Staff Picks Summer 2024Like this list

21 items

• Doppelganger

  a Trip Into the Mirror World

  Klein, Naomi, 1970-

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  Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger is a thought-provoking chronicle of the emergent political dynamic fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic. It centres around social media’s erroneous conflation between the author and the oft-controversial Naomi…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Love and Other Words

  Lauren, Christina,

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  Macy Sorensen met and fell in love with Elliot Petropoulos, the boy next door who shared her love of books, as a teenager. A chance encounter in the present forces Macy to confront the past and face the unspoken truths that caused…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fruit of the Drunken Tree

  Rojas Contreras, Ingrid,

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  Contreras personalizes the terrors that gripped Colombia in the 1990s, making what many of us saw only on the news real and immediate. The story is told from the perspectives of a relatively privileged young girl and her family’s…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Cantoras

  De Robertis, Carolina,

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  De Robertis shows us the turbulent and violent world of Uruguay in the 1970s through the eyes of five queer women. The novel follows the group over several decades as they navigate a world bent on punishing their sexuality. Despite…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Burn Book

  a Tech Love Story

  Swisher, Kara,

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  Swisher is a prolific and powerful journalist, interviewer, and entrepreneur. In her memoir, she chronicles both her career and the rise (and stumbles) of the tech industry over the past thirty years. She has become an insider while…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail

  Blake, Ashley Herring,

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  This bright and lively romance set in the Pacific Northwest features stressed-out and uptight interior designer, Astrid, and struggling woodworker, Jordan. Both women have their reasons for needing their renovation of a classic inn…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• What Feasts at Night

  Kingfisher, T.,

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  This deliciously creepy novella follows a newly returned soldier who finds the caretaker of their home dead and a strange silence around the grounds. In the nearby village, there is talk of a breath-stealing being. How much stock…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Birdgirl

  Looking to the Skies in Search of a Better Future

  Craig, Mya-Rose,

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  Mya-Rose describes her childhood spent birdwatching with her parents and shares how the experience led her to become a teen activist. In an open and honest investigation of her childhood, she processes her mother’s struggles with her…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• By My Hands

  a Potter's Apprenticeship

  Gadsby, Florian,

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  This memoir is perfect for fans of The Great Canadian Pottery Throwdown TV show. Gadsby’s tome takes the reader from his early school days to his mastery of the art of pottery through training and apprenticeship. This book will…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Don't Know Ourselves

  a Personal History of Modern Ireland

  O'Toole, Fintan, 1958-

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  An unflinching look at Ireland and its capacity to “know and not know” simultaneously, this book explores colonization, famine, British occupation and rule, entry into the European Union, and Ireland’s fascination with America. The…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Are Not Strangers

  Tuininga, Josh,

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  This remarkable graphic novel follows a Sephardic Jewish Man and a Japanese American man navigating the turmoil of World War II in a Seattle neighbourhood. When the Japanese community is forcibly sent to internment camps, one man’s…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Warrior Girl Unearthed

  Boulley, Angeline,

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  A chance encounter with human remains in a museum’s collection leads Perry on a powerful journey to reclaim her ancestors. This remarkable story offers insights into the challenges of repatriating cultural items and ancestral remains…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• A History of Burning

  a Novel

  Oza, Janika,

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  This novel explores the intergenerational effects of one 13-year-old boy’s choice that led to his exile from India to Uganda. His family is later displaced from Uganda during the dictatorship of Idi Amin and eventually lands in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kiss the Red Stairs

  the Holocaust, Once Removed

  Lederman, Marsha (Western arts correspondent)

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  Lederman is the child of Holocaust survivors and has thoroughly researched the lives of her parents before and during World War II. Relating the story leads her to reflect on her difficulty healing after her divorce and how…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Kōyaku kojiki

  Machida, Kō, 1962-

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  教科書で習った古事記。なんとなくは知 っているけど詳しくはよく知らないイザ ナギとイザナミの国造りの話 や、大国 主命と因幡の白うさぎ、ヤマトタケルの 東国征伐の話。口伝されたと言われる古 事記が町田康の口訳でいきいきと語られ る。大阪弁を話す破天荒な神様たちがダ イナミックに暴れまわるユニークな神話 を笑って楽しく読める. - 景子

• A Psalm for the Wild-built

  Chambers, Becky,

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  Psalm for the Wild-Built is a charming, calming story that feels like you are taking a relaxing walk in the woods. A tea monk looking for meaning in life sets out on a journey through the woods to find an abandoned monastery. A…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Becoming a Matriarch

  a Memoir

  Knott, Helen, 1987-

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  This is a profoundly moving memoir. I listened to the audiobook, which is narrated beautifully by the author. Becoming a Matriarch explores love, loss, and legacy while navigating the fine lines between matriarch and martyrdom.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Fourth Wing

  Yarros, Rebecca,

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  I am not usually a fantasy reader, but I found this to be such a fun and gripping book. The story follows Violet, a young woman training to be a dragon rider while uncovering hard truths about the kingdom she is training to defend.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

  Sutanto, Jesse Q.,

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  Vera Wong, a widowed teashop owner, opens her shop one morning and finds a dead body inside. Vera quickly concludes that the police aren’t up to the task—and who better to investigate than a mother who always knows best? While trying…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Elixir

  in the Valley at the End of Time

  Kassabova, Kapka,

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  In Elixir, Kapka Kassabova invites the reader to visit the valley of Mesta in southwestern Bulgaria with her. Together, we journey to the valley at the end of time, where local plant gatherers, healers, and mystics continue to rely…Read moreRead more of this annotation