Joe Henry's writing life

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details.

When Joe Henry was earning his MFA at the Iowa Writer’s Program, Kurt Vonnegut was one of his teachers and novelist John Irving was a classmate. Before going the MFA route, Henry had been a laborer, rancher and professional boxer. But his greater claim to fame is as a songwriter: His songs have been recorded by a who’s-who of popular singers including Frank Sinatra, John Denver, Trisha Yearwood, Garth Brooks, Emmylou Harris and Roberta Flack.

He began writing songs back in 1969 while living in New York City, working in construction and training as a professional boxer. Soon after, he began writing poetry about Colorado, Wyoming and Lime Creek, winning awards from the National Wildlife Federation and others for his conservation efforts in the West and for “the celebration of the natural world in his work.” The work was read and performed in various venues for years before Henry decided to collect the various scenes in a single volume.

Friends and reviewers have called his debut novel, “Lime Creek,” lyrical, and they aren’t kidding. The book is a series of pictures, of verses about a family living on a horse farm in rural Wyoming. Scenes from the book have been performed by Henry’s friend, actor Anthony Zerbe, in a stage performance titled: “A Lime Creek Christmas.” Hard work, beauty, raw cold, pure spirit — it’s a book-length song, an opera. Henry just needed more space. For our review of “Lime Creek,” check out this Sunday's Discoveries book column. And for more info on Henry, visit his website and listen to some of his music. 

For the record, 2:32 p.m. July 10: A previous version of this post mistakenly included a video clip of another singer named Joe Henry.

-- Susan Salter Reynolds

Mini review: 'The Private Lives of Birds'

Our mini review of the new nonfiction book "The Private Lives of Birds: A Scientist Reveals the Intricacies of Avian Social Life" by Bridget Stutchbury, published by Walker and Company.

"I am a bird detective," explains Bridget Stutchbury, "revealing the behind-the-scenes details of the social lives of birds to understand why females cheat on their mates, what makes a male attractive, why some pairs divorce, how birds claim a territory...and what all this means not only for our avian friends, but for us as well."

Hey, we’ll take advice from anyone, especially if they can fly. Stutchbury loves her work, voyeuristic as it may seem. She has spent the last 20 years "mounting miniature radio-tracking devices on songbirds so I can study how and why they cheat on their mates." For 20 years she has taken notes and trained her ears to listen for changing moods, angry warnings, communicated needs and signals from species other than her own.

Unlike many scientists, Stutchbury is entirely comfortable using the emotional language of humans to describe bird behavior and even learn from it: "There are many fascinating stories hidden in the melodies of the robin, the flash of orange on the redstart, and the male tanager who feeds his incubating mate."

See more reviews by Susan Salter Reynolds in this Sunday's L.A. Times.

-- Susan Salter Reynolds

Photo: A common nightingale. Credit: hhhalberto via Flickr

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Mini review: 'The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris'

Our mini review of the novel "The Sexual Life of an Islamist in Paris" by Leila Marouane, translated from the French by Alison Anderson, published by Europa Editions.

Basile Tocquard needs to get away from his mother. At 40, he is too old for Sunday couscous and too young to marry a “nice Algerian girl.” This is the other Paris, city of expectations, late-night coffee in Saint Germain, “bluish plumes caressing the rooftops,” holy water mailed from Mecca, the right girl, the wrong caste.

See more reviews by Susan Salter Reynolds in Sunday's L.A. Times.

-- Susan Salter Reynolds

Photo: The Seine at night. Credit: Al Lani via Flickr

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Mini review: 'All Over the Map'

Our mini review of "All Over the Map" by Laura Fraser, a memoir published by Harmony Books.

Laura Fraser is a travel addict; there are pros and cons. Running from failed romance and dashed expectations is a plus, but layers of carefully constructed masks begin to suffocate the traveler -- she tries to cover up by being “tough, clever, reserved.” Oaxaca, Greece, Spain, London, it’s a map of failed relationships. In her mid-forties, reporting from Rwanda, the Amazon, and Buenos Aires, Fraser figures out how to play the protagonist in her own stories, in her own life. She buys a little house in San Miguel de Allende, but never settles into reverie, never stops expecting to fall in love.

See more reviews by Susan Salter Reynolds in this Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

-- Susan Salter Reynolds

Photo: Buenos Aires. Credit: Maxi Failla / AFP / Getty Images

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Mini review: 'The House on Salt Hay Road'

Our mini review of "The House on Salt Hay Road" by Carin Clevidence, a novel published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Family. War. Weather. The long, golden summer light of Fire Island, N.Y. The marshes and fields of the Great South Bay. Everything built is destroyed and preserved in memory. The landscape is inseparable from the cycle of catastrophe and creation in this vivid novel. Seaweed, pitch pines, and yellow light in the kitchen window.

See more reviews by Susan Salter Reynolds in this Sunday's LA. Times.

-- Susan Salter Reynolds

Photo: Fire Island, NY. Credit: greenbk via Flickr

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Clicking on Green Links will take you to a third-party e-commerce site. These sites are not operated by the Los Angeles Times. The Times Editorial staff is not involved in any way with Green Links or with these third-party sites.

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Book review: 'Hotel Iris' by Yoko Ogawa

Susan Salter Reynolds' column "Discoveries" appears in our books pages on Sundays. From time to time, she contributes Web-only reviews to Jacket Copy.

Approach with caution: "Hotel Iris" by Yoko Ogawa (Picador, $14) is a strange novel, gorgeously translated. It is the story of Mari, a 17-year-old young woman who works for her tyrannical mother in a hotel by the sea. She meets an older man, a translator of Russian novels, who lives on an island and is rumored to have murdered his wife. He is a pain artist -- ties her up, hits her, spits on her and humiliates her. And she loves him, seeks him out again and again.

“It occurred to me that I had never heard such a beautiful voice giving an order,” Mari thinks. “It was calm and imposing, with no hint of indecision. Even the word ‘whore’ was somehow appealing.”

The text is so clean you can feel the eerie ocean breeze. You think you ought to stop her, but you’re not sure how or if it is really the right thing to do. You know her mother has caused more damage than the translator ever could. Unlike our world of laws, instincts and moral imperatives, you don’t understand the world of this novel at all. Why would this young, beautiful girl need this fastidious, terrifying man?

-- Susan Salter Reynolds