Library Blog

Book Review: Overseas

November 16, 2023 by kmerwin

McKenzie Christie, Gold Mine Thrift Retail Manager, recommends Overseas by Beatriz Williams.

Overseas By Beatriz Williams is the love story of Kate Wilson and Julian Laurence. Kate works on Wall Street and has a very good idea about the track her life is on until she meets Julian in a business pitch meeting.

They have an instant connection but just when Kate thought the relationship was going somewhere, Julian turns cold and cuts her off completely.

When trouble finds Kate, the only person she can turn to is the handsome Brit who has already saved her before. They’re relationship isn’t the only thing going from 0 to 100 when danger turns up at his country home in the form of a book.

Can their connection survive the secrets, danger, and the limitless questions Kate has…

…as to why Julian looks a lot like someone from the past? How far would you go to save the one you love from certain death even if it means you would never meet and you could never go back home?

Beatriz Williams is an amazing writer and its even more impressive considering Overseas is her first novel. Her writing style is the kind where you discover a new detail or connection no matter how many times you read the book. This, I can personally attest to because I have ready this book eight times. Multiple times I found myself thinking, “This is why this book gets me every time.”

There are so many twists and turns that take this story far beyond your average love story. Finding how everything is connected makes me wonder what Beatriz Williams’s story board looked like. I imagine a huge bulletin board with a lot of red string running across it in every direction.

I appreciate a good love story but it also has to have more going on than just the couple to hold my attention. This book has romance, action, and history, which can appeal to any reader.

Find it Main Fiction here.

Winter Stars

November 10, 2023 by Liam Guthrie

By Kelley Moulton, Regional History Librarian

F 06319, Dorice Taylor Collection, Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History

It is once again time for the Sun Valley Winter Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, hosted by the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History at The Community Library. Two previous inductees grace this image, Leif Odmark who was inducted in 2010 and Janette Burr Johnson from the Class of 2011.

Both longtime Wood River Valley residents who were well known for their skiing contributions. Swedish born Odmark or as some might have known him “Mr. Sun Valley”, was a very prominent cross-country skier and founded the Sun Valley Nordic Ski School/Touring Center in 1970. Johnson, who was named to the 1952 Olympic Ski Team, would compete on the world ski stage across Europe and the United States before becoming a ski instructor at Sun Valley in the 1960s. In this image, Odmark and Johnson are working out a stunt on Bald Mountain for the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour in 1958. The two would act as stunt doubles for Lucille Ball and Fernando Lamas as their characters slide down the mountain.

The Induction Ceremony for the Class of 2023 will be held in the John A. and Carole O. Moran Lecture Hall at The Community Library at 6 p.m. on December 7^th, 2023. Registration is required for this event and registration information can be found at www.comlib.org. If you are unable to attend, the ceremony will also be livestreamed and recorded. A reception will follow at 7 p.m. at The Wood River Museum of History and Culture and is open to the public.

Note this story was originally published in November of 2023 in the Idaho Mountain Express.

Book Review: Camp Damascus

November 9, 2023 by kmerwin

Operations Manager Nicole Lichtenberg recommends Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle.

In Neverton, Montana, in her family’s conservative Christian household, in the liminal period between high school and college, Rose Darling is beginning to find that things aren’t quite lining up. Cautioned against being too enthusiastic about scientific inquiry, Rose tries to just go with it when she vomits insects all over the dining room table. She makes herself believe her father when he says she never had a door, why would she have a door? She sidesteps when her parents ask her how her “date” with a boy went. She does all these things and more, until she can’t.

Camp Damascus is Chuck Tingle’s debut mainstream fiction novel. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I had to go and confirm it was written in standard prose because it seemed so well suited to being read aloud. Tingle explores many themes…

…what it means to have faith, the line between loyalty to family and blind obedience, and the fallout and the freedom of living life on one’s own terms.

There are a lot of books that pathologize or misrepresent autism as an entertaining but deficit-ridden quirk. There are fewer books that depict autism in anyone other than a white boy or man. Camp Damascus, in the spirit of Tingle himself, takes autism in stride as a facet of Rose Darling’s existence. Rose is depicted as a whole person with a whole personality and the plot is clearly defined before the book even mentions autism.

What does it mean for the rest of us to be able to meet and really get to know an autistic protagonist when they aren’t typecast as socially awkward and have their personality traits limited to one or two obsessions and their relationship with that one person who gets it because their cousin/sibling/childhood neighbor is autistic?

It means that we can read about what happens when that person’s parents pay mondo bucks to have them possessed by a homophobic demon.

Content advisory: Body horror, themes of homophobia and parental abuse. Don’t worry, love wins out in the end. Chuck wouldn’t leave us hanging like that.

Camp Damascus is available in print at The Community Library. Find it here.

A Collection of Stories; A Story of Choices

November 6, 2023 by kmerwin

Creating the Wood River Museum of History and Culture

By Mary Tyson; Director of the Jeanne Rodger Lane Center for Regional History

Many years ago, I saw a light brick-colored, rough-surfaced figurine as tiny as a doll. As I imagined the artist’s hand forming the clay, time dissolved. The encounter with Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo’s collection of pre-Hispanic figurines spotlighted what museums can do. It opened up the door to how a figurine from the past could speak so directly to me. It’s this kind of door-opening the Wood River Museum of History and Culture is inviting.

Understanding the Importance of Story

Library staff and community members discussed loudly and passionately what should be included in our first exhibits. From education to immigration, ski history to indigenous history, the possibilities went on and on until we were truly tired. And then, the realization above all others: As a library and museum it is our responsibility to receive, preserve, and tell stories from diverse community members.

