Staff Picks - LibGuides at Boulder Public Library

I loved reading this book during the pandemic. It gave me a much needed break from the news. Love, loss, grief, and just a enough magical realism made this a sweet, engaging read for stressful times.

Publisher's description:

Thirty-four-year-old Harry Crane works as an analyst for the US Forest Service. When his wife dies suddenly, he is unable to cope. Leaving his job and his old life behind, Harry makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains, determined to lose himself. But fate intervenes in the form of a fiercely determined young girl named Oriana.

Find Harry's Trees in our online catalog.

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Shannon recommends The Raven Boys: The Graphic Novel by Maggie Stiefvater

Four teenagers are on a quest to find Glendower, an ancient Welsh king, and the magical reward that comes with the discovery. On their search, they encounter secret forests that stop time, fanciful legends that began in truth, and unsavory characters that will do anything to find Glendower first. While the book version of The Raven Boys is lyrical and beautifully written, the graphic novel version brings the story and characters to life with expressive artwork.Publisher's description:Blue Sargent comes from a family of psychics. Only, she has never had the same clairvoyant abilities they had and has always felt too ordinary within the magic that surrounded her. Enter Gansey, a rich student from Aglionby, the town's all-boys private school teeming with wealth, privilege, and trouble. Blue's always made it a point to stay away from its students, the Raven Boys. But when Gansey asks her to join him and three other Raven Boys on his quest to find a long-forgotten Welsh king rumored to be sleeping beneath the mountains of their quiet Virginia town, Blue doesn't hesitate. She jumps at the chance to finally be a part of something real and full of magic, a world she was born into yet one that always stood just out of reach. Soon enough, she's swept into a strange and shifting world woven into theirs, one far more dangerous than anything they could have dreamt up.Find The Raven Boys in our online catalog...

Sveva recommends Animal Farm by George Orwell

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Bergen recommends One day, everyone will have always been against this by Omar El Akkad

Omar El Akkad writes with a strong sense of moral clarity about the fight to maintain one's humanity in the face of state-sanctioned violence. His background as a writer shines through each meticulously crafted sentence. The blend of memoir, journalism, and call to action gives the reader a sense of urgency to do what's right when it counts. This book is upsetting, yes, but also moving. It gives the courage to find hope amid so much loss.Publisher's Description:From award-winning novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad comes a powerful reckoning with what it means to live in the heart of an empire that doesn't consider you fully human. On October 25th, 2023, after just three weeks of the bombardment of Gaza, Omar El Akkad put out a tweet: "One day, when it's safe, when there's no personal downside to calling a thing what it is, when it's too late to hold anyone accountable, everyone will have always been against this." This tweet was viewed more than ten million times. One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This chronicles the deep fracture that has occurred for Black, brown, Indigenous Americans, as well as the upcoming generation, many of whom had clung to a thread of faith in Western ideals, in the idea that their countries, or the countries of their adoption, actually attempted to live up to the values they espouse.Find One day, everyone will have always been against this in our online catalog ...

Allison recommends Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen