Mas launches latest book

I attended a delightful party last night at the Fresno Art Museum launching David Mas Masumoto's new book: "Heirlooms, Letters From A Peach Farmer." Bee readers know Mas well. His columns about farming and life in the San Joaquin Valley run in our Vision section one Sunday a month. Doug Hansen adds to the wonderful presentation by capturing column images with his compelling art. You may recognize much of the book because many of the pieces ran first in The Bee. Mas' previous book, "Letters to the Valley," also was based on columns in The Bee.

"Heirlooms" is a collection of essays that tell of what Mas calls the "other California," which is our Valley that sometimes gets lost between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Mas calls letters a "hug with words." As a native of this Valley, I have always appreciated how Mas uses life on his Del Rey farm to offer us lessons about our changing region.

Last night, Mas read from "Heirlooms," as well as some of his previous books. A reading from Mas is like no other, They are performances. He often was accompanied by his daughter Nikiko, who sometimes read parts of the letters and sometimes drummed with great flair.

Mas has written several books, including "Harvest Son," "Epitaph for a Peach" and "Four Seasons in Five Senses." If you want to understand the rhythms of the Valley, the reasons that we do some of the odds things that we do, you must read Mas' books and essays. While we are part of California, this region is different from the rest of the Golden State, and Mas tells us why.