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CHAFF 'N' CHATTER
For a couple of years in the mid-1960s, Irene Bennett Brown was women's page editor for a farm newspaper. Part of her job was to write a weekly column, subjects whatever was on her mind. These observations had to do with small-town life, family, the seasons, and memories from her childhood. During the same period she wrote feature stories for Sunday newspaper 'magazines'. This collection is her "sort of memoir" of the times.
Paperback
First published November 1, 2013
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About the author
Irene Bennett Brown
25 books8 followersI was born in Topeka, Kansas but from the age of nine, Oregon’s Willamette Valley has been home. As a child in one-room schools where I was often the only student in my class, I read, reread, and lived vicariously books like HEIDI, CADDIE WOODLAWN, MAMA’S BANK ACCOUNT, and LITTLE WOMEN. Jo in LITTLE WOMEN and Katrin in MAMA’S BANK ACCOUNT, writing away in their dusky attics, fueled my own dream to be a writer.
Author William Least Heat Moon is surely correct when he says “our passions at age 12 will always be with us and indicate our intended career.”
A writer who can’t not write, I pounded out my first seven books on a manual typewriter borrowed from a neighbor. Payoff for sore arms from throwing the carriage was national publication of my children’s books: in hardcover by Atheneum, E.P. Dutton, Thomas Nelson and David McKay, and in paperback book club editions by Viking Penguin, Scholastic, and Junior Literary Guild. Awards and honors include a Spur Award from Western Writers Of America and nomination for the Mark Twain Award for BEFORE THE LARK, the Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award for significant contribution to children’s literature, and inclusion on several best books’ lists.
THE PLAINSWOMAN, published originally by Ballantine, was my first novel for adults and a Western Writers Of America Spur Award finalist. Other novels include my Women Of Paragon Springs series from Five Star Cengage: LONG ROAD TURNING, BLUE HORIZONS, NO OTHER PLACE, and REAP THE SOUTH WIND. A love story set in Oregon’s Hells Canyon, HAVEN, a single title, was also published by Five Star. My historical novel, THE BARGAIN, was released by my own company, Riveredge Books, in 2007. WHERE GABLE SLEPT, the first book in my Celia Landrey mystery series, followed in 2010 and WHERE DANGER DANCED in 2012. All are now published by Riveredge Books and are also available as Kindle and Nook ebooks.
When not following my favorite pursuits, writing and reading, you’ll find me enjoying travel and exploring historic places with my husband, Bob, a retired research chemist, and spending time with our growing and busy family.
Author William Least Heat Moon is surely correct when he says “our passions at age 12 will always be with us and indicate our intended career.”
A writer who can’t not write, I pounded out my first seven books on a manual typewriter borrowed from a neighbor. Payoff for sore arms from throwing the carriage was national publication of my children’s books: in hardcover by Atheneum, E.P. Dutton, Thomas Nelson and David McKay, and in paperback book club editions by Viking Penguin, Scholastic, and Junior Literary Guild. Awards and honors include a Spur Award from Western Writers Of America and nomination for the Mark Twain Award for BEFORE THE LARK, the Evelyn Sibley Lampman Award for significant contribution to children’s literature, and inclusion on several best books’ lists.
THE PLAINSWOMAN, published originally by Ballantine, was my first novel for adults and a Western Writers Of America Spur Award finalist. Other novels include my Women Of Paragon Springs series from Five Star Cengage: LONG ROAD TURNING, BLUE HORIZONS, NO OTHER PLACE, and REAP THE SOUTH WIND. A love story set in Oregon’s Hells Canyon, HAVEN, a single title, was also published by Five Star. My historical novel, THE BARGAIN, was released by my own company, Riveredge Books, in 2007. WHERE GABLE SLEPT, the first book in my Celia Landrey mystery series, followed in 2010 and WHERE DANGER DANCED in 2012. All are now published by Riveredge Books and are also available as Kindle and Nook ebooks.
When not following my favorite pursuits, writing and reading, you’ll find me enjoying travel and exploring historic places with my husband, Bob, a retired research chemist, and spending time with our growing and busy family.
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January 14, 2014
Irene Bennett Brown’s "Chaff ‘n’ Chatter: 1962-1964" takes the reader on a journey into the past: a past we know and some we want to know better. Writing for Oregonian newspapers and assorted magazines, Ms. Brown drew on her home life, that of her small town and tales from the distant past through the voices of village elders.
Ruth Chase, born in the 1870’s of early American stock, grew up in the time of “tallow candles and kerosene lanterns” to become a world traveler, dedicated teacher and one who worked her crossword puzzles in ink. Ms. Brown’s talent for the interview process is evident in how she reveals the nuances of her subjects’ lives. When the new grocery store opens, the reporter finds a disgruntled old-timer complaining how there’s “not one fly. Just progress and plastic.”
Beautiful descriptive passages include Brown’s observation that rain is “mother nature’s washcloth on the face of the earth.” She sees parallels between her grandmother’s efforts at rug-braiding with fabric scraps and plying bits of ideas, theories and notions into an article. Skillfully knitting her words together, the author reveals her troop of kite-flying Cub Scouts “scattered like goose feathers on a fine spring wind.”
There are treasures to be found in these brief pages: Mennonite women preparing apple butter outdoors, in front of a bright red barn; instructions on how to make pioneer coffee from potatoes; the author “spanking loaves of homemade bread into being;” and how Mountain Men of the early 1800’s paid upwards of $6 for a cup of real coffee.
Draw up an imaginary stool or spread a blanket along the banks of Oregon’s Santiam River and treat yourself to Irene Bennett Brown’s forays into the past. You will be glad you did so.
Ruth Chase, born in the 1870’s of early American stock, grew up in the time of “tallow candles and kerosene lanterns” to become a world traveler, dedicated teacher and one who worked her crossword puzzles in ink. Ms. Brown’s talent for the interview process is evident in how she reveals the nuances of her subjects’ lives. When the new grocery store opens, the reporter finds a disgruntled old-timer complaining how there’s “not one fly. Just progress and plastic.”
Beautiful descriptive passages include Brown’s observation that rain is “mother nature’s washcloth on the face of the earth.” She sees parallels between her grandmother’s efforts at rug-braiding with fabric scraps and plying bits of ideas, theories and notions into an article. Skillfully knitting her words together, the author reveals her troop of kite-flying Cub Scouts “scattered like goose feathers on a fine spring wind.”
There are treasures to be found in these brief pages: Mennonite women preparing apple butter outdoors, in front of a bright red barn; instructions on how to make pioneer coffee from potatoes; the author “spanking loaves of homemade bread into being;” and how Mountain Men of the early 1800’s paid upwards of $6 for a cup of real coffee.
Draw up an imaginary stool or spread a blanket along the banks of Oregon’s Santiam River and treat yourself to Irene Bennett Brown’s forays into the past. You will be glad you did so.
Displaying 1 of 1 review