New books published on Methow history, Jewish tales and a dark world for young readers

Local books |

Recently released books with local connections range from poetry to short stories to history and more.

"Bound for the Methow" by Kit McLean and Karen West (Shafer Historical Museum, $59.95). A handsomely produced coffee-table book, packed with archival photographs in sepia and black-and-white, about the Methow Valley in the late-1800s and early-1900s. McLean lives in Winthrop; West, a former Seattle Times editor, lives outside Winthrop.

"A Guest in All Your Houses" by Peter Ludwin (Word Walker Press, $13.95) and "Crush Depth" by Michael Spence (Truman State University Press, $15.95). Two new collections of verse. Kent poet Ludwin writes about travels in — and the history of — the American Southwest. Tukwila poet Spence draws on both his and his father's maritime military experience. Ludwin and Spence read 7:30 p.m., May 28, Open Books, 2414 N. 45th St., Seattle; free (206-633-0811 or www.openpoetrybooks.com).

"Polyglot: Stories of the West's Wet Edge" by Wendy Marcus (Beth Am Press, $12.95). Short stories on Jewish and Pacific Northwest themes. By the co-founder of the klezmer band the Mazeltones, and the editor of the Seattle literary journal Drash: Northwest Mosaic.

"On the Move: A Black Family's Western Saga" by S.R. Martin Jr. (Texas A&M University Press, $24.95). A retired scholar from The Evergreen State College traces his family's ancestry from their years in post-Civil War Texas to World War II California, by way of Kansas, Wyoming and Montana. Martin lives in Olympia.

"Conspirator" by C.J. Cherryh (Daw, $25.95). The 10th novel in the Spokane fantasy writer's "Foreigner" series.

"Memoirs of a Scandalous Red Dress" by Elizabeth Boyle (Avon, $6.99). Seattle writer's historical romance about a 19th-century British viscountess reconnecting with a "handsome American privateer" from her past.

"Uncommon Women: Gender and Representation in Nineteenth-Century U.S. Women's Writing" by Laura Laffrado (Ohio State University Press, $39.95). A professor of English at Western Washington University examines the work of Louisa May Alcott, Harriet Jacobs and other female writers of the era.

"Choosing Craft: The Artist's Viewpoint," edited by Vicki Halper and Diane Douglas (University of North Carolina Press, $35). An anthology focusing on the "inspiration, training, economics, and philosophy" of craft artists working with a broad range of materials, including glass, clay, metals and wood. Halper is a Seattle Art Museum former associate curator. Douglas is former director of the Bellevue Arts Museum.

"The Dark Planet" by Patrick Carman (Little, Brown, $16.99). The concluding volume in the Walla Walla writer's "Atherton" fantasy trilogy for children ages 8-12 is set on "a forsaken world filled with mutant creatures."

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com