LIBRARY NEWS

Second year of Pagosa Reads! debuts next week

By Carole Howard and the Library Staff

The second year of a highly popular library program called Pagosa Reads! debuts next Thursday, May 10 when U.S. Forest Service fire investigator Brenda Schultz speaks at 6 p.m. at the library. Theme for this year’s events will be fire, which coordinator Gail Shepherd called “another topic of great concern to our community, ranking right up there with last year’s theme of water.”

The two books for this season’s Pagosa Reads! events will be “The Seasons of Fire: Reflections on Fire in the West,” a non-fiction book by wildland firefighter David J. Strohmaier, who shares his views on the formative role that fire plays in human life; and the fictional “Firestorm” by Nevada Barr, an Anna Pigeon mystery set in Lassen Volcanic National Park after a firestorm. Multiple copies of these books are now available at the library.

Next week’s speaker, Brenda Schultz, is a special agent with the Forest Service in Durango. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Resources and a Master of Arts degree in Geography, both from Eastern Kentucky University. She has been a certified wildland fire investigator since 1991. She also teaches three levels of wildland fire investigation training -- first responder scene protection, origin and cause determination, and complex case development.

The library’s second annual Pagosa Reads! is being planned by Shepherd, with support from the Alpine Lakes Book Club. The second lecture takes place on May 17.

Adult novels: English history and a writer in trouble
“The Pale Horseman” by Bernard Cornwell is about King Alfred the Great in England and is a sequel to “The Last Kingdom.” Arnon Grunberg’s “Phantom Pain” is a darkly humorous tale of a writer’s fall from fame and wealth and his subsequent rise again.

Books about our area’s history and art
“Early Images of the Southwest” is a book depicting 100 hand-tinted lantern slides from the Rainbow Bridge/Monument Valley Expedition of 1933-38 led by Ansel F. Hall, the first chief naturalist and chief forester of the National Park Service, compiled by Jack Turner, Hall’s grandson, who lives in Durango. “Historic Leadville: Rare Photographs & Drawings” by Christian J. Buys covers the boom years of the 1880s and 1890s as well as the bust years that followed. “Conversations at 9,000 Feet” is a collection of oral histories compiled by Davine Pera.from Telluride men and women who lived there during the first half of the 20 th century. “Navajo Sandpainting: From Religious Act to Commercial Art” by Nancy J. Parezo covers the secularization and commercialization of what once was one of the most sacred Navajo rituals.

Travel and nature guides to our area
National Geographic’s “Guide to America’s Outdoors: Southern Rockies” is a comprehensive guide to the parks, preserves, forests, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas in Colorado, Utah, northern Arizona, northern New Mexico and southwestern Wyoming. In “Beyond the Great Divide: 101 True Stories of Western Colorado” Abbott Fay reveals tales of unique places and unusual facts about the western slope of Colorado. “Raven’s Exile: A Season on the Green River” by Ellen Meloy tells of her eight years of seasonal floats through Utah’s Desolation Canyon with her husband, a federal river ranger.

More helpful how-to books
“PC User’s Bible” by John Ross and Kelly Murdock is a one-stop reference tutorial on what you need to succeed with your Windows Vista or Windows XP computer. “Gold: ABCs of Panning” by E.S. “Rocky” LeGaye is a revised and enlarged version of a prospector’s handbook. “Colorado Ice Climber’s Guide” by Cameron M. Burns is the first comprehensive guide to ice climbing throughout Colorado, with text descriptions enhanced by hundreds of detailed maps and photographs.

Thanks to our donors
Our thanks this week for donations in honor of retiring children’s librarian Barb Draper from Lenore Bright as well as Betsy and Roy Gill. Thanks for books and materials to Wayne Crosby, Suellen Loher, Kathleen Serris, Susan Thorpe, Sharon Walter, Dick Warring and Bill Wetzel.

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