SUMMER READING! HERE’S TO

Our friendly staff at the Peachtree Corners branch brainstormed their top picks for your summer reading lists!

FOR ADULTS:

Remembered

by Yvonne Battle-Felton

The House of the Spirits by Isabella

Allende Kaikeyi

by Vaishnavi Patel

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim

FOR KIDS:

Chu’s Day at the Beach by Neil

Gaiman

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew

Daywalt

The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don

Wood

gwinnettpl.org

I Must Have Bobo by Eileen

Rosanthal

The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia

Sarcone-Roach

Most people I know wish they could have more time in their day. Dr. Loehr and his work at the Human Performance Institute helps us instead get more day in our time.

The Power of Full Engagement teaches lessons learned from performance psychology and human performance that can help anyone from the c-suite to the street do more of their best work and live more of their best life, regardless of how much time or work they have. This should be required reading for life!

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

In this complex young adult novel, two teenagers struggle with the many realities of becoming an adult, as well as the challenges they face from all who inhabit their lives. From stages of grief to the difficulties of forgiveness and the many layers of family sacrifice, Sabaa Tahir truly delivers a fresh take on American realities from an outsider’s perspective.

By looking directly at humanity through a multicolored lens, Tahir creates a reading experience that you’ll not soon forget.

all wonderful authors of historical fiction.

on business. This book goes beyond leadership in business and includes other key areas of life including marriage, family and finances.

This is Carley’s newest book, and it is the perfect summer read. I fell in love with this author after reading her book Every Summer After last year and have been waiting for this one to come out. She did not disappoint!

This book captures the summer lake setting perfectly and I love the two timelines of each character as the story unfolds and the reader gets closer to figuring out what separated them to begin with.

Picking a single book that shaped my life would be an impossible task. I have learned over time to enjoy the discovery of new and old titles to keep the adventures fresh.

■ Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger is a fantasy series that follows a strong female lead who discovers she is not human.

■ From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks is realistic fiction story about 12-year-old Zoe who receives a letter from her biological father who is in prison.

■ Canyon’s Edge by Dusty Bowling is a novel in verse about a young girl’s struggle for survival after a climbing trip with her father goes terribly wrong.

■ Front Desk by Kelly Yang takes place in the 90s and is based loosely on Kelly Yang’s experience growing up as an immigrant in America.

■ Rescue by Jennifer Nielson is a World War II story of espionage and intrigue, as one girl races to save her father and aid the French resistance.

■ Also, Alan Gratz, Marsha Skrypuck and Jennifer Nielson are

Know

Change by

Every year people talk about what makes us different: race, economics, nationality and even gender. The leaders of the “One Race” movement frames up a spiritually inspired path to reconciliation through Christ.

Know Own Change is a spiritual change management book that can have an impact individually on your walk with God and as a society if his followers stop sitting on the sidelines, asking and watching and instead start doing His work to change this world right here at home.

Reading is incredibly important, particularly in a world where misand dis-information spread like wildfire with just a simple tweet. Fahrenheit 451 is set in a dystopian world where reading is banned and social bonds between people have become almost nonexistent. I read this when I was younger and it had a major impact on me to this day because its social commentary continues to be relevant as time goes on.

Someone gave this book to me, and it caught my attention because the author has over 60 years of leadership experience. During that time, any leader most likely would have gone through many different trials and challenges, and I’m interested in hearing about the wisdom he has gained.

Many leadership books have been written and a lot of them focus

Outlive: The Art and Science of Longevity by Peter Attia

Younger Next Year for Women by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge

I’m predominately a non-fiction reader and I’m back in grad school studying Gerontology, so my selections may seem boring but could be of interest to readers who want to learn how to be pro-aging instead of anti-aging. After all, who doesn’t want to be a pro at aging?

These well-written, lay-person-friendly books comprise some of the latest research on how to live longer, healthier lives and prevent diseases commonly associated with aging. Now for a shameless plug: one way to start living your best life is get moving, stay active and sign up for the Light Up The Corners Glow Run at The Forum on August 12th!

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro is a great fiction novel about the impact of a lie; the book is told from multiple points of view and weaves back in forth in time.

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoors — Set in India, it’s a thriller that dives deep into the underworld of New Delhi’s crime syndicate. This will most certainly be seen on streaming platform before long!

Whatever Happened to Ruthy Ramirez? by Claire Jimeniz is a great beach book. Humor, mystery, drama all in one.

Exodus by Leon Uris

Exodus is one of the best-selling historical novels of all time and one of the most powerful books I’ve ever read. It is not light reading and will take readers on a very emotional journey. This novel goes well beyond what Hollywood portrays in the movie and does so with a much more accurate lens of the events it covers. It not only broadens the reader’s knowledge of history, but also deepens their understanding and background of current world events.

While Exodus sheds light on one of the greatest human tragedies, it also highlights hope and perseverance. I highly recommend it be on everyone’s book bucket list.

