Library Staff Picks: Our Favorite Reads of 2024

You Are Here by David Nicholls
Ebook in OverDrive/Libby | Audiobook in OverDrive/Libby

"David Nicholls is a master of the “regular person” love story. I loved this one about Marnie and Michael, almost-middle-aged, divorced loners, who meet while doing the Coast to Coast Walk in England. I couldn't put it down but forced myself to at times because I didn't want it to be over!"

Orbital by Samantha Harvey
Hardcover  | Ebook in OverDrive/Libby | Audiobook in OverDrive/Libby

"As someone fascinated by space and who wanted to be an astronaut as a child, I loved this novel about six astronauts orbiting Earth 16 times in 24 hours. The perspective of both space and our planet is interesting and lovely."

I Survived Capitalism and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt by Madeleine Pendleton
Hardcover | Ebook in OverDrive/Libby | Audiobook in OverDrive/Libby 

"A biography of how to make a life and make a living in creative work with humor and practical tips, so good I gave it as a graduation gift to my niece!"

Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
Hardcover

"I found this super insightful - reflecting on what kinds of conversations do we think we're having versus what’s being understood by those around us. Relevant for both personal and professional communication."

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry
Audiobook in OverDrive/Libby

"A rollicking, rowdy Western set in Butte, Montana in the 1890s, where Tom and Polly, a besotted young poet and the married object of his affection, fall in love and make a run for San Francisco, pursued by the husband's hired guns. Added bonus: Barry reads his own work in an urgent, humorous style."

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
Hardcover

"Two brothers, a lawyer and a developing chess player, navigate grief in present-day Dublin. After their father's death, hard-charging Peter manages a complicated relationship with two women, one from his past and one newly in his present, while shy Ivan courts Margaret, the local town arts administrator who has organized a local chess meetup."

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
Hardcover

"Four-year-old Ruthie, part of a Mi'kmaw family that has traveled to Maine for seasonal work picking blueberries, vanishes from the work site. The local police are not interested in helping to find her, and the family leaves, bereft. Told from two different viewpoints, Ruthie's older brother Joe and Norma, an Indigenous woman raised among White people, this book reveals the mystery early on, but unfolds the lifelong toll that Ruthie's disappearance has taken on all involved."