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Books
Guest Review by Wolf Schneider
Memoir
Beside the Río hondo: A Memoir of Rural New Mexico
By Phaedra Greenwood
Sunstone Press, www.sunstonepress.com
212 pages, cloth, $22.95
Like John Nichols and Frank Waters before her—and, to some degree, also like Barbara Waters and Mabel Dodge Luhan—writer Phaedra Greenwood has made a life and career of living in and writing about Taos.
Finished five years ago but recently published, Phaedra Greenwood’s first book is her memoir about moving into an old adobe house on the Río Hondo in Arroyo Hondo, 10 miles north of Taos, which she initially shared with her husband, Aaron. Here, they raised two children before moving to Colorado for career opportunities. Later, divorced and in her 40s, Greenwood moved back into the house, agreeing to pay Aaron rent of $250 a month. Aaron gave her a year to live in the old adobe, after which he planned to sell it and split the proceeds with her. But Greenwood viewed the house and land as her connection to the natural world, and although her money was running out, she struggled to make a stand and find a way for her husband to get his proceeds while she stayed put.
The community’s agrarian pursuits are thoughtfully observed. Greenwood notes, “Leroy Marquez was out hoeing rows to plant pumpkins in his garden plot and Roy Barela was driving his tractor up and down the field, making his first cut of alfalfa.” The memoir brims with poetic, earthy satisfactions, such as how “The silver river sparkled through the cottonwood trees and dropped in noisy rills as it rushed over smooth stones on its way to meet the Río Grande. Across the stream, white Arabians grazed in the pasture, swishing their tails.”
Best of all are the colorful characters who influence Greenwood’s life, such as her newfound friend Eloy, who turns over her soil to make a garden, and even lobbies the ditch mayordomo so that Greenwood can get enough water for irrigation, then asking for only ripe apples in exchange. Then there’s her artist friend Suann, who pines for a man, and Reynaldo, a vecino (neighbor) who volunteers with Greenwood on the ecological Committee to Save the Río Hondo, but ignores Greenwood’s romantic overtures and home-baked cupcakes. The dialogue is consistently strong and to the point.
Greenwood chronicles the good (“The tawny fields and ditches lined with vibrant willows, some vermilion and some like flame”) and the bad (ransacking bears, poverty’s curses, the laborious chopping of wood, no jobs, cracked lips) with candor in this engrossing journey through her make-or-break year in Taos, when her self-esteem depended on how long she could hold out.
Guest reviewer Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor at Southwest Art.
Plus: Read an interview with the author
Reviews by Amber Avalona and Ashley M. Biggers
FictionBent Dreams
By Richard Tinguely
University of New Mexico Press, www.unmpress.com,
232 pages, paper, $17.95
When protagonist Rosemarie finally makes her way to the dusty, rolling foothills of Bent, 23 miles south of Ruidoso, she has little more with her than the memories of those who left her behind. She, too, is slow in keeping promises—she’s more than a year late arriving for a landscape-consulting job at Eric Frigaard’s self-sustaining farm. The moment Rosemarie meets Eric, a retired dentist, a stroke of lightning blows out the electricity—an event that portends a development in their own relationship. As they live and work together, these self-sufficient individuals discover that they need human contact to survive just as much as the self-sustaining farm that has brought them together.
According to the book’s publisher, the University of New Mexico Press, Bent Dreams is “a tale of two loners, damaged by the vagaries of life, whose dreary souls evolve from a relationship of mutual distrust to one of growing respect and love.” Here in the rugged, lonely New Mexican landscape, it’s a story many of us can relate to . . . if only in the moments when we long for lasting love. This is a novel from Alamogordo resident Richard Tinguely, who, like one of his main
characters, is a retired dentist.—Amber Avalona
History
From Greenwich Village to Taos: Primitivism and Place at Mabel Dodge Luhan's
By Flannery Burke
University Press of Kansas, www.kansaspress.ku.edu
232 pages, cloth, $34.95
When Mabel Dodge Luhan started an artists’ salon at her Taos home, she’d already earned the title of radical socialite in the left-wing circles of New York City. Her home in New Mexico attracted other cultural icons, such as Georgia O’Keeffe, D.H. Lawrence, Ansel Adams, and Carl Jung.
