It’s a new year, and we asked Times Union staffers, librarians, business owners and readers like you to recommend their favorite books that focus on new beginnings.

Research backs up the idea of “New year, new me.” In a 2014 paper, organizational psychologists introduced the idea of the “fresh start effect,” referring to a period of increased motivation at the ...

The New Year arrives quietly, even amid fireworks and celebrations. Beneath the noise, there is a collective pause—an invisible line drawn between what has been and what could be. It’s this pause that ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Book Swap newsletter recommendations for January 2026. (Amazon) It's that time of year. The holidays are well behind us. We're ...