December 20, 2023 in Library News

New year, new you! A new year is a great time to hit the reset button for yourself, tackle some goals or try something new. With that in mind, check out our staff's top picks for books and movies all about starting fresh or second chances.

Atomic Habits : Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results : an Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones (2018)

by James Clear

This book offers suggestions, strategies, and a tracker to create new good habits and break old bad habits. It's perfect for starting fresh in 2024 and carefully plotting realistic New Years' resolutions. I found the habit tracker in the book especially helpful and motivating. - Jennifer, Fiction, Movies & Music

My Fair Lady (2009)

by Warner Bros. Pictures

A fantastic award winning film starring Audrey Hepburn who plays Eliza Doolittle in 1910's London, as a cockney flower seller turned “proper” English lady by Rex Harrison who portrays a snobbish phonetics professor, Henry Higgins. I love this film for its great costumes and musical numbers! It is a Cinderella story about starting over in a different position in life. - Janet, Fiction, Movies & Music

The Field Guide to the North American Teenager (2018)

by Ben Philippe

After his mom gets a new job and they must relocate from Canada to Texas, Norris, a Black French Canadian teen, is forced to start his junior year at a brand new school in Texas. This funny book full of witty dialogue and heart is worth a read. - Allison, Youth Services

High Fidelity (2000)

by Touchstone Home Video

John Cusack stars as the contemptuous owner of a local record store where the staff are obsessed with making Top Five lists... and looking down upon anyone who may have an “elementary” taste in music compared to them. Upon getting dumped by his long-term girlfriend (because he hasn’t changed one bit since they met) he revisits his Top Five breakups of all-time in an attempt to figure out what went wrong along the way. To win a second chance with his girlfriend, he is forced to look inward; searching for answers from each of his former lovers, and from the poetry of his record collection, to find out why each one left him. - Monica, Fiction, Movies & Music

Rocky (2004)

by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone, is a film about a small-time Philadelphia boxer who gets a rare chance to fight the world heavyweight champion in a bout in which he strives to go the distance for his self-respect. I love this movie for its music and the motivational assistance it provides the "underdog" to start over and give your all when you are challenged. - Janet, Fiction, Movies & Music

The Seven Year Slip (2023)

by Ashley Poston

A perfect romance with a perfect second chance romance, plus time travel! For readers of Outlander, Ali Hazelwood, and Emily Henry. -Rachel, Access Services

Groundhog Day (2008)

by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

In this film, Bill Murray portrays weatherman Phil's starting fresh over and over and over again. Suspended in the snowy purgatory of Punxsutawney, Phil is doomed to eternally press the reset button until he is inspired to change himself, becoming a better, less self-centered person. - Janet, Fiction, Movies & Music

Tags
Library News