Staff Picks

I discovered this book on our shelves and was happy to find an author similar to my favorite author, Sarah Addison Allen. It is heartwarming and hopeful and is about making new choices on life's journey, with a sprinkle of magic , of course!

 

Publisher's description:

An uplifting novel about a heartbroken young pie maker who is granted a magical second chance to live the life she didn't choose. . . . from the bestselling author of The Enlightenment of Bees. Lolly Blanchard's life only seems to give her lemons. Ten years ago, after her mother's tragic death, she broke up with her first love and abandoned her dream of opening a restaurant in order to keep her family's struggling Seattle diner afloat and care for her younger sister and grieving father. Now, a decade later, she dutifully whips up the diner's famous lemon meringue pies each morning while still pining for all she's lost. As Lolly's thirty-third birthday approaches, her quirky great-aunt gives her a mysterious gift-three lemon drops, each of which allows her to live a single day in a life that might have been hers. What if her mom hadn't passed away? What if she had opened her own restaurant in England? What if she hadn't broken up with the only man she's ever loved? Surprising and empowering, each experience helps Lolly let go of her regrets and realize the key to transforming her life lies not in redoing her past but in having the courage to embrace her present.

 

Adelaide Henry is a bit of an unusual sight: a lone black woman attempting to stake a homesteading claim in the wilderness of Montana. Even more unusual is the impossibly heavy old trunk that appears to be her only baggage... An engaging blend of horror, western, and historical fiction.

 

Publisher description:

Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It's locked at all times. Because when the trunk is opened, people around her start to disappear... The year is 1914, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, and forced her to flee her hometown of Redondo, California, in a hellfire rush, ready to make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will be one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can cultivate it-except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing keeping her alive.

 

So good. As a cynic and skeptic, the author takes us on an entertaining journey toward meditation after his very public on-air panic attack during a newscast. Anyone learning to meditate can relate to the difficulties encountered at first but appreciate how helpful it was in the end for the author.  

 

Publisher's description:

After having a nationally televised panic attack, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists. Eventually, Harris realized that the source of his problems was the very thing he always thought was his greatest asset : the incessant, insatiable voice in his head, which had propelled him through the ranks of a hypercompetitive business, but had also led him to make the profoundly stupid decisions that provoked his on-air freak-out. Eventually Harris stumbled upon an effective way to rein in that voice, something he always assumed to be either impossible or useless : meditation, a tool that research suggests can do everything from lower your blood pressure to essentially rewire your brain. 10% Happier takes readers on a ride from the outer reaches of neuroscience to the inner sanctum of network news to the bizarre fringes of America's spiritual scene, and leaves them with a takeaway that could actually change their lives. This fifth anniversary edition features a new preface by Harris and new guided meditations from his favorite teachers, including Joseph Goldstein and Sharon Salzberg

 

This slim book is spare and thoughtful and exciting and quiet and funny and sad. And it is narrated by a hungry, queer mountain lion, who is trying to make a little bit of sense of their--and our--world. At one point, they explain: "I try to understand people but they make it hard." I know, right??

 

Publisher description:

A queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion lives in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Lonely and fascinated by humanitý€™s foibles, the lion spends their days protecting the welfare of a nearby homeless encampment, observing obnoxious hikers complain about their trauma, and, in quiet moments, grappling with the complexities of their gender identity, memories of a vicious father, and the indignities of sentience.́ €œI have so much language in my braiń,€ our lion says,́ €œand nowhere to put it́.€ When a man-made fire engulfs the encampment, the lion is forced from the hills down into the city the hikers calĺ €œellaý.€ As the lion confronts a carousel of temptations and threats, they take us on a tour that spans the cruel inequalities of Los Angeles and the toll of climate grief, while scrambling to avoid earthquakes, floods, and the noise of their own conflicted psyche. But even when salvation finally seems within reach, they are forced to face down the ultimate question: Do they want to eat a person, or become one? In elegiac prose woven with humor, imagination, sensuality, and tragedy, Henry Hok這s Open Throat is a marvel of storytelling, a universal journey through a wondrous and menacing world told by a lovable mountain lion. Both feral and vulnerable, profound and playful, Open Throat is a star-making novel that brings mythmaking to real life.

