Raven's Nest
310 6th Avenue V0G 1S0 New Denver, BC, Canada

Our shelves are full of great books, particularly after replenishing our stock this week. We have a full dozen of the 15 current bestsellers in BC, and several other national bestsellers. One of these popular books that we are especially excited about Blue Sky Kingdom: An Epic Family Journey to the Heart of the Himalaya is authored by a fellow Kootenaian, Bruce Kirkby of Kimberley. "One morning at breakfast, while gawking at his phone and feeling increasingly disconnec...ted from family and everything else of importance in his world, it strikes writer Bruce Kirkby: this isn’t how he wants to live. "Within days, plans begin to take shape. Bruce, his wife Christine, and their two childrenseven-year-old Bodi and three-year-old Tajwill cross the Pacific by container ship, then travel onward through South Korea, China, India and Nepal aboard bus, riverboat and train, eventually traversing the Himalaya by foot. Their destination: a thousand-year-old Buddhist monastery in the remote Zanskar valley, one of the last places where Tibetan Buddhism is still practised freely in its original setting. "Taken into the mud-brick home of a senior lama, Tsering Wangyal, the family spends the summer absorbed by monastery life. In this refuge, where ancient traditions intersect with the modern world, Bruce discovers ways to slow down, to observe and listen, and ultimately, to better understand his son on the autism spectrumto surrender all expectations and connect with Bodi exactly as he is. "Recounted with wit and humility, Blue Sky Kingdom is an engaging travel memoir as well as a thoughtful exploration of modern distraction, the loss of ancient wisdom, and the challenges and rewards of intercultural friendships." ~ Douglas & McIntyre

Now for Part II of the best local books of 2020. The Park of Gods: From South to North through Valhalla Provincial Park, written by a longtime Valley resident, Elisabeth von Ah of Lemon Creek, has proven to be quite popular. With Norse mythology skillfully, and appropriately, woven throughout, the book details a grueling week-long hike across the Valhallas in 2003. Writes Art Joyce in The Valley Voice, "The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with maps and glittering ...photos of the high alpine country. She dedicates the book to the late Colleen McCrory, who was a key player in having the land declared a provincial park." In fact, ten percent of the proceeds will benefit the Valhalla Wilderness Society. In her well-received debut novel The Wild Heavens, Nelson-based writer and wildlife researcher Sarah Louise Butler begins with the tale of another hike through the mountains of the BC Interior, albeit a fictional and perhaps more mysterious one. Coincidentally, the bulk of the action occurs during a 24-hour period in 2003. Richard Van Camp, author of Moccasin Square Gardens, writes, "The Wild Heavens is wonderfully crafted each page is a catch of the breath, each chapter a crush of unfolding magic. This novel is why we read. I wanted to begin again as soon as I finished the last line." You can read Tom Sandborn's review at NelsonStar.com//nelson-authors-novel-chronicles-a-familys/. Coming out most recently is Roz Nay's Hurry Home, the Nelson author's followup to her bestselling psychological thriller Our Little Secret. In her sophomore effort, a dark and suspenseful tale of two estranged sisters, Nay was inspired by her real-life experience working in child protective services around Nelson. "Utterly engrossing and claustrophobic, Hurry Home is a tantalizing reflection of the chain-and-shackles relationship between sisters that asks: what lines wouldn't you cross for your own?"

We would like to introduce some of the great local books that have come out thus far in 2020. (With so many, this will be the first of two installments.) Our best seller this year is Silver Rush: British Columbia's Silvery Slocan 1891 1900 by former New Denver resident Peter J. Smith. Writer and historian Greg Nesteroff calls the hefty tome, "By far the most detailed and accurate account of the Silvery Slocan mining rush ever written. Highly entertaining too." For more info...rmation, see Greg's Nelson Star article: . Prize-winning poet Tom Wayman, a longtime Slocan Valley resident, recently came out with his newest collection entitled, Watching a Man Break a Dog’s Back: Poems for a Dark Time. Writing in the Vancouver Sun, Tom Sandborn prefaces his review of the work by saying, "Wayman clearly wants to demonstrate that even if poetry cannot change the world, it can provide comfort and courage even in times as dark as our own." Sandborn concludes, "Wayman is still at work creating poems that are as astringent and individual as human pain, and as universal as our highest hopes for a beloved community. Readers will be grateful for this record of his latest labours." When We Are Broken is the latest work from prolific author Luanne Armstrong, who has spent most of her life on her family's 100-year-old Kootenay Lake farm. Writes Armstrong about this lovely book her 22nd that includes many photos from her farm, "Part of my life's work has been to truly understand the place where I live and the other creatures that dwell there with me. In my daily walks, I focus on the quiet, always changing occurrences of nature. Every day, I stand, watch, listen at the margins of things, the line between mountains and sky, lake and mountains, the ragged roughness that separates human from non-human. When something snags my attention, I stop and look, I try to bring such moments home with me in the form of words or photographs. This book is a small compilation of these meditations."

We are now Open Every Day for your shopping pleasure! Hours: Monday thru Saturday, 10:30 am to 4:30 pm (Open early on Friday from 10 am) and Sunday, 11 am to 3 pm. See y'all soon! :)