentines, unsent letters, four-leaf clovers, and various sordid, heartbreaking and bizarre keepsakes. Together this collection of lost treasures offers a glimpse into other readers’ lives that they never intended for us to see.

Barbara Theroux is manager of Fact & Fiction Bookstore in downtown Missoula and a regular contributor to Missoula Magazine and the Missoulian.