The Coho is back to ferrying folks to and from Victoria. At any given moment, it could be sunny or snowing or rain (sometimes within the same five minutes). Increasing amounts of new books are showing up in the store and we are busy changing some of the 2023 hardcover titles for paperbacks. Yes, it's spring at Port Book and News.

Is it still February? [Checks calendar]. Whew! Happy Leap Day! We are fresh off a full inventory of the store (thank you for your patience as we closed the store for a few days to get that done), and ready to ramp up for warmer weather.

For this newsletter, we are starting something a little different. We've asked someone whose selection of books might be of interst to the Port Book and News community to curate a little shelf of books. It is something we hope to do a bit more of, and we are thrilled to start off this feature with some favorite books of of local author and kindness practitioner Kate McDermott.

There's still lots of other book-related content, and maybe even a joke. Come by the store when you can and say hello!

Those topics also informed this list of some of her favorite books, which she was generous enough to share in a conversation this month. The words below about her choices are her own, derived from that conversation and reformatted by us. (Which is to say, that any errors or misspellings in them are almost certainly ours.) We love the books she chose and are very happy to share this with you.

Thanks to Kate for sharing some wonderful books. If you like these books, you can find most of them on our shelves, or all of them on our site.

Buying one of her books (Art of the Pie, Pie Camp, and Home Cooking) would be a gift for yourself, just trust us.

You can follow along with what Kate is reading, as well as what she's getting up to in her garden and orchard, or with her dog GP at katemcdermott.substack.com.

Do you enjoy listening to audio books? I have always been a picky listener when it comes to audio books. Do I like the narrator’s voice and how they are reading the book? Often the answer is no, and I return to my first love, the print book, to enjoy the tale.

I decided to give one a try and I was blown away by the stunning performance. It had amazing vocal talent, a full cast, cinematic music, and sound effects! I was fully immersed in a new world. Since then, I have listened to 10 audio book adaptations by Graphic Audio and each has been a fantastic experience. Graphic Audio has adaptations of many books, from works by Brandon Sanderson and Sarah J Maas, to William F Johnstone and Charlaine Harris. May you find a new treasure there. (Helena)

The “A Million Creatures to Color” Series is perfect for anyone that wants to relax their mind and color cute creatures

You will be entering into different worlds and coloring pages filled with adorable doodles, from llamas to monsters and everything in between. The newest in the series is “A Million Baby Animals”!

Take some time and destress your brain by spending a part of your day relaxing with these fun books. Great for both adults and kids!

A Priest, a rabbit and a minister walk into a bar.

The bartender asks the rabbit, "What'll you have?"

The rabbit says, "I dunno. I'm only here because of autocorrect."