|
What is it about Ohio? It nurtures able writers, as this book makes clear, but then they leave. Eudora Welty stayed in the same town, in fact the same house, for most of her brilliant writing life, but this book suggests Ohioans set off for other places. Editor Lisa Watts (born in Ohio, resident of North Carolina) has collected Ohio childhood memories from 20 writers who remember growing up in Bryan, Athens, Akron, Findlay, Hudson and other such spots as a mostly sunny, gentle time but are adults in New York City, Cape Cod, Mass., New Hampshire and other good addresses. Dale Keiger of Mount Healthy was a Cincinnati freelance journalist, is still a Reds fan and now lives in Baltimore. "We are mapmakers, all of us, tracing lines of memory across the spaces we enter," writes Anthony Doerr in one of the most perceptive of these essays. He continues, "You bury your childhood everywhere you go. It waits for you, all your life, to come and dig it back up." Yes, that's what writers do. Rita Dove, Ian Frazier, P.J. O'Rourke, Julie Salamon are among contributors here. The pieces are brief and repetitious when read straight through. It's best to take this book in short gulps, but I am glad to make the acquaintance of Doerr, poet Mary Oliver, and others, as well as hear about Ohio from those whose non-Ohio writing I already know. For works by writers who stayed here or even have moved here, stop by InkTank (1311 Main St., Downtown) for the world's only bookstore devoted exclusively to Cincinnati writers. InkTank's Book Bank now includes works by over 100 authors (see www.inktank.org). Some of us still write here. (Jane Durrell) Grade: B
