Nancy McGee

Ready, set, go… to A.K. Smiley Public Library for some adventurous memoirs to transport you away from the comforts (confinement?) of your home. Nature lovers, animal conservationists, space enthusiasts, and armchair adventurers will be carried off to far-away places in some of our new book selections.

“An Elephant in My Kitchen: What the Herd Taught Me about Love, Courage and Survival” will whisk you to Africa and a wildlife rescue center. Francoise Malby-Anthony with Katja Willemsen continue the story where “The Elephant Whisperer” by Francoise’s late husband, Lawrence Anthony, left off. Unexpectedly widowed by Lawrence’s early death, Francoise tries to carry on the work they started protecting an elephant herd on a game preserve in Africa. She faces many struggles as she manages to subsequently build a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center for elephants and rhinos. Her engrossing narrative brings to light the happiness and heartbreak of caring for orphaned and injured animals, the relationships and communication between the animals themselves and their human caretakers, plus the grim realities of poaching, even within the confines of the preserve. It would be difficult not to become emotionally involved in this memoir.

“Wild Life: Dispatches from a Childhood of Baboons and Button-Downs” by Keena Roberts, takes the reader to the author’s divided childhood growing up between two distinctively different worlds. Part of each year is spent in Botswana in Baboon Camp with her primatologist parents and younger sister studying baboon interactions and living a free and independent life. Dealing with the wild animals in their remote camp is where Keena feels most at home and alive in spite of the constant danger. The other part of the year is spent back in Philadelphia attending a private school when her parents must return to the university which enables them to continue their grant to study in Africa. Imagine having to try and fit into a structured academic setting with peers who can’t even begin to understand her experiences and realizing she prefers to be in the unpredictable wild than with the teasing and lack of acceptance she endures. Keena’s descriptions put you in the midst of all of her adventures and this is a memoir that is captivating and hard to put down.

Astrophysicist Sara Seager was captivated by the stars at a young age. She shares her career and life journey in “The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir.” Readers with an interest in space exploration will relish this selection as there are plenty of details on her research and discoveries in searching for exoplanets and another Earth. Time magazine listed her as “one of the twenty-five most influential people in space.” Her personal life has not been without struggles and heartbreak which she also openly shares. Her adult diagnosis of autism gives her some clarity and being widowed with two young boys does not stop her from continuing to pursue her passion.

These memoirs and others await you in the New Book section of the A.K. Smiley Public Library, available either by Books-to-Go reservation or an in-person visit. The hours for public access are Mondays and Tuesdays 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Take a literary ride with me, if you will, through some of our new books, which involve horses. Thoughts of the American West, for some, may conjure up images of cowboys and horses. I would like to bring to your attention some of our new books, which will have you thinking about horses and their role in the West, past and present, from a broader perspective.

Ginger Gaffney is a horse trainer who volunteered to work with troubled horses and troubled inmates at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico. “Half Broke: A Memoir” is quite a journey as she tells of her experiences working with feral and dangerous horses and with prisoners with addiction, anger, and physical and emotional issues, as well as with her own personal struggles. The ranch is run by the inmates and the interplay between healing both them and the horses as they work together is a roller coaster of triumphs and tragedies. Failure for the ranch hands means back to prison and failure for the horses is not an option for Gaffney. The human-animal relationships are key to the rehabilitation for both of them.

Humans bonding with horses is also a prominent theme in “The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland” by New York Times reporter Walter Thompson-Hernandez. In 1988 realtor Mayisha Akbar founded the Compton Junior Posse and Richland Farms as a way to give the youth a safe place to learn horsemanship, form connections with the horses, and have a therapeutic alternative to their rough streets and difficult home lives. Author Thompson-Hernandez grew up not far from Richland Farms and his familiarity with the neighborhood violence and pain gives him an inside perspective and acceptance into the world of the Compton Cowboys, who he remembers from his youth. The story line encompasses the history and legacy of Black cowboys, Compton’s history, the intimate struggles of the cowboys, Olympic and rodeo hopefuls, and the efforts to keep the ranch and its mission alive by continuing to attract local youth and donors.

Horses and cowboys may come to mind when you think of Wyoming, but probably not when you think of Hawaii. The authors of “Aloha Rodeo:  Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World’s Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West” will help change that. David Wolman and Julian Smith take the reader on a historic journey of Hawaiian cowboys (paniolo) that begins with the introduction of cattle to the islands in the 1700s, cattle ranching in the 1800s, and into the 1900s when mainland cowboys were invited to Hawaii for rodeo competition and Hawaiian paniolo were, in turn, invited to the Wyoming Cheyenne Roundup. Readers with an interest in history of the American West, rodeo history, and history of Hawaii will not be disappointed in this all-encompassing book.

These titles, as well as other books on horses, the American West, historical fiction, western fiction and much more are available through our Books to Go program. Check our website at www.akspl.org or call (909)798-7565 for more information.

Happy Father’s Day! Happy second day of summer! Happy 70^th anniversary to my parents a few days ago! Happy almost half-way through 2020, and hopefully, a happier second half than the first half!

If you, like me, are looking for happier things to focus on or at least for some interesting distractions, look to Smiley Public Library for books, audio books, DVDs and CDs, all currently available through our Books to Go program. New items have continued to come in during our closure and are waiting for you. The library is a treasure trove of a variety of distractions.

