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 41 - 60 of 61  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.

41. Remarkably bright creatures: a novel

Book cover for "Remarkably bright creatures"
Star rating for Remarkably bright creatures
Author:
Van Pelt, Shelby
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"For fans of A Man Called Ove, a ... debut novel about a widow's unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium--and the truths she finally uncovers about her son's disappearance 30 years ago"--

42. Save me the plums: my Gourmet memoir

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Star rating for Save me the plums
Author:
Reichl, Ruth
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"When Condé Nast offered Ruth Reichl the top position at America's oldest epicurean magazine, she declined. She was a writer, not a manager, and had no inclination to be anyone's boss. Yet Reichl had been reading Gourmet since she was eight; it had inspired her career. How could she say no? This is the story of a former Berkeley hippie entering the corporate world and worrying about losing her soul. It is the story of the moment restaurants became...

43. Sea of Tranquility

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Star rating for Sea of Tranquility
Author:
Mandel, Emily St. John, 1979-
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
The "author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel returns with a novel of art, time, love, and plague that takes the reader from an island off Vancouver in 1912 to a dark colony of the moon three hundred years later, unfurling a story of humanity across centuries and planets"--

44. The searcher

Book cover for "The searcher"
Star rating for The searcher
Author:
French, Tana
Series:
Cal Hooper novels volume 1
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Cal Hooper thought a fixer-upper in a bucolic Irish village would be the perfect escape. After twenty-five years in the Chicago police force and a bruising divorce, he just wants to build a new life in a pretty spot with a good pub where nothing much happens. But when a local kid whose brother has gone missing arm-twists him into investigating, Cal uncovers layers of darkness beneath his picturesque retreat, and starts to realize that even small...

45. Searching for Sylvie Lee: a novel

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Star rating for Searching for Sylvie Lee
Author:
Kwok, Jean
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook
Description:
Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, vanishes. Terrified yet determined, Amy, the sheltered baby of the family, retraces her movements, but instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth.

46. Spare

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Author:
Harry, Prince, Duke of Sussex, 1984-
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling, and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. With its raw, unflinching honesty, Prince Harry shares a landmark publication...

47. The storied life of A.J. Fikry: a novel

Book cover for "The storied life of A.J. Fikry"
Star rating for The storied life of A.J. Fikry
Author:
Zevin, Gabrielle
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
When his most prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, is stolen, bookstore owner A. J. Fikry begins isolating himself from his friends, family and associates before receiving a mysterious package that compels him to remake his life. Bookstore owner A. J. Fikry is offered the chance to make his life over when a mysterious and unexpected package arrives on the heels of the theft of his most prized possession, a rare collection of Edgar Allan...

48. The stranger in the woods: the extraordinary story of the last true hermit

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Star rating for The stranger in the woods
Author:
Finkel, Michael
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"In 1986, twenty-year-old Christopher Knight left his home in Massachusetts, drove to Maine, and disappeared into the woods. He would not have a conversation with another human being until nearly three decades later when he was arrested for stealing food. Living in a tent even in winter, he had survived by his wits and courage, developing ingenious ways to store food and water to avoid freezing to death ... Based on extensive interviews with Knight...

49. Such a fun age: a novel

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Star rating for Such a fun age
Author:
Reid, Kiley
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains' toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store's security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar....

50. Talking to strangers: what we should know about the people we don't know

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Author:
Gladwell, Malcolm, 1963-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
The popular podcast host and author explores how people interact with strangers and why these exchanges often go wrong, offering strategic tips for more accurate and productive interactions.

51. These precious days: essays

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Star rating for These precious days
Author:
Patchett, Ann
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
A literary alchemist, Ann Patchett plumbs the depths of her experiences to create gold: engaging and moving pieces that are both self-portrait and landscape, each vibrant with emotion and rich in insight. Turning her writer's eye on her own experiences, she transforms the private into the universal, providing us all a way to look at our own worlds anew, and reminds how fleeting and enigmatic life can be.

52. The Thursday murder club

Book cover for "The Thursday murder club"
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Author:
Osman, Richard, 1970-
Series:
Thursday Murder Club novels volume 1.
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club."-- "In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves The Thursday Murder Club"--

53. A tree grows in Brooklyn

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Star rating for A tree grows in Brooklyn
Author:
Smith, Betty, 1896-1972
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
An autobiographical novel concerning a young daughter of German immigrants growing up in the slums of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the early 20th century.

54. The turn of the key

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Star rating for The turn of the key
Author:
Ware, Ruth
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
The bestselling author of In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game, and The Death of Mrs. Westaway delivers her highly anticipated fifth novel. "When she stumbles across the ad, she's looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss--a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten--by the luxurious "smart" home...

55. Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption

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Author:
Hillenbrand, Laura
Average Rating:
4.7 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared--Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor.

56. The underground railroad: a novel

Book cover for "The underground railroad"
Star rating for The underground railroad
Author:
Whitehead, Colson, 1969-
Average Rating:
4 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
A magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South.

57. Vanderbilt: the rise and fall of an American dynasty

Book cover for "Vanderbilt"
Star rating for Vanderbilt
Author:
Cooper, Anderson
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
Anderson Cooper chronicles the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty--his mother's family--the Vanderbilts.

58. What Alice forgot

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Author:
Moriarty, Liane
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Formats:
Book, Audiobook, Large Print, OverDrive eBook
Description:
Suffering an accident that causes her to forget the last ten years of her life, Alice is astonished to discover that she is thirty-nine years old, a mother of three children, and in the midst of an acrimonious divorce from a man she dearly loves.

59. The woman in the library

Book cover for "The woman in the library"
Star rating for The woman in the library
Author:
Gentill, Sulari
Average Rating:
3.1 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
"The beautifully ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is completely silent one weekday morning, until a woman's terrified scream echoes through the room. Security guards immediately appear and instruct everyone inside to stay put until they determine there is no threat. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers who had been sitting in the reading room get to chatting and quickly become friendly. Harriet, Marigold, Whit, and Caine...

60. A woman of no importance: the untold story of the American spy who helped win World War II

Book cover for "A woman of no importance"
Star rating for A woman of no importance
Author:
Purnell, Sonia
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Formats:
Book, Large Print, OverDrive eAudiobook, OverDrive eBook
Description:
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Chosen as a BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR by NPR, the New York Public Library, Amazon, the Seattle Times, the Washington Independent Review of Books, PopSugar, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, BookBrowse, the Spectator, and the Times of London
Winner of the Plutarch Award for Best Biography

“Excellent…This book is as riveting as any...