Mural at Zimmerman Library West Wing, University of New Mexico

Books bought this past week

I've been on a book-buying binge this week. First, I went to Page One to hear the authors of Regaining Bladder Control: What Every Woman Needs to Know, Becky Rogers, MD, Janet Yagoda Shagam, Ph.D., and Shelley Kleinschmidt. These authors are from Albuquerque, so that made it even more interesting. I usually just go and listen, and then get the book from the library, but I decided that it was something I should have to discuss with clients. During their talk, I was sitting near the New Mexico section of books, and decided to look to see if they had Place Names in New Mexico, which I had been thinking about from time to time. They were out of that one, but I found another one of interest, Stories Behind the Street Names of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, & Taos, by Donald A. Gill, Ph.D.

On Wednesday night, I went to Zimmerman Library West Wing to see and hear Navajo poet Luci Tapahonso. This was the first event to be held in the library since the disastrous fire in the basement right before finals this past spring. While waiting for the program to start, I pulled out my digital Nikon to photograph the WPA-style murals on the walls. I took one photo, and then got the message that my battery was exhausted. Drat! I hadn't brought my extra battery with me, although I usually carry it in the case I bought for the camera. So, only one photo, taken with the late afternoon sun (7pm) streaming in the windows, and that meant I wasn't able to record Luci reading her poems. That latter is really a shame, since her own voice and inflection, with a distinctly Navajo accent, really adds to the experience of the poems, which are very descriptive of Navajo culture and are often humorous. I had heard her read before, and bought her first book of poems, A Breeze Swept Through (1989), some time ago, when she was at UNM. After a delightful hour or so of hearing her read, I went to the book table set up by the university bookstore, and bought her latest books, Saanii Dahataal, the women are singing : poems and stories (1993), and Blue Horses Rush In (1997). I also bought her children's book, Songs of Shiprock Fair (1999) with wonderful illustrations by Anthony Chee Emerson. Apparently she is working on another book, because she said that the poems that she read that weren't in these books would be in the next one. She's at the University of Arizona in Tucson now, after having been in Lawrence, Kansas for 10 years. As she signed my books, I suggested that she make a CD because her voice was such an important part of enjoying her poems.