FAVORITE READS AND LISTENS OF 2023

HORSE by Geraldine Brooks

UNSHELTERED by Barbara Kingsolver

THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

THE CODE GIRLS by Liza Mundy

THE DISTANT HOURS by Kate Morton

THE VIRGIN SUICIDES by Jeffrey Eugenides

THE COVENANT OF WATER by Abraham Verghese

GOLD DUST WOMAN – THE BIOGRAPHY OF STEVIE NICKS by Stephen Davis

LUCY BY THE SEA By Elizabeth Strout

THE WOMAN WHO SMASHED CODES by Jason Fargone

THE ALCHEMIST by Paul Coehlo

VERMEER’S HAT by Timothy Brook

"There's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse"

--Ronald Reagan

"Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself."

--Mark Twain

"There are two ways of spreading the light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."

--Edith Wharton

It does not require many words to speak the truth.

-Chief Joseph

The best way out is always through.

--Robert Frost

"Love sought is good, but given unsought is better"

- William Shakespeare

"Try not to come a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value"

- Albert Einstein

- From Canterbury 2 Rome–A Pilgrimage 2 Eternity by Timothy Egan

- Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens

- The Woman Who Smashed Codes by Jason Fagone

- The Japanese Lover by Isabelle Allende

- The Hummingbird by Sy Montgomery

- This Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith

- Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

- When the Stars Go Dark by Maula Mclain

- Scarlett Sky by Mark Sullivan

- The Judge’s List by John Grisham

- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

- The Things We Do by Kristin Hannah

- The Coldest Case by James Patterson

- Sunrise on Half Moon Bay by Robyn Carr

Life is Like a Book

Some chapters are sad, some are happy, and some are exciting. But if you never turn the page, you will never know what the next chapter holds.

-- Dr. Bryan

• - The Splendid and the Vile by Erick Larson – The leadership of Winston Churchill during the first year of his Premiership in WWII and the horrors of the London Blitz. A lot of the focus in the book is on the women in his life and his personality quirks, as well as his political brinkmanship. Material was drawn from diaries, archaic documents and once secret intelligence reports. A truly engaging read.
  
• - This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger – Harking to Huck Finn, this big hearted novel of life and hardship in 1932 America follows the adventures of four orphans who run away from an Indian "training" school and rely on their wits traveling in a canoe down the Gilead River in Minnesota until it joins with the Mississippi.
• - The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett – This Prequel to the Pillars of the Earth this book takes us on an epic journey into the Middle Ages in England. A simple boat builder, a noble woman and a monk deal with love and tragedy amid the scourge of the Viking raids that make living a trial in the southern part of rural England.
  
• - The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson – Murder, Magic & Madness at the 1983 World's Fair in Chicago. It tells the true tale of 2 men; the brilliant architect behind the bulking of the Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his young female victims to gruesome deaths. A beautifully researched and written account.
  
• - The Gift of Rain by Twan Eng – I read this years ago but reread it because of the exquisite language and metaphor the author treats the reader to. Set during the tumult of WWII on the lush Malayan island of Penang, this novel tells the poignant tale of a young man, half English and half Chinese caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. He develops a close relationship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat and aikido expert. The Japanese invasion of Malaya tears the young Philip apart as he tries to protect his family.
  
• - The Girl Who Wrote in Silks by Kelli Estes – The smallest items can hold centuries of secrets. Inara Erickson is exploring her deceased aunt's island estate when she finds an elaborately stitched piece of fabric hidden in the house.
  
• - The White Darkness by David Grann – A powerful true story of adventure and obsession in the Antarctic. A British special forces officer spent his life idolizing Ernest Shackleton. He succeeded where Shackleton did not by walking across Antartica, the most brutal landscape in the world. His obsession led him to go back 2015 at age 55 and walk it alone.
  
• - A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson– A true, entertaining and dense narrative by the author and his friend Katz who attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail. They begin at the southern most end in the Georgia Mountains and don't quite make it to the end at Mount Katidin in New Hampshire. He narrates with humor, the travails, the people, the beauty of the views and the tediousness of the hike through endless green forests.
  
• - A Time for Mercy by John Grisham – A good listen to book on Audible. Taking place in 1990 Clanton, Mississippi, Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a divisive trial as a court appointed attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid 16 year old accused of murdering a local deputy.
  
• - Black-Eyed Susan's by Julia Heaberlin – As a 16 year old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas Field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there.
  
• - The Immortal Life of Henrieta Loucks by Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks captures the beauty and drama of scientific discovery, as well as its human consequences.
  
• - The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah - Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist.
• - The Dutch House by Ann Patchett - At the end of the Second World War, Cyril Conroy combines luck and a single canny investment to begin an enormous real estate empire, propelling his family from poverty to enormous wealth. His first order of business is to buy the Dutch House.
• - Becoming by Michelle Obama - In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites listeners into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her.
• - Camino Winds by John Grisham - Another good listen an a car trip, this typical Grisham murder mystery happens in the midst of a hurricane might prove to be the perfect crime. The novel is a good revisit to the writers community on Camino Island.
• - The Giver of Stars by JoJo Moyes - Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law.
  

• - Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens – a fictional murder mystery story of a reclusive young woman living in the in the Carolina coastal swamplands
• - The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – accused of murdering her husband, and confined to a mental hospital, the protagonist stops speaking
• - Bad Blood by John Carreyrou – non -fiction, the ongoing saga of Elizabeth Holmes and the rise and fall of her “unicorn” start -up Theranos, a fraudulent blood testing device
• - I Heard You Paint Houses by Charles Brandt – non-fiction story of Jimmy Hoffa, The Teamsters and the East Coast Italian mob as told to the author by Frank Sheeran, Hoffa’s killer
• - The Guardians by John Grisham – a small group of Southern lawyers work to exonerate falsely accused prisoners still serving time in prison
  
• - The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale recounts the tales of women who escape the repressive post-apocalyptic regime and the story of Aunt Lydia who remains with the regime
• - There There by Tommy Orange – non-fiction – the story of the Oakland, California Indian Pow Wow tragedy, the tries of Native American Indians who attend and their stories
• - The Library Book by Susan Orlean – non-fiction – mystery of the arson of the Los Angelos County Library, the story of who was responsible and a primer on how libraries operate
• - Educated by Tara Westover – memoir of the author who survives an horrific childhood in a Mormon survivalist household in Idaho and gets herself to college and goes on to earn post graduate degrees
• - Warlight by Michael Ondjante – a Dickensonian tale of two teenagers during the London Blitz who are abandoned by their parents and cared for my mysterious strangers.

• Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. -- Confuscius
  
• There is nothin' new in the world except the history of what you do not know. --Harry S. Truman
  
• The first wealth is health. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
  
• Water if the driving force of all nature. -- Leonardo da Vinci
  
• Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. -- Buddha
  
• Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life. --Oscar Wilde
  
• Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans. -- John Lennon
  

• - The Good Liar – Helen Mirren & Ian Mckellan – Who is the better liar?
  
• - The Irishman – DeNiro, Pesci, Pacino – the story of Jimmy Hoffa, the Teamsters and the Mob as narrated by Frank Sheeran. It is based on the book I Heard you Paint Houses by Charles Brandt
  
• - Parasite – South Korean – A Family is taken over
  
• - The Lion King – the best animation of a classic tale yet
  
• - Harriet – the story of Harriet Tubman and the underground slave railroad
  
• - Knives Out – Daniel Craig & Jamie Lee Curtis – a twisting turning who-dunnit in the style of Agatha Christie
  

BOOKS

Recommended good books that I have read these last 6 months include:

--Educated by Tara Westover

--The Gravity of Birds by Tracy Guzemann

--Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan

--Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

--Our Towns by James and Deborah Fallows

--Garden of the Lost and Abandoned by Jessica Yu

--Celine by Peter Heller

--Home Fire by Kamilis Shamsie

--Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

These books are all worthy reads. Please check them out, read and enjoy

FILMS

--RBG - Fabulous documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

--Free Solo - If you have the nerve to watch a world class mountaineer scale Half Dome in Yosemite without ropes.

"Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of a joy, you must have someone to divide it with."

-- Mark Twain

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart."

-- Helen Keller

"Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential."

-- Winston Churchill

"Real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out."

--Frank A. Clarke

"The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."

-- Theodore Roosevelt

April 12, 1904 to April 24, 2017

My husband John's mother was an amazing woman. She was so accomplished, patient, a wonderful cook, a gardener and keeper of the family flame. We were so sad to say goodbye to this indomitable 104 year old but cherish the memories of the great long life she enjoyed. Goodbye dear Katherine. You are missed!

September 25, 2004 - October 31, 2017

Our beloved Vizsla went over the Rainbow Bridge on Halloween. He was the most devoted dog. He accompanied me riding horses, hiking, cross country skiing and on many road trips. He loved adventure and was the true velcro dog, by my side every step of the way. Coming home without you here to greet me is still so hard. Rest in peace sweet one.

-Chiripa Memoriam:

April 23, 1992 to December 18, 2017

It is so hard to say goodbye to a beloved animal who has become part of the family. Chiripa carried me over mountains, through streams, across meadows and was the sweetest, most gentle horse imaginable. May you rest in peace sweet mare.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

― Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The clock is running. Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the present.”

― Alice Morse Earle

“Forget yesterday - it has already forgotten you. Don't sweat tomorrow - you haven't even met. Instead, open your eyes and your heart to a truly precious gift - today.”

― Steve Maraboli

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards"

---Kierkgaard

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.”

― Leo Buscaglia

“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.”

― Vince Lombardi

“The highest levels of performance come to people who are centered, intuitive, creative, and reflective - people who know to see a problem as an opportunity.”

