March is National Reading Month, a nationwide celebration designed to foster a love of reading in people of all ages. Perfect timing, because every month we let you know what we’ve been reading and our monthly recommendations. You’ll get to see new titles with fabulous reviews from the Bay Books team, and we’re sure you’ll love these fantastic books just as much as we do. We recommend a wide range of genres and themes. So get ready to explore more books!
Tina’s Picks
The Rare Bird by Elisha Cooper
What do cats dream of? So many of us wonder. What if cats dream of being birds? What if what we see them doing is playing with the dog’s tail but really it’s them catching a worm? Or jumping from a curtain to a paper-lantern light shade as if they are tree branches and then leaping upon the gurgling pond (toilet)? In this beautifully illustrated book, the cat’s morning meowing might really be the cat singing his morning song to the delight of everyone in the ‘forest’? Charming and quirky, kids will love this picture book. (Ages 3 – 6)
That’s What Friends Are For by Wade Rouse (Release Date: March 3, 2026)
More of this in your voice, sir!
A humorous but also a gravely serious reminder of wherever we are in life, and whoever we are in life, there were those before us that made it possible for us to stand on their shoulders to maintain our stride. Nothing should be taken for granted, whether it be dancing with the one you love, sipping coffee together, shopping together holding hands, or giving the rough side of your mouth to a very dear friend who needs to see the truth—-because you love them. After all, that’s what friends are for.
Playing upon the great chemistry of The Golden Girls, Wade Rouse brings to our hearts another group of ‘aging’ adults who are unique, funny, supportive and very, very snarky. All living together in Palm Springs, these four men will have you wishing they were your neighbors.
Wendy’s Pick
The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
A sweeping tale of two young people – Sonia is an aspiring novelist who left India to study at a small liberal arts college in Vermont where near the end of her matriculation she became embroiled in a bizarre, dysfunctional relationship with a much older man. Sunny, a struggling journalist living in New York City with his very American (Kansas born and raised) girlfriend, has moved from India to the U.S. primarily to escape the grip of his over-bearing mother. They meet on a train and are initially embarrassed to acknowledge their meddlesome parents’ long-distance (failed) attempt to push them into an arranged relationship. Their story unfolds as they become attracted and set out to find happiness as a couple. The novel engages themes of race, class, culture, and complicated familial relationships. Short-listed for the 2025 Booker Prize, this is a terrific, smart read.
Becky’s Picks
Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy by Joyce Vance
Part history lesson, part call to action, Vance offers a blueprint for avoiding burnout and despair and for strengthening our democratic muscle.
She puts our current crisis in historical context and suggests a path forward, explaining why the rule of law still matters. Vance empowers the reader to do something, as individuals and in the community.
It is a rallying cry for citizen engagement to combat the Trump administration in order to save our democracy.
The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel
Set in the champagne vineyards of northern France during World War II, this is a tale of courage, love and betrayal.
In 2019, Liv, a young divorcee looking for her next chapter, travels to Paris with her 99 year old grandmother. She learns stories of her ancestors who were running the Maison Chauveau vineyard, producing fine champagne when the Germans invaded. She learned that her family risked everything as they worked for the Resistance.
At last, past and present intertwine and Liv finds her way back to the caves of the Maison Chauveau, uncovering many secrets.
Grace’s Pick
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
If you’ve been keeping up with our monthly Staff Picks, you may have gleaned that I tend to prefer books published many years before I was born. BUT, I had to make an exception for this one. Widely known for his poetry, Martyr! is Kaveh Akbar’s 2024 debut novel, and I genuinely think he knocked it out of the park here. The book centers around Cyrus Shams, a 20-something, recently sober, Iranian-American poet who has been dealt just about every bad hand there is. With a past colored by addiction, familial loss, and general apathy, he develops an obsession with the concept of martyrdom (and writing about it) that leads him to a terminally ill artist residing at the Brooklyn Museum.
Martyr! beautifully explores any and everything from grief and mortality, to the function and dysfunction of family, to discovering one’s social and cultural identity. It’s strikingly unique, poignant, funny, and not shy in the slightest. In a nutshell, it’s a novel about some of the biggest questions we face in our distinctly human journey to find meaning in our lives and the world around us–and it affirms that sometimes, it’s okay not to know the answer. In fact, that’s one of the most human possibilities there is.
Karin’s Pick
The Heart-Shaped Tin: Love, Loss, and Kitchen Objects by Bee Wilson
Bee Wilson began to ponder the nature of her own relationships to the things she owned when her husband abruptly and unexpectedly left her. Her beloved, heart-shaped cake pan, the one in which she baked their wedding cake many years ago, became an object of regret, not an emblem of love, a symbol of a time in her life now irrevocably over. Her changing perspective on her cake pan, no longer a redolent memento, but a painful souvenir, initiated considering how keeping objects close to us imbues them with meaning and emotional resonance. Objects might be treasures or tools, junk or symbols, embodied connections to loved ones or to an important time or event in one’s life. This delightful book explores the changing nature of how we relate to things throughout our lives by looking at a number ordinary objects. Sometimes the things we end up regarding as important reside in our kitchen drawer!