Honoring Time and Space

Meanwhile, the building at Fourth and Walnut was springing up through the summer and then through the very long, snowy winter, and into spring. Once we made the big choices on the main exhibits and displays, we worked with a fabricator from Vancouver to create special exhibit cases, interpretive panels, hanging display mounts, and other innovative constructs. You name it; they will make it.

They were also good at sourcing objects like refurbished typewriters from the 1920s to help with the experience of Hemingway as a prolific writer in the 20s and 30s before he set foot in Sun Valley. The typewriters provide a visceral experience for Museum visitors of what it’s like to write in the era that Hemingway did.

Making Choices

We had to be disciplined about choosing which objects would best illustrate the stories we were telling.

In addition to artifacts in our own collection, we needed to search for items in the community that would do right by the exhibit, even though it was harder to accomplish. In some instances, we had to abandon or modify our ideas. For example, we wanted our “Flying Squirrel” ski lift chair for a photo op in the exhibit Portrait of a Mountain, but it was crumbling too much. And we didn’t have a Baldy chair in good enough shape, either. Time was of the essence, so we found a restored chair from Dollar Mountain, and with Tim Deckard’s passion, we rigged it so that it would swing a little, adding depth and interest to the exhibit (much to the chagrin of our construction manager, Morley Golden).

We knew that in making another exhibit about Hemingway, we had to convey the great power in his writing. We curated objects that were emblematic of his disciplined writing life—his books and published stories.

Honoring Curiosity

Our Cabinet of Wonders displays an extraordinary arrangement of doors, drawers, pulls, and lifts that challenge you to open them up and discover the historical artifacts inside.

From the 25 unique items in the Cabinet of Wonders, to each and every subject and object in the museum, our choices were driven by curiosity, and created by teamwork, inspiration, and a relentless dedication to our community and to the stories that forged it.

The Wood River Museum of History and Culture

All the exhibits at the Wood River Museum include interactive elements, where visitors are encouraged to write, type, talk, and remember – because we all are part of history! Visitors are invited to explore the Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Room, How in the World Did you Get to Sun Valley?, A Writer in New Country: Hemingway in 1939, Portrait of a Mountain, and the Cabinet of Wonders. Entrance to the Museum is FREE, Tuesday-Saturday, 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. More here.

High Scribe

November 3, 2023 by kmerwin

In partnership with the Sun Valley Film Festival, the Library is excited to support the 2024 High Scribe programs celebrating the craft of screenwriting.

High Scribe allows screenwriters to polish and develop projects, facilitate meaningful connections, and build an active industry community. This comprehensive program dives into storytelling from all angles, with a competition that shines a light on emerging voices, a residency at The Community Library’s Writer-In-Residence program at the historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House to elevate projects to their highest potential, and the Screenwriters Lab during the festival to expose our community to the world of narrative storytelling firsthand.

Screenwriting Competition

The High Scribe Screenwriting Competition selects an emerging writer to benefit from the mentorship of the Film Festival’s vast network of award winning screenwriters and producers. There are three deadlines/costs to apply: November 15 ($50), December 15 ($60), and January 1, 2024 ($70). Submissions are now open. More/apply here.

Residency at the Historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House

The winner of the High Scribe Competition will be invited to return for a week later in 2024 as Writer-in-Residence at The Community Library’s historic Ernest and Mary Hemingway House, and will participate in a community program. More about the Hemingway House here and the Library’s ongoing Writer-In-Residence program here.

Script Club

For local writers and reading enthusiasts to connect, get inspired and expand their passion for storytelling. More/sign up here.

Screenwriters Lab

This Festival favorite is a lively conversation between an established screenwriter and industry insider. More information forthcoming.

Save the Date!

The 2024 Sun Valley Film Festival will be held February 28-March 3, 2024. More here.

Book Review: The Book of Charlie

November 2, 2023 by kmerwin

Library Assistant Leona recommends The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-year-old Man by David Voh Dehle

You can choose friends but not family. But what about neighbors? Good neighbors, like the ones I’m fortunate to have, are like good friends.

When David and his family moved next door to Charlie White just outside of Kansas City, they had no idea that their next-door neighbor was no ordinary Kansan. Soon David is given insights into Charlie’s life that’s filled with personal resiliency and enriched with wisdom. Collectively, these stories become The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man by David Voh Dehle.

Charlie was eight years old when his father died in a tragic accident. Rather than dwelling on their loss, Charlie’s mother ushered her family into survival mode. Charlie became a survivor and viewed his loss as an opportunity instead of a burden. Charlie kept up with the mantras of essential wisdom that his mother passed on to him his entire life:

Do your best. Do what’s right. Keep your daubers up.

In the early 1900s, Kansas City was filled with possibilities and innovation. And if you were smart, like Charlie was, you could skip grades, graduate early from high school, and attend and graduate from college before you were 21 years old.

Many young men also longed for adventure and to go West. After graduating from high school, Charlie and two friends drove a 1917 Model T and headed for Los Angeles with stops in between to work as field hands to fund their journey. The West was a disappointment and the boys returned to Kansas City by hopping trains, something none of the boys had experienced prior.

As a physician, Charlie saw the introduction of aspirin, penicillin, anesthesiology, and open-heart surgery. During the Depression, many of his patients paid for medical services with a chicken or a cooked meal. He was an advocate for change and embraced life-long learning.

Charlie endured and acquired knowledge through myriad trials his entire life and firmly believed in self-advocacy with a human touch. And according to David…

…Charlie also learned to treat the unknown as a friend until life convinced him otherwise.

Charlie was a cheerleader for life. Stories from Charlie’s 109-year life are filled with hope and resiliency and they aptly apply to us today.

Find it in print here.