Melissa's Staff Picks

I'm a librarian at Southeast Regional Library, and these are some of my favorite reads! Feel free to email me at melissa.schultz@wakegov.com if you enjoyed one of these books!
 

Showing 1 - 20 of 28  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.

1. Apples never fall: a novel

Book cover for "Apples never fall"
Star rating for Apples never fall
Author:
Moriarty, Liane
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"A novel that looks at marriage, sibling rivalry, and the lies we tell others and ourselves"-- "After fifty years of marriage, Stan and Joy Delaney are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy's door. She says she chose their house because it looked the friendliest. And since Savannah is bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend, the Delaneys are more than happy to give...

2. Babel: or, the necessity of violence : an arcane history of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

Book cover for "Babel"
Star rating for Babel
Author:
Kuang, R. F. (Rebecca F.)
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire. Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious...

3. The book woman of Troublesome Creek: a novel

Book cover for "The book woman of Troublesome Creek"
Star rating for The book woman of Troublesome Creek
Author:
Richardson, Kim Michele
Series:
Book woman of Trouble Creek volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Cussy Mary Carter is the last of her kind, her skin the color of a blue damselfly in these dusty hills. But that doesn't mean she's got nothing to offer. As a member of the Pack Horse Library Project, Cussy delivers books to the hill folk of Troublesome, hoping to spread learning in these desperate times. But not everyone is so keen on Cussy's family or the Library Project, and the hardscrabble Kentuckians are quick to blame a Blue for any trouble...

4. The bookish life of Nina Hill

Book cover for "The bookish life of Nina Hill"
Star rating for The bookish life of Nina Hill
Author:
Waxman, Abbi
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print
Description:
"Nina Hill's life may not seem like much, but for a person battling anxiety, it's more than enough. She enjoys her job at a bookstore and her small circle of friends. Until a visit from a lawyer changes everything...The father that Nina never knew existed has died, leaving behind an enormous extended family. Nina now has innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, and cousins all living within a twenty-mile radius--some welcoming and some not...

5. The cartographers: a novel

Book cover for "The cartographers"
Star rating for The cartographers
Author:
Shepherd, Peng
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"What is the purpose of a map? Nell Young's whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell's personal hero. But she hasn't seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map. But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless...

6. The cuckoo's calling

Book cover for "The cuckoo's calling"
Star rating for The cuckoo's calling
Author:
Galbraith, Robert
Series:
Cormoran Strike novels volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office. Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier....

7. Eight perfect murders: a novel

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Star rating for Eight perfect murders
Author:
Swanson, Peter, 1968-
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre's most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack--which he titled "Eight Perfect Murders"--chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie's A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin's Deathtrap, A. A. Milne's The Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double...

8. Exiles

Book cover for "Exiles"
Star rating for Exiles
Author:
Harper, Jane (Jane Elizabeth)
Series:
Aaron Falk novels volume 3.
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her stroller, her mother vanishing into the crowds. A year on, Kim Gillespie's absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family. Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group...

9. The goldfinch

Book cover for "The goldfinch"
Star rating for The goldfinch
Author:
Tartt, Donna
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Alone and abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a friend's family and struggles to make sense of his new life. In the years that follow, he becomes entranced by one of the few things that reminds him of his mother: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the art underworld. Composed with the skills...

10. The guest list: a novel

Book cover for "The guest list"
Star rating for The guest list
Author:
Foley, Lucy (Novelist)
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one... The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes....

11. The it girl

Book cover for "The it girl"
Star rating for The it girl
Author:
Ware, Ruth
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends--Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily--during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing...

12. The lies I tell: a novel

Book cover for "The lies I tell"
Star rating for The lies I tell
Author:
Clark, Julie, 1971-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Meg Williams. Maggie Littleton. Melody Wilde. Different names for the same person, depending on the town, depending on the job. She's a con artist who erases herself to become whoever you need her to be. A college student. A life coach. A real estate agent. But nothing about her is real. She slides alongside you and tells you exactly what you want to hear, and by the time she's done, you've likely lost everything. Kat Roberts has been waiting ten...

13. The lying game

Book cover for "The lying game"
Star rating for The lying game
Author:
Ware, Ruth
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
The text message arrives in the small hours of the night. It's just three words: I need you. Isa drops everything, takes her baby daughter and heads straight to Salten. She spent the most significant days of her life at boarding school on the marshes there, days which still cast their shadow over her. At school Isa and her three best friends used to play the Lying Game They competed to convince people of the most outrageous stories. Now, after seventeen...

14. Magpie murders

Book cover for "Magpie murders"
Star rating for Magpie murders
Author:
Horowitz, Anthony, 1955-
Series:
Magpie murders volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eBook
Description:
When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway's latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan's traditional formula has proved hugely successful. Conway's latest tale has Atticus Pund investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing...

15. The nickel boys: a novel

Book cover for "The nickel boys"
Star rating for The nickel boys
Author:
Whitehead, Colson, 1969-
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
Follows the experiences of two African-American teenagers at an abusive reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

16. Nine perfect strangers

Book cover for "Nine perfect strangers"
Star rating for Nine perfect strangers
Author:
Moriarty, Liane
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
Nine people gather at a remote health resort. Some are here to lose weight, some are here to get a reboot on life, some are here for reasons they can't even admit to themselves. Amidst all of the luxury and pampering, the mindfulness and meditation, they know these ten days might involve some real work. But none of them could imagine just how challenging the next ten days are going to be. Frances Welty, the formerly best-selling romantic novelist,...

17. People we meet on vacation

Book cover for "People we meet on vacation"
Star rating for People we meet on vacation
Author:
Henry, Emily
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"When Poppy met Alex, there was no spark, no chemistry, and no reason to think they'd ever talk again. Alex is quiet, studious, and destined for a future in academia. Poppy is a wild child who only came to U of Chicago to escape small-town life. But after sharing a ride home for the summer, the two form a surprising friendship. After all, who better to confide in than someone you could never, ever date? Over the years, Alex and Poppy's lives take...

18. Persuasion

Book cover for "Persuasion"
Star rating for Persuasion
Author:
Austen, Jane, 1775-1817
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
The romance between Captain Wentworth and Anne, the daughter of Sir Walter Elliot, seems doomed because of the young man's family connections and lack of wealth.

19. The plot

Book cover for "The plot"
Star rating for The plot
Author:
Korelitz, Jean Hanff, 1961-
Series:
Book (Korelitz) volume 1.
Average Rating:
3.4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he's teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what's left of his self-respect; he hasn't written-let alone published-anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn't need Jake's help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as...

20. Recursion: a novel

Book cover for "Recursion"
Star rating for Recursion
Author:
Crouch, Blake
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Memory makes reality. That's what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome--a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It's why she's dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts....