Staff Picks - November 2024 |
Mental Health Awareness Week reads

Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence, until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he's been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako's life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru. An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo's famous book district. Takako once looked down upon Satoru's life. Now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for Japanese literature, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who's going through his own messy breakup. But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they've gained in the bookshop.

Sayuri Komachi is no ordinary librarian. Sensing exactly what someone is searching for in life, she provides just the book recommendation to help them find it. In this uplifting book, we meet five of Sayuri's customers, each at a different crossroads - the restless retail assistant eager to pick up new skills - the mother faced with a demotion at work after maternity leave - the conscientious accountant who yearns to open an antique store - the gifted young manga artist in search of motivation - the recently retired salaryman on a quest for newfound purpose. Can she help them find what they are looking for?

In his small noodle shop in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, a young chef obsessively juliennes carrots. Nothing is going according to plan: the bills are piling up, his mother is dead, and there are strangers in his kitchen. The ancestors are watching closely. Told through a series of brilliant interludes and jump cuts. When I open the shop is sometimes blackly funny, sometimes angry and sometimes lyrical. A glimpse into immigrant life in Aotearoa, this is a highly entertaining, surprising and poignant debut novel about grief, struggle and community.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Steve Brouwers interviews 44 makers - painters, photographers, graphic designers, conceptual artists, furniture designers, video artists, advertisers - from all around the world. He asks them about their childhood, their creative process, their inspirations and their most memorable achievements. The question that kicks off every interview - "What is creativity to you?" - results in an inspiring collection of personal conversations that provide an extraordinary insight into the artists' minds. Interviews with: Nel Aerts, Alain Biltereyst, Conrad Botes, Jenny Brosinski, Tad Carpenter, Emily Forgot, Matt Clark, Jim Dive, Sue Doeksen, Bendt Eyckermans, Paul Fuentes, Harry Gruyaert, Ryan Gander, Tony Gum, Stephanie Hier, Wade Jeffree & Leta Sobierajski, Maira Kalman, Erik Kessels, George Lois, Anna Mac, Debbie Millman, Jonathan Monk, Mr Bingo, Morag Myerscough, Navid Nuur, Gemma O'Brien, Max Pinckers, Pixie Pravda, Kay Rosen, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, Yuko Shimizu, Sammy Slabbinck, John Stezaker, Charline Tyberghein, David Uzochukwu, Joris Van De Moortel, Anne-Mie Van Kerckhoven, Dominic Wilcox, Matt Willey and Shawna X.

Learn to make every moment a once-in-a-lifetime experience with this definitive guide to the Japanese art of ichigo ichie (pronounced itchy-GO itchy-A), from the bestselling authors of Ikigai. Every moment in our life happens only once, and if we let it slip away, we lose it forever--an idea captured by the Japanese phrase ichigo ichie. Often spoken in Japan when greeting someone or saying goodbye, to convey that the encounter is unique and special, it is a tenet of Zen Buddhism and is attributed to a sixteenth-century master of the Japanese tea ceremony, or 'ceremony of attention,' whose intricate rituals compel us to focus on the present moment. From this age-old concept comes a new kind of mindfulness.

 In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that cand rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

In Quiet, the international bestseller, Susan Cain shows how the brain chemistry of introverts and extroverts differs, and how society misunderstands and undervalues introverts. She gives introverts the tools to better understand themselves and take full advantage of their strengths. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with real stories, Quiet will permanently change how we see introverts - and how you see yourself.

Whether you find yourself struggling to sleep, awake in the middle of the night, or even just anxious as you move through the day, in Nothing Much Happens, Kathryn Nicolai offers a healthy way to ease the mind before bed: through the timeless appeal of bedtime stories. Already beloved by millions of podcast listeners, the stories in Nothing Much Happens explore and expose small sweet moments of joy and relaxation. Visiting the local cider mill in the autumn. Enjoying a cool walk and a hot bath in the winter. Sneaking lilacs from an abandoned farm in the spring. Feasting under the stars in the summer. Closing up the book shop for the night and opening the bakery in the morning. You'll find new stories never before featured on the podcast, along with whimsical illustrations that expose sweet little moments of peace and joy. Using her decades of experience as a meditation and yoga teacher, Kathryn Nicolai creates a world for you to slip into, one rich in sensory experience that quietly teaches mindfulness and self-compassion, soothes frayed nerves, and builds solid habits for nurturing sleep.

Drawing on deep scientific research and Dr Gabor Mate's acclaimed clinical work, When the Body Says No provides the answers to critical questions about the mind-body link - and the role that stress and our emotional makeup play in an array of common diseases such as arthritis, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, irritable bowel syndrome and multiple sclerosis.With dozens of case studies and stories including those of Lou Gehrig, Betty Ford and Lance Armstrong, Gabor Mate reveals 'The Seven A's of Healing'- the principles for healing and prevention of illness from hidden stress.-publisher's description.

