by Nicole Lichtenberg, Director of Operations Hello again, spooky pals! This is the second half of my series on Weird Fiction—a subgenre that can include elements of magical realism, fantasy, horror, science fiction, speculative fiction, even western! A feature of most Weird Fiction is that there is some sort of transgression of a norm or expectation—this could be a social norm or a manipulation concerning the laws of physics. It is supposed to be weird, and weird plays by its own … [Read more...] about Weird Fiction, Part 2
Library Blog
Book Review: “Lessons in Chemistry”
Andrea Nelson, Library Assistant, recommends Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. The Community Library will hold its inaugural book club, “Together We Read!” on December 8, 2022. I am thrilled to host our first gathering! We will discuss one of my favorite recent works of fiction, Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus. Don’t be fooled by its hot pink cover, Lessons in Chemistry is no weightless romance novel. Garmus throws a huge pile of infuriating literary stones at her … [Read more...] about Book Review: “Lessons in Chemistry”
Fall Pickings
By Kelley Moulton The fall season is in its final days as the weather takes a turn for the cold, but pumpkin patches and apple trees are ripe for picking. This undated image from The Wood River Journal Photo Morgue shows Ron States from S&N Produce assisting an unidentified woman at a fruit stand choose some apples. The stand is full of some seasonal favorites along with apples in the shapes of pumpkins, a box of sweet corn, and cider as well as a more tropical option of pineapples. … [Read more...] about Fall Pickings
Book Review: “Sandman Slim”
Will Duke, Information Systems Manager, recommends Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey. Today is Halloween. My offering to you is a magical mashup of urban fantasy and hard-boiled detective, mixed with just about everything else. “I wake up on a pile of smoldering garbage and leaves in the old Hollywood Forever cemetery behind the Paramount Studio lot on Melrose.” James Stark is back on earth. From Hell. Literal Hell. Lucifer and demons and the rest of the great unwashed from … [Read more...] about Book Review: “Sandman Slim”
Book Reviews: My Heart is a Chainsaw…
As the shadows grow longer, before the days of suns return, a pair of recommendations…how scary is TOO scary? Cathy Butterfield, Collections Manager, recommends My Heart is a Chainsaw and The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water. Halloween is coming, a holiday rife with perilous contradictions. Gifts of candy are shared with stories of ghosts. Pre-Christian traditions tangle with All Hallow’s Eve observances. The walls of reality thin, and bend, and rumors of … [Read more...] about Book Reviews: My Heart is a Chainsaw…
Social Influence: Sun Valley in the 1930-40s
By Kyla Merwin, Communications Manager She sits in the Reading Room at The Community Library, all tattoos and curiosity. She pours through posters, magazine articles, and photographs in the Center for Regional History. She taps wildly at her laptop. She laughs at her own mad obsession with Idaho history. This new creature in the archives is Skye Cranney, third generation Idahoan, gender historian, and doctoral candidate in American History at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, … [Read more...] about Social Influence: Sun Valley in the 1930-40s
