Larry Grieco, Librarian. British writer Matthew Parker has published an excellent account of the years Ian Fleming spent in Jamaica, and the relationship between that island in the Caribbean and the creation of James Bond.

It was during the eighteen years living in a house on Jamaica’s north coast that all the novels and stories of the iconic secret agent were written. It might be worth saying that this small body of work was outstanding in its time—post-second-world-war—and only the first couple of Bond movies were true to the books.

Parker describes Fleming’s arrival on the island and how he fell in love with it, and built a house there called Goldeneye. It was Jamaica that influenced Fleming, who lived and wrote there until his death in 1964 at the age of 56. The book is as much a travelogue and history of Jamaica as it is about Fleming’s life there, and can be enjoyed at several different levels. The title is Goldeneye: Where Bond was Born: Ian Fleming’s Jamaica, and it can be found on the “new non-fiction” shelf in the library.

Supernatural fiction is alive and well in the hands of another British writer, Claire North. In her new novel, Touch, she tells the story of—umm—well the story is told in the first person by—umm—someone. That “someone” can become anyone they want, can “jump into another person’s skin and see through their eyes, live their life—be it for a few minutes, a few months or a lifetime.” The narrator says: “Some people touch lives. Others take them. I do both.”

Kirkus Reviews: “A dark thriller that asks readers to imagine whom they would be if they could be anyone….The high stakes and breakneck pace of the plot will draw readers in, and the meditations on what it means to be human and to be loved will linger long after the last shot is fired.” If you like your fiction a little off the beaten track, this book is for you.

That brings us to a novel by an author named Royce Scott Buckingham. In Impasse, we have the story of Stu Stark, a former prosecuting attorney who had “a prestigious job, a classy, ambitious wife, and an inside track to the top spot in the DA’s office.”

When he loses the biggest case of his career, prosecuting a mob-related homicide case, he is fired, and loses everything he had held dear, not the least of which was his self-esteem. At the age of forty he finds himself in a tiny law firm and on the verge of giving up. Stu’s law partner decides to send him on a one-week trip to the Alaskan wilderness, in the hopes it will enable him to “rediscover his manhood.”

The trip turns out to be a disaster and by the week’s end, “he’s sick, starving, and on the brink of death.” He comes to the sad realization that the plane that dropped him off is not coming back, and he befriends a “grizzled trapper” who informs him that “winter is coming, and he’s not leaving the Alaska interior anytime soon.” And that’s when Stu had better become “the man he never was.” Writer Jack Abbott: “A fun, energetic thrill-ride…a  modern take on The Count of Monte Cristo.”

The Jewelry-Maker-in-Residence, Mia Lucero, is beginning her series of workshops on Saturday, June 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. You can find a schedule in the library and signing up for any or all of the classes is easy. Just stop by the library, or call me, or email—Larry Grieco, 303-582-0161, lgrieco@co.gilpin.co.us, to get more information and to register. It’s all free, compliments of the Friends of the Library. However, space is limited, so act soon to avoid being left out.

It’s also time for kids from birth through ninth grade to sign up for our 2015 Summer Reading Program, Catch a Dragon by the Tale! Registration has already begun and is open throughout the summer. Just like in the past, everyone wins one prize each week in which they read at least one book. Just turn in a slip with the book or books you’ve read, pick out your own prize from the display case, and start reading for the next week. It will run until Saturday, August 8, when we’ll have our delicious Meadow Gold Ice Cream Social, open to everyone. We can’t wait to see you here! You’ll want to “Catch a dragon by the tale!” all summer long!