Q&A With Merrill Sapp, Author of “Knowing Wonder: An Elephant Story”

Posted on Wednesday, July 16, 2025 by Decimal Diver

Merrill Sapp is a Columbia, MO author whose debut book is “Knowing Wonder: An Elephant Story.” The book is a blend of fiction and nonfiction exploring the lives of elephants within the context of real behaviors, scientific insights, and environmental challenges. Sapp, a cognitive psychologist and Stephens College professor, is dedicated to understanding and protecting elephants. She was kind enough to take the time to be interviewed via email.

Continue reading “Q&A With Merrill Sapp, Author of “Knowing Wonder: An Elephant Story””

Beyond Recycling

Posted on Tuesday, July 15, 2025 by MaggieM

graphic with a background of plastic bottles in compressed in a bale for recycling. Over the image is a recycling simple, a plus sign, a tornado, equals question mark.Since the tornado hit the Columbia Municipal Recycling Center in April, the laundry room in our house, which is where we collect our recyclables, looks a lot like the tornado hit it, too. It has our whole family thinking more about how to reduce waste streams in our house.

If you are also struggling to figure out how to adjust waste management in your household, we have a program coming up this month that might help! Continue reading “Beyond Recycling”

Literary Links: Permaculture, Green Living & Eco-Friendly Living Spaces

Posted on Monday, July 14, 2025 by David Litherland

As the days grow hot and sunny, many of us find ourselves out in our green spaces, tending to gardens, watering and mowing lawns and enjoying time out in our carefully curated slices of nature. But science tells us that each year there are fewer buzzing bees, glowing fireflies and blooming wildflowers than before. Plus, in this Mid-Missouri heat, keeping the indoors comfortable can be difficult and uses a lot of fossil fuels and electricity. Taking steps to both enjoy the creature comforts we know, and still sustain our environment, is the driving force behind the philosophy of permaculture: a movement to create sustainable ecosystems in harmony with both what we humans need and what Mother Nature needs.

Book Cover: Lawns into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative LandscapeThe modern lawn is one of the biggest contributors to water waste and soil pollution, and it has also led to loss of native flora and fauna. Creating a curated monoculture of a non-native plant species like lawn grass is a significant contributing factor to reduced populations of pollinators like bees and to diminished water tables. But, of course, it doesn’t have to be this way; “Lawns Into Meadows: Growing a Regenerative Landscape” by Owen Wormser is vehement in its indictment of modern lawn culture, and vigorously advocates for replacing so-called “deadscapes” with verdant, diverse and healthy meadows and permaculture yards.  Continue reading “Literary Links: Permaculture, Green Living & Eco-Friendly Living Spaces”

Older and Bolder: Fiction

Posted on Friday, July 11, 2025 by Ida

In the past few years I’ve noticed more books with lead characters who have several decades of living under their belts. Perhaps publishers have come to realize that a good chunk of their audience is comprised of older adults who would like to see themselves represented in stories and another segment contains readers who want to imagine a future in which they don’t disappear into the background as they age. Then there’s the fact that the more past a character has, the more richly layered their backstory is. Here are a few titles with older and bolder protagonists:

Book cover: Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame, Olivia FordMrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame” by Olivia Ford has been called a “coming-of-old-age tale.” After nearly 60 years of marriage, Jenny Quinn’s husband seems content to believe the time for new adventures is past. But Jenny surprises him, and herself, by winning a spot on a reality TV show, “Britain Bakes,” where she wows the world with her baking skills. Each edible creation relates to her past in some way, which serves to unfold her story. But as her fame grows, she finds herself struggling with the possible revelation of a secret she’s kept for decades. Continue reading “Older and Bolder: Fiction”

August First Thursday Book Discussion: Adventures in the Louvre

Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2025 by MaggieM

Adventures in the Louvre book cover Join staff and community members for next First Thursday Book Discussion at noon on August 7 in the Columbia Public Library to talk about “Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love With the World’s Greatest Museum.”

The title sounds like it could be the next hot mystery from Dan Brown, à la “The Da Vinci Code.” Instead “Adventures in Louvre,” by Elaine Sciolino is a lively nonfiction account of the famous Parisian museum. By the end, you will understand why the Louvre, the artworks within, and the history without have inspired such a dazzling variety of passionate responses ranging from Beyonce and Jay-Z’s 2018 viral music video (explicit content) to a 1909 protest threatening to burn or flood the museum. Continue reading “August First Thursday Book Discussion: Adventures in the Louvre”

Nonfiction Roundup: July 2025

Posted on Monday, July 7, 2025 by Liz

Below I’m highlighting some nonfiction books coming out in July. 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