Learn to use watercolor to soothe your soul with this beginner's guide to painting for relaxation. Many watercolor books focus on the result of your painting, but this approach looks at the process of painting as a means to de-stress, with easy exercises for absolute beginners. The aim is to create art that relaxes both the artist and the viewer.

What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma - which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.

A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life. Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, of migration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bones know. By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD - a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Foo's parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she'd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown in California to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don't move on from trauma - but you can learn to move with it. Powerful, enlightening and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body - and examines one woman's ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

It's time to embrace your full potential. Covering everything from the inner critic to perfectionism, self-sabotage and procrastination, soothing your nervous system to limiting beliefs, inner child work to boundaries and self-love, Be Your Best Self is here to guide you. Discover your barriers to growth and contentment, and most importantly, explore ways to become your best self.

Across the world, millions of people have found life and depth in the words of Cheryl Strayed. Whether it has been in her bestselling memoir Wild or in her collection of advice on love and life, Tiny Beautiful Things, she has been a companion to those who feel alone, a balm to those who hurt, a co-conspirator to those who laugh, and a steel-toecapped boot to those who need tough love.

The Good Enough Job reminds us that the biggest goal of all is to live a life we are happy with, and in which work is but one of the multitude of facets that make us who we are. An antidote to the toxic #hustle movement convincing us all we need to find fulfilment in the office, it denounces the dangers of burnout linked to those of us who cannot answer the question: beyond work, what's left?

Conversations of burnout have bubbled to the top of the cultural zeitgeist as the line between work and not-work continues to blur. Burnout and workaholism are symptoms of a deeper root cause: a lack of separation between who we are and what we do. This book is not a credo against looking to work for fulfilment, nor is it in favour of treating work as a necessary evil. It is a guide to developing a healthier relationship to work through the stories of people who have successfully done so. These are stories that invite us to re-evaluate what makes us happy, and how we can work to live, rather than the other way round.

For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind - There. She. Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high but soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world's expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self. Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts.

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, health and longevity and yet it is increasingly neglected in twenty-first-century society, with devastating consequences: every major disease in the developed world - Alzheimer's, cancer, obesity, diabetes - has very strong causal links to deficient sleep. Until very recently, science had no answer to the question of why we sleep, or what good it served, or why its absence is so damaging to our health. Compared to the other basic drives in life - eating, drinking, and reproducing - the purpose of sleep remained elusive. Now, in this book, the first of its kind written by a scientific expert, Professor Matthew Walker explores twenty years of cutting-edge research to solve the mystery of why sleep matters.

Ki te kotahi te kakaho ka whati, ki te kapuia, e kore e whati. When we stand alone we are vulnerable but together we are unbreakable. See the world differently, through some of the wisest of human eyes. Discover traditional Maori philosophy through 52 whakatauki - simple, powerful life lessons, one for every week. Each one is retold by respected Maori psychiatrist Dr Hinemoa Elder to show how we can live a less stressful daily life, with more contentment and kindness for each other and the planet. Find out how the power of aroha can help you each day, and through its many meanings - fundamental Maori values - make a happier world for everyone. 

Welcome to the club. I'm still here now, all these years later. You don't leave once you've joined; it's a life membership. Grief eases and changes and returns but it never disappears. But you will be okay. Somehow you will be. When Cariad was just fifteen, her dad died. She became the person-whose-dad-had-died; a mess of emotions and questions; a grief-mess. Years later, she began trying to unravel this tightly wound grief. What had happened? What effect had it all had on who she was?

With The Artist’s Way you can discover how to unlock your latent creativity and make your dreams a reality. With the basic principle that creative expression is the natural direction of life, Julia Cameron leads you through a comprehensive 12-week program to recover your creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, self-sabotage, jealousy, guilt, addictions and other inhibiting forces, replacing them with artistic confidence and productivity. This book links creativity to spirituality by showing how to connect with the creative energies of the universe. The Artist’s Way provides a twelve-week course that guides you through the process of recovering your creative self. It dispels the ‘I’m not talented enough’ conditioning that holds many people back and helps you unleash your own inner artist. Its step-by-step approach will enable you to: start out on your own path to creativity, dissolve the barriers that prevent your creative impulse from finding expression, use your rediscovered talents in whatever way you wish, learn that it is never too late to start fulfilling your dreams. The Artist’s Way helps demystify the creative process by making it part of your daily life. It tackles your self-doubts, self-criticism and worries about time, money and the support to pursue your creative dream. It has already helped thousands of people to uncover their hidden talents – it can help you, too.

