Fresh from the Stacks

Curated by our librarians, this ‘Best of 2023’ list includes some of the worthiest books published this past year. Included are well-known favorites, yet we also strived to include some surprises, both locally and internationally. 

We considered a variety of factors, including our staff’s favorite books of the year as well as titles that have met with critical acclaim and literary awards. We also looked to bookstores, book clubs, podcasts and magazines for recommendations.  

Our sources include: New York Times, National Book Awards, NPR, Kirkus Reviews, Barnes & Noble, Library Journal, Lit Hub, The Economist, Booker Prize, Pacific Northwest Book Awards, Publisher’s Weekly, Reader’s Corner and others.  

Download a copy here.

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Fiction 

Absolution by Alice McDermott | FICTION McDermott 
American Mermaid by Jenifer Langbein | FICTION Langbein 
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray | FICTION Murray 
The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters | FICTION Peters 
The Better Half by Alli Frank | FICTION Frank 
Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwane Adjei-Brenyah | FICTION Adjei-Brenyah 
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese | FICTION Verghese 
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead | FICTION Whitehead 
Cross-Stitch by Jazmina Barrera | FICTION Barrera 
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie | FICTION McKenzie 
Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal | FICTION Kerangal 
Family Lore | Sabiduría Familiar by Elizabeth Acevedo [English | Español] 
The Fraud by Zadie Smith 
Good Night, Irene by Luis Alberto Urrea | FICTION Urrea 
The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng | FICTION Heng 
Happy Place by Emily Henry | FICTION Henry 
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride | FICTION McBride 
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | FICTION Napolitano 
Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang | FICTION Zhang 
Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward | FICTION Ward 
North Woods by Daniel Mason | FICTION Mason 
This Other Eden by Paul Harding | FICTION Harding 
Prophet Song by Paul Lynch | FICTION Lynch 
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue | FICTION O’Donoghue 
Rouge by Mona Awad | FICTION Awad 
Sam by Allegra Goodman | FICTION Goodman 
Still Born by Guadalupe Nettel | FICTION Nettel 
Temple Folk by Aaliya Bilal | FICTION Bilal 
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett | FICTION Patchett 
The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie | FICTION Lemmie 
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang | FICTION Kuang 

Nonfiction 

The Art Thief by Michael Finkel | 364.162 FIN  
The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen | 616.898 ROS 
The Best Strangers in the World by Ari Shapiro | 070.43 SHA 
Bottoms Up and The Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley | 352.379 HOW 
The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland | 323.41 LEL 
Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg | 791.44 TOT 
Doppelganger by Naomi Kline | 302.23 KLE 
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan | 322.42 EGA 
Fire Weather by John Vaillant | 363.379 VAI 
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy | 731.45 MCC 
In Sardinia by Jeff Biggers | TRAVEL 914.59 BIG 
El Invencible Verano de Liliana by Cristina Rivera Garza [Español] | SPA 364.15 RIV 
King: A Life by Johathan Eig | BIOGRAPHY 920 King 
The Last Honest Man by James Risen | 973.92 RIS 
Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo | 3063362 WOO 
My Name is Barbra by Barbra Streisand | BIOGRAPHY 920 Streisand 
Ordinary Notes by Christina Elizabeth Sharpe | 305.896 SHA 
Places We Left Behind by Jennifer Lang | 306.81 LAN 
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond | 362.509 DES 
The Quickening by Elizabeth A. Rush | 998.9 RUS 
Red Memory by Tania Branigan | 951.056 BRA 
The Rediscovery of America by Ned Blackhawk | 970.004 BLA 
Right Kind of Wrong by Amy C. Edmondson | 158.1 EDM 
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista | 364.409 EVA 
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford | 792.7 BAM 
The Talk by Darrin Bell | GRAPHIC NOVEL 920 Bell 
True West by Betsy Gaines Quammen | 973.933 QUA 
Unruly by David Mitchell | 941 MIT 
The Wager by David Grann | 910.916 GRA 
Wolfish by Erica Berry | 152.46 BER 
Women We Buried, Women We Burned by Rachel Louise Snyder | BIOGRAPHY 920 Snyder 

