Scott Sparling grew up near railroad tracks in Michigan. He now lives outside Portland, Oregon, with his wife and son.His new novel is Wire to Wire.
A couple of weeks ago I asked Sparling what he was reading. His reply:
When I finished Wire to Wire, I wanted to catch up on what others in the Northwest were writing. I started with Jon Raymond’s Livability – great stories of people who manage a kind of connection in bad circumstances. Miriam Gershow’s The Local News blew me away. The writer in me kept saying, “Well, that’s not gonna work,” and then she’d make it work and more. It was full of risks that paid off in the most satisfying way, I thought.Visit Scott Sparling's website and blog.
Willy Vlautin’s Lean on Pete impressed me like a certain kind of song that seems simple and easy, but you can’t get it out of your head, and the longer it stays there, the deeper down it goes.
I also read Jack Cady’s Rules of ’48– part novel, part memoir, part portrait of Louisville, Kentucky after the war. Jack was my first writing teacher and had an amazing gift for character and dialogue. The book was published five years after his death and deserves to be read.
What I discovered is that there’s no way to “catch up” on Northwest writers. There are still four or five books by NW authors on my desk and the pile keeps getting bigger. Kasston Alonso’s Core: A Romance is up next.
The Page 69 Test: Wire to Wire.
My Book, The Movie: Wire to Wire.
--Marshal Zeringue
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