Recent Client Recommendations
In each newsletter, I highlight a client request, one of the books I recommended and why I picked it as a recommendation. Visit here to learn how to order your own curated list or purchase a gift card for a reader in your life.
My clientele is predominantly female right now, so I was very excited to receive a profile from a gentleman. I want my service to be appealing to all sorts of people, so this was a great opportunity. When I began reading through his profile, I got a little nervous. He was primarily a nonfiction reader and his fiction tastes leaned toward Hemingway. In other words, way outside of my dominant reading comfort zone and knowledge. However, I was up for the challenge, and once I began diving into research I was so excited to identify both familiar and unfamiliar books I thought he might like.
This client was Flagstaff based and had received this as a gift from a mutual friend so I offered to meet him for coffee to go over the possible recommendations for his 5 Book Adventure. We had a lovely chat, and I walked away pleased with what I provided him. Recently, we both ended up at the same meeting because that is how it works here. So I asked, have you read any of the books? How did I do? And what he shared affirmed that I’m building something of value and it’s worth all the work to find the people to share it with. Please help me find those people by sharing about my business or gifting someone my recommendation experience!
He told me his reading has always been very narrowly focused when it came to topics and types of books, and that our conversation and my recommendations have transformed his reading life. Transformed. It opened him up to new books that he would have never picked up on his own. I couldn’t ask for better feedback.
The Ask
He shared a favorite book was The Day after Roswell for its first person account of whether a governmental cover up happened, and he expressed interest in Indigenous history.
The Recommendation
I immediately thought of The Paranormal Ranger by Stanley Milford Jr for another memoir about the unexplainable. This memoir is about his experiences as a Navajo Ranger. His narrative blends his law enforcement career with investigations into paranormal phenomena and connecting these encounters to Navajo creation stories and cultural beliefs.
The Ask
He also expressed an interest in travelogue style books about places he’s not been, and I learned he is a bike rider.
The Recommendation
So, I gave him The Bicycle Diaries by David Byrne. You may recognize the name. David Byrne is known for the Talking Heads as well as his solo work. Part travelogue, part journal, and part photo album, Byrne shares his observations and insights collected while cycling through cities worldwide while on tour. He provides a unique perspective on urban life, culture, and planning.
The Ask
Lastly, he was looking for Hemingwayesque short stories.
The Recommendation
Ultimately, I ended up giving him a Southwest based collection called The Missing Morningstar by Stacie Shannon Denetsosie, an Indigenous author. These gritty, imaginative short stories explore the complex, ongoing impacts of settler-colonialism on contemporary Diné (Navajo) people, featuring characters navigating trauma, cultural identity, and fractured family life with dark humor, sharp prose, and spiritual resilience.
Supporting small businesses and independent bookstores is important to me. If you plan to purchase any of the books and do not have your own local indie to support, please consider ordering your books from Chapter One Book Store. You can learn more about the store and my partnership with them here. Please know that I do not receive any financial compensation for books that you purchase from their store and that is by choice!
As a small thank you if you do place an order with them, use the code BOOKED2026 when you check out to receive 10% off your purchase. You will find links to each book by clicking on the book cover or the title of the book. These links also give you a more detailed description of each book!
