As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. >> Click here for more SunLit
This week’s bookstore: Poor Richard’s Books & Gifts, 320 N. Tejon St., Colorado Springs
From the publisher: Ellis and Michael are 12 when they first become friends, and for a long time it is just the two of them, cycling the streets of Oxford, teaching themselves how to swim, discovering poetry, and dodging the fists of overbearing fathers. And then one day this closest of friendships grows into something more. But then we fast-forward a decade or so, to find that Ellis is married to Annie, and Michael is nowhere in sight. Which leads to the question, what happened in the years between?
From Jeffery Payne, Book Department Coordinator: Touching and crisply-written prose that packs emotion, yearning and love-lost memories into a compact novel. One’s heart will soar, then break as the story moves forward. Read this one slowly, enjoy the dialogue, the nuances of the time and place so well captured and bear witness in experiencing and watching two spirits so obviously in love.
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From the publisher: Mike Bowditch is fighting for his life. After being ambushed on a dark winter road, Bowditch crashes his Jeep into a frozen river. But surviving the crash is only the first challenge. Whoever set the trap that ran him off the road is still out there, and they’re coming for him. As Mike faces a battle to stay alive, he must dissect the hours leading up to the ambush and solve two riddles: which one of these people desperately want him dead, and what has he done to incur their wrath?
From Jeffery Payne, Book Department Coordinator: Affable and graceless game warden, Mike Bowditch, returns in this jump-from-the-start frantic mystery. The latest novel in a great series by Paul Doiron, we are pushed along at high speed as the game warden fights for his life while trying to figure out multiple mysteries at once. The author brings a smart blend of suspense and mystery, well developed characters, and captures the essence of the Maine woodlands incredibly well. Be prepared to read this terrific book in one sitting!
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From the publisher: With erudition and charm, marine scientist and orator Bill François takes us on a deep dive into the secret lives of the world’s aquatic creatures, from musical whales and immortal eels to the cod that discovered America and the herring that almost caused a military conflict —to name but a few. We hear the songs of seahorses and scallops, eavesdrop on the conversations of lobsters, and swim in the glow of the fluorescent jellyfish.
From Jeffery Payne, Book Department Coordinator: We are immediately welcomed, engaged and entertained while we join the author in his infectious wonderment in sharing fanciful, marvelous and completely true whimsical accounts of the underwater world. The narrative style reads like a scientific fairytale which asks us to use our senses and imaginations as we learn and explore the mystical deep. A fascinating read that covers much more than the ‘lowly’ sardine, he takes us by the fins and we examine through his observations, folklore and scientific techniques just a handful of aquatic creatures that make the ocean less frightening and gain new perspectives on how we all are connected to one another.
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