AJ's Staff Picks


Showing 1 - 20 of 21  There are a total of 63 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao"
Star rating for The brief wondrous life of Oscar Wao
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
Oscar is a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who--from the New Jersey home he shares with his old world mother and rebellious sister--dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love. But Oscar may never get what he wants. Blame the fukú--a curse that has haunted Oscar's family for generations, following them on their epic journey from Santo Domingo to the USA. Encapsulating Dominican-American history, The...
Book cover for "The Canterbury tales"
Star rating for The Canterbury tales
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
Chaucer's celebrated work begins at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, England, where a group of pilgrims has assembled on their way to Canterbury. The inkeeper suggests a contest: whoever tells the best tale "Shall have supper at our aller cost".
Book cover for "Circe"
Star rating for Circe
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Follows Circe, the banished witch daughter of Helios, as she hones her powers and interacts with famous mythological beings before a conflict with one of the most vengeful Olympians forces her to choose between the worlds of the gods and mortals.
Book cover for "A clockwork orange"
Star rating for A clockwork orange
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:

A vicious fifteen-year-old droog is the central character of this 1963 classic. In Anthony Burgess's nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, who talks in a brutal invented slang that brilliantly renders his and his friends' social pathology. A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil, and the meaning of human freedom. And when the state undertakes

...
Book cover for "Every body yoga"
Star rating for Every body yoga
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"From the unforgettable teacher Jessamyn Stanley comes Every Body Yoga, a book that breaks all the stereotypes. It's a book of inspiration for beginners of all shapes and sizes: If Jessamyn could transcend these emotional and physical barriers, so can we. It's a book for readers already doing yoga, looking to refresh their practice or find new ways to stay motivated. It's a how-to book: Here are easy-to-follow directions to 50 basic yoga poses and...
Book cover for "The final girl support group"
Star rating for The final girl support group
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"A fast-paced, thrilling horror novel that follows a group of heroines to die for, from the brilliant New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. In horror movies, the final girl is the one who's left standing when the credits roll. The one who fought back, defeated the killer, and avenged her friends. The one who emerges bloodied but victorious, a victim and a hero. But after the sirens fade and the audience...
Book cover for "The great Gatsby"
Star rating for The great Gatsby
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
A young man newly rich tries to recapture the past and win back his former love, despite the fact that she has married. This edition is the enduring original text, updated with the author's own revisions, a foreword by his granddaughter, and with a new introduction by National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward. The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published by Scribner in 1925, this...
Book cover for "How to be an antiracist"
Star rating for How to be an antiracist
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning comes a “groundbreaking” (Time) approach to understanding and uprooting racism and inequality in our society and in ourselves—now updated, with a new preface.
“The most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the Western mind.”—The New York...
Book cover for "How to sell a haunted house"
Star rating for How to sell a haunted house
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
"New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a hilarious and terrifying new novel that explores the way your past-and your family-can haunt you like nothing else.... Louise's parents have passed away, and she's returning to the small Southern town where she grew up to get their house ready to sell. It means she'll have to spend time with her younger brother-and their old grudges make that a terrifying prospect. But...
Book cover for "I am legend"
Star rating for I am legend
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:

The basis for the film starring Academy Award nominee Will Smith, I Am Legend is a classic of horror and suspense.

In I Am Legend, a terrible plague has decimated the world, and those who were unfortunate enough to survive are transformed into bloodthirsty creatures of the night. Robert Neville is the last living man on earth. Every other man, woman, and child has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood. By day, he is

...
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 "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Star rating for The Importance of Being Earnest
Average Rating:
4 stars

13. Kindred

Book cover for "Kindred"
Star rating for Kindred
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned across the years to save him. After this first summons, Dana is drawn back, again and again, to the plantation to protect Rufus and ensure that he will grow to manhood and father...
Book cover for "Lord of the flies"
Star rating for Lord of the flies
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
The tale begins after a plane wreck deposits a group of English school boys, aged six to twelve on an isolated tropical island. Their struggle to survive and impose order quickly evolves from a battle against nature into a battle against their own primitive instincts. Golding's portrayal of the collapse of social order into chaos draws the fine line between innocence and savagery. The classic study of human nature which depicts the degeneration of...
Book cover for "Mexican Gothic"
Star rating for Mexican Gothic
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
"The acclaimed author of Gods of Jade and Shadow returns with a darkly enchanting reimagining of Gothic fantasy, in which a spirited young woman discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old mansion in 1950s Mexico."--
Book cover for "My best friend's exorcism"
Star rating for My best friend's exorcism
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"A heartwarming story of friendship and demonic possession. The year is 1988. High school sophomores Abby and Gretchen have been best friends since fourth grade. But after an evening of skinny-dipping goes disastrously wrong, Gretchen begins to act different. She s moody. She s irritable. And bizarre incidents keep happening whenever she s nearby. Abby s investigation leads her to some startling discoveries and by the time their story reaches its...
Book cover for "The odyssey"
Star rating for The odyssey
Author:
Average Rating:
4.1 stars
Description:
"The first great adventure story in the Western canon, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty, and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. In this ... version--the first English translation ... by a woman--this stirring tale of shipwrecks, monsters, and magic comes alive in an entirely new way. Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary...
Book cover for "Over the top"
Star rating for Over the top
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

NPR'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

INDIE BESTSELLER

GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER: BEST MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY



A laugh-and-cry-out-loud memoir from the beloved star of Netflix's Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness

Who gave Jonathan Van Ness permission to

...
Book cover for "The song of Achilles"
Star rating for The song of Achilles
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
Patroclus, an awkward young prince, follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate. Set during the Trojan War.
Book cover for "The southern book club's guide to slaying vampires"
Star rating for The southern book club's guide to slaying vampires
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"A supernatural thriller set in South Carolina in the '90s about a women's book club that must protect its suburban community from a mysterious stranger who turns out to be a real monster"--