Bookseller Recommendations
Books to Read This February
Hello Substack friends and Happy 2025! To kick off the new year, booksellers at Village Bookstores have come up with some wonderful recommendations to share with you all. Looking for new releases? We got you! Looking for adventure? We got you! Looking for your next favorite read? We got you there, too!
Shards of Earth, the first book in The Final Architecture trilogy, an epic sci-fi novel that is narrated by five main characters while celestial beings are destroying planets one by one. These beings, called the Architects, destroy planets and mold them into beautiful structures as they kill everything and everyone living there. The prologue starts at the end of the Great War when the many species banded together and defeated the Architects. Now, it has been decades since the Architects were last seen, and defeated by Idris, a surgically modified navigator who is used as a weapon. But when a new war is on the brink of starting the Parthenon, a group of women clones built and designed for war, send Solace to convince Idris to join their cause. Only problem is that Idris is a part of the Vulture God, a salvage vessel. Aboard the ship is also Olli, a drone specialist, and Kris, the crews lawyer. As Solace tries to subtly convince Idris, the crew finds a wreckage that only an Architect can make. During all of this, a member of the colonial policing board Havaer is following them trying to figure out what they are doing.
This series is a bit challenging if you do not read sci-fi, but it comes with a glossary and timeline in the back to help the reader stay on track. It is an incredibly detailed and thorough novel in a world that is setup wonderfully. If you give this novel the time it deserves, you will not be disappointing. I bought the second book before finishing the first!
- Chris
I didn't know what I was getting into when I started The Heart of Winter by Jonathan Evison...I thought: "maybe it was just a fun story about a 70 year marriage, light and breezy and a little 'The Notebook' in essence. Instead, I became absorbed in this 70 year mosaic of individualism woven into a life’s partnership. It was a breathtaking, stunning portrait of the eras, the people within the eras, and the movement of a person's life. The Heart of Winter, is at its core, a love story. We begin in the present, 2023, with Abe & Ruth Winters current state of life then we flash to 1953 and their first meeting in University - the story continues back to the present and then chronologically from 1953 forward.
It looks at the struggles of individual desires and wants, of how to communicate within a unit, the ups and downs of children & their adolescence - the economic and political struggles within an American household with one being a Republican and the other a Democrat. Evison dives into the headspace of a woman struggling with the crumbling realization of ever having complete independence and trying on a dream and even looks at loss: how we grieve and how we eventually survive from.
I highly recommend following Abe & Ruth on their life's journey - I cried, I laughed, I gasped, I thought "ah, hell no!" - it was SO GOOD! I am now diving into all of Jonathan Evison's backlist to see what other wonderful gems I have missed. If you need to escape into a place of hope, belief and needing to feel like you matter, try this read - it will remind you that: we are all living a life and just living a life is beautiful and hard and enough!
If you like a good stroll of a book or Ann Patchett, then you will LOVE this book too!
- Michelle
The Snow Leopard is a nonfiction recounting of the journey of American adventurer, naturalist, and ex-CIA agent Peter Matthiessen through the Himalayas in 1973. The goal of the expedition was to study the blue sheep of the region and potentially the rare snow leopard. The book is beautifully descriptive of the flora and fauna that Matthiessen experiences, and he often adopts a contemplative tone. Matthiessen was a Zen buddhist grieving the recent loss of his wife, and the writing is a reflection of his mental state throughout the monthslong journey to reach some of the most remote lands on earth. If you enjoy writing that paint pictures, dry humor, and travel memoirs, this will be a welcome addition to your collection. There are many references to the geography of Nepal and to historical spiritual figures from Buddhism and other religions, so this can be a slow burn if you are like me and want to look up every reference. This book excited me because of Matthiessen's way of being while backpacking in sub-freezing weather at high altitude. This was the 70's, so there was no modern technology to contact the outside world, or to get GPS, and no ultralight backpacking equipment that exists nowadays. That doesn't stop him and his crew from progressing on their mission to document blue sheep, which made the whole expedition feel like a true adventure. There are also some very interesting insights Matthiessen discovers along the way that can be applicable to one's own personal life, regardless if you are in the Himalayas or just going about your day-to-day. Overall, a great read by a great author, if you like this one, check out other works by Matthiessen like African Silences.
GOSSIP. ROMANCE. OBSESSION. BETRAYAL. SCANDAL.
Want something for the Valentine’s season but not in the mood for a rom-com? Boy have I got a book for you.
I’m not someone who normally reads sports romance, however this redefined the genre for me. It’s romantic, intense, dark, emotional, and Layne Fargo’s writing is exceptional.
Inspired by Wuthering Heights, this novel follows Katarina and Heath from their rough childhoods starting out in the elite, cut-throat ice skating world, to their Olympic ice dancing careers, and everything in between. Going back and forth between an exposé documentary with all of their friends, rivals, and colleagues & the truth coming from Katarina herself, Layne Fargo’s The Favorites is a jaw-dropping contemporary sports drama with ALL the feels.
I was on the edge of my seating thinking, “Give me more!” the entire time. Katarina’s depth was incredible and all of the supporting characters were so fun (& ruthless!) and helped drive the story so well. This book ended up being my first 5-star read of 2025!
If you’re interested in a book with a complex relationship set against an elite backdrop, if you just LOVE a good classic retelling, or if you’re a fan of Taylor Jenkins Reid—specifically Daisy Jones and the Six—this one's for you!
Happy reading!
Emma
Thanks for reading this month’s Bookseller Recommendations by Village Bookstores! Stay tuned for our next round of Bookseller Recommendations…you won’t want to miss it!
Just started The Favorites! ⛸️