By Carole Howard and the Library Staff

Val Valentine’s name is well known to Archuleta County residents, since he served as our local water commissioner for 20 years. Now you can see another side of Val, as he has written a novel called “Double Jack: Search for a Dusty Jewel,” set in the gold mining area around Ouray after the turn of the 20 th Century, when Colorado mining had just slipped past its peak.

The story tells of a mine engineer who rediscovers a gold mine. Its riches will make life easy financially for the hero and his wife – but there’s the little problem of who really owns the mine. The result is a series of adventures and ethical choices, not to mention a major surprise ending. “Double Jack” was selected as a Southwest Writers finalist in its annual contest in 2006.

Val has been a Pagosa resident since 1988. He has backpacked most of the Colorado Trail and visited most of our state’s mining camps and ghost towns. As a cartographer for years in Durango and Denver, he also has mapped most of Colorado’s mining towns and mineral claims. “While I was making maps, I read the history books of each area I visited,” he said. “That’s what fueled my fascination with Colorado mining history.”

For those of you who enjoy knowing unusual facts, Val says that the name of the mine in “Double Jack” came from the Doors classic rock song “Hello I Love You” from the ‘60s. And the term “Double Jack” comes from the two-man hand drilling technique used in gold mining.

Val has donated a copy of “Double Jack” to the library. Already in our collection is his first novel, “The Great Durango and Silverton Train Robbery,” the fictional story of a modern-day old-time train robbery. If you want your own copies of these books, you can order them at valvalentinebooks. com.

Last Lifelong Learning lecture

Saturday, November 10 at 3 p.m. is our last Lifelong Learning lecture in the fall series, as Raymond Dutton speaks on “A Comparison of Native American and European Worldviews.” Our thanks to Biz Greene for creating and organizing this popular lecture series, which is free to everyone and a great asset for our community.

New time for youth chess

The Youth Chess Club now meets onFriday afternoons from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., a change in starting time from the previous 1:45 p.m. They’ve dubbed themselves the “Friday Chessnuts.”

Cookbooks

In celebration of the 30-year anniversary of the original “Moosewood Cookbook,” Molly Katzen has published “Soups,” a collection of 50 hot and chilled soup recipes, some from the original cookbook and some new. “The Vegetable Dishes I Can’t Live Without” is another collection from this popular cook. “Backpack Gourmet” by Linda Frederick Yaffe contains recipes for casseroles, pastas, soups, chiles, stews, beans, dried fruits and cookies that you can make at home, dehydrate, then pack for quick and healthy eating on the trail. “The Low Cholesterol Cookbook” contains 170 recipes compiled by food writers Angelika Ilies, Doris Muliar and Edita Pospisil, members of the Lipid League, a German society made up of medical professionals working to combat dysfunctional fat metabolism in individuals.

Books about families

Anne Tyler’s latest novel is “Digging to America,” about two families who meet by chance at the Baltimore Airport as they are awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. “Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism” is a true story by Jenny McCarthy about her experiences with behavioral therapy, diet and supplements that came key to saving her son from autism. “The Wednesday Letters” by Jason F. Wright reveal shocking truths to adult children about their family after their mother and father die in each other’s arms, leaving behind boxes and boxes of weekly love letters.

Spanish-language books

We continue to expand the number of Spanish-language books in our collection, from classics to current bestsellers. Now on our shelves are “Vida de una Geisha” by Mineko Iwasaki, “La Cena Secreta” by Javier Sierra, “El Club Social de las Chicas Temerarias” by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, “El Ultimo Secreto de Da Vinci” by David Zurdo and Angel Gutierrez, “Vivir Para Contarla” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, “La Biblia de Barro” by Julia Navarro and “La Vuelta Al Mundo en 80 Dias” by Julio Verne.

Books on the meaning of life

In “Ultimate Journey,” Time magazine’s Bejing bureau chief Richard Bernstein retraces the path of an ancient Buddish monk who crossed Asia in search of enlightenment in 629. “The Prophet” by Kahlil Bigran, originally published in 1923, has become one of the beloved classics of our time and been translated into more than 20 languages.

Mysteries and thrillers

“The Girl with Braided Hair” is the latest in the Wind River Reservation Mysteries series by Margaret Coel, often said to be the most accomplished heir to Tony Hillerman’s legacy. “Dexter in the Dark” by Jeff Lindsay is another suspense novel in the series featuring Miami crime scene investigator Dexter Morgan. The Invention of Hugo Cabret” by Brian Selznick

Adult fiction

John Grisham’s latest bestseller, “Playing for Pizza,” available in large type as well as regular size print, is the story of a third-string quarterback who ends up playing football in Parma, Italy when he is cut from the Cleveland Browns. In “Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade” by Diana Gabaldon, Lord John Gray returns, this time to pursue a deadly family secret as well as a clandestine love affair. “Guiding Light: Johnathan’s Story” by Julia London reveals what really happened after it becomes known that Johnathan Randall and baby Sarah are not really dead.

Thanks to our donors

Our gratitude to Jack and Katy Threet for their donation, and to Beverly Warburton for a subscription to Horse & Rider magazine. For books and materials this week we thank Gwen Fisher, Jon Jenkins, Ray Laird, Phil McAdams, Richard Miller, Kate Retley, Helen Richardson, Patricia Slagle, Arlette Smith, Jerrell Tyson and Bill Wetzel.

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