― Deepak Chopra

“The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

― Bob Marley

The River of Doubt by Candace Millard

This is the harrowing tale of Theodore Roosevelt’s journey down an uncharted, rapids choked tributary of the Amazon in Brazil in 1914. Together with his son Kermit and Candidio Rondon, Brazil’s most famous explorer and a group of naturalists. They face an unbelievable series of hardships but most survive the incessant rain, starvation, disease, Indians, drowning and the fears of the ever present jungle and it’s creatures. Roosevelt almost did not survive, 3 others did not. It reads like a thriller. You will be mesmerized.

Hillbilly Elegy:A Mamoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J.D. Vance

This well written and very personal memoir describes the decline of the working-class culture in America in Appalachia and the Rust Belt. These regions in particular struggle with abuse, alcoholism, poverty and the opioid addiction epidemic. The author was born into this culture and his family moves to strive for a middle-class life. How he survives the family dysfuntion and addictions is remarkable. He goes into the Marines then college at night then to Yale Law school. But he never forgets his roots and his love of family despite all their problems.

― Winston Churchill

“Excellence is never an accident. It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny.”

― Aristotle

"If you can conceive and believe, you can achieve."

---Anonymous

"The Mountains are calling, and I must go."

John Muir

“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.”

--Confucius

A fabulous new book for your reading pleasure, The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts should be tops on your reading list. This is not just a horse book. It is the true tale of the rescue of the famous Lipanzzer stallions of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and purebred Polish Arabian horses during WWII. The famous American Second Cavalry and European horse breeders and lovers all sacrificed to save a good few of these majestic horses from slaughter. It is a gripping thriller as well as a heart rending piece of history.

My photography club will host an event at the Ketchum Community Library to display our club's exhibit of photo's of the City of Rocks. Here is the link to the exhibit page on our website: http://www.comlib.org/art-in-the-lecture-room/.

Dictate -tells everyone what to do

Rotate -turns it all around

Agitate -stirs it all up

Irritate -makes everyone mad, no help

Deviate -changes from its original course

Hesitate -doubts all decisions

Imitate -copies but does not initiate

Devastate -doomsayer

Potentate -the big shot, not a team player

Facilitate -brings it all together

Cogitate -thinks about all the possibilities

Meditate -calmly, spiritually thinks it through

Levitate -the final elevation of thought of process

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

- Aristotle

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore is a most intertwining, suspenseful and informative read about the patent wars between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over who invented the lightbulb and the fight over switching from DC current to AC. It also features the eccentric inventor Nikola Tesla and his contributions to the electric wars as well as a myriad of inventions.

The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery is a delightful short read and a wonderful listen on Audible.
You will learn more than you ever knew you needed to know about this most intelligent of marine creatures.
Did you know that captive octopuses in aquariums like to be pet on the head and love to attach their suckers to their keepers hands and arms to smell and taste them?

"If you are depressed, you are living in the past.
If you are anxious, you are living in the future.
If you are at peace, you are living in the present."

- Lao Tzu

― Dalai Lama

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

- Benjamin Franklin

“It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction out of the relationship.”

- Norman Vincent Peale

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

- Albert Camus

Alan Berlow wrote in the NY Times, June 10, 2016 that for more than 80 years, the US actually has had "a tough and effective gun control law that most Americans have never heard of." The National Firearms Act (NFA), passed in 1934 in response to a wave of gangster violence, "imposes precisely the kinds of practical-and constitutional-limits on gun ownership, such as registration and background checks, that the NRA regularly insists will lead to the demise on the 2nd Amendment." The law mandates the registration of machine guns, sawed-off shotguns, silencers, hand grenades, and other weapons designed for murder and mass casualties. To purchase such a weapon, you must pass an FBI background check, pay a $200 tax, and have your mug shop and fingerprints and the serial number of the weapon entered into a national database. The law has been extremely effective: The 4 million registered weapons are almost never implicated in crimes. The NFA has proven that if all firearms purchasers, particularly those buying semiautomatic assault weapons designed for military use, had to register their weapons, it would screen out bad guys. Gun crime would plummet, without abrogating the rights of "law-abiding gun owners."

As written in the December 30, 2016 issue of The Week magazine, researchers at Yale University found that adults over 50 years of age who read a book for at least 30 minutes a day lived, on average, two years longer than those who don't. "Becoming engrossed in a love story, mystery or thriller my trigger cognitive processes - such as empathy social perception, and emotional intelligence - that can help promote longevity.

KC Rosita

March 31, 1990 – December 31, 2016

We said goodbye to our beloved Peruvian Paso mare on the last day of the year. She had a good life and carried us well on countless rides in the mountains, by the lakes, through the streams and meadows and on a multitude of trails. She truly was the champagne of smooth horses.Your constant companion Chiripa misses you and sends you carrots over the Rainbow Bridge.