Each Winter, we read a story together and talk about the themes it raises.
The 2022 Winter Read is A River Runs Through It by Normal Maclean.
The book, in English and Spanish, print, ebook, eaudiobook, CD, and film, is now available for checkout at The Community Library. Books are also available with our partner libraries in Hailey, Bellevue, and Stanley.
About the Book
When Norman Maclean sent the manuscript of A River Runs through It and Other Stories to New York publishers, he received a slew of rejections. One editor, so the story goes, replied, “it has trees in it.” Forty years later, the title novella is recognized as one of the great American tales of the twentieth century, and Maclean as one of the most beloved writers of our time. The finely distilled product of a long life of often surprising rapture–for fly-fishing, for the woods, for the interlocked beauty of life and art–A River Runs through It has established itself as a classic of the American West. This new edition will introduce a fresh audience to Maclean’s beautiful prose and understated emotional insights.
Elegantly redesigned, A River Runs through It includes a new foreword by Robert Redford, director of the Academy Award-winning 1992 film adaptation of River. Based on Maclean’s own experiences as a young man, the book’s two novellas and short story are set in the small towns and mountains of western Montana. It is a world populated with drunks, loggers, card sharks, and whores, but also one rich in the pleasures of fly-fishing, logging, cribbage, and family. By turns raunchy and elegiac, these superb tales express, in Maclean’s own words, “a little of the love I have for the earth as it goes by.”
Exhibits
Reel Legends: Fly-fisherwomen of the Wood River Valley
This exhibit, the The Community Library Foyer, celebrated the great fly-fishing tradition in the Wood River Valley as seen through they eyes of four women who have earned the badge of Reel Legends on our local waters. The artifacts were curated as part of the Library’s Winter Read, featuring Norman MacLean’s A River Suns Through It.
The Floating World of Grant McClintock
Somewhere during his five decades as a professional photographer, Grant McClintock’s name became synonymous with fly fishing. This status is largely due to the success of two collaborative books featuring “flywaters” of the West.
A passionate fly-fisher since young adulthood, McClintock took on an idea that was sparked at a gathering of friends. Mike Crockett describes the moment as “a pleasant cocktail hour” with the McClintocks in Ketchum. They later enlisted Jack Hemingway, another avid Wood River Valley fly-fisher, in what would become Flywater (1994).
Events
Winter Read Kickoff – Monday, January 31, 2022
Hear about our upcoming Winter Read events, exhibits, contests, opportunities to participate in discussions, and about our interns’ self-created projects. Plan to join us on Vimeo to learn about this year’s Winter Read!
Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River with author John Maclean – February 2, 2022
Join us for a virtual evening with John Maclean, author of the new memoir, Home Waters: A Chronicle of Family and a River. In the spirit of his father Norman Maclean’s beloved classic A River Runs through It, John’s book is a gorgeous chronicle of a family and the land they call home.
Every Day the River Changes with Jordan Salama – February 8, 2022
Join us for a virtual evening with Jordan Salama, author of Every Day the River Changes: Four Weeks Down the Magdalena. An American writer of Argentine, Syrian, and Iraqi Jewish descent, Jordan Salama tells the story of the Río Magdalena, nearly one thousand miles long, the heart of Colombia.
Nation Building Activities and Visions with Sammy and Jessica Matsaw – February 17, 2022
Sammy and Jessica Matsaw are co-founders of River Newe, an Indigenous-owned nonprofit based in Fort Hall, Idaho, that promotes and advocates for intergenerational learning experiences within Shoshone-Bannock Traditional Knowledge, teachings and homelands.
Restoring Tributary Health to Stage Zero Restoration with Brian Cluer – February 24, 2022
This exciting talk will lead the listener through different restoration techniques, their applications, and what bringing our tributaries back to “Stage Zero” health can mean for the overall health of the Big Wood River. Part of the 2022 Thinking Globally Acting Locally Speaker Series, presented by the Wood River Land Trust and The Community Library.
From the Source to the Sea with Bob Beckwith – March 2, 2022
Bob Beckwith will show photos of his river trip from the source of the Salmon River to the ocean, and share his perspective on rivers and public lands. Bob is a retired high school science teacher and owns Beckwith’s Lodge in Lower Stanley. Hosted by the Stanley Community Library
How Does Water Matter in the West? with Heather Hansman – March 3, 2022
Heather Hansman is a freelance writer and editor who writes about a range of topics, from butchers to birth control, though most of what she covers happens outside. She is interested in the intersection of science, adventure, and culture and is the environmental columnist for Outside online. She also writes for The Guardian, Sierra, and The New York Times.
“Rocky Mountain Fly Highway” Film Screening & Reel Legends Panel Discussion – March 9, 2022
Join us for a screening of The Rocky Mountain Fly Highway (2014), to be followed by a panel discussion with the Reel Legends—four fly-fisherwomen of the Wood River Valley whose fishing lives are featured in the Library’s current foyer exhibit as part of the 2022 Winter Read.
Winter Read Closing Event – March 11, 2022
Join your libraries and the Winter Read Teen Interns as we close out this year’s community-wide read of Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It.
We’ll reveal the winners of the Winter Read Contests, share the intern’s projects, and intern Leila Brickley will perform a multi-instrument performance of the song Deep River. We’ll also host a round of trivia, so come prepared to show us your knowledge of A River Runs Through It (the book and film!).
Discussions
January 26-February 23
Winter Read Book Group: Reading Water
Meet each Wednesday at 4:00 p.m. to discuss Walden, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, and A River Runs Through It. Led by Jenny Emery Davidson.
February 16
A River Runs Through It
Discussion
Hosted by the Stanley Community Library at 5:30 p.m.
February 28
A River Runs Through It
Discussion
Hosted by the Hailey Public Library at 5:30 p.m.
March 8
A River Runs Through It
Discussion
Hosted by the Bellevue Public Library at 5:30 p.m.
Winter Read Partners
