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 invites readers on a fraught sea voyage, to feel connected to nature and to get intellectually buzzed.
The Wreck of the Mentor
By Eric Jay Dolin
Liveright Publishing
$27.99
June 2026
Purchase
From the publisher: From the bestselling author of “Black Flags, Blue Waters” comes the story of the American whaleship Mentor, wrecked in 1832 on a remote reef in the western Pacific. With supplies dwindling, the eleven surviving crewmen face not only the miseries of shipwreck in unfamiliar territory but also the profound uncertainty of contact with the Indigenous people of the Micronesian archipelago of Palau, who within days approach the deserted men brandishing axes, clubs, and spears. In this gripping saga of cultural collision, tribal wars, and dashed hopes, award-winning historian Eric Jay Dolin vividly reconstructs the Mentor’s doomed voyage, the years of perilous captivity, and the delicate negotiations and fraught naval rescue mission that followed.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: Yes, yet another seafaring, ship-wreck narrative.
As someone who is landlocked in the arid foothills of the Rockies, and misses the ponds, creeks and rivers of the Midwest, and the moody yet brilliant Pacific Ocean, I will gratefully fall into a book about nautical travels and tribulations. Author Eric Jay Dolin once again brings his historical expertise and storytelling flair to a rousing account of the demise of the Mentor.
Grab your popcorn, beverage and dive into a captivating chapter of maritime travel, politics and survival.
The Zen of the Wild
By Francis Sanzaro
Saraband
$14.95
October 2025
Purchase
From the publisher: Weaving together ideas from spirituality, neuroscience, religious philosophy and art history, Francis Sanzaro argues that we obscure opportunities for real connections through our attachments, our anxieties, and simply through our egos. We rarely observe nature without subconsciously filtering out the parts that don’t fit into our perfect snapshot.
To foster a genuine connection with the natural world, and to better protect it, we must embrace its contradictions as well as the surface beauty. Through deeper engagement with our environment, we can discover the wild within ourselves, too.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: Roughly two years ago, life took a surreal turn. I spent several days meandering about, trying to find an anchor, a touchstone, a place of quiet and comfort.
I finally found it. By stepping into nature.
“The Zen of the Wild” opens the world of nature as a healing place. A spot of respite and reprieve. It offers the thought that to find peace within, we must venture out(side).
Dead Bees Still Sting
By Susan Cormier
Greystone Books
$19.95
May 2026
Purchase
From the publisher: On a small acreage teeming with wild and domestic animals, buzzing with a half-million honeybees, and dotted with fruit trees – including one affectionately named Bill – lives beekeeper-poet Susan Cormier. Circling the farm, an aggressive tangle of forest and blackberry vines thrives, but beyond, the shadow of urban development creeps ever closer. Over five seasons Cormier takes readers through the rhythms of semi-agricultural life, reflecting on the dichotomy between beauty and grief, loss and renewal, and humor and the often heart-wrenching realities of animal existence in an agrarian landscape.
Susan’s acreage is filled with an ever-changing cast of animals, from the hand-raised quail Birb, who likes to play peekaboo, to companionable cats and dogs, Frodo the rescued rabbit, deer, elusive mink, and owls. The book also offers a rich education in beekeeping, guiding readers through the complexities of hive life, the art of capturing swarms, and the serious challenges facing bees today.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: Susan Cormier brings a refreshing perspective and wry humor to her first book, “Dead Bees Still Sting.” (They do by the way; I know this from personal experience – ouch!).
While the recommendation for the book above, “The Zen of the Wild,” inspires us to find consolation in the natural world, Cormier encourages us to actively observe and participate in the environment. Slow down, look about and smell the quail poop.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
Poor Richard’s Books
320 N. Tejon St., Colorado Springs
As part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.