In Colorado, those April showers are more often than not, snow and not rain. They're a small price to pay, however, for some colorful May blooms after a winter of varying shades of gray and brown. In honor of our May flowers, here's an eclectic assortment of titles -- some literally about flowers; others, flower-related in name only.

I'll admit it. I haven't been able to wade through Umberto Eco's esoteric novel, The Name of the Rose. I did watch the movie adaptation, however, and was immediately caught up in this tale of murder, mystery and censorship set in a 14th-century Italian monastery. With Sean Connery as a Franciscan monk with a talent for sleuthing, it's a riveting whodunit.

Medieval monks and mystery seem to go hand in hand, and another book with a similar setting is The Rose Rent by Ellis Peters. A young widow rents part of her estate to the brothers of Shrewsbury Abbey for the modest sum of one rose per year. When the young monk whose job it is to deliver the "rose rent" to the widow is murdered and the widow goes missing, it's up to Brother Cadfael to solve the mystery.

I first read Flowers for Algernon in junior high school and was captivated by this moving and thought-provoking novel. Charlie Gordon is a 32-year-old man with mental retardation who undergoes experimental treatment to increase his intelligence. Algernon is a mouse who had the same treatment. Told through Charlie's eyes, the story chronicles both his and Algernon's transformation and inevitable decline. This is definitely a two-hanky read.

Obsessions always make for interesting reading, and in The Orchid Thief, author Susan Orlean captures the essence of the obsessive and larcenous John Laroche brilliantly. She follows Laroche, a plant poacher convicted of stealing rare orchids from a state preserve, through the swamps of Florida and into the bizarre world of rare orchid collectors. Orlean is a staff writer for The New Yorker, and her ability to tell a compelling story is strongly evident in this book.

Long ago, a Chinese emperor decided to let flowers choose his successor. He gave all the children in the land special flower seeds and told them, "Whoever can show me their best in a year's time will succeed me to the throne." Young Ping carefully planted and tended his seeds, but at the end of the year all he had to show was an empty pot. Convinced by his father that he had done the best he could do, he appeared before the emperor anyway. You'll have to read the delightful children's book, The Empty Pot by Demi to find out what happens.

Want more flowery titles? Try some of these:

My Favorite Plants edited by Jamaica Kincaid

Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas

Bad Girl Creek by Jo Ann Mapson

You can check out these books and more at any Jefferson County Public Library location. Look for them on our web site, or talk to your librarian for more recommendations.