Archive for books

Signing “Sandy”

March 29, 2026 books, Nature, Uncategorized, writing No comments

Today I had the honor of signing a copy of my book, “Sandy: The Story of a Young Dune,” for a woman who called me out of the blue and told me she would be honored if I would consent to sign the copy that she bought for her new grandson, whose name happens to be Sandy.


I assured her that the honor would be all mine.


For one thing, I was so impressed that Sharon Meyers tracked me down. With a bit of internet sleuthing she found my phone number. She called me one day last week when I was entertaining my grandchildren at Chicago’s Museum of Science & Industry during their spring break. But we arranged a meeting at my home in Chesterton when she and her husband would be en route from their Evanston, IL, home to their vacation home in nearby Michigan City, IN.


My son, Cory Falk, agreed to come next door from his home to photograph me and Sharon so I could memorialize the event on my website blog.


What a fun and fascinating lady! I am new to this book signing business, but if every interaction with a purchaser is as interesting as today’s, I could happily sign books all day.


Sharon and I have a lot in common. She said she just completed a writing residency in Japan and she is well versed in Japanese culture. I studied Japanese tea ceremony and spoken and written Japanese some years ago, though I have only been to the Narita Airport near Tokyo, on my way to Nepal.


She also does food writing and cooking classes. I’ve done my share of food writing and when she gifted me a container of artisan Japanese salt I had to mention articles I’ve written about salt and Portland, Oregon’s own selmelier, Mark Bitterman.


As for my book, “Sandy: The Story of a Young Dune,” I published it through Amazon last year, but interest in it seems to be growing as 2026 is the 100th anniversary of the opening of Indiana Dunes State Park. I wrote and illustrated the story of the Dunes, as told by a young sand dune. I included the science of dune succession and the history of both the state park and the national park at the Indiana Dunes. It’s currently for sale at the Indiana Dunes Visitors Center, the Nature Center gift shop in the Indiana Dunes State Park, and at the nearby Schoolhouse Shop.

SANDY. Written and illustrated by me!


Sandy is also available at Amazon.com for $12.99. I am thrilled each time someone tells me they love my book and asks me to sign it.

Interviewing Ursula Le Guin

January 29, 2018 books, personalities, writing One comment

The death of Ursula Le Guin on January 22 made me sad over our loss of the doyenne of Portland writers, but also put me in a nostalgic mood for the day in 1991 that I interviewed her for a People magazine profile. My story ran on November 18 of that year.

She invited me to her home on Northwest Thurman Street, where we sat outside and talked about her childhood. Raised by anthropologists who were particularly interested in nearly extinct Native American tribes, Ursula remembered a home that was full of activity from her three brothers and from a constant stream of Indians, one of whom, Ishi, was the subject of her mother’s famous book, Ishi in Two Worlds.

She showed me where she usually sat to write, on her porch overlooking the Willamette River. She wrote longhand on tablets and later entered her writing onto her computer in her office, which was on the top floor of the sprawling house.

As we parted, I asked if there was someone from whom she would like me to request a quote. She answered, “Joyce Carol Oates.” I gulped, said, “No problem,” and later panicked. I had no idea how to reach her. Fortunately, at the same time that I was a People correspondent, I was also a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal’s Leisure & Arts Page. I called my editor there, Ray Sokolov.

No problem, he said. He and Joyce were currently both on a Pulitzer Prize judging panel and he could give me her home number. “Don’t tell her where you got the number,” he said.

Later I called Ursula to tell her how enthusiastic Ms. Oates had been about her. She was very pleased, but confessed, “I haven’t read a single thing by her!” As an afterthought, she said, “Don’t tell anybody!”

Shortly before the article was to be published, I got a frantic call from a People magazine copy editor. The photographer hadn’t provided much information about where he had photographed Ursula, and they were wondering the name of the “huge mountain” Ursula was sitting near. I knew that she had taken the photographer to her cabin at Cannon Beach, but nobody had said anything to me about going to the mountains for photos.

That was before the Internet, however, so the editor couldn’t share the photo with me electronically. I had to wait until the magazine hit the stands. I hurried to Rich’s Cigar Store, opened a copy and saw Ursula sitting in front of . . . Haystack Rock.

As Ursula would have said, with a sad shake of her head, “Those Easterners!”

“Hyperbole and a Half” — a Bill Gates pick

February 18, 2016 blog, books No comments

I just finished a book that was recommended by Bill Gates. Yeah, that Bill Gates. TheBillGates Microsoft guy.

I never imagined that I would ever be following book recommendations by Bill Gates, but after I stumbled upon an article about his book blog, I found the subject intriguing enough (I mean, if I can never find time to blog, how does a hugely powerful and busy business leader manage to write a book blog?!) that I not only read the whole article, but I made a Hyperbolebooknote of one of the books mentioned in the article, “Hyperbole and a Half.” The article said Gates had found this graphic memoir laugh-out-loud hilarious.

The article also mentioned that the author, Allie Brosh, is a young woman living in my home state, in the city of Bend, Oregon, where she writes her blog of the same name, Hyperbole and a Half. Bill Gates + laugh-out-loud + Oregon was enough to send me to the library.

It was a strange sensation to be reading Brosh’s book and enjoying her crude but clever illustrations, and all of a sudden to laugh out loud. Every time that happened, I felt a special kinship with Bill and I wondered if the scenes that had tickled me were the same ones that had made him explode in an appreciative laugh.

First of all, Brosh’s own character, which she drew with Paintbrush, amused me every time it appeared. At first I thought she was depicting herself as a fish with a pink body and cakeyellow dorsal fin. But no, I read that the drawing was of a girl with a blonde ponytail and a pink dress. Her odd looks add to the humor of her stories, particularly “The God of Cake.”

I also loved her dog drawings. She has two dogs: the simple dog and the helper dog. The Allie's dogsfluidity of her drawings make the dogs look like they’re made from Silly Putty. But at the same time, these goofy creatures are uncannily realistic. I recognized my own dog’s behavior in their odd antics. I also recognized my own behavior and some of my own secret demented thoughts in Brosh’s character. She is excellent at pinpointing human foibles.

Brosch also tackles quite serious topics, namely her own battle with depression. But what better therapy for her than to bring cheer to others with her hilarious illustrated memoir and to gain recognition and respect for her delightful creativity.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Bill Gates! Keep ’em coming!

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