2023 Southwest Books of the Year

While using a public library computer to find help for her mother who is addicted to pain medicine, twelve-year-old Jolene witnesses a friend's livestreamed crash-landing in the Arizona desert and embarks on a journey to rescue her.

"Based on a true story, the tale of one girl's perilous journey to cross the U.S. border and lead her family to safety during the Mexican Revolution"--

"A stunning new novel from the author of A Children's Bible, a National Book Award finalist and one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of 2020. Over twelve novels and two collections Lydia Millet has emerged as a major American novelist. Hailed as "a writer without limits" (Karen Russell) and "a stone-cold genius" (Jenny Offill), Millet makes fiction that vividly evokes the ties between people and other animals and the crisis of extinction. Her exquisite...

"In the summer of 1922, Aldo Leopold traveled on horseback up into the headwaters of New Mexico's Gila River and proposed to his bosses at the Forest Service that 500,000 acres of that rough country be set aside as roadless wilderness. Thus was born America's first--and the world's--first designated wilderness. A century later, writer-activists come together to celebrate this vast, rugged landscape and argue for its preservation. First and Wildest...

The Mexican Chile Pepper Cookbook is the first book to explore the glories of Mexican regional cooking by focusing on this single, but endlessly variable, ingredient.

"A family honors their living and dead relatives as they celebrate the Day of the Dead with shared food and stories"--

"Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases-she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. As a lone portal back to the living for traumatized spirits, Rita is terrorized by nagging ghosts who won't let...

"Writer and adventurer Craig Childs bears witness to rock art of the Southwest, each depiction one word in a grand story that spans the Colorado Plateau"--

""A grandmother explores her special garden with her granddaughters. Wonder grows everywhere but Grandmother especially loves to show it in her story garden. She invites her granddaughters to join her there in a sweet meditation on the treasures she's brought to that magical place--the rocks, the shells, the crystals, the meteorites : how they came to be, how they were formed, how they each have a story to tell"--Provided by publisher.