I love to find local bookstores and libraries (and a brewery and a coffee shop), especially when I'm traveling. I'd love to hear of small book stores that are doing the Lord's work out there, providing a community of readers a space to explore and find their next story!

I'd like to shout out two: The Purple Couch in North Andover, Massachusetts - literally can spend hours here and love their community projects. Treat Yo' Shelf Books in Mountain Home, Arkansas - drove by while I was visiting my mom out there and went in on a whim. The owners were a lovely couple and it's just the type of place that community needs.

Edit: I also thought of another one that really deserves some love. Felixology in Maynard, Massachusetts. It was opened by a woman, Libby, in honor of her son, Felix, who passed away at 29 years old from mesothelioma. The first time I visited, I spoke with her for a half hour about Felix and it was truly moving. He was an artist, and the store is gorgeously painted and decorated by his family and friends. Going in that store is like getting to meet him personally.

This goes out to all multilingual readers here. Do you ever switch languages when reading a series? And how do you decide which language you want to read a book in (standalone or series)? I've just thought about rereading a series I read in middle school, which I read in my native language but was originally in English. Since I read it all those years ago more books have come out. Now as I've grown I prefer to read books in English if that's the language they've been written in. I don't even think the new books have matching covers to my editions so aesthetically it wouldn't matter anyways but I can't decide if I should switch languages or not.

Hi friends, I took over this Quest from the original curator (a poetry lit mag) and will lay out in this post the criteria & rationale for how I'll be adding additional books. You're welcome to comment a suggestion if it meets the criteria below.

If it doesn't meet the criteria but is a book a poetry you'd like to recommend, we will be releasing a feature soon where Quests will have a page of book recs that can be upvoted/downvoted. These are not part of the official Quest book list to earn a badge and will be similar to the "Community Recs" at the bottom of every book page. Once that feature exists, I will also look the most highly upvoted books there to consider for inclusion in the official book list.

First, a bit about my background to share the limits of my personal knowledge: I studied English Literature & Creative Writing, including completing a poetry thesis (writing poems, not researching them). I also taught a college course that focused heavily on quintessential New England poets for a term and myself prefer modern poetry. That said, I no longer read (or write) poetry regularly and would not consider myself well read in poetry.

Criteria & rationale for adding books to the Quest list

Since this is meant as an Intro to Poetry, and Main Quests are capped at 100 books so they stay curated, I will necessarily be strict about what books are added. Given the base of books already here, we will be sticking with modern poetry. The goal is to have a broad representation of voices and styles.

• If an author is already represented on this list, I will not be adding additional work from them since this is an intro list and focusing on breadth means sacrificing depth.
• I will prioritize poetry collections that have some element of critical acclaim (doesn't have to be award-winning, so popularity + good reviews also matter) to ensure that the Quest list is based on widely-appreciated work and not just one person's strong preference (poetry is so personal).

If you comment a recommendation, please help me by including your rationale for how it meets the criteria and goals above!

Hi everyone!

With the Spring Readalong almost here (March - May 2026), I wanted to do a readalong for this quest to go along!

I’ll comment three options, please upvote the book you’re most interested in reading and I’ll announce the winner on the last week of February.

Excited to see what book gets chosen 💕