If you are looking for some good summer reads, this is the article for you! I’ve asked the employees of the library to recommend their favorite books they’ve read this year.
From Margaret:
Some of my favorite authors have created characters with a strong moral compass who stand tall, refusing to be swayed by the opinions of others. In modern life, this puts them in direct conflict with those who choose the easy solution over what is morally right. My new find is Craig Johnson, author of an adventure series featuring a Wyoming lawman. If you like “Joe Pickett” (C.J. Box) and “Jack Reacher” (Lee Child), you’re going to love “Sheriff Walt Longmire!”
“Prayers for Sale” by Sandra Dallas shines a bright light on the life of a woman in a high altitude Colorado mining town back when mining was king. Dallas uses quilting to piece together a lovely story of how women brought joy to their otherwise difficult and often precarious existence.
If you try either of these authors, let me know. I love feedback!
From Sally Jo:
If you enjoy reading true stories about cowboys, Indians, wild horses and outlaws, “Last of the Robbers Roost Outlaws” by Tom McCourt is a book you won’t want to overlook. Set in the canyons of southeastern Utah, locals will recognize many of the names and places in this fascinating biography of Moab’s Bill Tibbetts.
I admire author T.C. Boyle because his fast-paced novels are always wrapped around controversial contemporary issues. His latest, “When the Killing’s Done,” looks at the many viewpoints surrounding ecology and animal rights. Two other Boyle favorites I recommend are “Drop City” (“dropping out” in Alaska) and “The Tortilla Curtain” (illegal immigration).
From Susie:
Two of my favorite reads this past year happen to be by the same author, Mary Doria Russell. “A Thread of Grace” is an uplifting story about the Italian Resistance at the end of World War II that sheltered more than 40,000 Jewish refugees. The characters are compelling and complex.
The second book is Russell’s newest novel, “Doc.” It too is historical fiction and provides another side to the story of Doc (John Henry) Holliday of Tombstone legend.
From Lavon:
“A Simple Government” by Mike Huckabee. I liked this book because I felt like someone in politics has some common sense, finally! He points out 12 essential truths that could help our country right now. Three that I felt were especially crucial were:
“You can’t spend what you don’t have: you can’t borrow what you can’t pay back.”
“We need a simple and fair taxation system.”
“The most important form of government is the family.”
He explains the 12 things we really need from Washington and why, plus he talks about the trillion that we do not need. Mike Huckabee writes so that you may find some dry topics interesting and humorous!
“Colorado’s Best Wildflower Hikes: The San Juan Mountains,” by Pamela Irwin. This book made me want to take some hikes where I have not been before, and reminded me of some of the great hikes where I have been. Pamela Irwin gives very detailed directions on how to get to the trails, the amount of time a hike may take, the types of wildflowers one is likely to see, and a variety of other information. The book is wonderful for those of us who love hiking and want to see as many wildflowers as possible on any given hike. It’s especially great because it’s about our part of Colorado!
From Laura:
“Bliss, Remembered,” by Frank Deford. Those of us who have adult children have moments when our children want to divulge their past sins and have complete disclosure, much to our chagrin. T.M.I. This story by Frank Deford turns around this insatiable need to share. The main character, Sydney Stringfellow is dying and wants to tell all to her son, and, through him, her daughter. Her past is colorful and full of surprises. A patron recommended this book to me.
“Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life,” by Mark Seals. What started out as a Vanity Fair article turned into a book. This is a story where we already know the tragic headline-making ending. Joan Root had an adventurous life with her husband, Alan, filming wildlife and living in Kenya. Her love affair with her husband ended but not her love affair with Kenya. During turbulent times in her adopted homeland, she stayed and lost her life. This came across the circulation desk and I thought it looked intriguing.
From Yolanda:
“Two Old Women” by Velma Wallis is an Alaskan legend of betrayal, courage and survival. In very lean, clear prose, the writer shares a story told to her by her mother. The story seems to move slowly, but covers the ground of a great journey. Culture is a strong influence, but humanity and spirit are even stronger.