Author and historian Flannery Burke describes this somewhat larger-than-life figure who was known for refashioning the meaning of what it was to be a woman. The publisher, the University Press of Kansas, describes From Greenwich Village to Taos: Primitivism and Place at Mabel Dodge Luhan’s as the “first book to consider Dodge and her visitors from a New Mexican perspective.” Often misunderstood in the culture they came from, the artists settled into the local culture and began to reshape it to their liking, and Burke’s book catalogs their impact. She highlights what were considered hush-hush details of that era, and writes about the cultural implications of immigrating to a pueblo for creative and monetary achievement. The political fights of the day merely fanned Luhan’s flame. She was a female trailblazer at the center of these developments, and perhaps the most controversial woman to make her mark on northern New Mexico . . . for now, at least.—A.A.
PoetryBox of Light/Caja de Luz
By Susan Gardner
Red Mountain Press
96 pages, paper, $16.95
For Box of Light, Santa Fe resident Susan Gardner traversed the landscapes of Mexico, Europe, North America, and Asia, gathering the thoughts and images that unfold in poems such as “French Chocolate,” “Below Black Mesa,” and “Dear Friend.”
These 33 poems immerse readers in the experience of a coyote’s call under the stars, the memories attached to a certain voice, and a clean canvas that is the framework of a beloved future. For those fortunate enough to have tamed the tongues of two cultures, the Spanish and English translations will enrich one’s understanding.
“Moving between languages is moving between cultures,” Gardner writes.
“The poems are cousins rather than twins. . . . Sometimes we talk one way, sometimes another.”—A.A.
Native Art
Southwestern Indian Jewelry: Crafting New Traditions
By Dexter Cirillo, Photography by Addison Doty
Rizzoli International Publications, www.rizzoliusa.com
240 pages, cloth, $55
“In our post-modern age of instantaneous communications, there is something comforting about a piece of jewelry that has been handcrafted by labor-intensive hammering, filing, stamping, grinding, and polishing,” author Dexter Cirillo writes. Her words are an enchanting introduction to the jewelry showcased in Southwestern Indian Jewelry: Crafting New Traditions, a new edition of the book published in 1992 by Abbeville Press. While training for the Peace Corps in the 1960s, Cirillo found herself in New Mexico, and still considers the Southwest her “other home.”
Cirillo begins with a series of modern design influences, from the award-winning jewelry box Fathers of Inspiration, crafted by Darryl Dean Begay, to a museum exhibition featuring the concha belts of Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird. The book displays colorful images in several categories: silver and metalwork, lapidary art, and objects and sculptural jewelry. Also featured are 85 Native jewelry artists, including members of the Navajo Nation and several New Mexico Pueblos. Surprises for readers include lists: of suggested readings, of artists with their birthdates and tribal affiliations, and of sources of jewelry, including contact information.
If you appreciate the earthy style of Native American jewelry and want to learn more about its origins, you’ll find a good read in Southwestern Indian Jewelry: Crafting New Traditions.—A.A.
Autobiography
Meeting The Medicine Men: An Englishman's Travels Among the Navajo
By Charles Langley
Nicholas Brealey Publishing, www.nicholasbrealey.com
288 pages, paper, $19.95
“First of all, you have to understand that a healer can’t heal everything. Sometimes he can cure a patient and sometimes he can’t, just like a doctor. If we could cure everything then no one would die and that’s not God’s purpose,” reveals an old traiteur (healer) in Cajun country. Like many events in Charles Langley’s book, even holy men and healers cannot overcome the power of destiny. Langley eventually makes his way to New Mexico, and Diné country, in this autobiographical account.
