January 2025

Laura’s Picks:

The village library demon-hunting society by C.M. Waggoner (2024) 

Required reading for anyone who has ever binged cozy mysteries or watched Murder, She Wrote. A small-town librarian with a knack for solving murders slowly realizes that no small town should have so many murders. Her neighbors are oddly unconcerned with the rising body count, but when an ancient spirit possesses her cat, Sherry PInkwhistle decides to enlist an exorcist and solve the greatest mystery of all.

Water, water: poems by Billy Collins (2024) 

A new volume from the former Poet Laureate of the United States is always a treat. Collins excels at discovering the whimsical concealed in the ordinary and his poems encourage meditation and reflection. 

John’s Picks:

Moon Music by Coldplay (2024) 

The tenth studio album by the British rock band released through Parlophone Records.  The single, “All My Love,” has been described by frontman Chris Martin as the final traditional single of the band’s career.  Its subsequent music video features entertainment legend Dick Van Dyke, at ninety-nine years young.

Water, Water: Poems by Billy Collins (2024) 

The nineteenth book of poetry by former poet laureate, Billy Collins, and his first of new material in two years.  Divided into four chapters, this sixty-piece collection is an accessible book for beginners and a treasury of prose for more advanced readers.  Critics are calling the book one of Collins’ best works.

The Boondock Saints (1999) 

An action thriller film directed by Troy Duffy and starring Sean Patrick Flannery, Norman Reedus, and Willem Dafoe.  The film follows a pair of brothers (portrayed by Flannery and Reedus) who seek to rid all crime from Boston while being pursued by an FBI agent (played by Dafoe).  While not a critical and commercial success at the time of its release, the film has since gone on to become a cult classic.

Melissa’s Picks:

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) 

This is the first book by Zevin that I’ve read since The storied life of A. J. Fikry back in 2014. The novel follows childhood friends Sam and Sadie from their first meeting playing a video game in a children’s hospital to being reunited in college and designing video games together. The pair are joined by Marx who ultimately becomes a friend, business partner, and central character in the story as they venture into the world of commercial video game development. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow explores themes of racial identity, gender in the gaming industry, violence, and trauma as these young people move from early adolescence to adulthood. A New York Times reviewer insightfully notes the similarities to Irving’s The World According to Garp. Zevin’s characters have depth, and the reader does not need to be a gamer to appreciate this novel about coming-of-age and creative work.  

Chasing Beauty by Natalie Dykstra (2024) 

For those of you who’ve visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and wondered about the woman behind the art, architecture, and ethos of this institution, this book is for you. Chasing Beauty follows Gardner’s life from her birth and upbringing in a prominent New York City family through her marriage to Bostonian Jack Gardner and the subsequent collecting for and building of Fenway Court. Gardner presents as a bit of a challenge and enigma to conservative Boston society who was never fully accepted. The biography details not only the tragedies in Jack’s and Isabella’s (Belle) personal lives but also time spent traveling and collecting art in Europe where they overlap with many of the artists, writers, and intellectuals of the day. While it’s not a light read, Dykstra’s book contains elements of a Gilded Age novel.

Lauren’s Pick:

The Wings Upon Her Back by Samantha Mills (2024)

In this science-fantasy debut, Zenya, who has served for 26 years as a winged warrior guarding the city of Radezhda, has become disillusioned with her role as an enforcer of the harsh justice of their society. When she grants mercy to one she was meant to punish and her deed is discovered, she is cast down to the ground in disgrace. Her faith shaken, Zenya must reevaluate her loyalty to those who abandoned her, and the god she has chosen to serve.