The Solace of Fierce Landscapes by Belden C. Lane
I am looking forward to meeting with my fellow desert book lovers on Tonelise’s patio at 7:00 pm, Monday March 4th to discuss The Solace of Fierce Landscapes by Belden C. Lane. I will be reading this book along with you this month, and judging by the subtitle, Exploring Desert and Mountain Spirituality, we should be in for a lively discussion.
To get to the meeting place from downtown JT on Hwy 62, turn north at the light on Sunburst, right on Golden, left on Border, keep your eyes peeled for the Pole and Del Oro signs and turn left on Winters, with the street sign and Book Club sign on the lefthand side of the road. Drive about one mile and turn left on McGarry and Tonelise will be the 3rd or 4th house on the left, depends on what one considers a house). I’ll make sure to have the big white signs out to guide you in. We will be meeting outside, weather permitting, so bring a folding chair if you have one.
—Kip
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.
