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Show ERM1EttW Noah Adams finds old-fashion- j. America on the river ed " a treasure. Far Appalachia ... BY GREGORY HAROS Listeners of National Public Radio are familiar with Noah Adams rich, evenly paccd voice from his tenure as st of All Things Considered. Now readers have an opportunity modd, to discover Adams other voice equally erate mid mellifluous in his new book. Far Appalachia. ' . climaxes with the 7 author bravingtoe rapids of flic Lower New with it groupof whiiewater rafters. .. :X Adams cultures the experience of the foaming, thundering . surges in remarkable detail- - This feat is par- co-ho- self-assure- ; tb sit for about an " hour and make notes." , ; Adams said he enjoys writing as a .7 txeak from his radio duties butisnot cur-rcntly working on another book. I always like to hav; .: A v-;; something else think 1 but I'll going, try a few magazine ; pieces and just not : worry about hand . wait until a book demands to be writ- - : narrative, the book is, as he notes in his .7 The work chronicles Adams' nearly the heartof into prologue, Ae cubninariort of 1 1 months of yeariong personal journey short explorations. Part of his goal, Adams one of the bided river valleys on toe ticularly impressive ... North American continent Following die said, was to acquaint readers with a part of the country they miy entire course of the New. given that he had np. know little about and to experience raftRiver from its origins on a 7 prior NOAH ADAMS .i ... them tovisil North remote hilltop jn ing. Capturing the., OKOurage J PAR' ; ten."';.:-....'. Carolina. to its mouth in ;,7 , experiencewas Appalachia itselfis . : APPALACHIA - Whether waking 7 Adams that such a huge subject . West Virginia, he discovers challen, on books or his radio T.ve wanted to write about admits, You really along the way ah program, Adams said are in deeper holes it for years," Adams . V kmed stretch of America he keeps in mind a , " would than Txit couldii'lfind I admits, you . .where' the pace is easier. quote from producerdiiector Janies L. a way until I figured, well, ; appear to be from the bank," he said. "It'stheclcan air and the ' ase is always an illuskxuT ; Vou just doo't see that from thebank. v Brooks; here's a little way todo it. quietness out there that I "When a radiostory, and Fve been Ido there's Yoti' thatwall smaller write a sudden, Andallofa man, caii' Adams saidin like, satisfied with only a few over the years, ' ' book, and it's got is lianar" .:' of water that's way over your head. And recent phprie interview. V and I hear it, and it sounds so simple, sit--. liveand people know could easily live tfiert , .v , you don't appreciate that when you're diink. How could h have been dial much where it's going toend," 7, ting there on a rock someplace watching in North Chrolinaf 7 ! work? Adams said. Thats when I know, Adams said choosing a the rafters come down the rapids." Virginia. You sort of dont W 7 7'7;;V-'itwasagoodpieefe. In seasoned to the the drive1 in addition, journalist even notice until you region single place found himself unable to use One of the recommend would be diffi ; four hquis and you get out editor toolsofhis trade.The situGregory Harris it a writer and cult. "But 1 love Snake Mountain in North' of your car and you say, 'Where's the ' ' 7 ' X who lives in Indianapolis. ation in a boot," Adams said, means "you noiscT" Carolina, and nobody goes there: Its such a beautiful, beautiful place," he' said. .. can'ibe writing notes, so I would have a Adams doesn't merely explore the 7? V microcasseue recorder in a little water- "That's someplace people wouldnt think tnodem New River in the pages of his ',va ?T '7'V .book; he recalls the region's history from ' to go, and Ashe County is a lovely place 7 proof bag and then wtoider away from the, hMAbtSS-to viritlwpuld have never gotten there .lunch crowd and just get ft few things its frontier orjgins 10 its industrial past. t. 7;.;7 C$ 2S23 JCI ; down and Jheri try find time that night : had it notbeen for fins hook, and its just Although he presents the story in a linear . ... .. . i , j ' : bld-fas- h- : ; . : 3 1; . . : 7'.V time-honor- ed . ' . . 1 ' . . wQanmioNtMp HHtM io of identity slippage. SheS perfectly .7- clear or thinks she is on who she was. at ?l, when Joe mistook her far anatur-al-boceldxator," thus typecasting her into die role she has oocupied for the past BACK WHEN WE JuVUfc ni WERE GROWNUPS Bftoim Tykr KmASS R8N 0X75412530 ' QQmMt MN 03754151X0 REVIEW (f SANOY MbcOONAUt .7 ! herself, Anne Tyler is a champion ofhdy kxiiera, if not outright fods. Many of her novels (this is ' ' run- hcr lSth) read like downs of extended family reunions at. ;: which all parties seem determined to APulit2wPrize-winn- a (wwvw it : 4 three decades. But who is she now? Has ' She inadvertently strayed from her true have? to the one meant was die red. life, ..We all wonder from time to time about toe road not takem ln Beck's case, a 7 seemingly portentous dream about the Ki she might have had witji Will AOenby, her blow-by-blo- w . . uviBlVitiA'-- I.AWcJfJN" taim-- fe. ! ; . AN 4 K ' mmmmlm -- ;:.S22 , paperback, ! V.7-- Beck's problem, oddly, is not m 1 V'. T.. V; 1 handover CASTING THE FIRSTSTQNE, : V 1 V.;-- V' y BLACkBOARD bestseller trade comingthis July from DafiolBooks.- - .7 awkward, sometimes hilarious effect; A . carefully staged meeting with his resentful teenage daughter is a modern classic. Beck's family is far more accepting of this potential rekindling:, . indeed, her mother, an old-- ; . e fashioned whose every innocb-ou- s : comment bears a is barbed reproach, outright ' ecstatic;'' .: Will Beck find the tost L' this phantasm from her ' pasl?.The reader will quickly form a fervid opinion as ' to whether she should. Meanwhile, Tylers latest entertainingly ' refutes Tolstoys dictum that happy families ire all alike.lf . ; overex-- tension,butigapat the corc; theone ; ; thing achingly missing from her life is her husband, Joe, who died only a few years ; after sweeping her into this maelstrom. 7 Her midlife crisis, when it comes, is one . sweetheart, segments of her younger self by reconnecting wito' ..' husband-and-chi- ld brown-ston- e, i ge prompts her to look him up to often ?. an 'K: 1 ' Don't forget to look for Kim's . s ; ?!-- chikfliood-unto-coile- passive-aggressiv- V-ther- . lu ; . . ; ' W'i y? xr A '7- V. '77'' v7:. Rebecca (Beck") Davilch, This . poignant an4.vwv ' 7 die accidental matriarch at the hub of this Baltimore , humbrqus tale; of family jWe,7famiiy tragedy and j r. clan, finds herself at S3 with a grown brood three mildly coming to terms with the 7 squabbfcsome stepdaughters true meaning of being ' and their extended houseFor teach other will .V; holds, along With her own 7 now on her third daughter; -inspire and warm the! Ti combos : heaga.'of readers' evety-1.- J and a resident , where. Cet Kim Roby Jake . party business to run out of a !: you ort a journey that ;!c; grand, if deteriorating wont 'soon be orgotteri7;A A the Open Arms. ; ' . Sandy MacDonald it incubating a family compound on the island of Nantucket ' in Massachusetts. rem z . a |