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.
“The Grapes of Wrath” is about a family who attempts to escape the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression by migrating from Oklahoma to California. This book is a classic, but it is a classic for a reason. The themes are many of the same ones that dominate cultural and political discussion today: poverty, homelessness, climate change, migration, worker rights and unions, just to name a few. Steinbeck’s writing is beautiful and evocative while remaining down-to-earth and easy to understand.
I felt like I personally gained more insight from this book because my grandmother’s family went on a similar journey from Southern Missouri to Oklahoma to California and back in the 1920s and 1930s. I imagine that they would have experienced many of the same things as the Joad family on their travels.
Three words that describe this book: timeless, genuine, hopeful
You might want to pick this book up if: you are interested in American history and politics over time.
-Rose
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Weapons” – Website / Reviews
When all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance in this horror/thriller.
“F1” – Website / Reviews
In this action/drama film, racing legend Sonny Hayes is coaxed out of retirement to lead a struggling Formula 1 team — and mentor a young hotshot driver — while chasing one more chance at glory.
“The Gold” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
A crime drama series inspired by real events from 1983 where armed men stumbled on millions in gold in London, making a standard robbery into one of the largest robberies in British history.
“Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight” – Website / Reviews
Based on the memoir of the same name, this film captures the complex childhood of 8-year-old Bobo on her family’s African farm at the end of the Zimbabwean War for Independence in 1980.
“The Fantastic 4: First Steps” – Website / Reviews
Set in a 1960s-inspired retro-futuristic world, this sci-fi action film introduces a superhero foursome who must defend Earth from a space god and his enigmatic herald. Continue reading “New DVD List: November 2025”
“After about two months of the war, I decided to do something normal, ordinary, necessary. I took my 8-year-old daughter for a haircut,” journalist Maram Humaid wrote in October 2024 for Al Jazeera, recounting her first year reporting the war on Gaza. Visiting with Najla the hairdresser, Humaid is moved by her generosity in sharing stories that Najla’s clients have shared. These “side-stories” are in some ways at odds with the pressing priorities of Humaid’s journalism.
The necessity Humaid discovers in these ordinary stories speaks to alternative ways of grasping the flow of events or “sitting in the room with history,” as Dionne Brand put it in “A Map to the Door of No Return.” Continue reading “Literary Links: History From a First-Person View”
I absolutely devoured “The Trees” and still wanted more. I think fans of Jordan Peele’s “Us” will love this exploration of race and reparations by Percival Everett.
I loved how he wrote each character, flipping race stereotypes on their head and being unrelenting in his writing of unlikable characters. The chapters were short and fast, making it so easy to fly through. The story was spooky and mysterious, originally taking over a small town before the whole country became involved. With incredible writing, deeply addicting plot, and a stellar, expansive cast of characters, this book has made me a life long fan of Everett’s.
Three words that describe this book: Haunting, vengeful, addictive.
You might want to pick this book up if: you had just finished visiting your racist family.
-Jordan
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Brendon Steenbergen is a Mid-Missouri author whose latest book is “.” The book details the story of the 1960 Mizzou Football team — the gridiron struggles, the Civil Rights era battles, and their record breaking and controversial national championship run. A two time Mizzou alumnus, Steenbergen has previously worked with Tiger football recruiting, served as a game-day video replay official for the Big 12 and SEC, and has published the book “
Mizzou Sports Through the Ages.” He currently serves as Executive Director for the
Missouri Coalition of Recovery Support Providers (MCRSP). He was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email.
Continue reading “Q&A With Brendon Steenbergen, Author of “Respectable Roughnecks””
Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in November. 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
“Bread of Angels: A Memoir” by Patti Smith (Nov 4)
“God whispers through a crease in the wallpaper,” writes Patti Smith in this moving account of her life. A post–World War II childhood unfolds in a condemned housing complex where we enter the child’s world of the imagination. Smith, the captain of her loyal and beloved sibling army, vanquishes bullies, communes with the king of tortoises, and searches for sacred silver pennies. The most intimate of Smith’s memoirs, “Bread of Angels” takes us through her teenage years where the first glimmers of art and romance take hold. Arthur Rimbaud and Bob Dylan emerge as creative role models as she begins to write poetry then lyrics, ultimately merging both into the songs of iconic recordings such as Horses, Wave and Easter. She leaves it all behind to marry her one true love, Fred Sonic Smith, with whom she creates a life of devotion and adventure on a canal in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. Here, she invents a room of her own, a low table, a Persian cup, inkwell and pen, entering at dawn to write. The couple spend nights in their landlocked Chris-Craft studying nautical maps and charting new adventures as they start a family. A series of profound losses mark her life. Grief and gratitude are braided through years of caring for her children, rebuilding her life and, finally, writing again — the one constant in a life driven by artistic freedom and the power of the imagination to transform the commonplace into the magical, and pain into hope. In the final pages, we meet Smith on the road again, the vagabond who travels to commune with herself, who lives to write and writes to live. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: November 2025”
While it took me a minute to get into “The Lathe of Heaven,” once I was hooked I could not put it down. It follows George Orr, a resident of the future version of an impoverished and over-crowded Portland, Oregon. George has a special quality to his dreams that alters timelines to make whatever he dreams about become reality. This is a power that overwhelms George and forces him into Dr. Haber’s office, a psychiatrist and dream researcher. Haber manipulates George’s dreams with hypno-therapy and the story winds through multiple versions of reality.
Because of the nature of this story, Le Guin is able to touch on an incredible number of topics. Class, war, capitalism, gender, race and love are all weaved into this narrative in both obvious and subtle timeline shifts. It was originally written in the 1970’s and set in the 1990’s, so it is very interesting to read the past version of the future and find truths there. I am in awe of this book!
Three words that describe this book: mind-bending, evocative, unique
You might want to pick this book up if: you love a story that keeps you on your toes and gives you a lot to think about! There is no predicting what comes next.
-Isabel
This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. We will continue to share them throughout the year.
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“The Life of Chuck” – Website / Reviews
Based on a novella by Stephen King, this genre-bending tale celebrates the life of Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz as he experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.
“40 Acres” – Website / Reviews
In this post-apocalyptic action/thriller, a family of isolated farmers defend their well-protected homestead against a ravenous militia hell bent on claiming their 40 acres of land.
“Superman” – Website / Reviews
In this action/adventure film by director and writer James Gunn, Superman is drawn into conflicts both abroad and at home where his his actions to protect humankind are questioned.
“Outrageous” – Season 1 – Website / Reviews
A six episode drama series inspired by the true story of the Mitford sisters — six aristocratic women who defied convention in 1930s Britain. From fame to revolution, their lives were unapologetically bold.
“Girls Will Be Girls” – Website / Reviews
In this coming of age drama, Mira first discovers desire and romance while at a strict boarding school. However, her life is disrupted by her mother, who never got to come of age herself. Continue reading “New DVD List: September-October 2025”
