Terry Tempest Williams book reading tonight!

THURSDAY DEC. 18, 5:30-7pm
Finding Beauty in a Broken World
book-signing and reading

I am a big fan of Terry Tempest Williams. When she visits me in the gallery, I must admit to feeling a bit star-struck. I get all nervous about what silly thing is going to pop out of my mouth and I freeze up. What she says and writes is just so stirringly beautiful, haunting and meditative, it strikes a particular cord in me that throws me off balance, in a good way.

I read her book Leap almost two years ago, and it was life-changing for me. The vision of her sitting in the Prado Museum in Madrid with a pair of binoculars, bird-watching across the room from Hieronymus Bosch's triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of those many moments that I wish I could have been a part of. You have to understand, she was bird-watching a painting. She was sitting IN the gallery, with her binoculars trained across the room deeply into the painting and the guards watching, ...Bosch's 15th-century painting has hundreds of real and imagined species of birds depicted and even touches upon the theory of evolution.

In my non-english major/non-writer's opinion, I think that Terry's writing falls somewhere between non-fiction and poetry. For me, it bridges the creative gap between those two genres. I am not a huge fan of either one (I like art books, philosophy and fantasy/sci-fi...in know, weird), but she has found the perfect balance that lets me access and embrace both genres which have previously escaped me. I mean really, who else could put together mosaics, prairie dogs and the Rawanda genocide into a sparkling collection of facts and emotions?

I hope that you will be able to join us at the gallery this evening for Terry's reading.
The Valley Bookstore is a co-sponsor...thank you Steve Ashley!