Each week as a part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, staff from Out West Books in Grand Junction recommend “Empire of Ice and Stone,” “River of the Gods” and “Small Things Like These.”
Empire of Ice and Stone
By Buddy Levy
Macmillan
$29.99
December 2022
Purchase
From the publisher: In the summertime of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. On the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s biggest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson hungry for fame. Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in round her. Because the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again.
From Marya Johnston, Owner: If it has Buddy Levy’s name on it, I just understand it’s going to be an incredible read, and “Empire of Ice and Stone” doesn’t disappoint! It’s one in all my favorites this yr. What I just can’t stop eager about is the notion of how adversity could make unexceptional men leaders and switch supposed leaders into cowards.
Luckily, the captain of the Karluk , Robert Bartlett, was a natural born leader and a person of great character, because the pinnacle of the expedition abandoned the ship and crew early on. Keruk, the Eskimo woman called “Auntie” by the boys of the Karluk, merits mention as without her, not one of the men would have survived. It’s an incredible read, but keep a blanket nearby since the descriptions of surviving on the ice will chill you to the bone!
River of the Gods
By Candice Millard
Doubleday
$32.50
May 2022
Purchase
From the publisher: For millennia the placement of the Nile River’s headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Within the nineteenth century, there was a frenzy of interest in ancient Egypt. At the identical time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe – and extend their colonial empires.
From Marya Johnston, Owner: Like Buddy Levy, if it’s written by Candice Millard, I do know I’m going to like it. Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke, as different as two men may very well be, convinced the Royal Geographic Society that they may very well be the people to bring home glory to Britain by finding the source of the White Nile. As with the ill-fated Karluk voyage, the politics of exploration, the differences in the boys and the shortage of preparation, spelled doom for the expedition. What really stuck with me, though, were the conditions that the boys of this exploration experienced: the viruses, the weather, the diseases that left them incapacitated for months, the bug in Spekes ear that kept nipping away at his ear drum…argh! No wonder it took explorers without end to find things!
Small Things Like These
By Claire Keegan
Grove Press
$20
November 2021
Purchase
From the publisher: It’s 1985 in a small Irish town. Throughout the weeks leading as much as Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront each his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church.
From Marya Johnston, Owner: For those who read one Christmas book this yr, let “Small Things Like These” be your alternative. This short book is so beautifully written, I’ll remember every little bit of the story, and hope you’ll, too. Claire Keegan doesn’t must hit us over the pinnacle with the true meaning of Christmas; her character Bill Furlong embodies it. No wonder this book has won accolades. It’s destined to turn out to be a classic. If you could escape the frenzy that has turn out to be Christmas, this book gives you that “ahhhh” feeling. I even have her next book, “Foster,” on my nightstand for my Christmas Eve read.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
Out West Books
533 Most important St., Grand Junction
As a part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
