Spirits need a lift? Immerse yourself in one of these feel-good reads and feel brighter in no time. Place a hold on any title at www.newulmlibrary.org or call 507-359-8331 and library staff will be happy to assist.

“The Twilight Garden” by Sarah Nisha Adams. “Two feuding neighbors unite to resurrect a neglected city garden in this uplifting and quietly joyful novel by Sara Nisha Adams, author of the beloved ‘The Reading List’.”

“The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers” by Samuel Burr. “When the esteemed crossword compiler and main maternal presence in Clayton’s life, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle on him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for life beyond the walls of the commune.”

“The Library of Borrowed Hearts” by Lucy Gilmore. “Librarian Chloe Sampson has been struggling: to take care of her three younger siblings, to find herself, to make ends meet. She’s just about at the end of her rope when she stumbles across a rare edition of a book from the 1960s at the local flea market. Deciding it’s a sign of her luck turning, she takes it home with her-only to be shocked when her cranky hermit of a neighbor swoops in and offers to buy it for an exorbitant price.”

“Crow Talk” by Eileen Garvin. “A moving story of hope, healing, and unexpected friendship set amidst the wild natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest.”

“The Happiness Blueprint” by Ally Zetterberg. “A whip-smart, compassionate and funny book that sweeps you away yet, thankfully, doesn’t slot neatly or predictably into any single genre.”

“The Librarianist” by Patrick DeWitt. “Bob Comet is a retired librarian, isolated but not lonely, living out his quiet days in a mint-colored house in Oregon, surrounded by his books and small comforts. One morning, out on his daily walk, he performs an act of kindness that brings him into contact with a nearby senior center, where he soon begins volunteering.”

“What You Are Looking For Is In the Library” by Michiko Aoyama. “‘What are you looking for?’ So asks Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is able to sense exactly what each visitor to her library is searching for and provide just the book recommendation to help them find it.”

“The Boardwalk Bookshop” by Susan Mallery. “Bree, Mikki, and Ashley have opened a Boardwalk Bookshop and is business is thriving. Their personal lives – not so much. Bree has put walls around her wounded heart, but Ashley’s brother might be able to break them down. Mikki is rebounding from divorce. Ashley has just discovered that the love of her life never wants to marry. As the three friends’ bond grow closer, they challenge each other to be the best versions of themselves.”

“This Bird Has Flown” by Susanna Hoffs. “Jane Start is thirty-three, broke, and recently single. Ten years prior, she had a hit song–written by world-famous superstar Jonesy–but Jane hasn’t had a breakout since. Now she’s living out of four garbage bags at her parents’ house, reduced to performing to Karaoke tracks in Las Vegas.”

“The Celebrants” by Steven Rowley. “It’s been a minute–or five years–since Jordan Vargas last saw his college friends, and twenty-eight years since their graduation from Berkeley when their adult lives officially began. Now Jordan, Jordy, Naomi, Craig, and Marielle find themselves at the brink of a new decade, with all the responsibilities of adulthood, yet no closer to having their lives figured out. Though not for a lack of trying. Over the years they’ve reunited in Big Sur to honor a decades-old pact to throw each other living “funerals,” celebrations to remind themselves that life is worth living–that their lives mean something, to one another if not to themselves.”

“The Maid” by Nita Prose. “A ‘Clue’-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, [this book] explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different–and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.” Molly the maid is one of my favorite new characters!

New Ulm Public Library is located at 17 North Broadway and is open Monday-Thursday from 9:30 a.m.-8 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.