***image1*** Local writers for local readers.
Devotees of the Santa Fe Public Library's blog (
) already know Santa Fe librarians are witty and wise. Now two of them are published authors with a bibliophile's take on another sacred Santa Fe institution: breakfast. Next month look for librarians Kathy Barco (New Mexico State Library) and Valerie Nye's (College of Santa Fe Library)
Breakfast Santa Fe Style
, in which the two break down the city's huevos and flapjacks and accompany each restaurant with a recommended reading. ($19.95; Sunstone Press)
"When I hear of people getting their heads sawed off in Saudi Arabia I get sad, but sometimes I wish it were you." So says Jason Yurcic in his bracing collection of poems and fiction,
Voice of My Heart
. Yurcic's New Mexico childhood was shadowed by the brutal murder of his father, which led to his own tumultuous relationships with the streets, the law and professional boxing. His life changed when he began working with poet Jimmy Santiago Baca, whose introduction to Yurcic's book says the young author has "given new meaning to the words function and change." ($10.95; Sherman Asher Publishing)
We get so used to our Santa Fe-centric problems we forget that other parts of the state have their own battles to wage. One certainly is reminded of this in
Boiling Frogs, Intel vs. The Village
. Author Barbara Rockwell was a cofounder of Corrales Residents for Clean Air and Water, a group that confronted Rio Rancho's Intel over the issue of air pollution. Rockwell's book is a fully detailed accounting of what it took to fight Intel, presented in a compelling narrative. Sadly, this isn't an uplifting story of success. The saga continues (and can be read about on Rockwell's blog:
boilingfrogs-intelvsthevillage.blogspot.com
), a very New Mexico story with familiar faces: Legislators, activists and state officials (including Gov. Richardson) are all part of a story that shows the alarming lengths citizens must go to when challenging a major corporation. ($23.95; iUniverse)