Announcing the unveiling of a new Chinese American Heritage Sculpture, “Prosperity Mountain” by artist Gemma Valdez Daggatt

4:15 p.m. Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Corner of Walnut and Main Streets in Hailey

Historic records – often no more than a ragtag collection of paper scraps, faded photographs, newspaper clippings, a trophy, a recipe box, a porcelain doll – might find their home in the archives of The Community Library’s Center for Regional History in Ketchum, waiting to be brought into the light.

Such is the case with the heritage of Chinese American culture in the Wood River Valley.

Mary Tyson, director of the Center for Regional History, says, “Chinese immigrants are an extremely important part of our history and much of their story has been erased. It needs to be pieced together, little-by-little, through artifacts and archaeological evidence.”

To honor diversity and commemorate the heritage of Chinese immigrants, the Hailey Arts & Historic Preservation Commission will be installing a new sculpture on Main Street in Hailey by artist Gemma Valdez Daggatt, named “Prosperity Mountain.”

The unveiling ceremony will take place at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at the corner of Walnut and Main Streets in Hailey. The sculpture stands eight feet tall and includes two interpretive plaques with photos of Chinese immigrants Wah Kee Lea (c. 1890) and Tom Boo (1880-1920). Very little is known about either man.

The Hailey Arts & Historic Preservation Commission states on it’s website, “While celebrating diversity and commemorating the heritage of Chinese immigrants in Hailey, the project also acknowledges an aspect of Hailey’s history that is fraught with racial violence and injustice. As evidenced in historical records and summarized in recent (September 2022) journalism by the Idaho Mountain Express:

“‘Chinese immigrants in the Wood River Valley were met with second-class treatment at best and racial terrorism at worst.'”

To help Daggatt deepen her knowledge and understanding of Chinese history in the Valley, Regional History Research Librarian Kelley Moulton provided the artist with roughly 30 pages of images, newspaper clippings, maps, and historic context, as well as welcome advice on how to distill her research into the handful of concise and compelling words needed for her sculpture.

Daggatt also turned to the Blaine County Historical Society for help on this project, in Tyson’s words, “to help further our understanding of Chinese history in the Wood River Valley.”

Daggatt used found materials and donated her time and considerable artistic vision, plus hours of historic research to the project. “I’ve only been able to pull off this project by donating all of my time and dumpster-diving for salvaged material,” she wrote in a recent email.

The photo of Wah Kee Lea in “Prosperity Mountain” is also displayed at the Wood River Museum of History and Culture in Ketchum, as part of the How in the World Did You Get to Sun Valley? gallery, which features arrival stories of ten different Wood River Valley citizens across the decades.

The most telling thing about Wah Kee Lea’s exhibit is that it is mostly empty, illustrating the absence of details and the erasure of much of the Chinese culture in the late 19th century and beyond.

Tyson adds, “Many stories from history are often cobbled together, filling gaps where books, papers, or other large bodies of work don’t exist. We are extremely happy to have the resources to help a researcher dig into their subject matter. Researchers are often forging new paths and we want to help people do that.”

One such researcher was Skye Cranney, third generation Idahoan and doctoral candidate in American History, who came to the Center for Regional History last year to look at Hollywood celebrities in Sun Valley in the 1930s. She wanted to know how these famous actresses (wearing pants, no less!) influenced the average American woman. Said Cranney, “I’m interested in questions of how masculine and feminine dynamics reach into everyone’s daily lives in ways they may not expect.”

She wondered, “How does the fact that celebrity women were in Sun Valley, wearing and doing unprecedented things, influence how the average American woman might change what she wears, how she recreates?” Read more about Cranney’s research in Social Influence: Sun Valley in the 1930-40s.

