“The Colors of Tucson: An Artist’s Journey Through the Old Pueblo” by Diana Madaras (Palomino Publishing, $19.95)
Painter and gallery-owner Diana Madaras has produced a Chamber of Commerce-worthy artifact in this glossy 7-by-10-inch collection of her paintings of Tucson sights. Supplemented by short, explanatory texts, “The Colors of Tucson” depicts scenes from the historic (San Xavier, the courthouse, Scottish Rite Cathedral); through neighborhoods (Sam Hughes, Barrio, Foothills), architectural features (fountains, porches, gates), nature (sunsets, monsoons, snow in the desert), to Sonoran plants and animals. The text is very readable and her watercolors and acrylics are imaginatively colorful.
Christine Wald-Hopkins
“Michael Gessner: Selected Poems” by Michael Gessner (FutureCycle Press, $17.95)
“Permit this brief intrusion/ …, / simply to say what I read this morning/ shimmers like the gold foil musings / in the compositions of the Masters / of Sunlight ....”
The timing couldn’t have been better: The day this reviewer decided to take shelter from today’s anxiety-inducing, round-the-clock, political maelstrom, she was given a book of poems to read. Try it, folks; you cannot simultaneously occupy a poem and follow CNN. Blessedly, Tucsonan Michael Gessner gives you good reason to reach for the remote.
A retrospective covering about a dozen years, “Selected Poems,” presents published poems from five distinct (though always image-rich and diction-precise) periods. Gessner’s early poems (2004, “Earthly Bodies”) read as close to the speaker’s experience: death of parents; interaction with students. His 2009 “Artificial Life” poems, more intellectual and dark, slip into polished ambiguity (“what brought them here was essential/…/as chaos & harmony….”)
Christine Wald-Hopkins
“Southern Arizona’ Extraordinary History: Amazing True Stories from Southern Arizona Guide” by Jim Gressinger (Southern Arizona Guide, LLC $19.95)
Beginning with Larcena Pennington, the young pioneer woman who could claim the title of “The Woman too Tough to Die” and finishing with the Slaughters and the short life of Apache May, Gressinger takes us down a meandering trail through Southern Arizona lore. Gressinger, the owner of a local guide company, writes like he’s behind the wheel on one of his jeep tours — folksy and friendly — and uses this slender volume as a vehicle to promote his company and services.
Vicki Ann Duraine
“The Giant Rat of Folkestone: A Mycroft Mystery” by Maryam Wade (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, $4.99)
A baron bleeds out from vicious neck wounds. Locals whisper of rodents the size of the Baskerville hound savaging the countryside. Looks like a case for Sherlock Holmes or, if he’s otherwise engaged, his elder brother Mycroft who travels to the Dartmoor moors to solve the bloody death.
A slim tongue-in-check tribute to Doyle and the Victorian Era.
Vicki Ann Duraine
“Mid-Life Career Assessment: MCA Workbook” by Marshall W. Northington, PhD. (Page Publishing $17.95)
A local counselor and consultant, Northington condenses occupational data and combines it with a no-nonsense approach to realistically examine career goals and objectives. The manual starts with eight questions to assess values and priorities. Following chapters include worksheets to assist in determining motivations, career choices, writing cover letters and résumés, interviewing, and entrepreneurship.
A worthy resource for those writing the next chapter in their lives.
Vicki Ann Duraine
“Celluloid Pueblo: Western Ways Films and the Invention of the Postwar Southwest” by Jennifer L. Jenkins. (University of Arizona Press. $44.98. Kindle $35.99)
The Sunbelt’s image was prime for a face-lift as the 20th century approached the halfway point, and filmmakers Charles and Lucile Herbert were happy to oblige. He was a former silent-era newsreel cameraman with an unparalleled gift for visual storytelling; she was a planner and organizer who shared her husband’s taste for the adventurous life of footloose documentary filmmakers. Together they formed Western Ways Films, and their impact on the public’s evolving perception of Arizona was profound. The ‘Southwest of the Imagination,’ according to author Jennifer L. Jenkins, was a concept up for grabs in post-WWII Arizona, and Western Ways was in the right place at the right time to promote an alternative to Hollywood’s long-standing, out-sized Wild West version of Tucson and the borderlands.
Although the subject matter is scholarly (the small volume includes 75 pages of appendices, footnotes, and an index), it is a fascinating story about the role played by filmmakers and documentaries in the way the nation understands Arizona, and Jenkins tells it expertly.
Helene Woodhams
“Peety and Poncho Visit the Desert” by the Beers and Dreis Families. Illustrated by Irina Bulgaru. (Published by the authors. $9.25)
also: Peety and Poncho Visit the Grand Canyon
and: Peety and Poncho Visit Africa
Peety, a loquacious macaw and Poncho, a donkey with plenty of smarts, meet in the Sonoran Desert and become fast friends. Together they go exploring, with Poncho pointing out the natural wonders along the way. Desert denizens are very beautiful, but should be treated with caution: a scorpion, for instance doesn’t want to sting anyone, but will do so if he has to protect himself. Children and parents alike will be particularly delighted with the beautiful illustrations by Irina Bulgaru. The authors plan a series of Peety and Poncho books that will follow their heroes all over the world—they welcome suggestions for destinations.
Helene Woodhams
