Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“CODA” – Website / Reviews
A hearing teen in a deaf family must choose between obligations to her family’s struggling fishing business and her passion for singing in this Oscar winning drama.
“Relay” – Website / Reviews
In this mystery thriller, a broker of lucrative payoffs between corrupt corporations and the individuals who threaten them breaks his own rules when a new client seeks his protection to stay alive.
“The Day of the Jackal” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
Based on Frederick Forsyth’s acclaimed novel, this series follows an elite assassin known as the Jackal and a British intelligence officer who starts hunting him down.
“Together” – Website / Reviews
In this horror film, Tim and Millie move to the countryside where a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.
“Secret Mall Apartment” – Website / Reviews
A documentary that follows artists who created a secret apartment inside a mall and lived there for years. It’s a true story about discovering your purpose within the most commercial and improbable places.
Continue reading “New DVD List: December 2025”
The book “So Many Stars” is a fantastic look at older genderqueer BIPOC adults through their own words. The subjects of this book have gone through a lot of rough times (isolation, persecution, the AIDS crisis, DADT in the military, etc.) but they have also found and created communities, found families, resilience, resistance and mutual aid through changing times.
I think one of the things that really stuck out to me was the number of people interviewed who said something to the effect of, “I have always just wanted to be me.” No matter your race, sexual orientation, or gender identity, I think this is something almost everyone can relate to, although personal choices and circumstances, cultural and societal expectations, and systemic inequalities may make those paths vastly different.
Three words that describe this book: deep, heartfelt, important
You might want to pick this book up if: you want to know more about the life journeys of older genderqueer adults
-Rose
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
The book “Maiden Voyages” explores the history of the golden age of American and European ocean travel through the lens of women that worked and sailed on the great ocean liners. It is an excellently researched tale that relates the stories of women that earned their living by working at sea, which includes immigrants and refugees, as well as the rich and famous.
I enjoyed learning about the history of the great ships of the 20th century and especially about their requisition in the war efforts and transformation back to leisure boats between and after the World Wars. With this I also enjoyed leaning about how women gained more rights and responsibilities at sea through time.
Three words that describe this book: Adventure, Leisure, Empowerment
You might want to pick this book up if: You enjoy learning about women’s history.
-Claire
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
In the book “It Shined,” the founder of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Michael “Supe” Granda, details his life through the lens of the band. He shares everything from his upbringing in St. Louis, to his move to Springfield, and his travels around the globe.
Supe is a conversational writer with a great sense of humor. It’s a long book that could have been edited down a bit, but you’ll finish knowing everything there is to know about this amazing Missouri band.
Three words that describe this book: Funny, comprehensive, conversation starter
You might want to pick this book up if: you love music, want to relive the 60s and the 70s, or enjoy the name dropping of famous musicians.
-Sara
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in December. All of the mentioned titles are available to put on hold in our catalog and will also be made available via the library’s Overdrive website on the day of publication in eBook and downloadable audiobook format (as available). For a more extensive list of new nonfiction books coming out this month, check our online catalog.
Top Picks
“Queens at War: England’s Medieval Queens” by Alison Weir (Dec 2)
The tumultuous period in English history that marked the end of the medieval era and the rise of the Tudors comes to stunning life in the final volume of Alison Weir’s four-part Medieval Queens series, filled with dramatic true stories chronicling the turbulent reigns of the last five Plantagenet queens. The fifteenth century was a violent age. In “Queens at War,” Alison Weir chronicles the five queens who got caught up in wars that changed the courses of their lives: the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, and the Wars of the Roses between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York. Against this tempestuous backdrop, Weir describes the lives of five Plantagenet queens, who occupied the consort’s throne from 1403 to 1485. Joan of Navarre was happily married to King Henry IV but was accused of witchcraft by Henry’s heir and imprisoned. Paris-born Katherine of Valois’s political marriage to Henry V was meant to bring peace between England and France. It didn’t, and Henry died during the Hundred Years’ War without ever seeing his newborn heir, Henry VI, who was wed to another French princess, Margaret of Anjou, in 1445. In the Wars of the Roses, Margaret staunchly supported her husband and son. Henry’s successor, Edward IV, became embroiled in scandal after he fell in love with and married Elizabeth Widville, mother of the tragic Princes in the Tower. The notorious Richard III usurped Edward’s throne and married Anne Neville, who died after losing her only child, forsaken by her husband. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: December 2025”
No matter your pace or path, the library offers companions for the journey. A 19th-century naturalist and a contemporary R&B artist gave shape to my recent trip and softened the landing. Which writers help you light the way?
