Unnecessary Talking: The Montesano Stories - Softcover

O'Connor, Mike

9781929355419: Unnecessary Talking: The Montesano Stories

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1929355416 ISBN 13: 9781929355419

Publisher: Pleasure Boat Studio, 2009

Literary Nonfiction. In this warm and humorous memoir, the boy you meet is irrepressible, devilish, curious, rambunctious, imaginative, sports-minded, friendly, naive, and absolutely joyful--definitely the kind of boy who would get in trouble from his teacher for "unnecessary talking." Mike O'Connor's stories remind a reader of what it was like to grow up in small-town 1950's America. "With UNNECESSARY TALKING, poet Mike O'Connor leads us through the streets and neighborhoods of Montesano, Washington--circa early 1950s. These stories and sketches make up a memoir of a young boy's clean, clear understanding of a world where mystery is common sense and adult rules are slippery as a wet bar of soap. O'Connor's writings, though rooted deeply in the rain-soaked soils of the Pacific Northwest, reach out to touch, in a tender and wise way, the very heart of an America lost but still loved"--Finn Wilcox.

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About the Author:

Mike O'Connor, a native of Washington State, is a poet, writer, and translator of Chinese literature. Beginning in 1970, he engaged in farming and forest work, followed by a journalism career in Asia that lasted until 1995. He has published nine books of poetry and translations, and his recent long poem Immortality can be found online at Narrative Magazine. O'Connor is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, and he is an Honorary Fellow of Hong Kong Baptist University. He currently serves as publisher of Empty Bowl Press in Port Townsend, Washington.

Review:

With its winding episodic structure, intrinsic good heartedness, and flawless storytelling, Unnecessary Talking feels like childhood -- cocooned by family but plumbed with vast and thrilling occasions for interesting trouble. Mike O Connor s tales and tall tales read like a travelogue from a distant land, a place anyone who has had a youthful adventure will recognize and celebrate and long to visit again. --Adrianne Harun, author of The King of Lambs

With Unnecessary Talking, poet Mike O'Connor leads us through the streets and neighborhoods of Montesano, Washington--circa early 1950's. These stories and sketches make up a memoir of a young boy's clean, clear understanding of a world where mystery is common sense and adult rules and fears are slippery as a wet bar of soap. O'Connor's writings, though rooted deeply in the rain-soaked soils of the Pacific Northwest, reach out to touch, in a tender and wise way, the very heart of an America lost but still loved. --Finn Wilcox, author of Here Among the Sacrificed

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.