Local books: no-fuss gardening, black veterans and Salish folk tales

New releases

"The New Low-Maintenance Garden: How to Have a Beautiful, Productive Garden and the Time to Enjoy It" by Valerie Easton, photographs by Jacqueline M. Koch (Timber Press, $19.95). The weekly garden columnist for Pacific Northwest Magazine shares some tips. Photographer Koch's work has also appeared in Pacific Northwest. Easton speaks 7 p.m., Wednesday, Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way N.E., Lake Forest Park, free (206-366-3333 or www.thirdplacebooks.com).

"Tempt Me At Twilight" by Lisa Kleypas (St. Martin's, $7.99). Romance novel by a Bellingham writer about a young woman from an unconventional family who "longs for normalcy."

"Fighting for Our Democracy: Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South" by Christopher S. Parker (Princeton University Press, $60 hardcover, $24.95 paperback). An assistant professor of political science at the University of Washington recounts "how the experiences of African American soldiers during World War II and the Korean War influenced many of them to challenge white supremacy in the South when they returned home."

"Some Ducks: A Cycle of Poems for My Daughter" by Tim McNulty (Pleasure Boat Studio, $10). A chapbook of verse by the Olympic Peninsula writer and frequent contributor to The Seattle Times book pages.

"And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records" by Larry Harris, with Curt Gooch and Jeff Suhs (Backbeat, $24.99, www.backbeatbooks.com CQ). The co-founder of Casablanca Records, home to Donna Summer and the Village People, recalls his years at the label. Harris, who ran the Seattle Improvisation comedy club at the Showbox Theater 1990-1994, now lives in Port Angeles.

"Folk-Tales of the Coast Salish," collected and edited by Thelma Adamson (University of Nebraska Press, $25). A reissue of a 1934 collection of Native American tales from our region, most of them drawn from Upper Chehalis and Cowlitz Salish narrative traditions. Adamson (1901-1983) was a student of anthropologist Franz Boas. With a new introduction by William R. Seaburg and Laurel Sercombe, both of University of Washington.

Seattle Times staff

For possible listing in "Local Books," send a finished copy of the book, with price and publication date, to Local Books, Seattle Times, 1120 John St., Seattle, WA 98109. No self-published or vanity-published titles, please.