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 21 - 40 of 51  There are a total of 208 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "I am Malala"
Star rating for I am Malala
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday October 9, 2012, she almost paid the ultimate price. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the...
Book cover for "I'm glad my mom died"
Star rating for I'm glad my mom died
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor--including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother--and how she retook control of her life"--
Book cover for "I'm still here"
Star rating for I'm still here
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
An "account of growing up Black, Christian, and female in middle-class white America ... [that looks] at how white, middle-class, evangelicalism has participated in an era of rising racial hostility, inviting the reader to confront apathy, recognize God's ongoing work in the world, and discover how blackness--if we let it--can save us all"--Amazon.com.
Book cover for "The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks"
Star rating for The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
Documents the story of how scientists took cells from an unsuspecting descendant of freed slaves and created a human cell line that has been kept alive indefinitely, enabling discoveries in such areas as cancer research, in vitro fertilization, and gene mapping.
Book cover for "Jesus and John Wayne"
Star rating for Jesus and John Wayne
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"A scholar of American Christianity answers perhaps the most bewildering question of our time: Why are evangelicals "the Donald's" most fervent supporters? Donald Trump is a libertine who lacks even basic knowledge of the Christian faith. Yet in 2016 he won 81 percent of the white evangelical vote, and continues to rely on white evangelicals as his base of support. While we assume the religious right has pragmatic reasons for backing Trump, in truth...
Book cover for "Just mercy"
Star rating for Just mercy
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
The founder of the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama recounts his experiences as a lawyer working to assist those desperately in need, reflecting on his pursuit of the ideal of compassion in American justice.
Book cover for "Killers of the Flower Moon"
Star rating for Killers of the Flower Moon
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE
“A shocking whodunit…What
...
Book cover for "The lazy genius way"
Star rating for The lazy genius way
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"Be productive without sacrificing peace of mind with the Lazy Genius strategy of focusing on what really matters and ignoring what doesn't. If you need a comprehensive self-help strategy but are tired of reading stacks of self-help books, here is an easy way that actually works. No more cobbling together life hacks and productivity strategies from dozens of authors and still feeling tired. The struggle is real, but it doesn't have to be in charge"--...
Book cover for "The library book"
Star rating for The library book
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
A REESE WITHERSPOON x HELLO SUNSHINE BOOK CLUB PICK

A WASHINGTON POST TOP 10 BOOK OF THE YEAR * A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018

"A constant pleasure to read...Everybody who loves books should check out The Library Book." —The Washington Post

"CAPTIVATING...DELIGHTFUL." —Christian Science Monitor...
Book cover for "The making of biblical womanhood"
Star rating for The making of biblical womanhood
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"A trusted historian shows that "biblical womanhood" isn't biblical, but was born in a clearly definable historical moment, and presents a better way forward for the contemporary church"--
Book cover for "The murder of Roger Ackroyd"
Star rating for The murder of Roger Ackroyd
Series:
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:

"This is Agatha Christie's masterpiece, and if she never wrote another word, she'd have still gone down as the Queen." –LOUISE PENNY, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"Ingenious and unexpected." –NEW YORK TIMES

The official edition of the beloved classic voted by the British Crime Writers' Association as the "Best Crime Novel of all Time," now featuring a new introduction by

...
Book cover for "The nineties"
Star rating for The nineties
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"Essays about 1990s popular culture, politics, sports, literature, music"--
Book cover for "The power of habit"
Star rating for The power of habit
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • MORE THAN 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD • This instant classic explores how we can change our lives by changing our habits.

“Few [books] become essential manuals for business and living. The Power of Habit is an exception.”—Financial Times


A WALL STREET JOURNAL AND FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

In...
Book cover for "The road back to you"
Star rating for The road back to you
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:

The Book That Started a Million Enneagram Journeys!

What you don't know about yourself can hurt you and your relationships—and even keep you in the shallows with God. Do you want help figuring out who you are and why you're stuck in the same ruts?

The Enneagram is an ancient personality typing system with an uncanny accuracy in describing how human beings are wired, both positively and negatively. In The Road Back to

...
Book cover for "Save me the plums"
Star rating for Save me the plums
Author:
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
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...
Book cover for "She said"
Star rating for She said
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
From the reporters who broke the news of Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment and abuse comes the untold story of their investigation and their involvement in reporting on the Christine Blasey Ford allegations against Brett Kavanaugh, and their consequences for the #MeToo movement.
Book cover for "Smarter faster better"
Star rating for Smarter faster better
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"At the core of [this book] are eight key concepts--from motivation and goal setting to focus and decision making--that explain why some people and companies get so much done. Drawing on the latest findings in neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics--as well as the experiences of CEOs, educational reformers, four-star generals, FBI agents, airplane pilots, and Broadway songwriters--this ... book explains that the most productive people,...
Book cover for "Southern Lady Code"
Star rating for Southern Lady Code
Author:
Average Rating:
3.1 stars
Description:
"A fiercely funny collection of essays on marriage and manners, thank you notes and three-ways, ghosts, gunshots, gynecology, and the Calgon-scented, onion-dipped, monogrammed art of living as a Southern Lady" --

39. Spare

Book cover for "Spare"
Star rating for Spare
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
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...
Book cover for "Stiff"
Star rating for Stiff
Author:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:

Beloved, best-selling science writer Mary Roach’s “acutely entertaining, morbidly fascinating” (Susan Adams, Forbes) classic, now with a new epilogue.

For two thousand years, cadavers – some willingly, some unwittingly – have been involved in science’s boldest strides and weirdest undertakings. They’ve tested France’s first guillotines, ridden the NASA Space Shuttle, been crucified

...