Award-winning author, powerhouse talent, and one of our most interesting and important cultural critics – and The Community Library’s 2022 Hemingway Distinguished Lecturer – Roxane Gay gives a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.
“Mala Feminista”
by Roxane Gay, et al
New titles have been added to our circulating Nooks, including our Spanish language Nook series/Libros en Español. Titles include three books by Roxane Gay, and Violeta by Isabel Allende.
Ask about our Nook ereaders in English and Spanish at the circulation desk in the foyer.
Black Snake
Black Snake: Standing Rock, the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Environmental Justice by Katherine Wiltenburg Todrys, tells the story of four women water protectors who led the fight against the Dakota Access pipeline.
Book Review: The Hiker’s Guide to Sun Valley & Ketchum
All Decked Out. Now Where Do I Go..?
Kyla Merwin, Communications Manager, recommends The Hiker’s Guide to Sun Valley & Ketchum by Scott Marchant.
Just another gorgeous day in the Wood River Valley…Yeah baby! Adventure is calling my name, so I’m gearing up:
- Boots = ✓
- Sunscreen = ✓
- Water = ✓
- Snacks (lots) = ✓
- New Camera = ✓
- Three-day Holiday = Check check check!
Now all I need is a place to go. Hmmm. . .I’m new to this area, having arrived last autumn from the sea-level metropolis of Portland, Oregon. Now that I’ve figured out how to breathe at this altitude, I’m ready to get a move on and do some exploring.
Enter the Hiker’s Guide to Sun Valley & Ketchum by Scott Marchant.
Scott has taken the traditional guidebook to a whole new level, with stunning images, topo maps, directions, and massive detail, including his favorite picks, season and family-friendly trails, and local information on flora, fauna and recent wildfires.
You might think the subject of “etiquette” belongs in the Library’s catalog under Emily Post or Miss Manners, but Scott has included the important rules of wilderness etiquette, as well as advice on personal safety and wilderness conservation. Pinky-extended, elbows-off-the-table, and punctuality NOT included. But you may be interested in his section on – er – waste removal (as in “pack in in; pack it out”).
Scott’s brand new and updated edition of 50 Hikes within 30 Miles of Sun Valley – hot off the press in June – raises the bar even higher. Scott personally hikes each of these trails and delivers the most up-to-date trail information available.
“Go out, go out I beg of you, and taste the beauty of the wild.”
Edna Jaques
Scott has also published Hiker’s Guides to Sawtooth Country, McCall & Cascade, Stanley, and Greater Boise (including an edition for Best Easy Hikes), all of which you can find at the Community Library or through our Interlibrary Loan system. Many of his titles are also available as e-books.
More than a guidebook, Scott’s Hiker’s Guides become your personal companion on outdoor adventures. The detail he provides not only informs. It inspires.
You’ll find this quote from poet Edna Jaques on Scott’s Hiking Idaho website: “Go out, go out I beg of you, and taste the beauty of the wild.”
Aaah! I’ve finally found the final element – and the hinge pin – to my checklist:
- Inspiration = ✓
See you on the trails!
Find The Hiker’s Guide to Sun Valley & Ketchum here.
Home. Half a World Away. . .
An Australian Couple Rediscovers the “Community” in The Community Library
Newlyweds Katherine Suttor and James Stanton recently returned to The Community Library to reflect on an old family tradition and delight in new discoveries. . .from the Library’s programs to the learning tools to puzzles and musical instruments, and oh, the books.
“I remember discovering the Library all those years ago with my mum,” says Katherine. “Mum has always been an avid reader, and I would have lots of fun roaming through the Library shelves and picking out my summer reads. Getting a stack of books to take home was a keystone part of our trip.”
Katherine’s parents fell in love with Ketchum/Sun Valley 30 years ago when they first arrived at the invitation of a mutual friend to the Australian celeb and local jazz pianist, Alan Pennay.
While it’s not uncommon for the Valley to see regular visitors returning for seasons of sun and snow, Katherine’s family made an annual tradition of the 8,000-mile trip … from Sydney Harbour, over the Coral Sea, and across the Northern Pacific Ocean to the remote regions of southern Idaho.
Winter in Ketchum is summer in Australia and the family spent all seven weeks of their down-under vacation time across the world and up in the mountains–skiing, reading, playing, and socializing in Ketchum/Sun Valley.
“Coming to the Library is a nice way to feel like a local, like I’m part of the community.”
Katherine Suttor
“Mum would put us in ski school where we were often the only kids to hang around for seven weeks straight,” recalls Katherine with a wry nod to those early years, freeing her parents to have the days to ski on their own.
Nearly three decades later, Katherine brought her then boyfriend, now husband, James, to the Library. Wandering through the stacks, James stumbled upon the music section. “I couldn’t believe that I could actually borrow a guitar and check it out from the Library, just like a book,” says James. “I thought it must be a mistake.”
But he got a Library card, checked out a guitar, and “one of the first things we did,” he says, “was to perform for family and friends.”
“My whole family used Library services over the years,” says Katherine. “My sister and I both used language learning tools through the library. My mother would come here and take courses to learn emerging technology.”
When Katherine was studying for her entrance exam to the Harvard MBA program, she spent her holiday in Ketchum, skiing in the morning, and studying at the Library in the afternoons/evenings. She says it was her home away from home away from home.
Even Katherine’s father, Michael Suttor, a preeminent architect in Australia, got in on the action, and did a presentation on classical architecture in the Library. “There’s something here for everyone in my family,” says Katherine, “and now for James, too.”
New to the area, James has discovered the Community Library as a landmark that orients his way. “If I can find the Library,” he says, “I know where I’m at.”
“I love it so much here in Ketchum and Sun Valley,” says Katherine. “Coming to the Library makes me feel like a local, like I’m part of the community.”
Though the structure of the Library has changed over 30 years, a few things remain the same for Katherine and her family: The iconic fireplace that welcomes your arrival, and the sense of belonging…halfway across the world from home.
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Book Review: The Four Agreements
by Don Miguel Ruiz
Josi Manturano, Gold Mine Processing Associate, recommends The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
In The Four Agreements Don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.
It is a wonderful book for stress management and personal growth. It can help you bring sweeping changes to your life. This always will be a great little book with some weighty ideas. Focusing on any one of these agreements can greatly improve your life and decrease stress in life that we have to confront every day.
The book The Four Agreements was a highly influential book. It was first published in 1997. It has been an popular book. The book has since been translated into 46 languages.
