Staff Picks: July 2026Like this list

26 items

• The Berry Pickers

  a Novel

  Peters, Amanda

  Add The Berry Pickers to your for later shelf

  This is a story involving kidnapping, family secrets, relationships, love, and loss that takes place over 50 years.

• The Intruder

  McFadden, Freida

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  True to McFadden’s style, readers will be on a search to figure out the whole story with a number of twists and turns before the conclusion.

• The Astral Library

  a Novel

  Quinn, Kate

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  Not the usual Kate Quinn historical fiction you may be used to. Quinn brings the reader into the fantasy realm this time. It will delight booklovers who have ever wondered what it would be like to live as a character in a story book.

• Life After Ambition

  a "good Enough" Memoir

  Niazi, Amil

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  If you are a first-generation Canadian woman who excelled at school, worked to pay your own way and landed your dream job in a very competitive male-dominated field despite systemic barriers, this book is for you. It is the tale of Toronto-based…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Nordic Knitting Primer

  a Step-by-step Guide to Scandinavian Colorwork

  Drysdale, Kristin

  Add The Nordic Knitting Primer to your for later shelf

  Completing a Nordic knit has long been on my bucket list and the Nordic Knitting Primer by Kristin Drysdale proved to be a trustworthy guide. Achievable patterns teach essential techniques through easy-to-follow instructions in simple language.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Project Hail Mary

  a Novel

  Weir, Andy,

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  I like to listen to the audiobook before seeing a film, and listening to Project Hail Mary reinforced this approach for me. Not typically a fan of sci-fi, I was pleasantly surprised that though there was a lot of hard science and mathematical…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Broken Country

  a Novel

  Hall, Clare Leslie

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  A love story with history, and the consequences that follow Beth even into her ordinary life when a death rocks her small community.

• A Parade of Horribles

  a Novel

  Dinniman, Matt

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  Carl and Donut are back in the 8th and most recent installation of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The intergalactic stakes are higher. The dungeon even more chaotic. The AI running the dungeon less stable than ever.

• Loveless

  Oseman, Alice

  Add Loveless to your for later shelf

  Loveless is a standalone novel written by Alice Oseman, the author of beloved graphic novel series Heartstopper. It tells the story of Georgia, a first-year university student who discovers that you don't need to date or have sex to be a fulfilled…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Everyday Wild

  An Illustrated Guide for Mindfulness in Nature

  Hunter, Kathryn

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  A delightful book about the world around us. Bite-size chapters such as “Look Up” and “Discover Patterns” encourage you to learn about and think on the different things you can experience out of doors. Beautiful illustrations, meditative writings,…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Break Room

  Yi, Mi-ye

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  Five people have secretly been chosen to be on a game show based on their annoying habits in the break room where they work. One of these five people is a “mole” and the winner of the show will be the person who can figure out who the imposter is.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Murderland

  Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers

  Fraser, Caroline

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  True crime buffs will be intrigued by this book’s premise which links the high number of serial killers in the American Pacific Northwest with environmental pollution. Fraser makes a compelling argument showing how high levels of lead and arsenic in…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Things We Never Say

  a Novel

  Strout, Elizabeth

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  Fans of Strout will find much to love in this wonderful novel about tender-hearted teacher Artie Dam. Struggling with depression, Artie has a close-call that turns things around for him when a disturbing revelation threatens his new-found…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

  a Novel

  Zevin, Gabrielle

  Add Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow to your for later shelf

  This beautifully crafted novel with its multilayered themes of friendship, disability, identity and love will delight readers. It is a coming of age novel with the gaming industry as its backdrop.

• Shh! My Brother's Napping

  Ohi, Ruth,

  Add Shh! My Brother's Napping to your for later shelf

  Beloved Canadian author Ruth Ohi creates a fun and heartwarming picture book, about a brother trying his very best to play quietly as his baby brother sleeps. This adorable book with rhymes and repetition will provide lots of relatable moments for…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Chaos

  Making a New Science

  Gleick, James

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  This book traces the history of a controversial yet groundbreaking field of physics with applications to a wide variety of fields. The book details the development of chaos theory while also challenging the reader’s preconceived notions of how and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Glory & the Dream

  L.M. Montgomery's Writing Life

  Lefebvre, Benjamin

  Add The Glory & the Dream to your for later shelf

  As someone who loves the Anne of Green Gables series and anything to do with L.M. Montgomery, I found this book to be a fascinating look at her writing life. Local author (from Kitchener) and L.M. Montgomery scholar, Benjamin Lefebvre, provides…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bee Sting

  a Novel

  Murray, Paul, 1975-

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  A story of a dysfunctional family from rural Ireland and how their individual lives are impacted by past fatal decisions.

• These Memories Do Not Belong to Us

  a Constellation Novel

  Ma, Yiming

  Add These Memories Do Not Belong to Us to your for later shelf

  A haunting and thought-provoking speculative fiction about a society where memories can be monitored, edited, marketed, and corrupted. A dystopian exploration on freedom, identity, love, resistance, and how governments and media depict history.

• Ode to the Half-broken

  Palmer, Suzanne (Science fiction writer)

  Add Ode to the Half-broken to your for later shelf

  Set in the near future, this novel’s protagonist is a robot who wants to be left alone. Through terrible happenstance, they are forced on a quest to discover who stole their leg. We are treated with a possibility of what could happen if the world…Read moreRead more of this annotation