Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Poor Richard’s Books in Colorado Springs recommends fiction and nonfiction built on a rat, owls and the forest.
Transition
By Ian Patterson Ian Patterson$15March 2026Purchase
From the publisher: Are you so sure you’re the painter, and not the painting?
Micah has a hangover, a looming deadline, and a very opinionated rat following him around the orbital station. No one else can see it — which is definitely not ideal.
Outside, the wealthy are fleeing Earth on seed ships. Inside, Micah’s team has days to perfect their gene-editing tech or be left behind. On top of that, Micah’s unsure if reality is taking an extended vacation, or if his brain has finally short-circuited.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: In the third installment of the Narrator Cycle, Colorado author Ian Patterson gives us a prequel of the dystopian universe he created in his two previous outstanding books, “Transference” and “Transcendence” — and what a world it is. A cosmos that seems like it’s not that far away, frankly. Patterson shakes the reader a bit as the story unfolds, showing us resilience and acceptance of destiny can be found in unlikely places. The reader will also question their current version of reality.
Any literary scouts or agents out there looking for an extraordinary, unknown talent? I present Ian Patterson for your consideration.
The Common Uncommon
By Bernd HeinrichW.W. Norton$28.99April 2026Purchase
From the publisher: For 40 years, Bernd Heinrich has been ensconced in the woods of the northern, or boreal, forest, living in his log cabin amidst a vast sea of spruce, fir, and larch in the mountains of western Maine. In a land of winter snow, summer heat, and at times fire, drought, and flood, all life confronts vast and occasionally rapid environmental changes, as one day, and one season, may be a completely different environment from the next.
“The Common Uncommon” captures the rhythms of Heinrich’s seasonal life. From the forest he first encountered as a child of German refugees, Heinrich combines his powers of observation with professional expertise, as he notes the beautiful, but not entirely idiosyncratic characteristics – the “common uncommon” – of spiders, ants, chestnut trees, porcupines, owls, and mice. With sharp, evocative prose, the book is a narrative of small surprises in nature, some delightful and some – brought on by climate change – devastating, all seen through the hawk eyes of a world-renowned naturalist.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: Bernd Heinrich’s “The Common Uncommon: A Forest Journey” offers a thoughtful and alluring examination of the importance of taking time to observe the forest — and by extension, the surrounding world — with renewed perspective on each visit.
Heinrich’s lyrical writing places the reader at the feet of a wise monk, attentively observing and gently recording the vibrant world around him. Who else inspires such compassion for a moth trapped in a bucket of maple sap during “sugaring time”?
The Company of Owls
By Polly AtkinMilkweed Editions$25February 2026Purchase
From the publisher: Polly Atkin writes a love letter to the clutch of tawny owlets residing near her home in the heart of England’s Lake District. Circumscribed by a chronic illness to her cottage and the surrounding area, she turns to the trees and the animals among them for companionship – especially the owl siblings who surprise and delight her. As Atkin watches them grow from curious fledglings into sleek raptors, she contemplates the act of survival and our place within it. When should a human intervene? When should nature take its course? What do the owls know that we do not?The owls encourage her to think differently about solitude and community, individuality and belonging, rest and retreat. And with them as her companions, she weighs the many types of company we keep – in our relationships, in the darkness, and in our entanglement with the digital world that connects us across continents.
From Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager: One autumn evening, I noticed movement in my peripheral vision from a nearby tree — an impressive owl perched on a low branch. What stood out most was the commanding presence of this wild animal; its wide, discerning eyes regarded me with calm confidence with a little hint of judgment. It was my first time to be so close to an owl and I was astonished.Polly Atkin brings that astonishment to life in “The Company of Owls.” Blending memoir with a clever eye for nature, Atkin shares insights both personal and observational. This is another great read that inspires us to slow down and see the forest, with the trees — and owls.
THIS WEEK’S BOOK RECS COME FROM:
Poor Richard’s Books
320 N. Tejon St., Colorado Springs
poorrichardsdowntown.com
Twitter Instagram FacebookAs part of The Colorado Sun’s literature section — SunLit — we’re featuring staff picks from book stores across the state. Read more.
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