The daily Astorian., January 08, 2015, Image 28

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NW
word
nerd
By RYAN HUME
noun
1. any number of chemical
compounds containing potas-
sium, most commonly leached
from spent wood ash, and often
employed in the creation of fer-
tilizers and soap
Origin:
Current form is fi rst record-
ed in English in 1751 following
the introduction of “pot ash” in
1648, which was borrowed as a
loan translation of the obsolete
Dutch, potaschen; all refer to the
initial process of obtaining the
substance through the means
of evaporating an ashen solu-
tion in a cast iron pot.
“The majority of cargo from Washington
and Oregon that travels on the Columbia River is
exports. Wheat from Eastern Washington or corn
or soy from as far away as Kansas can make its way
to Asia or the U.S. or South American West Coast.
Bulk exports of potash for fertilizer plants, lumber
for milling or oil products destined for refineries on
the U.S. coast are common, as are imports of hun-
dreds of foreign automobiles on eight-story high
transport ships. Anything from name-brand tennis
shoes to fireworks can be on in-bound ships. Nei-
ther the bar pilots or CRBP employees usually know
about the cargo in the ships they guide.”
— “Columbia River Bar Pilots of Astoria,” The Daily
Astorian, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013
“Mr. Rogers, of Rogers & Pyatt, importers of
gums, shellac and chemicals, and manufacturers
of varnish, made a statement which quoted Pres-
ident Main of the Tarrant Company as saying that
the ‘Rogers and Pyatt people stored much chlo-
rate of potash with us and this may have caused
the explosion. I am inclined to think that it did.’”
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BOOKSHELF
By RYAN HUME
Just finished
“Carver: Collected Sto-
ries” by Raymond Carver
The Library of America,
2009
Plot Notes: A husband tasked with
feeding his well-to-do neighbors’ cat while
they are away is drawn further and further
into their empty apart-
ment by the call of their
things. A young couple
happen upon a heap of
furniture out in a front
yard, mistaking the end
of a marriage for a garage
sale. Another husband
tries to understand the
depth of the connection
his wife has with a for-
mer boss, a blind man
staying the night at their
house. And in perhaps his
most famous and imitated story, “What We
Talk About When We Talk About Love,” four
friends — two couples all embarking on
second marriages — discuss their personal
meanings of love as a bottle of gin and the
afternoon light wane.
Take Away: Like Hemingway, Carv-
er writes powerful, barebones stories
in unadorned prose. One of the Pacifi c
Northwest’s most noted scribes (born
in Clatskanie, he sadly
died in Port Angeles,
Washington, at age
50), Carver is remem-
bered for his melan-
choly portraits of work-
ing-class malaise, the
wedge between the
sexes and his knowing
portrayals of alcoholics
on either side of sobri-
ety, but this collection
shows that his stories
were also sly and very
often funny with a generous wit. This
comprehensive volume issued by the
Library of America gathers all of Carver’s
celebrated story collections as well as
“Beginners,” for the fi rst time in print.
This is the original, unedited manuscript
of the stories that would become “What
We Talk About When We Talk About
Love,” many of which were so severely
altered by his editor, Gordon Lish, that
many literary critics have to reassess
their appraisal of this collection as a
groundbreaking work of minimalist fi c-
tion. Now’s the chance to read them side
by side and make your own decision.
Recommended For: Lit geeks,
fans of Alice Munro or the short story
in general, book collectors and aspiring
writers
Bonus: Carver has gotten the Hol-
lywood treatment a few times. Many
of his stories were utilized to create
Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts” in 1993,
while “Why Don’t You Dance?” served
as inspiration for the 2010 recession-era
Will Ferrell dramedy “Everything Must
Go.” Lately, he has been name-checked
at the multiplex in “Birdman,” as Mi-
chael Keaton’s character is attempting
to stage an adaptation of “What We Talk
About When We Talk About Love.”
Other books:
“Carver Country: The World
of Raymond Carver Photo-
graphs” by Bob Adelman
with excerpts from the
work of Raymond Carver
Quantuck Lane Press, 2013
More on Carver: Gain intimate ac-
cess to the lives, times and landscapes of
Raymond Carver through Bob Adelman’s
duotone photographs. Carver was known
to indulge his wanderlust, and Adelman
captures many steps of his journey through
Washington, Oregon, California, New
York state and more. The photographs are
paired with selections from Carver’s prose,
poetry and letters to reveal the physical lo-
cations of an otherwise fi ctional universe.
“10-Day Green Smoothie
Cleanse” by JJ Smith
Atria, 2014
New Year buzz: Even if you have al-
ready fallen off the resolution bandwagon,
January is still a good month for a cleanse
following the heavy doses of just about ev-
erything that rides along with the holiday
season. Keep in mind though that the authors
and publishers of all diet books disavow any
and all responsibility for adverse effects.
Sale on the ENTIRE STORE!
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January 8, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 19