Regional Reads: "Somebody Should Have Scolded the Girl"

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Paula Coomer’s new collection of short stories “Somebody Should Have Scolded the Girl” turns a feminist eye toward contemporary issues by examining the lives of rural women during the Vietnam era. A farm wife discovers the power of books after Sylvia Plath’s death; an exotic dancer, having survived chemo treatments, worries about finding the money to put her daughters through community college; a mother waits out her husband’s prison sentence.

Set primarily in the Midwest, upland South, and Pacific Northwest, the book turns a mirror on some of today’s toughest subjects: gender dynamics, economics, race and the impact of war. In the author’s note at the end of the book, Coomer acknowledges the collection as her attempt to “take family history and create from it stories about women who own themselves, women who are victors, not victims.”

The book was released in September by Fawkes Press and was featured that month in BuzzFeed’s list of “18 Books From Small Publishers That Deserve Your Attention.” Coomer, a longtime Clarkston resident and writing teacher, recently moved to Garfield. Her past books include “Jagged Edge of the Sky” and “Blue Moon Vegetarian,” among others. 

Launch party: 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at Book People of Moscow. 

Book signing: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 12 at And Books Too in Clarkston.

Reading: 6 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Asotin County Library’s downtown branch in Clarkston.

Inland 360 publishes information on books published in the current year that have a regional connection to the area. Submissions can be sent to editor@inland360.com and should include a description and photo of the book, a short author bio and where the book is available for purchase. Publication is not guaranteed.