Staff Picks
These are books that our staff enjoyed and recommend. Come visit us in the shop in-person to pick up your copy, or grab it online through our partners Libro.fm or Bookshop.org.
Happy reading!
This House of Sky - Ivan Doig
"This left me breathless. This is an amazingly beautiful book about Montana and the real hardship that life in Montana means except to a very lucky few.
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Not a book that romanticizes the difficulties or the pain, but shows with wonder how people live with them, struggle with them, and create extraordinary lives out of the simplest of circumstances of getting up and getting a job and a life done."
- MMW
How the Universe Got Its Spots - Janna Levin
"I love Janna's books! She is such an amazing teacher that she makes me feel like I could have some true understanding of physics. The intermixing of her personal memoir only adds to the charm of this book. I'm so glad it was reissued."
- MMW
"A beautiful and brilliant little book that ponders the finitude of the universe within the heartfelt memoir of an astrophysicist standing isolated at the extreme knowledge-boundaries of her field of research. And you don't need to know any crazy math to understand what she's telling you!"
- CCA
A Psalm for the Wild-Built - Becky Chambers
"A solarpunk novella about a monk who leaves their futuristic sci-fi city in search of their true place in the world.
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It was an interesting discussion of what we consider to be the purpose in our lives. I want to live in this world.
- MMW
Good Night, Irene - Luis Alberto Urrea
"Wow! Historical fiction that wasn't mawkish, sentimental, or focused on women who were powerless. These women were powerful - strong, loving, filled with loyalty to each other and the duty of the mission: to provide comfort to troops who were headed to or coming from battle. The descriptions of the danger they were in, which sounds so authentic and is likely true given Urrea's mother's personal experience and his research, were so frightening.
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It made me feel for all of the women currently in warzones - either serving or as civilians watching their worlds being bombed out of existence. Yes, it showed how badly women were treated by the Red Cross and some soldiers, but also how the majority of soldiers stood up for them, protected them, and loved them. It also takes a look at whether/if/how non-combatants can remain non-combatants in a war, especially when they have lost so much."
- MMW
Birthing the West - Jennifer J. Hill
"Tells the histories of childbirth across Montana, Wyoming, and the Dakotas and explores the effects modernization had on women's control of their own health and wellbeing in childbearing.
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I really enjoyed the research, the focus on women's collective knowledge and community, and the fact that a number of our current customers have ancestors that were discussed in this book."
- MMW
