Join hosts Jessie Magleby from Grand County Public Library and Nat Smith and Julia Buckwalter from Back of Beyond Books as we review the best of what we've been reading and discuss some of the most in-demand books of 2024.

Top Sellers and Library Checkouts, in no particular order:

Desert Solitude by Edward Abbey

The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey

Guide to Moab, UT Backroads and 4-Wheel Drive Trails by Charles Wells

A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko

A Cowgirl's Conservation Journey: Stories from the Dugout Ranch by Heidi Redd

Three-Inch Teeth by CJ Box

The Lost Birds by Anne Hillerman

The Wide, Wide Sea, by Hampton Sides

Life After Dead Pool by Zak Podmore

The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy

James by Percival Everett

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

Reviews:

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Invisible Strings: 113 Poets Respond to the Songs of Taylor Swift ed. Kristie Frederick Daugherty

Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch

City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Glass Houses by Madeline Ashby

Books Reviewed on Radio Book Club

Library Happenings

This Week in Moab - 12/30/24 Host: Jeremy Spaulding

Guests:

5:00 - 5:35 - Dolores Roque, Kate Finley, Cari Caylor

Spoke about: Introduction to new staff team at the High School, examination of goals for the year, excitement about new positions, how they are settling into the school district and their histories, and their hope for growth and making a difference for Moab’s HS Students

5:40 - 5:55 - Xandra Odland - BEACON Afterschool Program

Spoke about: BEACON’s upcoming event, their family winter formal on January 18th from 7:00 - 9:00 at the Grand Center. Then spoke about the quality of BEACON Afterschool and their current funding challenges.

This Week In Moab: Year End Review with Christy Williams Dunton and Celia Alario by KZMU Public Affairs

On the week’s show we learn about the upcoming winter Science on Tap events at Woody’s Tavern with Science Moab adviser independent journalist Amanda Heidi and Science Moab Board member Sophia Fisher. We also hear about a town hall process by United Today Stronger Tomorrow to seek input from rural Utahn’s about the issues of most importance to them. And Malcom from the Moab Valley Multicultural Center shares details about their food pantry and efforts to provide warm clothes to folks in need this winter.

Sometimes it’s necessary to go to outer space to better understand our home planet and ourselves. Hosts Julia and Nat from Back of Beyond Books join Jessie from Grand County Public Library to discuss recent reads, from Sci-fi to poetry and cookbooks, holiday reads, award winners and favorites from the year.

What Time the Sexton’s Spade Doth Rust by Alan Bradley

Cats of the Louvre Graphic Novel by Taiyo Matsumoto

Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

What the Chicken Knows by Sy Montgomery

The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami

Time of the Child by Niall Williams

Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

Cher: The Memoir by Cher

James by Percival Everett

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishoi

Most Wonderful by Georgia Clark

Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Bake by Paul Hollywood

Vegan Street Eats by Will Edmond

Favorites reads of the year:

Instructions for Traveling West: Poems by Joy Sullivan

Martyr! By Kaveh Akbar

Greenlanders by Jane Smiley

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

List of recently mentioned titles in the library’s catalog:

https://catalog.moablibrary.org/MyAccount/MyList/462

On this episode of This Week in Moab we mark National Native Heritage Month in discussions with local Indigenous organizers Sandra Billie from Seekhaven and Ricky Begay from Grand County Schools’ Native American Club in advance of their 11/16/24 event (https://www.seekhaven.org/nativeamericanheritagemonth.html. We learn about a collaboration between the Storied Self and Ephemeral on the next story slam theme ‘Vessels’ on November 19th (https://www.instagram.com/p/DCUdrHMR9WZ/). And Deborah Lin and Ariel Atkins discuss a new statewide initiative to support women and girls in Utah called A Bolder Way Forward in advance of Lin’s visits to Emery, Grand and San Juan Counties to meet with the community. (https://www.usu.edu/uwlp/a-bolder-way-forward/overview)

Join Jessie from Grand County Public Library and her co-hosts from Back of Beyond Books Nat and Amber as they discuss the wide variety of books they've been reading and listening to.

Perhaps, like some of us, you turn to darker subject matter this time of year. Perhaps you're looking for inspiration, or entertainment and comfort, or maybe you're just looking to learn more about the world we live in. We've got recommendations for you!

*Find a list of the books we've discussed here

Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Patriot by Alexei Navalny

Lifeform by Jenny Slate

Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World by Ada Limon

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford Jr

Life Impossible by Matt Haig

The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

The Road Graphic Novel by McCarthy and Larcenet

An Unspoken Hunger by Terry Tempest Williams

Coyote's History of Moab by Jose Knighton

This Week in Moab with Jeremy Spaulding by KZMU Public Affairs

Landscapes and Moonscapes: Interviews with two regional authors, Kevin Fedarko and Christopher Cokinos, and a smattering of fiction reviews, with hosts Nat and David from Back of Beyond Books and Jessie from Grand County Public Library.

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

Burn by Peter Heller

Playground by Richard Powers

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

A Walk in the Park: the True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko (obviously)

and Still as Bright: an Illuminating History of the Moon from Antiquity to Tomorrow by Chris Cokinos

Endurance horse riding is one of the oldest sports in America and here in Moab we have biannual endurance races and rides. "The Moab Endurance Rides," take horse and rider (or runner/walker!) into deep canyons with dramatic sandstone walls towering overhead and across mesa tops with incredible views of the wind sculpted high desert landscape. The Moab Canyons ride/race is each fall, wending about in the Tombstone Rock area, northeast of Moab—the Canyon Rims ride centers on Hatch Mesa. Today's guest is the organizer/ride manager of these events, Mickey Smith. Mickey tells us about the origin of the sport and why it's a great sport to partake in if you love riding and love our desert landscape, as she does. And the best part about endurance rides? The most coveted award is for the highest level of "vet checks!"

Notes:

https://mickeysmt.wixsite.com/moabenduranceride/moab-canyon-rims-ride

https://radiolab.org/podcast/man-against-horse