Western Book Roundup

Denver Writer, Formerly an Out-of-Shape Hiker, Wins the National Outdoor Book Award

By Jenny Shank, 11-18-09

The Denver Post reported this weekend that Denver writer Mark Obmascik‘s Halfway to Heaven: My White Knuckled and Knuckleheaded-Quest for the Rocky Mountain High won this year’s outdoor literature prize from the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation: “The book is about climbing Colorado’s 14,000-plus foot mountains, all 54 of them, in one summer. The problem, though, as Obmascik points out in this humorous work, is that he’s completely out of shape.” Obmasik was the lead writer for the Denver Post team that won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the Columbine shootings. He will discuss his book at the REI in Boulder on November 30 (7 p.m.).

Other winners included:

History/Biography: Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by David Brinkley.

Design & Artistic Merit: Lars Johnson’s Birds illustrated by Lars Johnson.

Classic: Kayak: The New Frontier by William Nealy.

Nature and Environment : Our Living Earth by Yann Arthus- Bertrand.

Natural History Literature: Every Living Thing by Rob Dunn.

Children’s: Whistling Wings by Laura Goering, illustrated by Laura Jacques.

Instructional: Girl on the Rocks: A Woman’s Guide to Climbing With Strength, Grace and Courage by Katie Brown; photos by Ben Moon.

Outdoor Adventure Guidebooks: Guide to the Green and Yampa Rivers in Dinosaur National Monument by Duwain Whitis and Barbara Vinson.

Nature Guidebook: Peterson Guide to Birds of North America by Roger Tory Peterson.

• John Jurgensen’s insightful interview with Cormac McCarthy ran in the Wall Street Journal last week in advance of the opening of the film version of The Road.  Their discussion ranges all over the place in subject matter, from the movie versions of McCarthy’s films, to fatherhood, to his writing process.  Jurgensen writes, “McCarthy shuns interviews, but he relishes conversation.” One subject that McCarthy cycles back to several times is the apocalypse, something that he frequently discusses with his friends at the Santa Fe Institute.  One highlight: Jurgensen asked McCarthy why he ended up in the Southwest, and McCarthy replied:

“I ended up in the Southwest because I knew that nobody had ever written about it. Besides Coca-Cola, the other thing that is universally known is cowboys and Indians. You can go to a mountain village in Mongolia and they’ll know about cowboys. But nobody had taken it seriously, not in 200 years. I thought, here’s a good subject. And it was.”

The whole interview offers some insights into the philosophy and working process of the great novelist.

• Last week Robin O’Day of KPAX in Missoula interviewed Fact and Fiction manager Barbara Theroux about how the bookstore has responded to the rise of digital books.  She said that while she doesn’t favor ebooks herself, they are now available for purchase from Fact and Fiction’s website.  O’Day also spoke to Chuck and Dee Robinson, co-owners of Village Books in Bellingham, Washington, who “can now print out of print books and self published books at their store with the Espresso Book Machine.” The book allows customers to obtain copies of out-of-print books.  “Take for example, Perma Red by local author Debra Magpie Earling,” O’Day said.  “that book is currently out of print, but may one day be printed on the Espresso Book Machine.” (Via Shelf Awareness)

• Author, columnist for Moscow, Idaho’s Community News, and former New West Idaho editor Joan Opyr has a new mystery out, From Hell to Breakfast, set in the fictional Cowslip, Idaho.  On Saturday, November 28 she will appear at BookPeople in Moscow for a reading, book signing and “Turkey Breakfast Leftovers Event” (11 a.m.-1p.m.).  Things could get good and greasy, as BookPeople is enjoining patrons to “bring those Thanksgiving guests and turkey for a Holiday Book Signing!”

• Speaking of books and food, Printed Page Bookshop in Denver will give customers a free book for each non-perishable food item brought in between now and December 20.  The food will be delivered to East Denver FISH, “a small, non-profit emergency food pantry that has operated continuously in the Washington Park area since 1974.”

• I am working on a roundup about the literary magazines in the region, so if you are an editor of a literary magazine in these parts, please email me with news about your latest issue or calls for submission.

Please follow me on Twitter, and with any regional book news or events.

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