When Langley sets out to see the world, he doesn’t know that “the world” has a few otherworldly mysteries to reveal. After Langley promises to deliver gifts to WWII vets on the Navajo Reservation, his trip to San Francisco is interminably delayed. Instead of the Golden Gate Bridge, Langley finds a link to another world—one steeped in ceremony, folk remedies, and tradition. Prophecy, miracles, living in harmony with the land—this isn’t your typical narrative of a man coming to America to seek his fortune. What began as Langley’s cautious venturings into Southwestern spirituality results in a personal transformation
of supernatural proportions. This is one believer who knows how to spin a good story—thanks to the power of ancient medicine.—A.A.
Cooking
The Great Chiles Rellenos Book
By Janos Wilder, Photography by Laurie Smith
Ten Speed Press, www.tenspeed.com
144 pages, paper, $16.95
According to James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder, “Chiles rellenos, like
most Mexican foods, are of the people. Recipes are handed down from generation to generation, and like all great dishes, everyone has an opinion about them—
the best ways to make them, whose mother makes them best, or where to get the best one.”
The Great Chiles Rellenos Book proves how classic fare can profit from a fresh, spicy twist. Wilder has stuffed thousands of rellenos, with everything from plantains and figs to garlic-infused shrimp and sun-dried tomatoes. Whether you’re looking for the perfect beer-batter recipe, ready to try a chiles rellenos casserole, or just browsing for a new side dish, you’ve found the right book.
With more than 30 tempting recipes to keep your creative juices flowing, this is the cookbook for the Southwestern kitchen. The true test, though, is to see if a rellenos novice can turn a few traditional ingredients (or some nontraditional alternatives) into a mouthwatering dinner.
The good news is that The Great Chiles Rellenos Book comes with more than recipes and beautiful photos by Laurie Smith. It actually teaches the cook how to prepare a tasty chile relleno, including instructions on selection, roasting, and preparation techniques. The Great Chiles Rellenos Book is all you’ll need when the mood strikes—and you know it will—to whip up holiday apple and walnut rellenos or smoked poblano poppers.—A.A.
Children'sBenito's Sopaipillas/Las Sopaipillas de Benito
By Ana Baca, Illustrated by Anthony Accardo, Translated by Carolina Villarroel
Piñata Books, www.artepublicopress.com
32 pages, cloth, $15.95
In this, her third story starring the lovable character Benito, Albuquerque native Ana Baca celebrates the tradition of making sopaipillas (puffs of fried bread). In the mythical story about the origins of this delicious staple of Southwestern cuisine, Benito and his mother are desperate for rain to nourish their dying crops.
A scarecrow comes to life and advises Benito to throw balls of bread dough into the sky. The little pillows of bread—known as “soup catchers”—catch the raindrops and pull them back to earth to water the parched fields. The story subtly suggests that a little faith and creativity can go a long way in times of need. Lively illustrations by Anthony Accardo accompany the tale, which is told in English and Spanish. After reading the story with your child, continue the tradition by making sopaipillas at home using the recipe supplied at the
back of the book. Suggested for children ages 3–7.—Ashley M. Biggers
Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist
By Sharman Apt Russell
Basic Books, www.basicbooks.com
256 pages, cloth, $25
In this book—part natural history, part philosophical investigation into pantheist thinking, and part introspective memoir —Sharman Apt Russell gazes through the lens of pantheism at the fundamental questions facing humanity: “How can I lead a better more joyful life? How can I come to terms with my death and suffering? . . . How should we live as humans on the earth?” As she defines it, pantheism is “The belief that the universe, with all its existing laws and properties, is an interconnected whole that we can rightly consider sacred.”
Apt Russell, who dabbles in Quakerism, chose the book’s title
to evoke the Quaker phrase “to stand in the light”—that is, to wait for the light of God—but for her, the words also express how she feels about the bright skies of New Mexico. Apt Russell is an accomplished nature writer whose books include Hunger: An Unnatural History, An Obsession with Butterflies, and Songs of the Fluteplayer. Here, in prose that is elegant and, at times, disarmingly insightful, she finds inspiration and meaning in spiritual meditation while wandering the mesas and riverbeds near her home in Silver City. Apt Russell teaches creative writing at Western New Mexico University.—A.M.B.
