Accent

Family memoir tops the list

'The first thing you notice about 'Bailing Wire and Gamuza' is its look and then its feel," writes Southwest Books of the Year panelist Richard Quartaroli, describing the top choice for books about the Southwest published in 2004. "It looks like an old-fashioned scrapbook with covers fastened by leather thongs. It could have come across as hokey, but in fact it works well in charm and attractiveness for this family memoir." "Bailing Wire" was written by 84-year-old widow and retired ranch girl Barbara Vogt Mallery. It took Mallery 14 years, using her father's voluminous files, including one labeled "For the book I plan to write," to finish the book. The result is a poignant, honest re-collection of how it was to grow up on a small, hardscrabble ranch in the early 20th century in northwest New Mexico, where baling wire and gamuza were the equivalent of modern-day duct tape. Quartaroli, special collections librarian at Northern Arizona University, is one of the four panelists for Southwest Books of the Year, whose principal sponsor is the Tucson-Pima Public Library, where it is a part of the Southwest Literature Project. Quartaroli worked with three other panelists - W. David Laird, former head librarian at the University of Arizona; Patricia Etter, curator of the Labriola Native American Indian Data Center at Arizona State University; and Steven Phillips, an editor at Western National Parks Association - to sift through more than 250 titles. The books selected by each panelist become Southwest Books of the Year favorites. The titles of the favorites - plus a children's list, compiled by Deborah Bock, curator of the Elizabeth Steinheimer children's collection at Tucson-Pima Public Library - have all been published with commentaries in a colorful brochure that will be available free in Tucson libraries starting Wednesday and in libraries across the state soon after. When one of those 250 books gets picked by multiple panelists, it is deemed a top choice - seven in all this year. "Bailing Wire and Gamuza" was the only one chosen by three of the four panelists. Here are the other top choices: ● "Assembling My Father: A Daughter's Detective Story," by Anna Cypra Oliver, tells of Oliver's quest to piece together the facts of her father's life after he committed suicide, abandoning her and her mother in 1974 in a Taos commune. It is a far grimmer picture of family life than Mallery's but, keyed to Oliver's search, no less poignant. ● "Isabella Greenway: An Enterprising Woman," by Kristie Miller, focuses on personalities as it examines the life of this well-known figure in Arizona history, the state's first female member of Congress, who was also the founder of the Arizona Inn. ● "Caramba! A Tale Told in Turns of the Cards," by Nina Maria Martinez, is another look at family, this time in the form of rollicking fiction. ● "Indian Country: Travels in the American Southwest, 1840-1935," by Martin Padget, is a thought-provoking examination of how explorers, writers and artists helped shape the public's perception of the Southwest. ● "Waterborne: A Novel," by Bruce Murkoff, brings its characters together in 1930 in Nevada at the construction site of Hoover Dam. "What emerges is an epic tale of humankind's quest to conquer nature and tame the beasts that ravage the soul," wrote panelist Phillips in his review. ● Finally, "The Books of the Grand Canyon, the Colorado River, the Green River and the Colorado Plateau, 1953-2003," by Mike S. Ford, is a selection of 125 books about the area defined in the title with careful annotations explaining why each was chosen. A total of 35 titles are listed by the four panelists for the year's best, and each is reviewed in this year's brochure, printed with funds from the Friends of the Tucson-Pima Public Library. Three books by Southern Arizona authors made the list: "Clouds for Dessert," a book of recipes by Susan Lowell; "Beloved Land," interviews with members of pioneer families by Patricia Preciado Martin, with photos by former Tucsonan Jose Galvez; and "After the Fire," a collection of poems by J.A. Jance. This is Southwest Books 28th edition since it first appeared in the Arizona Daily Star in 1977. So, you know what baling wire is. You've read this far hoping for an explanation of gamuza. You'll have to read the book to find out. You'll thank me.