THE SAME RIVER TWICE by Chris...

THE SAME RIVER TWICE by Chris Offutt (Penguin: $9.95; 188 pp.). Chris Offutt’s descriptions of himself as a young man sometimes echo Conlon’s. He grew up in the Kentucky Appalachians, determined to be writer, but unsure of himself. His gritty memoir presents a classic account of an aspiring writer’s struggle to find his voice. Offutt hitch-hiked around the United States, taking whatever jobs he could find, until he realized, “My youth was behind me, not misspent exactly, but squandered to a certain extent. While the rest of my generation had been lodging themselves into careers, I’d pretty much run amok.” Love and his commitment to his vocation as a writer saved him from prison or a homeless shelter: His understated journal suggests a conversation held late at night in a remote campsite.