Best books: Terrific titles of 2007

| PHILIP A. DWYER THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

As I read Vreeland’s descriptions of life along the Seine, Renoir’s 14 friends and his internal struggles as an artist, I was transported to the Impressionist age of 19th-century France, about which I knew very little before reading her book.

What Vreeland said: “I am deeply joyous in using art and literature to broaden one’s world through an awakened imagination, to make people wonder or ponder or laugh or get choked up or see something in a new way.”

"The Hippie Narrative: A Literary Perspective on the Counterculture"

Mount Vernon’s Scott MacFarlane examined the key prose works to come out of the hippie movement in “The Hippie Narrative: A Literary Perspective on the Counterculture.”

Maybe it’s the nostalgia — more likely it’s the great writing of authors like Tom Robbins, Hunter S. Thompson, Richard Brautigan and Ken Kesey — but this book made me want to go down to my basement and re-read the tomes of my college days.

What McFarlane said: “The peace and love ethos of the hippies was, at its essence, intent on redefining the quality of our humanity.”

"The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche"

Maryland author Gary Krist meticulously documented the 1910 blizzard and passenger-train tragedy in Washington’s Stevens Pass in “The White Cascade: The Great Northern Railway Disaster and America’s Deadliest Avalanche.”

Was it because I read this during a cold spell last March that I felt I was shivering along with the passengers as they waited days for relief? Or was it because Krist uncovered a fascinating and tragic story from the Pacific Northwest that had been lost in obscurity?

What Krist said: “The moment I read the diary of Sarah Jane Covington, I knew that I had to write this book. Sarah was an elderly grandmother traveling alone on the Seattle Express. She was writing an account of her experience on pieces of scrap paper that were found in the wreckage after the avalanche. Hearing that voice — vulnerable, frightened, but determined to be brave — was just heartbreaking.”

"The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink"

Seattle physician, epidemiologist and academician Robert Morris traced the history of waterborne illnesses and exposes the ongoing risks to our water supply around the world in his book, “The Blue Death: Disease, Disaster, and the Water We Drink.”

I learned much about the history of our drinking water system and the effects of extreme weather, as well as man-induced catastrophes, that Morris says can have major consequences for our water supply.

What Morris said: “For me, the most enjoyable part of research is wrestling with a puzzle that has stumped other scientists and finding an unexpected solution, especially when the answer might bring substantial improvements in public health.”

"Mars Being Red"

Marvin Bell, 70, the first Poet Laureate of Iowa, wrote strong poetic reproofs of the follies of war and the inevitability of death in his 19th collection of poetry, “Mars Being Red.”

My poetry selection of the year was determined in part by Bell’s passion for the power of words and as a visionary who still has respect for the form, sound and rhythm of a poem.

What Bell said: “If readers of my poems find in them a mind to invigorate their own, that is a lot. Do I hope that someone smart will see my better poems many years from now for what they are? Sure. But it’s not about me. It would be OK if they found the poems but not the byline. Poetry is a way of life, not a career.”