Staff Reviews: Books, Films, Music, and More

Reference Librarian Buffy McDonald recommends Consumer Reports: Travel Tips.

Are you interested in improving your travel experiences and finding travel tips and advice online? 

Consider exploring the ConsumerReports.org website via the library’s subscription. (You will need to start at the Library’s website to access this subscription—see below.) This website has some helpful tips and great advice for travelers. 

You can find advice on flying hassle free, choosing an airline, buying luggage, and more. Did you know that the Transportation Security Administration’s TSA PreCheck will let you fast-track through security? And, that some premium credit cards may offer membership? For finding flights, Consumer Reports recommends using the Google Flights website. According to one of their sources, “They have an awesome price history and prediction tool.” From the article:

It gives you the amount your route has cost over the last couple of months, has a price graph that predicts what prices will be for nearly a year in advance, and tells you what Google thinks is a fair price.

Consumer Reports also has an article on proven tips to help you save gas and, therefore, money.  For example, keep at least a half-tank of gas during the colder months due to weather and a risk of shortages. Drive evenly. Avoid unnecessary braking and frequent bursts of acceleration. Remove roof racks when they are not being used to reduce aerodynamic drag. (There is even a loss when driving with an empty roof rack.) Buy good quality gas from stations such as Chevron, Costco, Mobil, and Shell. And, finally, check your tire pressure. Having tires with lower pressure can affect fuel consumption.

Here’s how to access ConsumerReports.org via the Library’s website:

• Start by going to the library’s website – comlib.org or search [ketchum library]
• Scroll down to Apps & Digital Services
• Click on the Consumer Reports icon
• You will be prompted to enter your library card number: 22301. . .
• Then click on the text, “ConsumerReports.org”

I hope these tips help and encourage you to try the Library’s FREE ConsumerReports.org subscription. 

Gold Mine Processing Manager Kelly Noble recommends The Martini: An Illustrated History of an American Classic by Barnaby Conrad, III.

The martini has a long history in the United States. First invented here in the 1880s, the martini has been a part of the American beverage landscape ever since. Its composition has oscillated from gin to vodka and back again. It is still one of the most popular drinks in the United States. The story of the martini’s invention is up for debate, but most drinkers believe the martini was invented in San Francisco in 1887.

The recipe for a martini has also evolved over time, but the classic Gin Martini with gin and vermouth came into being around 1900. The martini became the drink of choice by most of the upper middle class and is still a top choice today. The current trend favors vodka over gin, but the drink’s overall popularity is still high.  

The importance of the martini is covered by Conrad’s book. My favorite chapter covers the martini in literature and film. Jack London wrote about the martini in his novel, Burning Daylight, and who can forget Ernest Hemingway’s long excerpt in The Sun Also Rises.

It is also reported that Hemingway liked his martinis served cold and with an olive. The only true way to drink a martini, I might add.

In film, the martini appears around 1934 with The Thin Man, and again in 1957 in My Man Godfry. True or not, Conrad relays Humphrey Bogart’s supposed last words as “I should have never switched from scotch to martinis.” And how can anyone alive not know of Ian Fleming’s super spy, Jame Bond. With the invention of James Bond, martinis have become more shaken and less stirred. A purist gin drinker would question this method, but who cares? I will say my favorite quote from Hollywood is by Charles Butterfield:

“You ought to get out of those clothes and into a dry martini.” You cannot go wrong with good advice! 

Overall, Conrad’s book covers a great part of martini history and American culture. For those readers looking for a great American beverage, try a martini at the Cellar Pub on Sun Valley Road in Ketchum, Idaho. They make them extra-large … which is the correct size. 

Borrow The Martini through interlibrary loan here.

Susie Bille recommends Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think about Race and Identity.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi 

This book contains results of a project asking people to use only six words to describe their experience of race and identity in America. Swinging into celebrations for our nation’s birthday, let us reflect on both our successes and failures when it comes to America’s democracy. We are a nation of immigrants, and even our local community is constantly evolving.

Can you hear everyone’s voice? 

My mother was a fierce advocate for the United States, celebrating July 4th with intensity and purpose. Mom’s parents were immigrants, coming to the United States as teenagers from Poland and Switzerland. In the 1940s, they tried to remove their Germanic accent so they would be accepted. Mom’s best friend was a neighbor boy who became the first Black editor of The Oregonian, the largest state newspaper. She worked hard to instill in us a welcoming and positive attitude towards those of other cultures, languages, abilities, and colors. We welcomed an Ethiopian graduate student to Thanksgiving, my sister married a Black man, and I spent one afternoon each week as a teenager at the State Hospital, taking children with varied abilities ‘out for air’. This was my normal. 

