Maya's Staff Picks (Top Favorite)

I highly recommend these top-rated books as a must-read because they offer a unique blend of captivating storytelling, relatable characters, and thought-provoking themes that will resonate with readers of all genres. These books have been widely acclaimed for their exceptional writing, well-developed plots, and ability to evoke emotions, making them a valuable addition to any bookshelf. Whether you're looking for a thrilling adventure, a heartwarming romance, or a journey of self-discovery, these books are sure to captivate and leave a lasting impression long after the final page is turned. In addition, the non-fiction titles provide valuable knowledge and expert insights on topics such as science, history, and personal development, while the biographies grant readers a unique glimpse into the lives of inspiring individuals who have shaped our world. Meanwhile, the sci-fi and fantasy novels transport us to new and imaginative realms, exploring complex themes and ideas that challenge our understanding of the universe and our place within it. With their engaging narratives, well-researched content, and memorable characters, these books are sure to educate, entertain, and inspire, making them a must-read for anyone looking to expand their minds and broaden their horizons.

Showing 1 - 14 of 14  There are a total of 105 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Alexander Hamilton"
Star rating for Alexander Hamilton
Author:
Average Rating:
3.9 stars
Description:
Few figures in American history have been more hotly debated or more grossly misunderstood than Alexander Hamilton. Chernow's biography gives Hamilton his due and sets the record straight, deftly illustrating that the political and economic greatness of today's America is the result of Hamilton's countless sacrifices to champion ideas that were often wildly disputed during his time. "To repudiate his legacy," Chernow writes, "is, in many ways, to...
Book cover for "All the light we cannot see"
Star rating for All the light we cannot see
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:
"From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six,...
Book cover for "Becoming Trader Joe"
Star rating for Becoming Trader Joe
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:

Build an iconic shopping experience that your customers love—and a work environment that your employees love being a part of—using this blueprint from Trader Joe's visionary founder, Joe Coulombe.

Infuse your organization with a distinct personality and culture that draws customers in a way that simply competing on price cannot.

Joe Coulombe founded what would become Trader Joe's in the late 1960s and helped

...
Book cover for "The four winds"
Star rating for The four winds
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"[A]n epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America's most defining eras--the Great Depression. Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, the water is drying up, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with...
Book cover for "The girl with the make-believe husband"
Star rating for The girl with the make-believe husband
Series:
Rokesby series volume 2.
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
While you were sleeping... With her brother Thomas injured on the battlefront in the Colonies, orphaned Cecilia Harcourt has two unbearable choices: move in with a maiden aunt or marry a scheming cousin. Instead, she chooses option three and travels across the Atlantic, determined to nurse her brother back to health. But after a week of searching, she finds not her brother but his best friend, the handsome officer Edward Rokesby. He's unconscious...
Book cover for "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society"
Star rating for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
In 1946, writer Juliet Ashton finds inspiration for her next book in her correspondence with a native of Guernsey, who tells her about the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a book club born as an alibi during German occupation. As London is emerging from the shadow of World War II, writer Juliet Ashton discovers her next subject in a book club on Guernsey--a club born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi after its members are discovered breaking...

7. Heidi

Book cover for "Heidi"
Star rating for Heidi
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
A Swiss orphan is heartbroken when she must leave her beloved grandfather and their happy home in the mountains to go to school and to care for an invalid girl in the city.
Book cover for "Homegoing"
Star rating for Homegoing
Author:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:
"Two half sisters, Effia and Esi, unknown to each other, are born into two different tribal villages in 18th century Ghana. Effia will be married off to an English colonial, and will live in comfort in the sprawling, palatial rooms of Cape Coast Castle, raising half-caste children who will be sent abroad to be educated in England before returning to the Gold Coast to serve as administrators of the Empire. Her sister, Esi, will be imprisoned beneath...
Book cover for "Inside out & back again"
Star rating for Inside out & back again
Average Rating:
3.6 stars
Description:
Through a series of poems, a young girl chronicles the life-changing year of 1975, when she, her mother, and her brothers leave Vietnam and resettle in Alabama.
Book cover for "Little women"
Star rating for Little women
Series:
Average Rating:
4.6 stars
Description:
Chronicles the joys and sorrows of the four March sisters as they grow into young ladies in nineteenth-century New England.
Book cover for "A long walk to water"
Star rating for A long walk to water
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his family and must walk with other Dinka tribe members through southern Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya in search of safe haven. Based on the life of Salva Dut, who, after emigrating to America in 1996, began a project to dig water wells in Sudan. When the Sudanese civil war reaches his village in 1985, eleven-year-old Salva becomes separated from his...
Book cover for "Naked money"
Star rating for Naked money
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "News of the world"
Star rating for News of the world
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
"In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers...
Book cover for "The rise and fall of American growth"
Star rating for The rise and fall of American growth
Average Rating:
3.7 stars