We are eating the earth book cover We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate” by Michael Grunwald (Jul 1)
Humanity has cleared a land mass the size of Asia plus Europe to grow food, and our food system generates a third of our carbon emissions. By 2050, we’re going to need a lot more calories to fill nearly 10 billion bellies, but we can’t feed the world without frying it if we keep tearing down an acre of rainforest every six seconds. We are eating the earth, and the greatest challenge facing our species will be to slow our relentless expansion of farmland into nature. Even if we quit fossil fuels, we’ll keep hurtling towards climate chaos if we don’t solve our food and land problems. In this rollicking, shocking narrative, Grunwald shows how the world, after decades of ignoring the climate problem at the center of our plates, has pivoted to making it worse, embracing solutions that sound sustainable but could make it even harder to grow more food with less land. But he also tells the stories of the dynamic scientists and entrepreneurs pursuing real solutions, from a jungle-tough miracle crop called pongamia to genetically-edited cattle embryos, from Impossible Whoppers to a non-polluting pesticide that uses the technology behind the COVID vaccines to constipate beetles to death. It’s an often infuriating saga of lobbyists, politicians, and even the scientific establishment making terrible choices for humanity, but it’s also a hopeful account of the people figuring out what needs to be done — and trying to do it. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: July 2025”

Reader Review: First-Time Caller

Posted on Wednesday, July 2, 2025 by patron reviewer

First-Time Caller book coverFirst-Time Caller” is about a radio host and a caller — how they meet and fall in love.

❤️

  • The radio excerpts throughout
  • THE LIST!!!!
  • A gasp at the last few chapters especially at “Long time listener, first time caller”
  • Chosen & found family — blended family
  • Maya’s line “You don’t have to be alone to feel lonely.”
  • The supporting characters

💔

  • Kinda lulled for me around halfway & felt a little long
  • Third act breakup, grrrrr!!

Three words that describe this book: Romance, contemporary, mixed-media

You might want to pick this book up if: You want a binge-able, feel-good romance.

-Anonymous

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog.

Reader Review: The Island of the Sea Women

Posted on Monday, June 30, 2025 by patron reviewer

Island of Sea Women book coverThe Island of the Sea Women” follows a woman throughout her life as a diver (Haenyo dive without equipment) on the South Korean island of Jeju. This book weaves between past and present to understand her story. It also gives insight to the social and political struggles on Jeju throughout her life, including Japanese annexation, colonization, and WWII.

I liked how different this book felt. I had never heard of Jeju or Haenyo and this book was able to teach so much history and culture while still telling a fictional story. It didn’t shy away from any of the hardships and often left me feeling… depressed, hopeless, etc. But it also provided hope and encouragement. When a book can make me feel so many emotions, that’s a good book.

Three words that describe this book: Educational, unique, intriguing

You might want to pick this book up if: I was wanting a story about a culture I didn’t know much about but wanted to learn more.

-Lauren

This reader review was submitted as part of Adult Summer Reading. Submit your own book review here for a chance to have it featured on the Adults Blog.

Quick Recs: Three Books and an Album

Posted on Friday, June 27, 2025 by Karena

Books and beats to give texture to these long, hot days.

Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth” by Maggie Nelson
Publication Date: April 1, 2025

Pathemata book cover

Why I Picked It:Pathemata” arrives as a companion to “Bluets” (2009), an astonishing work of prose poetry of which I’ve memorized whole passages (speaking more to the way Nelson writes — with stunning precision; straight to the heart — than to my memory). In “Bluets,” Nelson lifts up the color blue as a lens, muse, mirror. In a similar fashion, “Pathemata” makes chronic pain its precious subject.

Recommended For: Anyone who is familiar with pain, especially pain that doesn’t go away, that demands an answer. Anyone who still visits early memories of the COVID-19 pandemic with a feeling of grief and fascination.

Continue reading “Quick Recs: Three Books and an Album”

June 2025 LibraryReads

Posted on Wednesday, June 25, 2025 by Kat

LibraryReads logoSummer has officially begun! This month’s LibraryReads brings new books to check out. Some of the favorites books by library staff from around the country include a new Maggie Stiefvater, some romance, a thriller or two, and a new book by this year’s One Read runner-up, Nicki Erlick. Read on to learn about these and more!

The Listeners book coverThe Listeners” by Maggie Stiefvater
Joan is the manager of a resort hotel in West Virginia. Life is good until the U.S. is pulled into WWII and the hotel’s only guests are detained Axis diplomats. While Joan is very good at keeping secrets, this adds strain on the staff. Readers who adored Stiefvater’s YA books will welcome this historical fiction that reads like a classic spy thriller.
~Kimberly McGee, Lake Travis Community Library, Austin, TX Continue reading “June 2025 LibraryReads”