• General Recommendations
  • Staff-Created List

Staff Picks: What We Loved In 2023

SurreyLibraries_Reads - See Surrey Libraries staff favourites from the collection.

46 items

  • Lady Killers

    Deadly Women Throughout History

    Telfer, Tori
    This is a series of short case studies of female killers. It covers some more famous cases, like Countess Erzsébet Báthory, but many of the entries are killers that are relatively unknown. Most are also quite old – before 1950 – if you’re…
    BookNew York : Harper Perennial, [2017] — 364.1523209252 TEL 2017
  • This book felt like a warm, fuzzy blanket on a cold winter day. It just wraps you in wholesome goodness. I wish there were more books like that - the ones that leave you feeling good at the end. As for context, it's about 3 strangers that…
    Book[New York] : Dutton, [2021] — GARVIN
  • This is a guilty pleasure favourite. It's adult romance and takes place in a college setting with a classic plot of "good girl meets bad boy." (Submitted by Hayley)
    BookNew York : Gallery Books, 2014. — TODD
  • Regan is growing up and aches to be normal, as she seems to be. But the playground and schoolyard are challenging places to be, and her best friend is a controlling and judgmental person. When Regan learns from her parents that she is…
    BookNew York : Tom Doherty Associates, 2021. — MCGUIRE
  • The Paris Affair by Melanie Hudson is a captivating, unpredictable, emotional story set during WWII in Paris & Stark, the Channel Islands. Sebastian is a German doctor living a quiet life tending to his patients and his beloved garden in…
    BookLondon : One More Chapter, 2023. — HUDSON
  • Last Call at the Hotel Imperial

    the Reporters Who Took on a World at War

    Cohen, Deborah, 1968-
    Last Call at the Hotel Imperial is an introduction to the work and lives of four reporters covering Europe in the first half of the 20th century: Dorothy Thompson, John Gunther, H.R. Knickerbocker, and Vincent Sheean. It is a history of…
    BookNew York : Random House, [2022] — 070.922 COH 2022
  • The Skull

    a Tyrolean Folktale

    Klassen, Jon
    The Skull by Jon Klassen starts with our protagonist Otilla "finally" running away from her home. She finds a large dark house where a lonely skull lives, and they quickly become friends. But when a monster chases after the Skull, and…
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press 2023. — KLASSEN
  • Bird

    the Definitive Visual Guide

    This gorgeous book is a huge compendium of amazing bird pictures. Each picture is accompanied by interesting facts about the biology, habitat and habits of the birds, but what will capture your attention is the photographs. The full page…
    BookNew York, NY : DK Publishing, 2022. — 598 BIR 2022
  • This is the first book in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Discworld is a fantastical world full of eccentric magical characters in a universe with extraordinary laws of physics. Rincewind (a cowardly wizard who is unable to cast any…
    BookLondon : Corgi, 1985. — PRATCHE
  • A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear

    the Utopian Plot to Liberate An American Town (and Some Bears)

    Hongoltz-Hetling, Matthew
    A Libertarian Walks into a Bear: the Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (and Some Bears) by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling If you enjoy reading about the foibles of human nature, be prepared to be amazed and astounded by what has taken…
    BookNew York, NY : PublicAffairs, Hachette Book Group, 2020. — 974.23 HON 2020
  • Brown Girl Dreaming is another lovely novel/autobiography-in-verse. Jacqueline Woodson has a wonderful way with words, drawing you into her life and memories of a budding young writer in South Carolina. Although written for middle grade…
    BookNew York, NY : Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), ©2014. — 811.6 WOO 2014
  • I don’t exactly know how to describe this novel except to say that it was captivating. The lives of the characters came alive in the telling of the story. The novel is an in-depth look at the relationship between 3 close friends and…
    Book[Toronto] : Viking, 2022. — ZEVIN
  • The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty is about, for the most part, a collection of characters living in a dilapidated apartment complex in a dying city. This city is named Vacca Vale but would work as a stand-in for Detroit. The novel mostly…
    BookNew York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2022. — GUNTY
  • Kate Morton is such a reliably atmospheric author, and she’s done it again with Homecoming: a tale of mystery, motherhood, and the meaning of home and family. When her elderly grandmother has an accident, Jess is called back home to her…
    BookNew York : Simon and Schuster, 2023. — MORTON
  • In her debut novel, Ling Ma explores themes of late-stage capitalism and cultural identity while setting the story during a zombie apocalypse. Ma packs a great deal of detail and action in her writing, which makes this book hard to put…
    BookNew York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018. — MA
  • Legends & Lattes

    a Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes

    Baldree, Travis, 1977-
    Legends & Lattes is the story of Viv, the Orc barbarian opening up the first cafe in the city. Despite not knowing much about coffee or business, Viv manages the coffee shop with her friends while dealing with gangsters, odd customers,…
    BookNew York : Tor/Tom Doherty Associates, 2022. — BALDREE
  • The Black Friend

    on Being a Better White Person

    Joseph, Frederick (Activist)
    Just finished reading this eye opening book. Joseph writes about the daily and historical challenges that face Black people and charges white people to see with new eyes our own thought patterns, inherited racism and how to view race. Most…
    BookSomerville, Massachusetts : Candlewick Press, [2020] — 323.1196 JOS 2020
  • Which as You Know Means Violence

    on Self-injury as Art and Entertainment

    Snow, Philippa
    In Which as You Know Means Violence, Philippa Snow concisely but effectively explores the relationship between self-inflicted injury and art. Tying together subjects as different as the Jackass franchise and performance artist Marina…
    BookLondon : Repeater, 2022. — 616.8582 SNO 2022
  • "When your favourite children's song 'Wheels on the bus' and this year's Summer Reading Club theme mix together, you've got The dinos on the bus! Perfect for storytime or singing/reading time with your young children. A familiar tune that…
    BookNew York : Ladybird, an imprint of Penguin Random House, 2022. — MILLETT
  • There are lots of books out there, but there are only a few for which I would drop everything and write a book review. I can’t say that I was drawn into this book right away, but there was a moment when I realized I am smiling and then,…
    BookToronto, Ontario : HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., ©2013. — HAIG