Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Children’s and Young Adult Library Director DeAnn Campbell recommends Anna at the Art Museum by Hazel Hutchins. 

The Wood River Museum of History and Culture is open across the street at 580 Fourth Street East, kitty-corner from the entrance to the Children’s Library. If you haven’t been, plan to make a visit. Children are welcome and will find fun and engaging thins to explore.  

Before you make a visit, you may want to check out Anna at the Art Museum by Hazel Hutchins & Gail Herbert, illustrated by Lil Crump. In this picture book, Anna goes to an art museum. She is disappointed by the hushing and shushing and the no touching. There is even no eating. After a while, she finds herself quite bored. Then she sees a half-open door. And…

“…when a door is half open, it is very hard not to wonder what lies on the other side.”

Anna gets invited inside for a behind-the-scenes sneak peak, and that changes everything.  

At the Wood River Museum of History and Culture there are also some rules. But there are also some sneak peaks. Open a door in the Cabinet of Wonders and see what you find. Draw a picture or tell us your story on a luggage tag in the How Did You Get to Sun Valley? exhibit. Try typing on a typewriter, like Hemingway did. Find that a museum has order, but also wonder. Come, step inside.  

Find Anna at the Art Museum in Picture Books here.

Librarian Andrea Nelson recommends The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese.

Let’s begin by addressing the elephant in the room. Abraham Verghese’s much-anticipated new book, The Covenant of Water, is well over 700 pages long. Libby and Axis 360 offer digital formats, but fair warning: Don’t try to listen while distracted. This book deserves your full attention. From the prologue to the last poignant scene, The Covenant of Water is a literary masterpiece.

The saga begins in 1900. Pledged to marry a 40-year-old widower, a 12-year-old bride-to-be must leave her impoverished mother and travel to a remote farming estate on the Southwest Coast of India. In spite of her fear and loneliness, she learns to cook, keep house, and serve as “Little Ammachi” (little mother) to her husband’s young son. Over time, she becomes “Big Ammachi,” the matriarch of an estate, family, and community she builds, nurtures, and learns to love.

Fast-forward to 1933. Digby, a second major protagonist, flees a tragic childhood in Scotland to study medicine in Madras. His path will cross with Rune, a Swedish physician who leaves his life of wealth and status to renovate an isolated “leper colony” and ease the suffering of India’s most forsaken. A constellation of complex, multi dimensional characters move through each other’s lives, impacting them in ways some will know and others never will.

Himself a practicing physician, author Abraham Verghese’s reverence for the ethical practice of medicine influences each storyline, ultimately stitching them together. But it is motherhood, not medicine, that proves the dominant theme. The book begins and ends with mother-child relationships, paying homage to the quiet brilliance of women navigating a culture of oppression. Verghese’s searing, near-poetic prose captures not only the heavy weight women carry when misguided cultural norms and traditions deprive them of personal choice and opportunity, it illustrates the cost to family and society.

As much as anything else, The Covenant of Water is a tribute to the resilience of women, past and present, who have worked slowly and methodically to take down walls for future generations.

It is also a story of men, both strong and weak, and of redemption.

Now, let’s address the literal elephant, Damodaron. He appears and retreats from view throughout Big Ammachi’s long life, sticking his huge, gray head into the kitchen window, welcoming new members of the clan with a fragrant branch or gentle nudge, even helping to facilitate an intervention. His role is minor, but significant.  Symbolizing continuity and endurance, the elephant bears witness to all three generations’ joy and pain.

Please be forewarned that this book contains some graphic, truly horrific scenes— some attributable to human weakness and stubborn pride, and some due to a terrible “family condition.” In each generation, someone in Big Ammachi’s husband’s family drowns. All families have secrets. 

Vivid imagery most differentiates The Covenant of Water from other epic novels. Each page offers something to the senses, whether the protagonist is watching a swirling monsoon sky grow dark from the porch of Big Ammachi’s Parambil estate or struggling to adapt to the crowded hustle and bustle of Madras, Verghase’s mastery of imagery immerses us in the experience. We don’t just understand the stark contrast between the leper colony’s beautiful gardens and the disfigured, infection-ravaged patients, we feel the injustice, the pain, and the communal gratitude.

The Covenant of Water is Oprah Winfrey’s current book club choice. It moved America’s favorite literary diva so deeply, she postponed her next book club choice to give people more time to read it. Calling it a “modern masterpiece,” she created a special podcast dedicated to it. For a deeper dive, visit The Covenant of Water Podcast on YouTube.

Find The Covenant of Water in the Library’s collections in print, ebook, eaudiobook, and CD.

Librarian Aly Wepplo recommends After Sundown by Linda Howard. 

Sela runs a general store in a tiny mountain town. She’s shy and prefers to spend a lot of time alone. But she’s always been intrigued by Ben, the reclusive ex-military man who lives in solitude at the top of the mountain. When Ben warns Sela of an impending natural disaster that could knock out the world’s power grid, she’s not sure what to believe, but she stocks up on supplies—just in case. 

Soon, their tiny mountain town is thrown into chaos, and Sela must dig deep within herself to become a leader in the community. 

After Sundown is a romance novel, and it’s perfect for a relaxed summer weekend.

The book is a love story between two people who work hard for what they want, and we root for them to get it. 

I loved watching the whole cast of characters – people in a remote mountain valley – learn to take care of each other – without power! Without modern conveniences! With all the deep longing you’d expect from a romance! It’s an exciting adventure. 

This book is great for fans of Colleen Hoover and Jayne Anne Krentz. 

Find After Sundown in print and ebook here.

Use LinkedIn to learn about the Getting Things Done system with David Allen. 

By Buffy McDonald, Reference Librarian

LinkedIn Learning has thousands of online courses from industry experts, including David Allen’s Getting Things Done system.

This system is a great way to help you organize your tasks and projects into an organized system you trust so that you can get things done effectively and with less stress.  Think in terms of defining for yourself – What is the desired outcome? And, what is the next action?

Here’s how to access the 30-minute video tutorial:

• Go to the Library’s website
• Scroll down to the “Apps & Digital Services” section
• Click on LinkedIn Learning
• Scroll down to click on “Get Started”
• Enter your library card number: XXXXXXXXXXXXX |  PIN: XXXX
• Search for [getting things done] in the search bar

In this training video you will find what the five steps of the Getting Things Done system are and how to implement them. You will learn:

• how to capture everything that has your attention.
• how to make decisions about what these captured items mean and what you are going to do about them – think desired outcomes and next actions.
• how to organize the outcomes of those decisions you have made into a trusted place that you will find at the point you need them.
• how to step back and reflect weekly on the previous choices you have made.
• how these prior steps will then help you determine what to do next.

It is worth taking the time to watch this video and learn about this system. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  It is also worth looking around at other video tutorials you might enjoy while you are in the LinkedIn Learning platform.

Happy learning,

Buffy