Editor's Note
March 2010
By Peter A. Smith
Photograph Natalie Conn
What can I say? I like reading—whether it’s browsing LibraryThing, the shelves at Longfellow, or the ’zines at Gulf of Maine Books. I like hearing about James Arsenault’s early American ephemera in Arrowsic, finding a copy of 1973 green building bible Shelter (the one with Bill Coperthwaite’s hand-built yurts), or reading the backs of surf-themed postcards from Ken Shure’s collection.
These behind-the-scenes collections represent the kinds of stories in this month’s issue. Who knew that Vince Clarke is still making music, and still making it on the banks of the Damariscotta River? Or that William Pope.L’s artistic provocations are put together in a workshop in Lewiston? That Judith Jones is coming to the PMA? Or that Jamaica Kincaid knew the late painter Kenneth Noland?
In this vein, here’s a short list of notable books I’ve come across. Read these when you’re done reading Maine.
Nicholson Baker, who lives in South Berwick, wrote a recent op-ed suggesting that paper mills in Jay, and print media in general, might be better for Maine’s forests than the massive data servers powering up the Internet. His latest work of fiction is just as provocative. It’s about a poet who goes berry picking, thinks about poetry, and gives a reading. Not much else happens. Trust me, it’s not a problem.
simonandschuster.com
Susan Conley has a memoir in the works about taking her family to Beijing, The Foremost Good Fortune (Knopf). She’s also a writer and a cofounder of The Telling Room in Portland. Since you won’t be able to read her book until 2011, you should sign up for her upcoming travel-writing master’s class.
225 Commercial St. | 207.774.6064 | tellingroom.org
Max Watman’s new book, Chasing the White Dog: An Amateur’s Adventure in Moonshine (Simon and Schuster), touches on the great American tradition of making “likker,” making it yourself, and ridge-running high-octane alcohol in souped-up cars. Watman will be at the annual Slow Food Writers’ Night at SPACE Gallery on March 10. Personally, I’m hoping he inspires a wave of micro-distilleries in Maine. Calvados, anyone?
538 Congress St. | slowfoodportland.org | 207.774.1044
The terse 2006 debut novel from Justin Tussing, The Best People in the World (Harper Perennial), is Americana to the core. You can talk with Tussing at this summer’s Stonecoast Conference in Freeport.
usm.me.edu | 207.228.8393
Lou Ureneck, a former Press Herald editor, is building up a book project called Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream and Five Acres in Maine (Viking). If Tracy Kidder’s House or George Colt’s The Big House won’t tide the builder in you over until 2011, you can follow the project online.
mainecabinblog.com
Pope Brock, the author of Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam (Crown), moved to Maine. He writes about an all-American quack in a fast, dangerous, funny way. I can’t wait to see what’s next. popebrock.com
And if there’s one book you absolutely have to read, it’s Wells Tower’s amazing debut collection, called Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). Tower summers here, and one of his stories, “Retreat,” is set in Aroostook County. Even though it’s out in paperback, support fiction writers. Buy this in hardcover. You’ll want to keep it around.
us.macmillan.com
–Peter A. Smith, Senior Editor
