The Sawtooth Complex by Susan Lang
Upon finding out that Sarah Witt had a place in Pipes Canyon and wanted to host a Desert Book Club meeting, Susan Lang’s book The Sawtooth Complex immediately came to mind. When Susan did a reading at the Historical Society, there was not a dry eye in the house. Set in our own local mountains, this is a powerful story of people and the environment written as only a person born and raised in the area could write it.
From hwy. 62 in Yucca Valley, go North on hwy. 247 (Old Woman Springs Rd.) about 4.5 miles and keep your eye out for Aberdeen. About a half mile later, turn left on Pipes Canyon and drive about 4 miles to where the road straightens out and turn right on Road Runner Rut. I will definitely have a white Book Club sign set up there as the street sign is hidden. If you go too far, the next road is Gamma Gulch where you can turn around. Drive .4 miles to the first intersection (Acacia) and Sarah’s driveway will be marked with a Book Club sign. See you there at 7:00 pm on March 6th and bring a folding chair if you have one as we may be sitting outside if the weather is nice.
Every month from October 2014 until March 2020, Kip’s Desert Book Club gathered on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in the home of a different resident of the Morongo Basin to discuss a book that in one way or another touches on the theme of “desert”.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kip has been hard at work making renovations to the kitchen and bathrooms at Copper Mountain Mesa Community Center, where he is the board President, and keeping their monthly USDA food drive alive. During this time, Kip’s Desert Book Club had largely been on pause, with the exception of a few virtual meetings. These virtual gatherings allowed us to welcome the participation of book club fans from beyond our local region.
Sixty-six books, more than seven years, and one pandemic later, Kip has decided to step back from being the primary book club organizer and join the rest of us as readers. Kip, we thank you for all the wonderful and eclectic desert books you’ve chosen over the years, as well as the unforgettable stories and knowledge you continue to share (if you know, you know!)
So, we are excited to announce that beginning in January 2022, our in-person book club will resume as the Desert Research Library Book Club (or DRL Book Club, for short). Each month, a member of the current Desert Research Library Artist Cohort will select a book from the library as that month’s book club selection.
