Poor Richard’s Books has great reads from the natural to whimsical

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 Poor Richard’s Books in Colorado Springs recommends books about woodworking, therapeutic cats and subtle seasonal changes.

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From the publisher: The eldest son of a master woodworker, Callum Robinson spent his childhood surrounded by wood and trees, absorbing lessons in his father’s workshop. In time he became his father’s apprentice, helping to create exquisite bespoke objects. But eventually the need to find his own path — to chase ever bigger and more commercial projects and establish a workshop of his own — drew him away. Faced with the end of his business, his team, and everything he had worked so hard to build, he was forced to question what mattered most. 

In beautifully wrought prose, Callum tells the story of returning to the workshop and to the wood, to handcrafting furniture for people who will love it and then pass it on to the next generation — an antidote to a culture where everything seems so easily disposable.

From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: I love my neighborhood. I live in downtown Colorado Springs. It’s filled with a lot of creative folks. Recently there was an open studio/art walk featuring all sorts of mediums and skills. One of the stops was with a woodworker who created pieces with found tree parts/stumps. As we left to find the next studio, my partner commented, “While beautiful, it’s not really ‘art’, is it?” I paused a moment, appreciated his perspective and responded with “It’s craft.”

The distinction between artist, artisan, and craftsman is subtle. Collum Robinson, an accomplished woodworker and very gifted writer, further blurs these lines in “Ingrained.” His reflective book offers insight into the complex, sometimes messy, yet poetic process of craftsmanship, and life. The reader will gain a renewed appreciation of both craft and nature with the author’s sharp observations and experiences. The bit about him and his granny’s last project together still leaves a lump in my throat.

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From the publisher: It’s time to revisit the Kokoro Clinic for the Soul. Though it’s a mysteriously located clinic with an uncertain address, it can always be found by those who need it. And the clinic has proven time after time that a prescribed cat has the power to heal the emotional wounds of its patients.

As characters from one chapter appear as side characters in the next, we follow a young woman who cannot help pushing away the man who loves her, a recently widowed grandfather whose grandson refuses to leave his room, the family of a young woman who struggle to understand each other, and an anxious man who works at a cat shelter seeking to show how the most difficult cats can be the most rewarding. This moving, magical novel of interconnected tales proves the strength in the unfathomable bond between cats and people.

From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: I seem to be in a bit of rut lately with the Japanese cat stories…sorry, not sorry…

The Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul appears only to those in need, hidden, with obscure directions, in plain sight. Not quite the usual clinic for mental health, this one dispenses cats. That’s correct, cats. It seems that our furry little felines can cure just about anything, even the things we are not aware of.

This delightfully amusing book is a wonderful antidote to the cold, harsh world around us. You’ll find yourself smiling as you read through the interconnected stories that give you a teeny bit of hope. Wonderfully charming and poignant, this book will have you looking for the clinic yourself.

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From the publisher: We all notice the flowers of spring, longer days of summer, colors of autumn, and snowfalls of winter. But have you observed the way that water tends to run clearest in June? Did you know that at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, you can find Sirius due south in the night sky? And have you seen the poetic “shadow compasses” butterflies make on the hottest days, as they align their wings with the sun, their thin shadows pointing the way north?

The sun, moon, stars, plants, fungi, animals, water, and weather all tell us secrets about the seasons — if we know how to read their clues. In this sense-awakening book, New York Times-bestselling author Tristan Gooley reimagines the seasonal calendar not as four distinct phases but as a series of changes evolving moment by moment every day of the year. Each granular shift is an extraordinary microseason you won’t want to miss. It’s time to get out there and explore — the seasons will never look, sound, or smell the same again.

From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: Though nights have been very cold lately, my garden is still (slowly) growing, evolving.  The pots and planters less so (especially after the hard freeze we just experienced) but everything planted in ground is giving up to the change of season. I spend a lot of time in my garden, year round. There is always something to do or notice.

Tristan Gooley’s latest release urges us to take time to observe those small subtle changes that surround us. Due to his description (and reasons why) of frost on a chilly morning, I cannot wait for the next time frost is predicted. After reading the part about “leaf litter compass,” I walked the neighborhood with a new appreciation and understanding — though it still baffles me why it seems all the neighbor’s leaves end up in my yard.

I have never been a huge fan of winter, always wanting to fast forward to the warmish days of spring, to get to the growing season. This book shows there is something to look forward to in all seasons, and not to be in such a rush.

Type of Story: Review

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