‘Normal Americans’ candid descriptions of race and identity are both fascinating and frightening. I found the “Coins in the Couch” chapter particularly riveting as it details experiences of people at the Minidoka Relocation Center. My niece looks Asian, so these stories hit close to home. 

Celebrating our democracy must include personal efforts to look for common ground. This book gives you a chance to see others as they see themselves, through their own experiences, and realize why their opinion is so different from yours. Be brave! Take a few moments to reflect on how you choose to interact with people who think, act, and look different.

Find it in our Collection here.

Philanthropy Associate Ann Sandefer recommends Intruder in the Dust by William Faulkner.

This novel focuses on Lucas  Beauchamp, a Black farmer who is a respectable and independent Black man, accused of murdering a white man in Mississippi. It is Faulkner’s response as a Southern writer to the racial problems facing the south.

Lucas is exonerated through the efforts of Black and white teenagers, the town lawyer, and a spinster from a long-established Southern family.

The book, which was published in 1948, was also made into a film in 1949 to speak about the ugly past of Southern America.

The book is written with long sentences fitting all over the place. The dialogue did move the story along with many passages focusing on the topic, a book about crime and race in the American South. I did find the book to be unsettling yet compelling and immersive. I found myself not being able to put the book aside, as the story of a murder against a white man during a time when racial tensions meant that a Black man was considered guilty until proven innocent drew me into the plot.

This is  a gripping whodunit story with a social conscience that remains relevant and thought provoking…

…an engrossing, thrilling story of courage, passion, and compassion even through the lens of today’s world. If you like Faulkner and his fictional writing of Southern literature, you may want to explore Intruder in the Dust.

Find it in our collection here.

Gold Mine Processing Associate Ben Kreuzer recommends Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich.

Voices from Chernobyl is a collection of interviews done by the Nobel Prize winning Belarusian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, which contains a series of interviews done with the survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.

These interviews with firefighters, cleanup crewmembers, civilians, and scientists paint a tragic and complex picture of life in an area ravaged by a nuclear meltdown.

The book takes you through the stories of the many people caught up in the worst nuclear accident in history, from the wives and parents of the first firefighters, to the people tasked with burying homes and farmland irradiated by the disaster, to the people who resettled after forced evacuations displaced hundreds of villages.

The juxtaposition of these everyday lives set against the backdrop of a land ravaged by nuclear disaster and governmental corruption and mismanagement is as compelling as it is brutal. This book pulls no punches in showing the aftershock of the disaster and how it tore through the lives of so many people, and how they continue to live in spite of everything.

This book is not an easy read, there were no really happy endings and the disaster’s effects are still being felt in the region today. However it does provide a powerfully personal look into the lives of those affected and the incredible persistence of humanity despite everything.

Find Voices from Chernobyl through Interlibrary Loan here.

DeAnn Campbell, Director of The Children’s and Young Adult Library, recommends Dogtown by Katherina Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko. 

It isn’t often that some of the best children’s book writers come together to collaborate on a project. In Dogtown, Katherine Applegate (winner of the Newbery Award for The One and Only Ivan) and Gennifer Choldenko (author of the Al Capone Does My Shirts series) have combined their witty and creative talents.  

Dogtown is a shelter for real dogs. Dogs like “Chance” live here. Dogs that can be cuddled and groomed. But Dogtown also shelters a new breed of dogs: Robot Dogs. 

“Ever petted a stapler? Hugged a toaster? Cuddled a bag of doorknobs.” Then you know what it is like to have a robot dog.  

Robot dogs don’t need to be fed or bathed or poop-scooped after. But those dogs aren’t real, are they? They don’t have hearts or loving owners who miss them. “Metal Head,” the newest robot-dog in Dogtown doesn’t have a brain or a heart, right? Oddly, though, “Metal Head” and “Chance” are looking for the same thing: the families that loved and then lost them.  

Can a real dog and a robot dog come together and look out enough for each other to find their ways home?  

With short chapters and delightful illustrations by Wallace West, Dogtown is a great book for kids (grades 3-5) who love dogs, robots, and books to read alone or with family.  

Find Dogtown in print and ebook here.