The Center for Regional History receives roughly 250 research requests per year from scholars, academics, authors, and others interested in a wide variety of topics—from ski and resort history to silver mining to Ernest Hemingway. Says Moulton, “Among the strangest requests came during what I call, “The Week of Mining, Aliens, and Castro.”

Says Tyson, many researchers are interested in the Triumph Silver Mine, the Meeker Collection of Hemingway artifacts, Sawtooth City, and the fascinating and sometime tumultuous history of sheepherding in the Wood River Valley. As to the latter, the Wood River Museum of History and Culture hosted Peruvian Sheepherding in Idaho: Una Conversación on October 5, 2023, a replay of which can be viewed on Vimeo.

The Wood River Museum of History and Culture is located at 580 Fourth Street East in Ketchum. Entry to the Museum is FREE and it is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Reach the Museum at 208-726-8118 or email the staff here.

More here about the Hailey Arts & Historic Preservation Commission.

NaNoWriMo “Come Write In” events scheduled for October-December 2023

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is held each November around the world, providing resources and community for writers. The program began in 1999 as a daunting but straightforward challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in thirty days. Now, each year on November 1, hundreds of thousands of people begin to write, determined to end the month with a first draft. They enter the month as elementary school teachers, mechanics, or stay-at-home parents. They leave novelists.

This fall, The Community Library will host “Come Write In” events from October to December, inviting writers of all genres, ages, and experiences to learn preparation and editing techniques, get support, and have dedicated writing time surrounded by other writers.

Here’s the full schedule:

OCTOBER – NaNoPrepMo: Learn novel preparation techniques through directed activities and lectures from published author and novel planner Jonathan E. Hernandez.

• Wednesday, October 18, 5:00-7:00 p.m.
• Saturday, October 28, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

NOVEMBER – NaNoWriMo: Get support, ideas, and time to accomplish your goals at your leisure. Come for an hour or the whole time. Bring snacks, water, and your creativity!

• Wednesday, November 1, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 11, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 18, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, November 21, 4:00-8:00 p.m.
• Thursday, November 30, 4:00-8:00 p.m.

DECEMBER – NaNoEdMo: Learn editing techniques via directed activities and lecture. Celebrate the end of NaNoWriMo!

• Saturday, December 16, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, December 20, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

All events will meet in the library’s Idaho Room, and a Zoom link is available for writers to join each session virtually.

Events be moderated by NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison, AJ Super, who is a local author with three science fiction books published by a small traditional press. She is also a Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Association (SFWA) member.

NaNoWriMo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. They provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people use their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds—on and off the page. Learn more about the writing community and get free resources for your writing from NaNoWriMo.org.

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month

By Janet Ross-Heiner, Librarian and English Language Learning Instructor

In Mexican-American communities, National Hispanic Heritage Month begins with the shout that marks the start of the Mexican Revolution—the grito (shout) heard around the world. In the flag, colors of crimson red and earthy green flank the image of the eagle with the serpent in its clutches. Folks celebrate Mexican Independence Day each year on September 16, donning these national colors, and holding elote (corn) in one hand and agua fresca (cool water) in the other.

This same scene unfolds throughout the United States with different foods and different colors depending on the specific Hispanic community. Each celebration is undeniably unique.

As we celebrate and honor the heritage of the people throughout Hispanic Heritage Month, we must also do the important work of understanding how and why the distinct histories of a multinational, multicultural, and multilingual group of communities were consolidated into Hispanic heritage in the first place.

For example, the term Hispanic was a term that was initiated for census brochures. Then Latino/a became a focus because it is more inclusive with Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Now LatinX furthers the language to include youth and LGBTIQA+.

As someone who falls under the definition of Hispanic, I know that personal identities and labels can shift. Some may identify as Hispanic, while others will identify as LatinX or Mexican American.

Understanding the history behind these shifting identifications—and particularly the history of the word Hispanic—can help us better understand the challenges this term has created.

Viva México, Central America, and Caribé!

Find recommended reading on Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15-October 15, 2023).