The natives are restless this fall the native Utah writers. Following are several capsulized looks at new books just out from the local literati:UTE TALES; collected by Anne M. Smith (assisted by Alden Hayes); University of Utah Press; 176 pages.
Anne M. Smith died in 1981, but for years before that she lived and worked among the Ute people. Now, her collection of Ute folktales, tall tales and parables is significant, high-minded and destined - like so many university press books - to remain relatively unknown.Low advertising budgets and a lack of motivation to turn large profits (most university publications are subsidized) tend to earmark many university press books for obscurity.
"Ute Tales," however, is worth a look.FAMILIES WHO LAUGH LAST; by Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard; Deseret Book; 163 pages; $8.95.
This is the fifth book from a woman who's becoming known as the LDS Erma Bombeck. Baadsgaard takes family situations and gives them her own pithy spin. She writes in that breezy - yet earnest - tone that characterizes much Mormon humor. This, for instance, from an essay on eternal housework:The pieces are pleasant and jovial, and though some readers may feel uneasy with the sentiment and preciousness at times, "Families Who Laugh Last" may be just the book to give your married sister - if you're still on speaking terms with her and her husband.TWELVE TALES OF CHRISTMAS; by Richard M. Siddoway; Bookcraft; 81 pages; $4.95.
Christmas books? Already?
Yes, says Bookcraft. You can't be too quick on the trigger with the annual good will.
Several local publishers are going to these small Christmas gift books this year. They seem to fill a niche - the perfect gift for someone (like the home teacher or your cousin Vinny) who deserves more than a Christmas card, but maybe isn't in the $15-gift category. Publishers hope to move thousands of these little stocking stuffers.
Richard M. Siddoway's contribution weighs in heavy on nostalgia and family, with a prose style that should reach everyone from 8 to 80. THE HOUSE ON REMINGTON STREET; by James Britton; Southern Press; 527 pages; $13.95.
You have to admire some writers for their sheer guts and sense of vocation. James Britton is one of them. He's been cobbling together and trying to sell his novel "The House on Remington Street" for umpteen years now.
Today he finally has it in print. True, like a lot of struggling writers, he had to foot the bill himself. And the distribution of the book will be spotty. But he did get the job done.
The novel is written in the lush, hyberbolic prose one often associates with Vardis Fisher and 19th-century British novelists. It begins:A hushed and sleepy luxuriously yawning spring in peaceful "horse and buggy" late 19th century New England.
Dreamily, romantically, fancifully, conjures up leisurely thawing, "Christmas card"-like leaden gray skied visions. . . .If such symphonic sentences are to your taste, I recommend "The House on Remington Street" to you. Even if you find the writing much too purple, I still recommend the author himself as a man who's been true to his muse.