Spotlight on The Rocky Mountain Land Library: The Rocky Mountain Land Series

The Rocky Mountain region has experienced unprecedented growth in recent years. As our population grows, and the demands on the environment increase, there has never been a greater need for us to know the land at our feet. The Tattered Cover Book Store, in partnership with the Rocky Mountain Land Library, has established a series dedicated to the study of the Western landscape. The Rocky Mountain Land Series, spanning the disciplines of Western History and the Natural Sciences, has been designed to promote a greater awareness of our home region.

Upcoming Events:

August 5, 2010 - 7:30pm
Historic LoDo: Award-winning journalist Mitch Tobin will offer a PowerPoint presentation and sign his important new book Endangered: Biodiversity on the Brink ($27.95 Fulcrum). Since 1973, the Endangered Species Act has served as our nation’s legislative ark for imperiled wildlife. But our toughest and most controversial environmental law has only recovered a handful of the more than 1,300 species under its protection. In Endangered, Mitch Tobin uses firsthand accounts to show why so many species are at risk of extinction.

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com

August 10, 2010 - 7:30pm
Historic LoDo: Jerome Greene is retired as Research Historian for the National Park Service, and the author of numerous books, including Stricken Field: The Little Bighorn since 1876. Greene will discuss and sign his new book Beyond Bear’s Paw: The Nez Perce Indians in Canada ($24.95 University of Oklahoma Press). In the fall of 1877, Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) Indians were desperately fleeing U.S. Army troops. The army caught up with them at the Bear’s Paw Mountains in northern Montana, and following a devastating battle, Chief Joseph and most of his people surrendered. The wrenching tale of Chief Joseph and his followers is now legendary, but Bear’s Paw is not the entire story. In fact, nearly three hundred Nez Perce escaped the U.S. Army and fled into Canada. Beyond Bear’s Paw is the first book to explore the fate of these “non-treaty” Indians.

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com

August 18, 2010 - 7:30pm
Colfax Avenue: Gary Lincoff is the author, co-author, or editor of several books and articles on mushrooms, including The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms. He chaired the Telluride Mushroom Festival for 25 years (1980-2004), and still participates as its principal speaker. Lincoff will discuss and sign his new book The Complete Mushroom Hunter: An Illustrated Guide to Finding, Harvesting, and Enjoying Wild Mushrooms ($24.99 Quarry).

Request a signed copy: books@tatteredcover.com

TC Tidbits: Pocket After Dark

There's a new, free on-line community for romance and urban fantasy fans. Read about it here.

English Debut for Spanish Author and Filmmaker

It is Sylvia’s sixteenth birthday, and her life as an adult is about to begin—not with the party she had been planning, but with a car accident and a broken leg. Behind the wheel is a talented young soccer player, just arrived from Buenos Aires and set for stardom on and off the field. As their destinies collide and a young romance is set in motion, across town, Sylvia’s father and grandfather are finding their own lives suddenly derailed by a violent murder and a secret affair with a prostitute.

Set against the maze of Madrid’s congested and contested streets, Learning to Lose follows these four individuals as they swerve off course in unexpected directions. Each of them is dodging guilt and the fear of failure, but their shared search for happiness, love, purity, redemption, and, above all, a way to survive, forms a taut narrative web that binds the characters together.

From one of Spain’s most celebrated contemporary writers, Learning to Lose is a lucid and gripping view into the complexities of lives overturned and into the capriciousness of modern life, with its intoxicating highs and devastating lows.

About the Author

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David Trueba was born in Madrid in 1969 and has been successful both as a novelist and as a screenwriter. La buena vida was his widely acclaimed debut as a film director and was followed by Obra maestra, Soldados de Salamina, Bienvenido a casa, and La silla de Fernando. He is the author of two previous novels, Cuatro amigos and Abierto toda la noche. Learning to Lose won the Critics Award in 2009 and marks Trueba’s English-language debut.

Spotlight on Rocky Mountain Land Library: Writing Nature 2010

Writing Nature 2010 has just been published on line. This 36-page collection of art, essays, poetry, book reviews & recommendations is produced annually by members of the Glenbrook, Crestone, Blue River, and Rocky Mountain Land Library communities — a loose coalition of artists, writers, naturalists, and lovers of the land.

Founded in 1991, Writing Nature was for many years guided and edited by J. Parker Huber. This year’s edition was expertly edited by Kathleen Dean Moore and Charles Goodrich of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature & the Written Word at Oregon State University. And many thanks to Sherrie York for providing a wonderful cover for Writing Nature 2010. We hope you enjoy it!

Please click on the Writing Nature 2010 link, and to view last year’s edition, you can click on Writing Nature 2009.

Feel free to spread these issues of Writing Nature far and wide!

TC Tidbits: Dom Testa, The Big Brain Club and The Idea Tree

Young adult author, educator and radio personality Dom Testa writes about the mythical "Idea Tree" here.

Here are pictures from his recent signing at Tattered Cover Highlands Ranch for his new book, The Web of Titan.

Lambda Literary Recommends...

In this groundbreaking book, playwright and social critic Sarah Schulman explores the family, the first place where all people-straight, gay, and bisexual-learn homophobia. For it is within the family that homophobia begins to control people's lives, whether as perpetrators or recipients.Written in the tradition of Susan Brownmiller's revolutionary Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape-which reconceptualized rape and transformed it from a private problem into an internationally recognized cultural crisis that is now punishable in the International Criminal Court-Schulman's book uncovers the hidden crime of "familial homophobia" and moves it into the open for social and political scrutiny. Schulman illustrates how societal homophobia is rooted in the family but reaches into all levels of social interaction, including how gay people treat each other. Ambitious, original, and deeply important, Schulman deftly probes the complex issues involved and prescribes third-party interventions on the part of both individuals and institutions of authority so that we can all live a better life together on truly equal terms.Ties That Bind will fundamentally change our understanding of homophobia and will redefine the political landscape not just for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people but for us all.

Read an interview with the author.

Spotlighting: Volunteer Days at the Rocky Mountain Land Library

Scrape, Paint, Read
We are loving these early days of the Land Library’s development — full of satisfying work and plenty of opportunites to bring people together. The only downside of this past summer has been a flood of necessary tasks that made ranch work an impossibility. But the good news is that this summer’s necessary groundwork sets the stage for a vigorous return to Buffalo Peaks Ranch next season.

Among other priorities, there’s two wonderful old bunkhouses in a sad state of repair. Think scraping, think painting, think good food and even better company. All under the glorious South Park skies!

Check out RMLL on Facebook to stay up to date on volunteer opportunities and events!