Besides CRR What Else Are You Reading?

Monthly feature coordinated by Alan Rose

By Dayle Olson

Many of us have known a difficult person and loved them despite their imperfections. It may have been a cantankerous uncle, a narrow-minded neighbor, or a persnickety sister (Thank you, CRR. I have been wanting to use the word persnickety in a review.) Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prizewinning Olive Kitteridge tells the midlife story of a woman in small-town Maine. Olive is a jumble of strengths

Read a good book lately? To be mini-interviewed by CRR Book Reviewer Alan Rose for a future “What Are You Reading?”spotlight, please contact him at alan@alan-rose. com or the publisher/editor at publisher@crreader.com. and character flaws, wrapped in a large, plain package, notorious for her temper and blistering comments. She wears men’s walking shoes and sews her own clothes, including a vest made from curtains. She is a retired schoolteacher who remembers students, especially the troubled ones. Her husband’s perpetual optimism and easygoing nature irritates her. She loves her son, yet pushes him away with her domineering personality. Stories of other town residents give context to Olive’s life: the hardware shop owner who is a stranger in his own marriage; the elderly couple who weather the revelation of an infidelity; the grief-stricken widow who contemplates killing her drunk niece after the funeral; the daughterin-law who is dumb, but nice; the parrot who praises God whenever he overhears a cuss word. Through these stories, Strout reveals the complicated feelings that can accumulate over decades, the disappointments, regrets, failures, secrets, the inability to apologize, and the longing for companionship. Through practicality and determination, Olive survives life’s painful blows. This compassionate portrayal wisely recognizes that no person is simply good or bad. I loved Olive Kitteridge, warts and all.

Dayle Olson’s poem, “Water Highway,” was one of eight selected statewide by Humanities Washington for inclusion in Washington Poetic Routes. Her short stories were selected for Seaside Libraries anthology in 2019 and 2020. Dayle is a member of The Writer’s Guild of Astoria. She makes her home in Cathlamet with her husband David and one opinionated cat.

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Celebrate with CRR contributors Tiffany Dickinson and Krysten Ralston, first-time, self-published authors. Stop by CRR’s office at 1333 14th Avenue, Longview, 5-7pm, and share the excitement! The books are brand new: Ink Blots (contemporary poetry), by Krysten, and Tiffany’s Kaleidoscope (middle-grade historical fiction). BONUS: If you’re in Astoria on May 11, enjoy free admission to the Columbia River Maritime Museum as it celebrates its 60th Anniversary (details in Tracy’s “Out & About,” page 13) And get a copy of The Tidewater Reach (buy there or bring your own), signed before your eyes by nature writer and poet Robert Michael Pyle, and photographer Judy VanderMaten.

Middle-grade historical fiction by local author Tiffany Dickinson. Available via local bookstores or on Amazon.

A collection of contemporary poetry by local author K.A. Ralston. Available in eBook and paperback at amazon. com. Info: karalston.com

April 23, 1–3pm, Storyboard Delights, 1339 Commerce Ave., Longview.

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