Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“One Battle After Another” – Website / Reviews
In this Oscar nominated comedic thriller by writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson, a former member of a revolutionary group seeks help from other revolutionaries to find his missing daughter.
“Roofman” – Website / Reviews
Based on a true story, this comedy/drama features a charming fugitive who secretly lives inside a toy store for months until he falls for a divorced mom and his double life begins to unravel.
“Bugonia” – Website / Reviews
An Oscar nominated black comedy where two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
“A Little Prayer” – Website / Reviews
When a proud patriarch of an unruly but loving family discovers his son is having an affair, he grapples with how to protect his beloved daughter-in-law in this heart-tugging drama.
“It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley” – Website / Reviews
A documentary portrait of a rising star with an otherworldly voice who left the 90s music world reeling when he died suddenly after the release of his debut album. Continue reading “New DVD List: February 2026”
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in February. 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
“Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives” by Daisy Fancourt (Feb 3)
From cradle to grave, engaging in the arts has remarkable effects on our health and well-being. Music supports the architectural development of children’s brains. Artistic hobbies help our brains to stay resilient against dementia. Dance and magic tricks build new neural pathways for people with brain injuries. Arts and music act just like drugs to decrease depression, stress and pain, reducing our dependence on medication. Going to live music events, museums, exhibitions, and the theater decreases our risk of future loneliness and frailty. Engaging in the arts improves the functioning of every major organ system in the body, even helping us to live longer. This isn’t sensationalism, it’s science: the results of decades of studies gathering data from neuroimaging, molecular biomarkers, wearable sensors, cognitive assessments, and electronic health records. From professor Daisy Fancourt, an award-winning scientist and science communicator and director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Centre for Arts and Health, this book will fundamentally change the way you value and engage with the arts in your daily life and give you the tools to optimize how, when, and what arts you engage in to achieve your health goals. The arts are not a luxury in our lives. They are essential. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: February 2026”
Some months I approach reading as a challenge or a project, hoping to end up somewhere new; to have made sense of something previously unintelligible to me. But in January my readings and viewings were more about settling the mind than stretching it. I gravitated toward rhythmic, reflective works that felt a bit like listening to a friend (warm, maybe a bit repetitive, with a feeling of goodwill at the core).
Continue reading “Recommendations for and From the Heart: Thich Nhat Hanh, Pema Chödrön and Other Teachers ♥️”
“Victorian Treasures: An Album and Historical Guide for Collectors” has a unique format takes curious readers on a tour through an upper-class Victorian home. Each page features furniture, art, and objects of daily life — some common, some truly one-of-a-kind, but each with a story to tell.
I love picking up temporary coffee table books at the library, and this one is certainly a hidden gem! If you’re a collector or a thrifter like me, you’ll love gaining context for your next trip to the antique mall and finding new treasures to add to your wish list.
Three words that describe this book: antiques, Victorian, detailed
You might want to pick this book up if: You love getting lost in an antique store.
-Laura
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
The weather might be chilly, but it’s definitely heating up at the boy (and girl!) aquarium. Hockey romances aren’t new, but with the runaway success of “Heated Rivalry” and the book series the show is based on, they are definitely a hot topic. So pick up a winter sport romance to warm your heart during these cold months!
“Winging It” by Ashlyn Kane and Morgan James
“Hockey Ever After” series #1
This season isn’t going the way Dante thought it would. Gabe’s sexuality doesn’t faze him, but his own does. And he doesn’t mean to fall in love with the guy. Dante’s always been a “what you see is what you get” kind of guy, and having to hide his attraction to Gabe sucks. But so does losing, and his teammate needs him, so he puts in the effort to snap Gabe out of his funk. Getting involved with a teammate is a bad idea, but Dante is shameless, funny, and brilliant at hockey. Unfortunately, Gabe struggles to share part of himself that he’s hidden for years, and Dante chafes at hiding their relationship. Can they find their footing before the ice slips out from under them?
Continue reading “Warm Up with a Hockey Romance”
A group of five adventurers are tasked with saving the world… except they are better at bickering and stealing than they are at adventuring. “The Last Available” is silly and definitely doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s a fantasy literary role-playing game (LitRPG) that is never lacking in jokes. The humor is very central in the novel, plot and character development take a backseat.
Most of the time it worked, but sometimes I did wish for a little more detail. However, the jokes kept me entertained and I was wondering how this ragtag group of adventurers was going to save the world when they could barely work together as a group.
Three words that describe this book: silly, adventure, quick
You might want to pick this book up if: If you like fantasy RPGs, fourth wall breaking, and laughing.
-Bailey
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
portrait
noun
por·trait ˈpȯr-trət -ˌtrāt
1: picture
especially : a pictorial representation of a person usually showing the face
2: a sculptured figure : bust
3: a graphic portrayal in words
From the “Merriam-Webster Dictionary”
There are different kinds of portraits: there are realistic representations painted on canvases, photographs collected in albums and descriptions written in books; some portraits are of famous people and some are of complete strangers. Here is a delightful conglomeration. Included are some interviews and various other ways to get a glimpse at who a person is, or was, with a special focus on relative unknowns. Continue reading “Portraits of Humans”
“How to Think About AI,” by Richard Susskind will be the subject of the February First Thursday book discussion, and it’s not a moment too soon.
Maybe, if you are a literal hermit, as in living by yourself in a cave or some other hermitage, you can avoid AI seeping into your life — for the rest of us AI is here and it’s not going away. Even if you avoid using it personally, you’re almost certainly only one degree removed from its use. Continue reading “February First Thursday Book Discussion: “How to Think About AI””
In the graphic novel “Shubeik Lubeik,” wishes are commodified — wrapped up in the bureaucracy and power dynamics of our world. Author Deena Mohamed’s three stories weave together the fantastical and the ordinary. Her characters are captivating, and her commentary on colonialism and class is compelling.
I don’t want to spoil the book, but one of the character’s wishes stuck with me even two years after reading this book. I still use it to comfort and affirm myself in tough times. This book is fun for the world building, yet it is also deeply personal.
Three words that describe this book: Creative, insightful, hopeful
You might want to pick this book up if: You love thoughtful world building, beautiful art, and the human spirit.
-Anonymous
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
“I keep putting off beginning this journal because the things I must write, must admit by writing them, are hard, even threatening to me,” Alice Walker wrote on July 8, 1977. “But, to begin.”
This confession came from a courageous young woman, already an established writer and activist. Yet putting pen to paper still stirred fear in Walker, a diarist familiar with that strange truth — that the hardest conversations to start are often the ones within ourselves.
As you begin the journey through this new year, I hope the conversation between your heart and the page feels lively, honest and hopeful. Here are seven titles exploring the tender art and practice of journaling.
Continue reading “Literary Links: Journals”
