By Amy Garoutte, Northern Saguache County Library District.
Thank you to the Saguache County Commissioners for providing funding for a Library of Things for the Northern Saguache Library District, which will be added in 2024. As libraries continue to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of patrons, many libraries are adding tools, kits and appliances to their collections. We want to meet the needs of our community and request that you share your ideas. Please complete the survey at www.bit.ly/NSCLD-Things or drop your ideas to the suggestion box at either branch.
I love a good book project to focus my reading time. This year I’m trying to focus on seasonal reading and am also reading all of The Chronicles of Narnia to my daughter. Would you like to join fellow Saguache County readers in a book project? This summer the library is going to host a community read focusing on the Mark Twain classic, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Percival Everett’s novel, James, a new and exciting retelling of the story from the perspective of the runaway slave, Jim. In an interview with Elle Magazine, Everett said this about his book:
“I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I love that novel. It’s the first “modern” novel. It’s great. It doesn’t have any deficiencies that I’m addressing; James addresses what Mark Twain would not have been able to address”.
We want to read this book as a community, come together and have a conversation about the books over good food and let this collaborative act of reading excite and inspire us. This is going to be one of those times when you have as much fun talking about the book as you do reading the book.
If you’d like to be a part of this exciting book project, please call either branch and get on the list and we’ll make sure everyone has access to the books. I can’t wait to dive into this community-read with my fellow readers this summer.
We recently set up a new geocache in Saguache.
Join the world’s largest treasure hunt by going to www.geocaching.com/play and come find the library sponsored geocache. We’ll be adding one in the Crestone community soon.
The Baca Grande Library is also gearing up for summer reading. Kids who would like to participate can come get a punch card and croc bracelet and for every 5 books read (up to 20) they can choose a new jibbitz charm for their bracelet. The library has also created “adventure maps” of simple reading activities kids can do to earn chances to win prizes at the end of summer.
Our new books
Takaoka’s Travels by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa (Author), David Boyd (Translator): A fantasy set in the ninth century, Takaoka’s Travels recounts the adventures of a Japanese prince-turned-monk on a pilgrimage to India. As Prince Takaoka and his companions pass through faraway lands, the rules of the ordinary world are upended and they find curiosities and miracles wherever they go. Seductive and mysterious, offering high adventure yet deeply human, this is a novel that transcends all expectations.
Enlightenment: A Novel by Sarah Perry: Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay have lived all their lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh. Though separated in age by three decades, the pair are kindred spirits — torn between their commitment to religion and their desire to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community.
Two romantic relationships rend their friendship, and in the wake of this rupture, Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer said to haunt a nearby manor; Grace flees Aldleigh entirely for London.
Over the course of twenty years, by coincidence and design, Thomas and Grace will find their lives brought back into orbit as the mystery of the vanished astronomer unfolds into a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit. Thomas and Grace will ask themselves what it means to love and be loved, what is fixed and what is mutable, how much of our fate is predestined and written in the stars and whether they can find their way back to each other.
Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West by Tom Clavin and Bob Drury: The explosive true saga of the legendary adventurer Jedediah Smith and the mountain men who explored the American frontier. It is the early 19th century and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles.
Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.
This is the setting of Throne of Grace, and the guide to this epic narrative is arguably America’s greatest, yet most unsung pathfinder, Jedediah Smith. His explorations into the forested frontiers on both sides of the Rocky Mountains and all the way to the West Coast became the stuff of legend. Thanks to painstaking research and riveting writing, the story of the making of modern America is told through the eyes of both the ordinary and memorable men, women, settlers and Indigenous who witnessed it. But it’s Smith who drives the narrative with his trailblazing path through the unexplored terrain of the American West.
A Light Through The Cracks: A Climber’s Story by Beth Rodden: Renowned rock climber’s inspiring memoir about overcoming devastating trauma, refusing to be held hostage by fear, and taking a leap toward healing. Beth Rodden is twenty years old and already an elite rock climber when a climbing excursion in Kyrgyzstan escalates into a nightmare. Beth, her boyfriend, and two other climbers are kidnapped by militant rebels. After six harrowing days of hiding, marching, and dodging gunfire, they miraculously escape captivity. But fear follows Beth home, and pushing past it becomes a fixation.
The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan: Tracking the natural beauty that surrounds us, The Backyard Bird Chronicles maps the passage of time through daily entries, thoughtful questions and beautiful original sketches. With boundless charm and wit, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birding and the natural wonders of the world.
In 2016, Amy Tan grew overwhelmed by the state of the world; Hatred and misinformation became a daily presence on social media and the country felt more divisive than ever. In search of peace, Tan turned toward the natural world just beyond her window and, specifically, the birds visiting her yard.
But what began as an attempt to find solace turned into something far greater — an opportunity to savor quiet moments during a volatile time, connect to nature in a meaningful way and imagine the intricate lives of the birds she admired.
Recurring programs
Storytime (ages preK – 3rd grade) every Tuesday at the Saguache Public Library at 10 a.m.
Tech Help every Friday from 10 a.m.-noon at the Baca Grande Library and every Tuesday at 1:30-3:30 p.m. at the Saguache Public Library.
In Town Hours every Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. at the Little Shepherd Church in Crestone.
Free Food Friday every Friday from 10 a.m.-noon at the Baca Grande Library and 10 a.m.- 5 p.m.at the Saguache Public Library.
Special events
Saguache Community Flea Market and community party from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., on Saturday, June 29, at Otto Mears Park next to the Saguache Public Library.
Author Talk with Bill Hatcher – June 4, at 5 p.m. at the Saguache Public Library and June 13, at 5 p.m. at the Baca Grande Library.
Writing Workshop June 27, at 3:30 p.m. at the Baca Grande Library.
For questions concerning programming, please call the Baca Grande Library at 719-256-4100
Library hours
Baca Grande Library hours are Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Saguache Public Library hours are Monday to Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.