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Welcome to Book Buzz! Happy New Year! Kick off 2026 with new books arriving at the Cochrane Public Library in May 2026. Click on the book to place your holds today! |
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Ways to Find Yourself
by Angela Brown
Grace Whittaker’s life is coming apart.
In the wake of her mother’s death, a stalled writing career, and a slow-motion separation from her husband, Grace is more directionless than ever. But when she returns to Sea Drift, the beach town where she and her mother summered for years, Grace’s life comes together in the most unexpected ways.
Soon after arriving on the picturesque coastline that meant so much to her, Grace discovers more than she remembers, and for reasons she can’t possibly fathom. Amid the weathered surf shops, pastel motels, and sloping beaches, Grace begins to encounter younger versions of herself. Each one is vivid, alive, and breathtakingly real.
As she navigates this most surreal week—reconnecting with old friends, trying to solve a quiet mystery about her mother, and revisiting a love she left behind—Grace is forced to remember who she used to be. It’s the only way she can figure out who she can still become.
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Five
by Ilona Bannister
Five lives. Five stories. Four will live—one will die. Who it will be? In this slow-burn masterpiece of psychological fiction, the choice is all yours.
Have you ever tried to pass the time by imagining the lives of the strangers standing next to you? Ilona Bannister’s Five introduces readers to five seemingly random people waiting for a train. But these are not just any five people. From the beginning we know that one of them is going to die soon. Very soon. In five minutes the next train to London will arrive, killing one of them. But before this happens you will learn their stories.
None of these people are saints. Readers might fall in love with the beautiful young man who is on the verge of gambling his life away. They may pity the cantankerous old woman who has fallen to the ground yet is refusing help. Perhaps readers will look away from the child throwing a tantrum. Or judge his mother, who must surely be to blame. And some will be curiously compelled by the successful and damaged businessman orbiting them all.
These are the candidates for this morning’s misfortune. But they don’t know it. Only you know. And you, our complicit reader, will not be able to resist deciding who deserves to walk away, and who deserves only five more minutes to live.
An incredibly original novel that breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader to be judge, jury, and executioner, Five looks at some of the most complicated issues of contemporary life: motherhood, disability, addiction. Every stranger has a story. And in Ilona Bannister’s skillful hands, five people’s stories come together to create an unforgettable novel.
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2084: A Novel of Future War
by Elliot Ackerman
In their novel 2034, decorated military officers and award-winning authors Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis imagined a war between the US and China. In their follow-up novel, 2054, they envisioned a breakdown in American politics fueled by a radical advance in AI. Now they make their boldest, most astonishing, and arguably most necessary leap—imagining the consequences of a climate war.
By the year 2084, the world is divided into the equatorial countries that bear the brunt of the climate crisis—led by Nigeria, Brazil, and Indonesia—and wealthier countries like China and the US, beset by their own problems after a series of civil wars. Tensions between the two sets of countries have reached a breaking point, until finally the so-called Reparationist nations of the equator decide that only military force can bring them justice.
A fascinating and disturbingly plausible extrapolation from current realities, 2084, like other classics of the genre such as Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future and Neal Stephenson’s Termination Shock, deploys a global cast of characters, all protecting their interests as the fate of human civilization hangs in the balance. Individuals often seem small in the face of the forces that drive global change, but in the end human agency proves surprisingly decisive. Big doors can swing on small hinges. We have it within ourselves to write a different destiny, if only we can imagine it.
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Our Perfect Storm
by Carley Fortune
Best friends have one week in paradise to fix their friendship or fall apart in this heart-stopping, utterly romantic new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and One Golden Summer.
Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.
Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.
Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.
Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good.
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Glyph
by Ali Smith
Ghosts don't exist.
They don't. End of.
Story, however.
It is haunting.
Everything tells it.
It all starts when Petra and her little sister Patch hear a horrifying story from the past and find themselves making up a ghost.
Is it imaginary? Is it real?
Then it all starts again thirty years later when Petra, now estranged from Patch, finds a phantom horse kicking the furniture to pieces in her bedroom.
What to do? She phones her sister.
In a chiarascuro dance through our increasingly antagonistic era, Glyph asks if we’re attending to the history that’s made us and to the history we’re making.
A funny, warm and clear-eyed take on where we are now, Glyph is about what our imaginations are for and how, in a broken, brutal and divided time, we rekindle care, solidarity, resistance and openness. This anti-war novel, Ali Smith’s most soulful, playful and vital yet, is a work of lightness that goes deep to counter the forces currently flattening the modern world.
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Broken Dove
by Dani Francis
LINES WILL BE CROSSED.
After blowing her cover as a double agent within Silver Elite and fleeing the Prime-controlled capital, Wren Darlington is finally safe behind allied lines. As her lover and former commander Cross Redden works to disrupt the Primes from inside their ranks, Wren turns her focus toward assisting the Uprising in overthrowing their rule once and for all.
LOYALTIES WILL BE TESTED.
Though she’s back among her own people, trust is hard-won and hidden agendas abound on the Mod base. And beyond those walls, Wren can’t help but worry that Cross is keeping secrets of his own . . . secrets that could jeopardize everything. Complicating matters even further is her shocking reunion with hotshot fighter pilot and undercover operative Grayson Blake. Once her closest friend in Silver Elite, Gray seems to understand Wren on a level she never thought possible.
AND THE FIGHT FOR THE CONTINENT IS ONLY JUST BEGINNING.
With the war between Mods and Primes growing more brutal by the day, and with her own role in the conflict becoming more essential than ever, Wren must confront some gut-wrenching questions. Who is she fighting for . . . and who is she willing to lose?
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County Road Six
by Kevin Hardcastle
It has been years since Mara O’Hare has come home to North Simcoe County. But she is forced to return after her father’s death. Arthur O’Hare—the meanest, most vicious man in the townships—laid low, isolated, angry and sullen before he took his own life.
Mara is reunited with her two sisters, Beth and Emma. Soon, the three women are fighting to retain ownership of their home, a farm they have inherited from their father. But Arthur O’Hare’s legacy is not just land. He has also left his daughters an unanticipated inheritance of violence and terror, born out of a long-buried family secret.
Award-winning author Kevin Hardcastle has written a tough, compelling and thrilling novel that lays bare the best and worst of human nature and examines the muddy places in between. County Road Six is an unforgettable family saga about gender and class, rural communities, fathers and daughters, and what we leave behind.
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Breaking Free: Stop Following Expectations and Start Following Yourself
by Spencer West
After losing both legs from the pelvis down at the age of five, Spencer West tackled challenge after challenge, learning to navigate a world set against those with disabilities. In this deeply personal and transformative guide, he reveals how he stopped living by the expectations of others and instead embraced his true identity, passions, and purpose. Through his powerful storytelling, unrelenting candor, and relatable insights, he shows you the steps (and sometimes missteps) to:
- Identify who you truly are, deep inside
- Discover (or rediscover) your passions and pursue them fearlessly
- Understand the boundlessness of your own power
- Embrace a commitment to living life on your own terms
This is your wake-up call to banish self-imposed limitations, opinions, and expectations and propel yourself into the life you were meant to live.
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Pizza Before We Die: An Eyewitness Account in Gaza
by Hassan Kanafani
The human tragedy unfolding in Gaza has been made all the more tragic by the widespread denial and apathy expressed by much of the rest of the world. Here is an urgent first-hand account of life and death in Gaza, written not by a war correspondent, but an ordinary citizen whose life was upended when the genocide began.
In the midst of the chaos, Hassan began posting about his daily experiences on Reddit. Three activists, moved by his words, started collecting his posts without a clear plan—only the conviction that his story needed to be seen and the hope that somehow, it might help raise funds for him. By chance, those posts found their way to award-winning author Yasuko Thanh, who helped Hassan frame them for a book.
Hassan's missives are a vivid, heartbreaking account of war and its toll—on families, on children, on innocent civilians. These are stories of hunger, survival, and death. These are stories that demand to be heard. And yet, stories like these are not being told: Mainstream media has largely remained silent. Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza. Local journalists are being killed. In this vacuum, Hassan's voice breaks through out of the darkness and into the light.
Pizza Before We Die is literary journalism at its rawest and most urgent—clear eyed, unflinching, and deeply humane. Hassan captures the unspeakable horror of the tragedy in Gaza with restraint and precision, never sensationalizing, always bearing witness. It is a work of raw power and emotion and a reminder that in the midst of chaos and tragedy, our shared humanity remains intact.
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Beyond Life and Death: The Way of True Freedom
by Jet Li
Jet Li’s story defies legend. Born into extreme hardship, he fought his way to become the youngest national martial arts champion in Chinese history at twelve years old, dominating opponents twice his size. He then became one of the first internationally renowned movie stars from China with films including Once Upon a Time in China, Hero, and Fearless. These films redefined martial arts for the modern world, making him a household name alongside Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan.