Speaking of treasure… treasure hunters, history buffs, Anglophiles, archaeologists and just the curious will enjoy Lara Maiklem’s “Mudlark: In Search of London’s Past Along the River Thames.” Maiklem is a mudlark, someone who enjoys scavenging river banks at low tide for artifacts and her river of choice is the Thames. Among her findings are coins, pipes, medals, weapons, keys, jewelry, pottery, buttons and bottles. The age of her artifacts range from prehistoric, Roman era, Victorian era up to present-day. Research is involved in determining where to search (using old maps), what the items are, and where they came from. This really is a fascinating read and her descriptive writing may make you feel as if you are on location with her. The book does contain maps of the river to better understand her searches, but the only artifact pictures are on the cover and not in the book. I confess I took to the internet to see the types of things that Maiklem and other mudlarks have uncovered.

If you enjoyed Peggy Rowe’s memoir “About My Mother: True Stories of a Horse-crazy Daughter and her Baseball-obsessed Mother,” then you will be happy to know that her next book is now available for check out. “About Your Father and Other Celebrities I Have Known: Ruminations and Revelations from a Desperate Mother to Her Dirty Son” will again tickle your funny bone as she shares more family stories, this time focusing on her husband John, father of their three boys. Her sharp wit and warm affection for her family make for another very enjoyable and light-hearted read that is hard to put down. Peggy and John have enjoyed some celebrity status of their own besides being Mike Rowe’s parents, adding a few commercial shoots and book promotions to their own credit.

Lots of distraction comes from falling into a story and not wanting to leave it. “Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero,” by Christopher McDougall is such a story. McDougall, author of “Born to Run” captivates his audience as he tells of his family adopting and rehabilitating a severely neglected miniature donkey they call Sherman. With help from his Amish neighbors, spirited goats, other donkeys, and an equine expert who tells him Sherman needs a purpose, this becomes one humorous, touching, heartbreaking ride all the way to the finish line of the World Championship Leadville Burro Race.

Happy reading!

New items continue to come into the library during our closure to the public, so there will be plenty of new books, audio books, DVDs, and art waiting for you to check out when our doors reopen! In the meantime, we have been highlighting our electronic databases for your ongoing use from home.

“NewsBank” is a valuable resource for all things newsworthy. There are 2,673 information resources to choose from covering a wide array of topics and interest. Local and national newspapers, magazines, journals, videos, transcripts, newswires, blogs, and web-only sources are only a couple of clicks away with many options as to ways of searching.

Subject searches are available in current events and hot topics in business, science, sports, people, health, technology, economics, government, and arts and literature. Sign up for “Create Alert” so you will be notified about new information in your areas of interest.

Newspaper options include current and past issues of local papers like the “Redlands Daily Facts,” “Press Enterprise,” and the “San Bernardino Sun.” State and national papers are also included, so if you want to know what’s going on in San Francisco, San Diego, Honolulu, Houston, Miami, Boston, Bakersfield or your old hometown, look in the A-Z Source List for current or past newspapers from those areas.

Transcripts of shows like “60 Minutes,” “20/20” and “Nightline” are available, as are the web-edition articles of “NPR” and “NPR’s” blogs. “Hispanic PR Newswire” is accessible in Spanish and English.

NewsBank also has 48 sources in their America’s News Magazines search. “Air & Space,” “The Atlantic,” “Field & Stream,” “Harvard Health,” “Mother Earth News,” “Newsweek,” “Parenting,” “Popular Science,” “Smithsonian,” and “Working Mother” are just a few of the titles. Check our “Flipster” database for more magazine titles.

Explore this Smiley Library database and more at www.akspl.org and keep expanding your interests and knowledge.

Perhaps you are already having trouble keeping your new year’s resolutions, so why not try a new month’s resolution instead? A suggestion might be to enhance your knowledge and relax a bit with some new reading material from A.K. Smiley Public Library. Non-fiction books can entertain, educate, engage your mind, and satisfy your curiosity.

An entertaining and educational selection would be Mike Rowe’s “The Way I Heard It,” which is a collection of stories gleaned from his podcast. If his name is familiar, his voice may be even more familiar to fans of the early days of “QVC,” “Dirty Jobs,” and “Deadliest Catch” programs on television. He shares human interest stories about famous people, but does so by sharing interesting and uncommon tales using first names and not revealing their full names until the end of the story. You might pick up on the fact that he was a fan of Paul Harvey and recognize some characters from Rowe’s previous jobs, as well as some celebrities.

If history along with celebrity gossip catches your attention, “The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood’s Chateau Marmont,” by Shawn Levy is waiting for you. Originally built in 1929 as a luxury apartment building, Levy shares the evolution of the building into a famous celebrity hotel. He also reveals inside tales of many of its famous residents: Jean Harlow, Natalie Wood, Tab Hunter, Jim Morrison, Rock Hudson, Lindsay Lohan, and John Belushi (including his final stay), just to name a few.

John Belushi, his comedic cohorts and their antics are also revealed in “Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the ‘80s Changed Hollywood Forever,” by Nick de Semlyen. Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Rick Moranis, and John Candy are all chronicled. The author’s entertaining insider accounts also include behind the scenes information on the making of “Saturday Night Live,” “Ghostbusters,” “Caddyshack,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” and the National Lampoon movies, as well as other shows of that era.

Books, large print books, magazines, newspapers, audio books, music CDs, and DVDs, all on a variety of topics, can be found at A.K. Smiley Public Library. If this beautiful treasure of Redlands is not familiar to you, it is definitely time to come experience what you are missing!