Staff Picks
Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall
Non fiction 508 MCD and Large Print
Picked by Wendy
When barefoot running guru Christopher McDougall takes in a neglected donkey, his aim is to get Sherman back to reasonable health. But Sherman is ill-tempered, obstinate and uncooperative. It's clear his poor treatment has made him deeply fearful of humans. Chris knows that donkeys need a purpose, they are working pack animals, and so when he learns of the sport of Burro Racing or running with donkeys, he sets out to give Sherman something worth living for. With the aid of Chris' menagerie on his farm in rural Pennsylvania, his wife Mika and their friends and neighbours including the local Amish population, Sherman begins to build trust in Chris. To give him a purpose, they start to run together. But what Sherman gains in confidence and meaning is something we all need: a connection with nature, the outdoors, with movement. And as Chris learns, the side benefits of exercise and animal contact are surprising, helping with mental and physical health in unexpected ways.
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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Adult fiction
Picked by Kia
Demon's story begins with his traumatic birth to a single mother in a single-wide trailer, looking 'like a little blue prize fighter.' For the life ahead of him he would need all of that fighting spirit, along with buckets of charm, a quick wit, and some unexpected talents, legal and otherwise. In the southern Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, poverty and addiction aren't ideas. They're as natural as the grass grows. For Demon, born on the wrong side of luck, the affection and safety he craves is as remote as the ocean he dreams of seeing one day. The wonder is in how far he's willing to travel to try and get there.
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The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
Adult fiction
Picked by Alex
In the snowbound city of Kiev, aspiring historian Mila Pavlichenko's life revolves around her young son, until Hitler's invasion of Russia changes everything. Suddenly, she and her friends must take up arms to save their country from the Fuhrer's destruction. Handed a rifle, Mila discovers a gift, and months of blood, sweat and tears turn the young woman into a deadly sniper, the most lethal hunter of Nazis. Yet success is bittersweet. Mila is torn from the battlefields of the eastern front and sent to America while the war still rages. There, she finds an unexpected ally in First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and an unexpected promise of a different future. But when an old enemy from Mila's past joins forces with a terrifying new foe, she finds herself in the deadliest duel of her life.
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This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud
Adult fiction
Picked by Nikki
As Paris falls to the Germans, Gaston Cassar, honourable servant of France, devoted husband and father, currently posted as naval attache in Salonica, bids farewell to his beloved wife, aunt and children, placing his faith in God that they will be reunited after the war. But escaping the violence of that cataclysm is not the same as emerging unscathed. The family will never again be whole.
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Tomorrow's Parties: Life in the Anthropocene by Jonathan Strahan
Adult fiction
Picked by Tulip
We are living in the Anthropocene, an era of dramatic and violent climate change featuring warming oceans, melting icecaps, extreme weather events, habitat loss, species extinction, and more. Tomorrow's Parties takes rational optimism as a moral imperative, or at least a pragmatic alternative to despair. In these stories by writers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Nigeria, China, Bangladesh, and Australia, a young man steals from delivery drones; a political community lives on an island made of ocean-borne plastic waste; and a climate change denier tries to unmask "crisis actors." Climate-changed life also has its pleasures and epiphanies, as when a father in Africa works to make his son's dreams of "Viking adventure" a reality, and an IT professional dispatched to a distant village encounters a marvellous predigital fungal network.
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Retirement Ready by Martin Hawes
Adult fiction
Picked by Amanda
Join acclaimed financial expert Martin Hawes as he shares the behind-the-scenes strategies that transformed his own retirement planning. With over 35 years of experience, Martin navigates the complex maze of decisions you face as you approach this pivotal life stage. From choosing who should manage your money to deciding on your investment approach, to determining how much you'll need to sustain your lifestyle, Retirement Ready tackles the critical questions that will shape your future. Should you downsize your home? How do you balance current spending with leaving a legacy for your children? What insurance options should you consider, and is a family trust still right for you.
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Song of a Blackbird by Maria Van Lieshout
YA fiction
Picked by Tracey
In 1943 Amsterdam, Emma Bergsma's world changes when she witnesses Jewish families being forcibly deported to concentration camps. That pivotal moment lights a fire within her, and she decides to join the Dutch Resistance. Before long, Emma is drawn into a clandestine world of printing presses and counterfeiters, with thousands of lives on the line. In 2011 Amsterdam, teenage Annick's world has changed as well. A search for a bone marrow donor for her beloved oma leads to a shocking revelation: her grandmother was secretly adopted as a child. The only clues to finding their lost family are a series of art prints hanging on the wall, each signed by a mysterious 'Emma B.'
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