Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

by Ali Hazelwood  Reviewed by Sara Zagorski, Gold Mine Thrift Store Retail Manager Now, I’m not generally one to (admit that I) like romance books or anything of the genre, but after the holidays I most definitely needed a bit of lighter fanfare than my usual sort. During the last bit of the year my stress level is generally at an all-time high and whatever book I find myself reading has no business adding to it. Queue: Love on the Brain.  Two mortal nemeses find themselves … [Read more...] about Book Review: Love on the Brain

Directed by Kim Bartly Reviewed by Daniel Velasco, Gold Mine Processing Associate Filmed over three years, Pure Grit explores the life of Sharmaine Weed, a ten-time Native American bareback horse racing champion living with her girlfriend, mother, two brothers, and paralyzed sister. Filming took place in the Wind River reservation and in Denver, Colorado, where she and her girlfriend moved to start a life together. She never refused to let go of her dream of owning her own horse by … [Read more...] about Film Review: Pure Grit

Information Systems Manager, Will Duke, recommends Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman. I have never read a book of poetry before. Oh, I’ve read poems. Lots of poems. I’ve read poems from collections, from the Norton Anthology. I’ve read poems from the Internet. I’ve read poems from student poets.  I’ve read poems on splotchy xeroxed copies of copies.  I have always thought of poems as standalone, self-contained things. In fact, I don’t know that I can … [Read more...] about Book Review: Call Us What We Carry

A Bold New Economy at the Gold Mine  By Craig Barry, Managing Director, Gold Mine Stores Roughly 15,000 vehicles roll through the alley behind the The Gold Mine thrift store each year donating roughly 225,000 items— from vintage ski pants to flat screen TVs to Waterford crystal goblets. We triage the donations, sort, cull, price, and put the best-of-the-best of them on the floor for sale. Purchases from the Gold Mine help support the programs, classes, and collections at The … [Read more...] about Running in Circles

Children’s and Young Adult Library Director, Deann Campbell, recommends Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman. Before reading Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman, I had enjoyed poetry—loved it even. But I had mostly read poetry. This is not a collection to be read, it is a collection to be performed... with someone else. After all, these are poems for two voices.   The first poem of the collection may have given me goosebumps. Mostly, I … [Read more...] about Book Review: Joyful Noise

Circulation Manager Pam Parker recommends Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner Dinner and a Movie? Or, Noodles and a Book?  When she’s not fronting her indie-pop band, “Japanese Breakfast,” Michelle Zauner has a side gig. She’s an author—and Crying in H Mart (2021) is Zauner's best-selling debut about finding solace in an unusual place, the Asian market known as H Mart. “It’s a beautiful, holy place,” she wrote about H Mart in The New Yorker essay by the same title that … [Read more...] about Book Review: Crying in H Mart