Old Firehouse Books offers whimsical, practical, heart-wrenching titles

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommends books about romance, roads and reconciling long-held secrets.

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From the publisher: Theo and Kit have been a lot of things: childhood best friends, crushes, in love, and now estranged exes. After a brutal breakup on the transatlantic flight to their dream European food and wine tour, they exited each other’s lives once and for all. Time apart has done them good.

All that remains is the unused voucher for the European tour that never happened, good for 48 months after its original date and about to expire. Four years later, it seems like a great idea to finally take the trip. Solo. Separately.

It’s not until they board the tour bus that they discover they’ve both accidentally had the exact same idea, and now they’re trapped with each other for three weeks of stunning views, luscious flavors, and the most romantic cities of France, Spain, and Italy.

From Andrea, event coordinator: Sure, several years later they can get along, as long as they can prove to one another that they’ve moved on. And really, what’s the best way to prove to your ex that you have no feelings for them whatsoever? Definitely a hookup competition!

Casey McQuiston is back at it again with a book that is absolutely hilarious and beautiful and so fun to read. Kit and Theo are wonderful bisexual messes who, while mistake prone, have so much heart and care for the world around them and each other (begrudgingly). And I can’t even explain the incredible FOMO I felt reading about their tour. You will finish this novel and book a tour to Europe immediately after. The explanation of the food, wine, and cities were mouth-watering. (Also, I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it!! Get yours on Libro.fm today!!)

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From the publisher: In the U.S. we are nearing 4 million road deaths since we began counting them in 1899. The numbers are getting worse in recent years, yet we continue to accept these deaths as part of doing business. There has been no examination of why we engineer roads that are literally killing us.  Fixing the carnage on our roadways requires a change in mindset and a dramatic transformation of transportation. This goes for traffic engineers in particular because they are still the ones in charge of our streets.

Civil engineering professor Wes Marshall shines a spotlight on how little science there is behind the way that our streets are engineered, which leaves safety as an afterthought. While traffic engineers are not trying to cause deliberate harm to anyone, he explains, they are guilty of creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture.

From Sterling, bookseller: In an attempt to soothe my lingering sadness over not having been able to attend the event we held with the author, I’ve chosen August to highlight a book both impactful and necessary. Wes Marshall takes us on an intense, thorough and sometimes dark yet compassionate tour through the underpinnings of a nigh unquestioned (until recently) profession. This is the ultimate insider’s guide to a fascinating sphere of design tangled up with often disastrous safety outcomes and one that touches our lives by shaping the ways in which we move every single day: the traffic engineer.

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From the publisher: In the midst of mourning her husband’s sudden death, writer Jessica Waite discovered shocking secrets that undermined everything she thought she knew about the man she’d loved and trusted. From uncovered affairs to drug use and a pornography addiction, Waite was overwhelmed reconciling this devastating information with her new reality as a widowed single mom. Then, to further complicate matters, strange, inexplicable coincidences forced her to consider whether her husband was reaching back from beyond the grave.

With her signature candor and unflinching honesty, Waite details her tumultuous love story and the pain of adjusting to the new normal she built for herself and her son. A riveting, difficult, and surprisingly beautiful story, “The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards” is also a lyrical exploration of grief, mental health, single parenthood, and betrayal that demonstrates that the most moving love stories aren’t perfect — they’re flawed and poignantly real.

From Revati, general manager: This is an amazing memoir that will make anyone re-examine what it really means to love someone. Jessica Waite writes with such understanding and raw emotion that you can’t help feel the loss, rage, sadness, confusion and love with her. Despite the heavy subject, you will be instantly engaged and I’m sure it’ll be a favorite memoir of the year.

Type of Story: Review

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