 

I didn't expect to be anxiety sweating from a book that rarely has more than two characters on the page at the same time, but this story had my heart pounding nonstop. Fletcher's writing fast tracks your attachment to Griz, the main character, and each moment of his struggle in this well-imagined post-apocalyptic world wrenches your heart into your gut. A quick read, but one that will stick in your head for a long time.

 

Publisher's description:

The world used to be crowded before all the people went away, but Griz and his parents were never lonely on their remote island. They had each other and their dogs. Then the thief came. There may be no laws left, but if someone steals your dog, you can expect someone to come after you, because what's the point of love if you're not loyal.

 

This is a very practical book about how to find small moments of joy or 'microjoys' in the midst of life's sorrows. Cyndie Spiegel experienced a couple of extremely challenging losses and setbacks and was able to find hopeful moments in the midst of it all; and she shares how we can too.

 

Publisher's description: 

Bighearted and hopeful. Unflinchingly honest and healing. A profound compendium of intimate, inspiring essays and thoughtful prompts that will keep you afloat in difficult times and sustain you in the everyday. Microjoys are a practice of discerning hope and joy in each and every moment of our lives. They are accessible to all of us, at all times, if we can hone the ability to look for them. They are the hidden wisdom, subtle treasures, and ordinary delights that surround us: A polka-dot glass on a thrift store shelf. A cat that you didn't know you needed to adopt. A dear friend's kind message at just the right time. The neighborhood spice shop. A beloved family tradition. The simple quietude of being in love. A chai tea recipe. Cyndie Spiegel first began taking note of microjoys during the most difficult year of her life-when she experienced back-to-back unprecedented and devastating losses-and she found that these small moments of hope helped her move through each day with a semblance of comfort and a bit more joy. Through beautifully written narrative essays and prompts, Cyndie shares the microjoys that have kept her going through tough times and shows us how we can learn to see the microjoys in our own lives. Microjoys don't change the truth of loss or make grief any more convenient, but they allow us to momentarily touch joy, keeping us buoyed and moving forward, one step at a time.

 

I loved everything about this beautiful book. The history I learned about the Greeks and the Turks in Cyprus, the intertwining love stories, the grief and the resilience of trees. I have been recommending this book to everyone who asks and cannot wait to dive into this author's other books.

Publisher description:

Two teenagers, a Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot, meet at a taverna on the island they both call home. In the taverna, hidden beneath garlands of garlic, chili peppers and creeping honeysuckle, Kostas and Defne grow in their forbidden love for each other. A fig tree stretches through a cavity in the roof, and this tree bears witness to their hushed, happy meetings and eventually, to their silent, surreptitious departures. The tree is there when war breaks out, when the capital is reduced to ashes and rubble, and when the teenagers vanish. Decades later, Kostas returns. He is a botanist looking for native species, but really, he’s searching for lost love. Years later a Ficus carica grows in the back garden of a house in London where Ada Kazantzakis lives. This tree is her only connection to an island she has never visited - - her only connection to her family’s troubled history and her complex identity as she seeks to untangle years of secrets to find her place in the world.

 

Pablo Neruda wrote so powerfully from the heart about the costs of war and lost love. This collection of poems evokes unforgettable imagery and truly touches the soul.

 

Publisher's description:

Residence on Earth is one of Neruda's most original and exciting collection of poems, also one of the most daring for its avant-garde quality, indirectly linked to the surreal movement. A profound reflection of life, of the relationship between nature and human beings, about loss, and about our role in the universe.

 

Grace is not a reader, but a handsome man gives her a book, and while at first she is skeptical, The Count of Monte Cristo draws her in and shows her a whole new world. A book about finding your passion and the power of books and community.

 

Publisher description:

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and blackout curtains that she finds on her arrival were not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London. Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.