At the end of this difficult year, many people are making New Year’s resolutions to do new things to enrich themselves, or help improve their lives. Annie’s Book Stop of Worcester has some new self-help books that will help them towards that goal. There’s 12 Weeks to A Sharper You, which helps you become more resilient to stress, and The Good Life: Lessons from The World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness, which talks about relationships being the key to happiness.
For fiction we have two historical fiction books. The Night Travelers: A Novel which sees four generations of women through many historical events, and The New Life: A Novel, actually an LGBTQ+. Book, about the search for social and sexual freedom in 19th century London.
Literary fiction includes The Deluge, with a prophetic look at a bleak future, and what the characters will sacrifice for a chance to save it. Then there’s the thriller, The Blackhouse, taking place on a remote Scottish island where nothing is as it seems, but an outsider knows the truth.
A new paranormal series, Vamps: Fresh Blood brings us to a Vampire Academy, with a half-human, half-vampire student who is in need of honing his bloodthirsty side in order to survive.
Lastly, humor. Pusheen The Cat’s Guide to Everything is a collection of comics and illustrations of Pusheen the cat.
NON-FICTION:
Self-Help:
12 WEEKS TO A SHARPER YOU by Sanjay Gupta
Keep your brain young and healthy at any age with this practical workbook through the 12-week program from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Keep Sharp.
Chief CNN medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta helped countless readers keep their brains sharp and effortlessly productive with KEEP SHARP. In 12 Weeks to a Sharper You, he now provides a step-by-step 12-week program to help you put his transformational ideas into daily practice. He writes, “Change is a challenge, and changing long-established habits takes effort.” But this workbook makes it easy to apply Gupta’s groundbreaking tips and research to establish healthy behaviors for life. The 12-week program will help you feel less anxious, sleep better, improve energy, think more clearly, and become more resilient to daily stress.
Full of tips, quotations, and prompts, 12 Weeks to a Sharper You is the only guide you’ll need to keep your brain young and healthy at any age!
THE GOOD LIFE: LESSONS FROM THE WORLD’S LONGEST SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF HAPPINESS by Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz
What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? According to the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.
What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and overall healthier lives. In fact, the Harvard Study of Adult Development reveals that the strength of our connections with others can predict the health of both our bodies and our brains as we go through life.
With warmth, wisdom, and compelling life stories, The Good Life shows us how we can make our lives happier and more meaningful through our connections to others.
FICTION:
LGBTQ+ fiction
THE NEW LIFE: A NOVEL by Tom Crewe
A brilliant and captivating debut, in the tradition of Alan Hollinghurst and Colm Tóibín, about two marriages, two forbidden love affairs, and the passionate search for social and sexual freedom in late 19th-century London.
In this powerful, visceral novel about love, sex, and the struggle for a better world, two men collaborate on a book in defense of homosexuality, then a crime—risking their old lives in the process.
Shortly before the book is to be published, Oscar Wilde is arrested. John and Henry must decide whether to go on, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, or to give up the project for their own safety and the safety of the people they love. Is this the right moment to advance their cause? Is publishing bravery or foolishness? And what price is too high to pay for a new way of living?
A richly detailed, insightful, and dramatic debut novel, The New Life is an unforgettable portrait of two men, a city, and a generation discovering the nature and limits of personal freedom as the 20th century comes into view.
Historical fiction:
THE NIGHT TRAVELERS: A NOVEL by Armando Lucas Correa
Four generations of women experience love, loss, war, and hope from the rise of Nazism to the Cuban Revolution and finally, the fall of the Berlin Wall in this sweeping novel from the bestselling author of the “timely must-read” (People) The German Girl.
Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.
Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.
Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.
Separated by time but united by sacrifice, four women embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of motherly love.
Literary fiction:
THE DELUGE by Stephen Markley
“This book is, simply put, a modern classic. If you read it, you’ll never forget it. Prophetic, terrifying, uplifting.” —Stephen King
From the bestselling author of Ohio, a masterful American epic charting a near future approaching collapse and a nascent but strengthening solidarity.
In the first decades of the 21st century, the world is convulsing, its governments mired in gridlock while a patient but unrelenting ecological crisis looms. America is in upheaval, battered by violent weather and extreme politics. In California in 2013, Tony Pietrus, a scientist studying deposits of undersea methane, receives a death threat. His fate will become bound to a stunning cast of characters—a broken drug addict, a star advertising strategist, a neurodivergent mathematician, a cunning eco-terrorist, an actor turned religious zealot, and a brazen young activist named Kate Morris, who, in the mountains of Wyoming, begins a project that will alter the course of the decades to come.
From the Gulf Coast to Los Angeles, the Midwest to Washington, DC, their intertwined odysseys unfold against a stark backdrop of accelerating chaos as they summon courage, galvanize a nation, fall to their own fear, and find wild hope in the face of staggering odds. As their stories hurtle toward a spectacular climax, each faces a reckoning: what will they sacrifice to salvage humanity’s last chance at a future? A singular achievement, The Deluge is a once-in-a-generation novel that meets the moment as few works of art ever have.
Thriller:
THE BLACKHOUSE by Carole Johnstone (Psychological Thriller)
From the author of the “dark and devious…beautifully written” (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes a richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner.
A remote village. A deadly secret. An outsider who knows the truth.
Unnerving, enthralling, and filled with gothic suspense, The Blackhouse is a spectacularly sinister tale readers won’t soon forget.
Urban fantasy:
VAMPS: FRESH BLOOD by Nicole Arend (urban fantasy)
Sink your teeth into this exciting new paranormal series that transports you to an elite vampire academy where a half vampire, half human must hone his bloodthirsty side in order to survive in a cutthroat world. Perfect for fans of The Atlas Six and True Blood.
Nestled in the Swiss Alps, VAMPS is the ultimate academy for the children of the most wealthy and powerful vampire families. Unfortunately for Dillon, he’s an outsider—to be more specific, he’s a dhampir: a vampire that is half human.
If he wants to survive more than a single term, he’s going to need to embrace his fangs. But blood never lies and soon, it becomes clear there is something special and deadly in Dillon’s veins. But as his power grows, so does the target on his back…
Humor:
PUSHEEN THE CAT’S GUIDE TO EVERYTHING by Claire Belton (humor)
Pusheen the Cat is back with a brand-new collection of adorable comics, expert advice, and silly antics featuring Pusheen and all her friends!
Whether you’re hoping to learn how to tell if your cat is a Vampurr or looking to study a comprehensive guide to being lazy—Pusheen has got you covered in this super cute guide to everything! This delightful collection of comics and illustrations features some of the most popular and purr-fectly adorable Pusheen comics you know and love, plus a healthy serving of never-before-seen material.
Pusheen the Cat has charmed millions of fans worldwide with her humor, bounces, and tail wiggles. Join in on the fun with this super cute collection perfect for cat lovers and comics fans alike!
As always, thank you for making our shelves your destination.
Annie's Book Stop of Worcester 