New This Week
September 12, 2011
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
In “The Man Who Cycled the World,” Scotland-born Mark Beaumont describes his 194 day bicycle trek around the planet, and how he beat the Guinness World Record by 81 days. This amazing tell of endurance is also an up close look at a variety of a world cultures.
Bindi Irwin, the beyond cute daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter, is now penning her own story books. “Bushfire” and “Camouflage” are the first two entries is a planned series of six. Aimed at first readers, these stories are about Bindi herself, and her adventures at the Australian Zoo.
Storytime returns this week! Toddler Storytime begins Friday, September 16th at 10:30 am. Preschool Storytime begins Wednesday, September 14, at 11:00 am and 1:15 pm. Primary Storytime resumes Wednesday, September 14th at 6:30 pm. Please contact the Library at 426-4063 if you have any questions.
The Friends of the Library and the Sunrise Rotary Club Volunteers are merrily working to get everything ready for the Annual Fall Book Sale. This sale will be held at the Tembec Gym from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2nd. There is still time to bring your donations of books, DVD, CDs and videos to the circulation desk at the library. For further information call Marilyn Forbes at 250-489-6254.
Don’t forget to check out the amazing bold lines and bright colours of Jim Robertson’s artwork, currently on display.
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Overcoming Health Anxiety " Katherine M.B. Owens (616.8525)
Kitchens: The Smart Approach to Design (747.797)
Eyewitness Morocco (916.4)
The Man Who Cycled the World " Mark Beaumont (910.41)
Armitage’s Garden Perennials " Allan Armitage (635.932)
Time Out San Francisco (917.9461)
Frommer’s Mexico " David Baird (917.204)
The Book of Fame " Lloyd Jones (fic)
Chernovs’ Toil and Peace " Rifet Bahtijaragic (fic)
Sisters of the Sari " Brenda L. Baker (fic)
The Gate " Michael Elcock (fic)
After Midnight " Irmgard Keun (fic)
From Barcelona, with Love " Elizabeth Adler (fic)
Daughter’s of the Revolution " Carolyn Cooke (fic)
An Uncertain Place " Fred Vargas (mys)
The Witch of Babylon " D. J. McIntosh (mys)
Misterioso " Arne Dahl (mys)
Back of Beyond " C. J. Box (mys)
Northwest Angle " William Kent Krueger (mys)
The Stepford Wives " Katherine Ross (DVD)
O Brother, Where Art Thou (DVD)
Sweet November (DVD)
She’s The Man (DVD)
Runaway Bride (DVD)
True Grit (2011) (DVD)
God in America (DVD)
Lost Kingdoms of Africa (DVD)
Clockwise (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
The Eternal Ones " Kirsten Miller (ya fic)
Bloodwork " Kim Harrison (ya fic)
Bushfire " Bindi Irwin (j fic)
Camouflage " Bindi Irwin (j fic)
Slinky, Scaly Snakes " Jennifer Dussling (j easy)
Halloween Surprise " Corinne Demas (j pic)
Creepy Monsters, Sleepy Monsters " Jane Yolen (j pic)
Mouse Magic " Ellen Stoll Walsh (j pic)
Max and Ruby’s Snow Plow (j DVD)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
Everett Ruess was only 12-years-old when he began to write poetry; by 16 he was winning major school awards for it; and by 18 his increasing talent for verse was evident. As was his subject matter, which for Ruess was his first love: the untouched wilderness of the United States.
Born in 1914, Ruess was raised in Oakland California along with one older brother. His father was a poet / philosopher, and his mother was gypsy / artist with literary ambitions of her own; she self-published the “Ruess Quartette,” a poetry and art journal named for her family.
After graduating high school, Ruess set out"pen in hand"for the wilderness. He hiked, camped, explored, and wrote about the deserts and mountains of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. He wrote his parents and brother often of his adventures through the Sequoia National Park and the High Sierras. “I have not tired of the wilderness,” Ruess wrote in a letter to his brother, “rather I enjoy its beauty and the vagrant life I lead, more keenly all the time. I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star-sprinkled sky to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail…it is enough that I am surrounded by beauty.” Even his letters were highly lyrical.
After two years of travelling, he arrived in the small town of Escalante, Utah. By then, he was painting stunning watercolors as well as writing, using his prints for trade with the Navajo. With two burros to carry his supplies, he headed out southward, towards Davis Gulch along the Colorado River.
And Everett Ruess was never seen again. He was only 20.
No one even knew Ruess was missing until much later, when a Utah post office returned a packet of unclaimed letters to his parents. A search party from Escalante later found two burros, but there was no way to determine if they belonged to Ruess or not.
What happened to him?
This question has haunted people for over 75 years. All types of people"including professional archaeologists"have scoured the area for decades looking for even a trace of Ruess, but without success. Theories and scenarios grow with each passing year, as does interest in him.
In 1940, Desert Magazine Press published “On Desert Trails with Everett Ruess.” A collection of his poetry, letters home, and artwork, this work remains highly popular with hikers and Ruess enthusiasts, and is still in print today. Another collection of appeared in 1983, this one titled “Everett Ruess: Vagabond for Beauty.” While these are the only books featuring work by Ruess, there are scores of books (and a few films) about Ruess, including David Robert’s “Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer,” which appeared in July of this year.
In one letter home, Ruess told his brother “When I go, I leave no trace,” which today seems hauntingly prophetic.
Yet in the summer of 2008, skeletal remains were discovered in Bluff, Utah, triggered by the deathbed confession of an elderly Navajo. With permission from the government, National Geographic arranged for forensic, anthropological, and DNA testing to be conducted. Did they finally solve the legendary mystery of Everett Ruess? Next week.
