Staff Picks Jul 2023
8 rules of love : how to find it, keep it, and let it go
Shetty, Jay, author
2023
Instead of presenting love as an ethereal concept or a collection of cliches, Jay Shetty lays out specific, actionable steps to help you develop the skills to practice and nurture love better than ever before. He shares insights on how to win or lose together, how to define love, and why you don't break in a break-up.
Black holes : the key to understanding the universe
Cox, Brian, 1968-, author
2023
Of all the many scientific marvels occurring in our universe, perhaps none have been more consistently intriguing and mysterious than black holes. What are they, exactly? How do they form? And what can they tell us about the nature and future of our universe? Renowned physicist Brian Cox has dedicated his career to presenting complicated scientific ideas in an engaging way, from his popular BBC podcast "The Infinite Monkey Cage," to his frequently sold-out speaking events, to his bestselling books written with fellow physicist Jeff Forshaw. Now the two team up once again with Horizons, an exploration of these amazing objects--and why they continue to confirm that Einstein's theory of general relativity is such a brilliant explanation of the universe around us.
Breath : the new science of a lost art
Nestor, James, author
2020
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing, and humans have lost the ability to breathe correctly, with grave consequences. Journalist James Nestor travels the world to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. Drawing on thousands of years of medical texts and recent cutting-edge studies in pulmonology, psychology, biochemistry, and human physiology, Nestor turns the conventional wisdom of what we thought we knew about our most basic biological function on its head.
The bromance book club
Adams, Lyssa Kay, author
2019
When his wife asks for a divorce, Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
Dark angel
Sandford, John, 1944 February 23- author
2023
When a group of hackers threatens to take over the power grid of Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security and the NSA team up to prevent the attack. They need to find out who these dangerous hackers are - and they need to do it quickly. Letty Davenport, the twentysomething daughter of Lucas Davenport, is brought on board to go undercover and infiltrate the group. Posing as a rogue programmer for hire, she and her reluctant partner from the NSA, Rod Baxter, head to Los Angeles to find the illusive group before it is too late
Evergreen Kitchen : weeknight vegetarian dinners for everyone
Beaudoin, Bri, author.
2022
Bri Beaudoin, creator of the popular blog 'Evergreen Kitchen,' has been captivating her fans with delicious and healthy vegetarian recipes for years. While we all know that a home-cooked meal is the best for our budgets and our health, the idea of cooking dinner on weeknights can feel like a chore. With many of us eating more veggie-forward meals, it's no wonder busy home cooks are craving tasty vegetarian recipes that everyone at the dinner table will love. 'Evergreen Kitchen' is bursting with beautiful, flavourful recipes-that just so happen to be vegetarian.
Feeling seen : reconnecting in a disconnected world
Carrington, Jody, author
2023
Disconnection has become an epidemic, and it may require a revolutionary effort to get us back together--a reconnection revolution. Staying connected in this human race is the most direct route to happiness. But never have we been more disconnected. A call to simply connect isn't enough any longer. Connection is what we're wired for, and it can be easy: waving at your neighbour, going on that second date, buying coffee for the person behind you. The hard part comes when we are called on to reconnect, to repair or re-engage, especially after we've been wronged, alienated or hurt. We all desperately want to get it right, but this requires another step, which is the magic each of us so often misses: the act of seeing. As simple as it is complex, it all comes down to this truth: when we're feeling seen, we will rise. Feeling Seen is a timely work with a timeless message. Written on a blueprint of theory, with a road map of reconnection (including three simple stops) and a way back for when we get lost, it leads to a place where all of those who share the human race will truly see--in ourselves as well as one another--our differences, our sorrows and our joys.
In the lives of puppets
Klune, TJ, author
2023
In a strange little home live three robots: fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio - a past spent hunting humans. When Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.
A memory called empire
Martine, Arkady, author
2019
During a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court, Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident--or that Mahit might be next to die. Now Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion--all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret--one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life--or rescue it from annihilation.
Project Hail Mary
Weir, Andy, author
2021
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that - let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
The red chesterfield
Arthurson, Wayne, 1962- author
2019
M is a bylaw officer, living with two brothers, in their parent's old house. While investigating a suspicious yard sale, M discovers a red chesterfield sitting in a ditch. Looking closer, M finds a running shoe-- and a severed foot. Now M is involved in a murder investigation. Meanwhile, older brother K's work for a new political party begins to seem suspicious, while younger brother J navigates the complicated world of young-adulthood, and boss Rhonda demands more and more attention, M must navigate a world of Russian gangsters and neglected wives, biker gangs and suspicious coincidences. On top of everything else, M is determined to track down the owner of that red chesterfield and make sure they get a ticket. "The Red Chesterfield" is a delightful, unusual novel that upends the tropes and traditions of crime fiction while asking how far one person is willing to go to solve a crime, be it murder or the abandonment of a piece of furniture.
Spare
Harry, Prince, Duke of Sussex, 1984- author
2023
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow - and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling - and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. With its raw, unflinching honesty, this is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.
The stand-in
Chu, Lily, author
2022
"Gracie Reed is doing just fine. Sure, she was fired by her overly "friendly" boss, and no, she still hasn't gotten her mother into the nursing home of their dreams, but she's healthy, she's (somewhat) happy, and she's (mostly) holding it all together. But when a mysterious SUV pulls up beside her, revealing Chinese cinema's golden couple Wei Fangli and Sam Yao, Gracie's world is turned on its head. The famous actress has a proposition: due to their uncanny resemblance, Fangli wants Gracie to be her stand-in. The catch? Gracie will have to be escorted by Sam, the most attractive - and infuriating - man Gracie's ever met. If it means getting the money she needs for her mother, Gracie's in. Soon Gracie moves into a world of luxury she never knew existed. But resisting Sam, and playing the role of an elegant movie star, proves more difficult than she ever imagined - especially when she learns the real reason Fangli so desperately needs her help. In the end, all the determination in the world won't be able to help Gracie keep up this elaborate ruse without losing herself...and her heart." -- Back cover.
The Sun Down Motel
St. James, Simone, author
2020
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isn't right at the motel, something haunting and scary. Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down Motel. She decides to visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.
Talking to Canadians : a memoir
Mercer, Rick, 1969- author
2021
In 'Talking to Canadians', Rick Mercer, Canada's beloved comic genius tells his own story for the first time. It's a life so packed with incidents (did we mention Bosnia and Kabul?) and laughter we can only hope that a future answer to "What is Rick Mercer going to do now?" is: "Write volume two."
This is where it ends
Nijkamp, Marieke, author
2016
Minutes after the principal of Opportunity High School in Alabama finishes her speech welcoming the student body to a new semester, they discover that the auditorium doors will not open and someone starts shooting as four teens, each with a personal reason to fear the shooter, tell the tale from separate perspectives.
Untamed
Doyle, Glennon, 1976- author
2020
Glennon Doyle was speaking at a conference when a woman entered the room. Glennon looked at her and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There She Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high. Soon she realized that they came to her from within. This was the voice of the girl Glennon had been before the world told her who to be. She vowed to never again abandon herself. She decided to build a life of her own--one based on her individual desire, intuition, and imagination. She would reclaim her true, untamed self.
Walking in two worlds
Kinew, Wab, 1981-, author
2021
Bugz is caught between two worlds. In the real world, she's a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe. Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma. But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.
We were dreamers : an immigrant superhero origin story
Liu, Simu, 1989- author
2022
The star of Marvel's first Asian superhero film, in this candid, inspiring and relatable memoir, tells his own origin story and how he embarked on a journey that took him far outside of his comfort zone into the world of show business.