[.ca] A Little More About Me (ISBN 0743406338)

From Amazon.com:
In Pam Houston's can't-put-down collection of essays, A Little More About Me, she describes her globe-trotting adventures spanning five continents with candor and humor, but it's the emotional journey that hits home. We travel vicariously as Houston treks through the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan or dozes while a pride of lions passes her Botswana campsite, but we're right there with her when she talks about her anger-filled childhood, her lifelong obsession with weight, and of course, a penchant for strong, silent types. Her willingness to put herself at risk is her way of coping with these insecurities--each victory on skis or in hiking boots a triumph over those nasty demons. A self-professed nature nut (this is a woman who owns her own horses), Houston is addicted to the next challenge (she's broken seven bones and has twice had search parties sent out for her). Through self-reflection and therapy, however, she's come to realize that saying no to a dangerous endeavor can be just as empowering as conquering any class V rapid. When she opts not to continue a particularly tricky climb in her essay "On (Not) Climbing the Grand Teton," she explains that "true success \olies\c within the failure, in listening to my fear and standing firm in my desire to go back down." Houston's writing is straightforward and doesn't get mired in innuendo--she tells it like it is. And because she's not afraid to admit her fears and mistakes, we truly root for her to achieve the balance she's seeking. Though some might find it hard to empathize with someone whose concessions include drawing the line at camping out in 20-degree-below temperatures rather than 60-below, on a fundamental level we can relate. Our coping mechanisms might not be as detrimental to our health, but they are just as real. The powerful messages in A Little More About Me are well worth pondering. --Jill Fergus

self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing:
This woman has read too many of her own press releases. She writes a decent short story, and should stick to that -- fiction. Her life is not the stuff of enlightening autobiography, and whoever told her otherwise (her best friend? her editor?) should be ashamed of themselves.

The Title Says it All:
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, and oh, did I forget ME?

Inspirational writing from a very independent woman:
Houston's description of the Ardeche region in France in "Waves Every Color of Harvest" was enough to make me hail the next taxi to the airport - and I HATE to fly. This collection of essays, of which many have already appeared in various popular publications, covers the gamut from adventure travel to self-analysis to the love of a good dog. Read this if you're stuck at your boring 9-5 desk and dream of life on the open road. And then rejoice in the convenience of indoor plumbing.

If you've read her before, you'll like this:
A rambling collection of essays that indeed reveal much about the author of her quirky books. Provides insight into who she is, why she would risk life and limb just to prove a point, how she defines 'home,' her relationships with men and dogs and trucks... Goes down easy.

Houston's "accumulation of moments.":
When this book was published in 1999, Pam Houston visited Tempe, Arizona and read "Dante and Sally" and "Home is Where Your Dogs Are" from this twenty-four essay collection. It is easy for me now to hear her voice in all of these essays. Written over a period of five years (p. 23), they are full of "happy-to-be-alive adrenaline" (p. 19), and "artistic, spiritual, emotional, even physical edges" (p. 25). Each essay is a testament that life offers us opportunities "to be our truest selves, to lead an independent lifestyle, not tied (or chained) to the conventions of a confining city life" (p. 35). Houston has the ability to make "words dance" (p. 22). The unfavorable reader reviews below are a mystery to me. While some of Houston's essays soar higher than others, they all contain their own unique moments of truth, whether her subject is flyfishing at 2 a.m. with "a bunch of male poets" (p. 103), or pitching a tent "on a patch of red in front of a big blond piece of sandstone under a blue Utah sky" (p. 129). In "A Man Who'll Freeze His Eyelashes for You," Houston observes "the essence of the desert is silence, meditation, empty spaces, and peace" (p. 126). In another favorite, "Redefining Success," we find Houston discussing success with poet Jane Hirshfield, while walking along Muir Beach. She writes: "But now I am coming to the understanding that success has less to do with the accumulation of things and more to do with the accumulation of moments, and that creating a successful life might be as simple as determining which moments are the most valuable, and seeing how many of those I can string together in a line" (p. 166). In this collection, Houston offers us an accumulation of such valuable moments which, upon reaching the book's final essay, will leave you hoping for a little more about her. I encourage you to read this book, then decide for yourself. G. Merritt