I board the plane with a book and an album: “The Journal, 1837-1861” by Henry David Thoreau and “Chilombo” by Jhené Aiko. Maybe the artists will have something to say to each other — Thoreau
with his call to “throw away a whole day for a single expansion, a single inspiration of air” (Aug. 21, 1851); Aiko with her invitation to “rest your weary heart / dry your teary eyes” (“Born Tired”). Maybe somewhere between cities I will catch my breath.
Continue reading “Reading, Flying, Flowing: Henry David Thoreau, Jhené Aiko and Other Travelers”
I love it when a plan comes together. I equally love it when a plan goes off the rails and characters must somehow rebuild it on the fly. “The Lies of Locke Lamora” somehow enables the reader to have both of these outcomes.
The story could be summed up as a heist gone wrong. Or, a found family of thieves in a gritty underworld within a fantastically realized city. Or, a story about a brotherly bond. Or a story about the dangers of playing games on those that appear to have power and those that actually do. Or a story about the luckiest man alive. However you decide to summarize the story or the setting or the characters, it can’t be done without paying compliment to author Scott Lynch’s excellent writing that drives the story forward at such a pace that “one more chapter” easily becomes 100 more pages.
I loved the details of the city. I loved how the fantasy elements were so smoothly blended in that you could pass this book to a non-fantasy reader and they’d enjoy it just as much. I love the pacing and the action — the planning and the people pulling off the plans.
It’s an easy 5 out of 5 for me.
Three words that describe this book: Heists. Schemes. Stubbornness.
You might want to pick this book up if: Your favorite part of “The Mistborn Saga” was the planning to take down the Lord Ruler parts.
-Blake
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Book I read: “Humankind: A Hopeful History” by Rutger Bregman
Why I checked it out: Last spring I was looking for books about hope and came across this one.
What it’s about: Often we’re told or believe that humans are ruled by self-interest. Bregman explores historic events and research to argue that what defines humans and has made us so successful is our drive to collaborate, our compassionate nature, and our tendency toward kindness.
Why I liked it: It has such a hopeful message about what it is to be human. Maybe if we see ourselves differently it will change what we see as our possible future. Bregman’s style is very readable and engaging and his ideas and conclusions are clearly stated and backed up by data and historical records.
Who will like it: Even if psychology isn’t your thing, Bregman’s style is so readable, I’d recommend it for anyone interested in learning more about human nature.
Diane Wilson’s novel, “The Seed Keeper” will be the subject of December’s First Thursday Book Discussion at noon on December 4 in the Columbia Public Library.
“The Seed Keeper,” spans several generations in a Dakhóta family starting with a Dakhóta girl, her mother and her new born brother fleeing violence and starvation after the 1862 Dakhóta uprising in southern Minnesota. Among their few possessions, they pack a small store of seeds and carefully cache the remaining seeds.
Descendants grow and save seeds, carrying the traditions of their family with them despite hardship and persecution.
In the most recent generation, Rosalie Iron Wing grew up in the woods with her father. He taught her how to survive and shared the stories of the plants and stars and their people. But when he dies, Rosalie is told she has no relatives and is sent to live with a white foster family in Mankato.
But Rosalie did have family and the last surviving elder has painstakingly grown and saved her family’s seeds, hoping to reunite with Rosalie.
Weaving together the voices of four generations, Diane Wilson extends the symbolism inherent in seeds into this family’s story of perseverance, reawakening, and remembering.
Join us on December 4 to share your thoughts and questions with other readers in a facilitated discussion.
“The Hive” introduces readers to the Fehler sisters, who are known as the “bug girls” because their family owns a pest control business in rural Missouri. After their father dies they have to join together to lead their family and the business into the future.
Because the author is from Missouri, she provides many easter eggs for fellow Missourians through the settings, places visited and scenery. It’s a powerful portrayal of a family and their bonds.
Three words that describe this book: Addicting, thoughtful, insightful
You might want to pick this book up if: you love family dramas or if you love Missouri.
-Sara
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
