Out West Books suggests titles that offer creature comfort
The staff of Out West Books in Grand Junction recommends a hare-raising tale, a horse history and a grizzly handbook.
admin
Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Out West Books in Grand Junction recommends a hare-raising tale, a horse history and a grizzly handbook.
Raising Hare
By Chloe Dalton
Pantheon
$27
March 2025
Purchase
From the publisher: Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and slept in your house for hours on end and gave birth to leverets in your study. For political advisor and speechwriter Chloe Dalton, who spent lockdown deep in the English countryside, far away from her usual busy London life, this became her unexpected reality.
From Didi Herald, bookseller: Every once in a while when reading, I’ll encounter a word I need to look up and a couple of years ago, reading a science fiction novel, I had to grab my dictionary to look up “lagomorph” so I did know hares were not rabbits. Monroe’s story of her life with a hare felt much like spending time with a friend who was curious, smart, and very kind. I loved that she didn’t try to anthropomorphize the hare. Her descriptions of her local landscape, so lush and different from our high altitude desert, made me see my hikes in the neighborhood through a different lens. Now, when I see a jackrabbit exploding into action from total stillness, I will think of its far off cousins in the English countryside.
From Marya Johnston, owner: For me, this book was the equivalent of a warm blanket and a cup of tea. It was just the right book at the right time. In the tradition of “H is for Hawk” and “Soul of an Octopus,” Dalton’s story is nature writing at its very best.. If you are seeking comfort in these difficult times, “Raising Hare” is your next best read.
The Horse: A Galloping History of Humanity
By Timothy Winegard
Penguin Random House
$35
July 2024
Purchase
From the publisher: Timothy C. Winegard’s “The Horse” is an epic history unlike any other. Its story begins more than 5,500 years ago on the windswept grasslands of the Eurasian Steppe; when one human tamed one horse, an unbreakable bond was forged and the future of humanity was instantly rewritten, placing the reins of destiny firmly in human hands.
From Marya Johnston, owner: Once you’ve read this book, you’ll forever think of horses in a different light. You thought you knew the history of horses. You knew they were our sole method of transportation and loyal companions for centuries, but did you know they changed the course of history? They changed the way we hunted, traveled, farmed and interacted. Many of us can trace our genetics and language to a pinpoint on the map because those people had horses and they got around (innuendo intended!).
Scholarly without being dry, Tim’s entertaining narrative non-fiction will leave you captivated. I just cannot get this factoid from the book out of my head: the reason the front door of a brownstone in New York City is on the second story is to keep the entrance above the towering piles of manure in the streets in the 1800s. I mean just think of it; even in Denver in 1900, there was one horse to every 15 people. That’s a lot of manure! Tim Winegard has a Ph.D. from Oxford and teaches history at Colorado Mesa University.
Grizzly Confidential
By Kevin Grange
Harper
$29.99
September 2024
Purchase
From the publisher: In “Grizzly Confidential,” author Kevin Grange—former paramedic and park ranger at Yellowstone and Grand Teton—comes face-to-face with North America’s most fearsome predator, Ursus Arctos.
His quest takes him from his home in the Tetons to an eerie, mist-shrouded island of gigantic bruins; from the Bear Center at Washington State University—where scientists believe the secrets of hibernation might help treat diabetes, heart disease, and obesity in humans—to the dark underbelly of for-profit wildlife parks, illegal animal trade and black markets hawking bear bile.
From Marya Johnston, owner: Unless you buy into the story of the one disputed incident in the San Juans in 1979, we haven’t had grizzly bears in Colorado since the 1950s. Which, if you are a tent camper, can give you some peace of mind. Grange’s book gives example after example of how bear attacks could have been avoided. I’ve always had a healthy respect for Ursus Arctos when camping in grizzly country, (because I’ve had my share of problems with black bears), so I don’t want to ever have occasion to use the knowledge I gained from reading this book. You will, though, have a new kind of reverence for the bear and a much deeper understanding after reading this. Grizzly bears can coexist with humans. They actually “prefer a mostly vegetarian diet with the occasional side of meat or salmon.” They are persistent. A Grizzly bear can get into any bear proof container if given enough time. This engaging, funny, well researched book was a treat to read.
As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
