Here’s what our staff are reading!

Looking for something interesting to read? Here is what we’ve been reading! Each book is linked to our catalog. Every month we meet and share things we’ve read based on a specific theme.

January 2026

Theme: NEW! (new release, new in the title, a new author for you, about a new experience, something new you want to learn )

LESLIE –

• Writing Creativity and Soul by Sue Monk Kidd – this was a lovely book that was part memoir and part writing guide. Good for book-lovers, people who like to hear authors talk about their journeys, and writers.
• The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers – this is a dark, bloody fantasy mystery about magical bookshops and their owners. Includes slow-burn romance, no spice, and a river that gives bookshops their “magic”. Not a series.
• Moon Garden: Poetry for manifestation by Melody Godfred

New books on my TBR pile:

• Playful: how play shifts our thinking, inspires connection, and sparks creativity by Cas Holman
• The Notebook: a history of thinking on paper by Roland Allen
• Women Travel Solo: 30 inspiring stories of adventure, curiosity, and the power of self discovery by Lonely Planet

JULIE –

• The Uncool by Cameron Crowe – this memoir looks at his whole career and title such because that is how he has always looked at himself. He shares how the movie Almost Famous is based on his experiences as a teen. He narrates the book and it is truly a love letter to his mother.
• Read Your Mind by Oz Pearlman – this reads like a self-help book, and is all about how to train your mind and get yourself to your greatest potential. This is narrated by the author, who is a mentalist.

KATHLEEN –

• You are here: poetry in the natural world by Ada Limon (twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States)
• Love and Need: the life of Robert Frost’s poetry by Adam Plunkett

BETH –

• Voyage of the Damned by Frances White – “there will be magic. There might be murder.” – Fantasy Mystery
• The New Girl by Cassandra Calin (J GN) based on the life of the author, who immigrated to Canada from Romania. This is a funny, coming of age story. The author also has web comics based on her life.

MEGAN –

• Everything is tuberculosis: the history and persistence of our deadliest infection by John Green – Megan shared that the city of Colorado Springs has a long and tangled history with this disease and she found the background interesting.
• Megan also shared about a YouTube show she has been watching called LAST MEALS.
  •  “What would your last meal be? Join Mythical Chef Josh and celebrity guests as they dig into their ultimate last meal, sharing surprising tastes, personal memories, and culinary stories.”

SARA:   Most of the books she shared are the books the CO Blue Spruce Award Teen Judging Team (DejaVu Alchemy have been reading. For this award, eligible books must be PUBLISHED IN 2024 or 2025, But NOT: First made as a movie, not self published, not in the same series as a previous winner.)

Our team’s top three choices for the award are:

• Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven
• The Forbidden Book by Sacha Lamb – this historical fantasy weaves in the themes and some plot points of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Jewish traditions. 
• TOP CHOICE – Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson – though published as her first adult novel, the team is fighting for this book (which they call a “gateway to adult fiction” book to win the award. They have created a video book trailer to share with the other Blue Spruce teams. 

Two new books Sara has been reading are:

• A History of the World in 500 Walks by Sarah Baxter – this NF travel book is organized by eras of history and could take someone around the world with walks of varying lengths and difficulties.
• The Allure of Elsewhere: A memoir of Going Solo by Karen Babine – this quippy tale recalls the author’s solo trip from Minnesota to Nova Scotia to unearth more of her family’s history.