“Ceremony,” by Leslie Marmon Silko. Sherman Alexie says of the book “I learn from it and I am continually in awe of its power, beauty, rage, vision, and violence.” He’s right.
From Barb:
“Portrait of a killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed,” by Patricia Cornwell. A very detailed and deeply investigated account of who could have been Jack the Ripper. Cornwell uses techniques that were not available during the late 1800s to make her case of the identity of the Ripper. She studies his work, analyzes the medical records, and his upbringing to present an example of how a psychopathic killer was created. Whether you agree with her conclusions or not, the account does have the ability to hold your attention, and maybe question the possibility that this person could actually be Jack the Ripper.
“Folly” by Laurie R. King. By the author of the Mary Russell series, this story is placed in modern times. The story centers around Rae Newborn, a person who has had many tragedies in her life. She decides to go and restore her great-uncle’s house, located on the San Juan Islands in Washington. Strange happenings start to occur — the feeling of being watched, the disappearance of items — all make her question her sanity. As she continues to work on the house, she begins to find some of the answers that have been elusive for so long. A good psychological read for summer.
From Kathy:
“Vaclav & Lena,” a debut novel by Haley Tanner, is a quirky, whimsical, poignant, passionate, and at times, incredibly sad fairy tale for adults. Two young kids are bound together by more than a romantic love. Vaclav is an aspiring magician, and Lena is his loyal assistant; that is, until she disappears. I can say no more, except, read it. I did, in one sitting!
“The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” by Isabel Wilkerson is a non-fiction narrative that is so fascinating and riveting that it reads like a novel. Taking place from after World War I to the Nixon era, it is a history of the exodus of 6 million black migrants who left the intolerance and oppression they experienced in the South to move north, where their hopes and dreams of a better life awaited. The three protagonists she exemplified held my interest as I followed them through their trials and tribulations, assimilating and not assimilating to this new world and new life they chose. More than 600 pages equals quite a history lesson!
From Kurt:
The author that most impressed me this year and probably this decade is Cormac McCarthy. I love Western fiction, stories of men and women who work the ranches and farms of the west and love their lives in spite of the hardship. The Border Trilogy: “All the Pretty Horses,” “The Crossing” and “Cities of the Plain,” written by McCarthy in the 1990s, is superb western fiction. The young men in these novels come of age on Southwestern ranches in the 1930s while over the border Mexico calls to them with its desolate beauty and the allure of a place where dreams are paid for in blood.
In “All the Pretty Horses,” young John Grady Cole, made homeless by the sale of his family’s Texas ranch, heads across the border in search of the cowboy life, finding a job breaking horses and a dangerously ill-fated love affair. In “The Crossing,” 16-year-old Billy Parham captures a she-wolf that has been killing his family’s cattle and instead of killing her decides to take her home to the mountains of Mexico. These two drifters come together later in “Cities of the Plain,” a story of humor and tragedy describing a world about to change forever.
Please give these novels a look.
From Donna:
Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher series. I met Jack Reacher in March of this year by reading “Killing Floor.” I was instantly hooked. I couldn’t put it down. Reacher, an ex-military cop, actually walks across the country, and trouble always manages to find him. He gets together with some of his former colleagues from the Army, and it really gets interesting. I have read all 15 of his books, ending with “Worth Dying For,” and I am eagerly awaiting his new release, “The Affair,” coming out in the fall. I would highly recommend these books to anyone who likes fast-paced mysteries.
From Joanie:
My favorite this year was “Half Broke Horses” by Jeannette Walls. Walls also wrote the “Glass Castle” about her mother and father and her own childhood, which was a stunning book. This is about her maternal grandmother who grew up on horse ranches in Texas and New Mexico. As a grown woman she did a variety of jobs in a variety of places in Arizona in the first half of the 20th Century. It is a gripping story with a strong heroine.
Happy reading from the Cortez Public Library staff.
Joanie Howland is director of the Cortez Public Library, 202 N. Park St. She can be reached at 565-8117.