Jennette McCurdy was six years old when she had her first acting audition. Her mother's dream was for her only daughter to become a star, and Jennette would do anything to make her mother happy. So she went along with what Mom called "calorie restriction," eating little and weighing herself five times a day. She endured extensive at-home makeovers while Mom chided, "Your eyelashes are invisible, okay? You think Dakota Fanning doesn't tint hers?" She was even showered by Mom until age sixteen while sharing her diaries, email, and all her income. In I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette recounts all this in unflinching detail--just as she chronicles what happens when the dream finally comes true. Cast in a new Nickelodeon series called iCarly, she is thrust into fame. Though Mom is ecstatic, emailing fan club moderators and getting on a first-name basis with the paparazzi ("Hi Gale!"), Jennette is riddled with anxiety, shame, and self-loathing, which manifest into eating disorders, addiction, and a series of unhealthy relationships. These issues only get worse when, soon after taking the lead in the iCarly spinoff Sam & Cat alongside Ariana Grande, her mother dies of cancer. Finally, after discovering therapy and quitting acting, Jennette embarks on recovery and decides for the first time in her life what she really wants.

For over twenty years, Alan Henry has written about using technology and productivity techniques to work and live better for publications such as Lifehacker, The New York Times, and Wired. But he found that as a Black man he didn't have access to some of the more powerful ways to hack your job--like only checking email once a day or blocking out time on your calendar to do deep work. In fact, he found that even when he landed a prestigious title at the Times, there were moments when he was still overlooked and excluded from the most interesting and career-boosting work. This led him to first explore these struggles in a Times piece titled "Productivity Without Privilege." Now he goes even deeper, interviewing experts across multiple fields to come up with powerful tools to overcome the forces of marginalization. In Seen, Heard, and Paid, Henry shares the new work rules that may finally allow people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ folks to have the same access to career advancement and rewarding work as those with more privilege.

In The Light We Carry, former First Lady Michelle Obama shares practical wisdom and powerful strategies for staying hopeful and balanced in today's highly uncertain world. She considers the questions many of us wrestle with: How do we build enduring and honest relationships? How can we discover strength and community inside our differences? What do we do when it all starts to feel like too much? Michelle Obama believes that we can all lean on a set of tools to help us better navigate change and remain steady within flux. The Light We Carry offers readers a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress. Drawing from her experiences as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and First Lady, she shares the habits and principles she has developed to successfully overcome various obstacles-the earned wisdom that helps her continue to "become". With trademark humour, candour, and compassion, she also explores issues connected to race, gender, and visibility, encouraging readers to work through fear, find strength in community, and live with boldness. The Light We Carry will inspire readers to examine their own lives, identify their sources of gladness, and connect meaningfully in a turbulent world.

In Your Head is a Houseboat, illustration sensation Campbell Walker demystifies brain functions, mental health, emotions, mindfulness and psychology - but with less complex terminology and more bizarre metaphors. This is a book filled with hilarious illustrations, simple journal exercises and words that will probably hit too close to home. It will help you to understand your own houseboat (or head) and ultimately make it a nicer place to live.

Social media is making us sadder, angrier, less empathetic, more fearful, more isolated and more tribal. In recent months it has become horribly clear that social media is not bringing us together – it is tearing us apart ... Jaron Lanier draws on his insider's expertise to explain precisely how social media works – by deploying constant surveillance and subconscious manipulation of its users – and why its cruel and dangerous effects are at the heart of its current business model and design. As well as offering ten simple arguments for liberating yourself from its addictive hold, his witty and urgent manifesto outlines a vision for an alternative that provides all the benefits of social media without the harm. So, if you want a happier life, a more just and peaceful world, or merely the chance to think for yourself without being monitored and influenced by the richest corporations in history, then the best thing you can do, for now, is delete your social media accounts – right now. You will almost certainly become a calmer and possibly a nicer person in the process.

The bestselling author of Postcards from the Edge comes clean (well, sort of) in her first-ever memoir, adapted from her one-woman Broadway hit show. Fisher reveals what it was really like to grow up a product of "Hollywood in-breeding," come of age on the set of a little movie called Star Wars, and become a cultural icon and bestselling action figure at the age of nineteen. Intimate, hilarious, and sobering, Wishful Drinking is Fisher, looking at her life as she best remembers it (what do you expect after electroshock therapy?).

In the age of Trump and Brexit, every crisis is instantly overridden by the next. The turbulent political weather of the twenty-first century generates anxiety and makes it difficult to know how to react. Olivia Laing makes a brilliant, inspiring case for why art matters more than ever, as a force of both resistance and repair. Art, she argues, changes how we see the world. It gives us X-ray vision. It reveals inequalities and offers fertile new ways of living. Funny Weather brings together a career's worth of Laing's writing about art and culture, and their role in our political and emotional lives. She profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O'Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Wolfgang Tillmans, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body. With characteristic originality and compassion, Funny Weather celebrates art as an antidote to a terrifying political moment.

Dutch mindfulness expert Annette Lavrijsen shows you how, through daily practice, and by following the exercises within, you will grow comfortable with yourself, with silence and will reap niksen's countless rewards. Using this book to cultivate niksen you can: Find new ways to relax, slow down and combat burnout.

Like nearly one in five people, Haig suffers from depression. Here he explains how, minute by minute and day by day, he overcame the disease with the help of reading, writing, and the love of his parents and his girlfriend, and eventually learned to appreciate life all the more for it. Both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it, Haig's humor and encouragement never let us lose sight of hope.