But behind the glory lay a deeper a search for meaning beyond fame, fortune, and physical skill. After a near-death encounter in the 2004 tsunami, Li turned inward, deepening his study of Tibetan Buddhism and dedicating his life to philanthropy, though he was at the height of his Hollywood career.
For the very first time, Li shares the ten insights that have guided his life, in which anyone can find wisdom, guidance, and power,
life is movement;the secret to self-defense;separate the suffering from the pain;be a grandson to the world; andlearn from everyone.
Li invites readers to share his interior life, to hear untold stories from his martial arts and film career, and to meditate with him on the nature of spiritual awakening. If you look deeply, you can see Li’s life philosophy in many of his movies, and in Beyond Life and Death he fully links his own story and spiritual journey with ten actionable insights that anyone can apply to live a healthy and happy life.
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Big Fan: Two Friends, 82,490 Miles, and the Wild, Wonderful Sports We Love
by Michael Schur
Two great friends. Lots of frequent flyer miles. And a bottomless appetite for experiencing sports. That’s what Big Fan is all about.
Bestselling authors and podcast hosts Joe Posnanski and Mike Schur love games—almost any game!—and they bring readers to the front row (and sometimes even right onto the field). Whether ringside at WrestleMania in Las Vegas, singing along with the maniacs at the World Darts Championships in London, or just watching eight straight hours of football at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Dallas, they bring us to the very heart of what it means to love something so much it hurts.
Through crushing defeats and glorious wins, whether cheering penalty kicks with 65,000 fans in Liverpool or beholding a chess master castling in dead silence, Big Fan is about why we love what we love and how fandom connects us in a time when so much else pulls us apart.
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The Injury Guide: Eliminate Pain, Heal Your Injuries, and Keep Moving Forever
by Erin Boynton
Do you find that your body is becoming stiff and sore as you get older? Do little aches and pains come back—or get worse—even after you rest? Are you worried that your body is breaking down and you won’t be able to live a healthy, active life? These are normal concerns people have, but they are often addressed with band-aid fixes: painkillers, massages, temporary stretching, and exercises from a doctor or physiotherapist. Unfortunately, the pain often returns.
The truth is that you can move freely and without pain for the rest of your life—if you address the root cause of your issues. Devised by Dr. Erin Boynton, former orthopaedic surgeon to the Toronto Blue Jays, The Injury Guide not only offers the movement routines that will help your body heal; it also reveals the reasons why our bodies break down in the first place so you can take preventative action. Armed with the information in The Injury Guide, you will be able to manage your pain, heal your injuries, and keep moving forever.
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The Power of Beliefs: How Strengthening Seven Core Beliefs Predicts Greater Success and a Better Life
by Shawn Achor
Same world. Different beliefs. Different outcomes.
The greatest predictor of your future is the beliefs you hold about the world. In this extraordinary book, world-renowned researcher and author Shawn Achor illuminates how beliefs change the math about what is possible and probable in our lives. And by changing the math, beliefs change our path.
Drawing on two decades of research, as well as his work with NASA, the NFL, and over a third of the Fortune 100 companies, Shawn has discovered that the predictive power of beliefs has increased significantly. Beliefs about ourselves, money, the world, politics, faith, and work do more than shape the lens through which we see the world. They shape what happens next. Scientifically speaking, beliefs don’t just reflect reality. Beliefs bend reality.
Unfortunately, our beliefs can be empowering or they can be destructive. During what Achor calls the Great Drift, we have seen the staggering rise of the Four Horsemen of the Modern World: burnout, anxiety, loneliness, and depression. We are underperforming our true potential. But there is hope. Stunning new research in this book reveals the seven most predictive “core beliefs” that alter our future health, success, wealth, and education. Scientifically, these core beliefs take the cap off our potential, enrich us, strengthen us, and heal us.
Shawn explores the six main ways of changing your and others’ beliefs using research-based strategies he has tested everywhere from Wall Street to impoverished schools in Africa, from Camp Pendleton to Camp David:
• The Disaster Elevator: change what part of the brain processes the world.
• The Memory DeLorean: change the memory.
• Stopping Negative Mantras: change the language.
• Creating a Neural Tribe: change the sources.
• Starting the Wave: change the contagious actions.
• Common Texts, Common Action: change the texts.
The Power of Beliefs shows how seven core beliefs predict your present, bend the probability of future success, and, in the modern world, are the key to creating a better life for you and for others.
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