Welcome to this month's Staff Picks page, where our librarians share some of the great books they've read recently. Discover hidden gems, popular titles, and diverse recommendations that will captivate your imagination and enrich your reading experience. Happy exploring!
Fiction
The Liminal Space by Jacquie McRae
In a small village, there are whispers in the market square that William is not who he says he is. They say he skinny-dips and talks to trees. He was once a doctor, but now he only prescribes books - for Emily, Marco and James, whose lives have become entangled with his. Emily is in a troubled relationship and has spent most of her life sheltering in the library. James is coming undone as he struggles to live up to his father's expectations. While Marco, who measures his self-worth by the size of his bank account, has returned to the village with nothing. They have all been thrown into a liminal space and can no longer stay as they are.
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most. Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up--she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life suddenly seems almost too good to be true. Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He's also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn't hurt. Lily can't get him out of her head. But Ryle's complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his 'no dating' rule, she can't help but wonder what made him that way in the first place. As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan--her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
At the edge of the continent, in the small town of Crosby, Maine, lives Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher who deplores the changes in her town and in the world at large but doesn't always recognize the changes in those around her.
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
A thousand years ago, the prophesied hero from lore rose up to overthrow a great and terrible evil. Only, he lost, and the Dark Lord took over and has been ruling with an iron fist for a thousand years. Ash falls from the sky in this barren land, and mists come every night, deep and mysterious. In this setting, a gang of thieves decides that the prophecies were all lies and that they can't trust in some fabled hero to save them. They decide to take matters into their own hands, and plan a daring heist of the dark lord himself, planning to use the emperor's own wealth to bribe his armies away from him and take over the empire.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
They say that the Thorn of Camorr can beat anyone in a fight. They say he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. They say he's part man, part myth, and mostly street-corner rumor. And they are wrong on every count. Only averagely tall, slender, and god-awful with a sword, Locke Lamora is the fabled Thorn, and the greatest weapons at his disposal are his wit and cunning. He steals from the rich - they're the only ones worth stealing from - but the poor can go steal for themselves. What Locke cons, wheedles and tricks into his possession is strictly for him and his band of fellow con-artists and thieves: the Gentleman Bastards.
Non-fiction
Why we sleep : the new science of sleep and dreams by Matthew Walker
Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in twenty-first-century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive. Now, in this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Nobody needs telling there isn't enough time. We're obsessed with our lengthening to-do lists, our overfilled inboxes, the struggle against distraction and the sense that our attention spans are shrivelling. Still, we rarely make the connection between our daily struggles with time and the ultimate time management problem: the question of how best to use our ridiculously brief time on the planet, which amounts on average to about four thousand weeks.
Start with why : how great leaders inspire everyone to take action by Simon Sinek
Why are some people and organisations more inventive, pioneering and successful than others? And why are they able to repeat their success again and again? Because in business it doesn't matter what you do, it matters why you do it. Steve Jobs, the Wright Brothers and Martin Luther King had one thing in common: they STARTED WITH WHY. This book is for anyone who wants to inspire others, or to be inspired.
Atomic habit, noun. Definition: A small habit with big results. People say when you want to change your life, you need to think big: swap job, move house, change partner. But they're wrong. World-renowned life coach James Clear has discovered a completely different way to revolutionise your behaviour. He knows that lasting change comes from hundreds of tiny decisions - doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call. He calls these atomic habits. Clear delves deep into cutting-edge psychology to explain why your brain is able to amplify such small changes into such big outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, or the unexpected power of the Two-Minute Rule), to show how you too can grow tiny shifts into life-transforming changes in behaviour. And he reveals a simple four-stage method that will let you build atomic habits into your day-to-day life, starting now. These nuclear changes will have an explosive effect on your career, your relationships and your life.
Just one thing : how simple changes can transform your life by Michael Mosley
Based on the popular BBC programme Just One Thing, Dr Michael Mosley shows how changing one small thing in your daily routine can significantly benefit your health. We all want quick and easy ways to improve our health, but when it comes to diet, fitness and wellbeing it can be hard to know where to turn for accurate information. Harder still is finding things that fit into your day. So what if you were told that standing on one leg can have huge health benefits, a hot shower before bed can help lower your blood pressure, and eating chocolate is good for your heart? These simple things might surprise you - but they really can work. Dr Mosley explains all of this, and presents many more surprising scientifically proven facts. He's talked to experts and road-tested all his tips to help you find that one small thing that could make a real difference to how you feel every day and, importantly, long into the future.