BRIEFLY.

Byline: The Register-Guard

The Best Places to Kiss

in the Northwest

By Kate Chynoweth (Sasquatch Books, 480 pages, $19.95)

This Saturday is Valentine's Day, and if you haven't already made plans, here's a book that might save you. Or help you do better next time.

This is the eighth edition of a guide to lodging, restaurants and smooch-inducing scenery in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. "Setting, privacy and ambience" are the primary selection criteria.

April's at Nye Beach in Newport, for instance, is summed up neatly: "There are just 12 tables in the warm and charming space, which means intimacy is never a problem, though privacy could be." Translation: If you're going there to propose, expect a round of applause.

Bonnie Henderson of Eugene is among the contributors, and she's come up with a good list of usual suspects: the Owens Memorial Rose Garden, Hendricks Park, King Estate, Chateau Lorane, Silvan Ridge/Hinman Vineyards, Belknap Hot Springs, the Campbell House, McKenzie View and Secret Garden B&Bs, Adam's Place, Chanterelle, the Excelsior, Marche, etc.

Henderson's longtime local knowledge shows in such selections as the Sawmill Ballroom Lavender Farm and in fine details such as "the cardamom-flavored flan" at Cafe Soriah, an exquisite finishing touch to a romantic meal.

This is an easy, enjoyable way to look for romantic getaways. The book's only flaw is its premise. The best place to kiss, obviously, is right where you are when the moment is right.

- Paul Denison,

The Register-Guard

L.J.: The Uncommon Life

of Louis Jerome Simpson

By Judith and Richard Wagner

(Bygones, 434 pages)

Plundertown, U.S.A.:

Coos Bay Enters the Global Economy

By Al Sandine

(Hancock House, 175 pages, $14.95)

Although these books both deal with the history of the Coos Bay-North Bend area, they couldn't be more different. The Wagners write admiringly about a notable citizen. Al Sandine digs critically into the economics and social effects of an industry, logging and milling, that boomed and busted.

The Wagners finished their exhaustively researched biography of Louis Jerome Simpson last year in time for the 100th anniversary of the founding of North Bend, where Simpson served as the city's first (and second) mayor, from 1903 to 1915. He also served as a Coos Bay port commissioner and ran for governor in the Republican primary. His best-known legacy is Shore Acres State Park.

In a foreword to the biography, historical novelist Jane Kirkpatrick writes: "L.J. Simpson cared deeply about the coastal region of Oregon, almost as deeply as he cared about his family. He erred at times and showed poor judgment, was affected adversely by illness, poor choices, wars and global markets; but he persisted in his beliefs about the value of community and lived out those ideals."

Sandine grew up in Coos Bay, but his family left in 1952 when he was 14. On a return visit in 1998, he was shocked and saddened by the economic distress. He set out to understand why Coos Bay, which billed itself in 1960 as "The World's Largest Lumber Shipping Center," was struck two decades later by an epidemic of plant closures, a 15 percent jobless rate and a spike in crime.

"The companies that logged off the old growth much faster than they could replace it were responding to market and financial pulls," he writes. "The promise of sustainable production went by the boards."

- Paul Denison,

The Register-Guard

The Road to Glorieta: A Confederate Army Marches Through New Mexico

By Donald Healey

(Heritage Books, Bowie, Md.,

418 pages, $43.50)

Donald Healey may live in Eugene, but his head is in the Southwest, during the Civil War.

Relying heavily on diaries, memoirs and other first-person records, he tells the story of 3,000 Texas mounted volunteers, commanded by an untried general, who set out in 1861 to plant the Confederate flag in New Mexico Territory.

- The Register-Guard