[olderthanIusedtobe]

One of my favorite authors just passed away. His last novel will be released in August. Originally from Montana but called the Seattle area home for many years.

[Phil]

Huge loss. McCaskill trilogy, Searunners, Winter Brothers, etc. Top shelf stuff.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

English Creek and Dancing at the Rascal Fair are my 2 favorites I'd say. Also like The Whistling Season, Work Song, Bucking the Sun. Haven't quite read everything he's written, but close.

[mike]

Prefer non fiction. The account of growing up in Montana This House Of Sky

[sten]

This house of sky

[camut]

Was so sad to hear of Ivan Doig's passing. This House of Sky and Winter Brothers were my favorites. I'm going to go through the books of his that I have in my library and reread some of them.

[DIYSteve]

Lovely prose, cool guy. RIP Ivan

[sams rapids]

I had read several of his books. Prefer the non fiction. There I was, a dozen years ago, at Goodwill on Dearborn. Looking for a paperback to take on a camping trip. It was, I think Winter Brothers, I was really looking for one more Dickens. I opened it and saw Lake Ozette in the text. I thought it a good sign and bought it. I did not look at it again. I read it on the ferry and while eating lunch at the boat launch. At Swan Bay, on lake Ozette. Then I realized that the Swan Bay I was at, was named after James Swan, principle figure in the Winter Brothers. It was quite a story. It sure was a good sign and I enjoyed the story of the first postmaster of Ozette and friend of the natives, while kayaking and camping. I read the Dickens on a different trip. Wish I still had the Doig Book. I gave it away to someone heading for the beach.

[rhughes]

Ivan Doig wrote prose like poetry. This House of Sky was his first book and, in my opinion, his best. I read it again every few years. My first encounter with Ivan Doig was at an English teachers' conference in Boise in 1982 where he defined the Northwest as going as far south as the first hot tub in Marin county. He spoke as well as he wrote. Several years ago I heard him speak in Monroe. During his talk he spoke about a "creek" in Montana. After the talk, while I was having him sign a new copy of This House of Sky to replace my worn out copy, I said that I doubted that he pronounced the word "creek" that way when he was in Montana and he replied as one of his characters would have, "No," he said, "No I wouldn't have said it that way." For those not familiar with Montana pronunciation the word there is "crick." Although he continued to write well over the years, I prefer his earlier English Creek fiction. There are a number of very good Montana writers but Ivan Doig and Norman Maclean (A River Runs Through It) are at the top of the list.