The Day the World Came to Town by Jim DeFede

When the U.S. airspace was closed on 9-11, 38 passenger planes were forced to land in a small town in Canada on Newfoundland Island. The townspeople welcomed the weary travelers — over 6,500 people from all over the world — into their homes for four days. The acts of kindness, humanity and goodwill in this true story will touch your heart.

The author is a future forecaster and game designer who works at the Institute for the Future in California. She led simulations in 2008 that predicted what would happen if there were a global outbreak of a respiratory virus with uncanny accuracy to what actually happened with COVID-19. That’s fascinating since many news stories claimed that COVID-19 was “unimaginable” or “unthinkable.”

For science-fiction fans (or even those who may not think themselves fans), two of my all-time favorites are Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke and Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. These are both classics in the genre. Rama is particularly fun as a crew from Earth explore a huge unknown object that has approached our planet. Ender is a young man trained by the government to help fight a hostile alien force trying to take over the planet. Pure escapist fun!

A second suggestion for a book I enjoyed reading recently is Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. It’s been on the best-seller list since it was published and is a compelling and very well-written story. Truthfully, it is not an easy read from an emotional standpoint. Just when you think that things can’t get any worse for Demon, they do. The characters are well-defined and the story provides insight into some of the real-world problems afflicting the Appalachian region.

One of my favorites for light reading is G.A. McKevett’s Savannah Reid series. There are many books in this series and if you order on Kindle, the older books are free.

In the first book, Just Desserts, we meet the main character — blackbelt and gun-carrying Savannah living in a plush suburb of San Carmelita, California. She’s a voluptuous private investigator who was born in Georgia to a mama who dropped in to have babies and dropped out once the babies were born. All the kids are named after Georgia towns, and their sweet Grandmama is Savannah’s moral compass who raised all these kids.

Savannah is busy being a super solver of crimes while frying up the best-fried chicken ever. Walk into her kitchen anytime and she will have her brain at work on solving the latest murder as she whips up something sweet.

— Zhenia Kaplan

The Broker by John Grisham

The Broker is a suspense novel that weaves mystery, corruption and possible murder as you navigate through the legal system, the politics of pardons and the influence of the CIA. This page turner keeps you guessing who will win in the end. Perfect reading for the beach or sitting by the pool.

These simulations can be used in your own life to imagine the future and you are able to “see” the future using the exercises she provides. When the future arrives, you feel prepared because you’ve already thought about what you would do if the “unimaginable” actually happened. Not only is it very interesting to read about the psychology and neuroscience being used to solve world problems, but there is a direct application to your own life.

All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow & Liz Lawson

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

These three titles represent some of the most popular YA books for teen readers — Georgia Peach Book Award Nominees. All My Rage is on every “it” list right now. Tahir takes the reader on a journey through family, forgiveness, love and loss across generations.

The Agathas will be your favorite murder mystery that you cannot put down as you try to solve the case in this Agatha Christie inspired mystery. I Must Betray You is a historical thriller about communist Romania and a citizen spy looking to expose the truth.

— Lorraine McCullough and Lauren Hagey, Media Specialists, Norcross High School

10 Favorite Top Picks for Business Leaders

Suggested by Travis Dommert

■ Essentialism: The disciplines pursuit of less by Greg McKeown — in a culture of more (and overwhelm), we need a new skill set: the disciplined pursuit of less, but better.

■ Crucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny, Karry Peterson, et al — gold standard in skills training for anyone who needs to get along with other humans (That’s all of us!).

■ Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain by Dr. John Ratey — mind-blowing research that shows the impact movement and exercise has on our mental health.

■ The 100X Leader by Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram — a powerful leadership book built on the idea of becoming a leader worth following who is 100% healthy and multiplies.

■ The Challenger Sale by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson — terrific insights from successful salespeople from the Great Recession.

■ Outliers: The story of success by Malcolm Gladwell — seminal book about extraordinary achievement.

■ The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle — fascinating look at the science of skill-building and what it takes to become great at something.

■ Never Finished by David Goggins — deep look into the mindset of Navy SEAL warrior David Goggins after he became famous.

■ The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath — profound look into why we only remember a tiny fraction of our lives and how to make powerful memories.

■ Living with a SEAL by Jesse Itzler — fun book about Sarah Blakely’s husband hiring a Navy SEAL to train him for a month; it’s nuts!

After completing an externship with Peachtree Corners back in the fall of 2022, Abbey joined our team knowing that we want to build up our passion about patient care with additional caring Veterinarians. She will be Accepting New Clients starting June 2023. Dr. Parsons' is a graduate of the University of Georgia Veterinary School. Her passion is being able to help her community and interact with owners! She feels strongly that pets are members of the family and if she can help maintain those relationships, she feels like she has done the job. She loves spending time with her yellow lab mix Kali and her two cats Tito & Kronk, which she spoils rotten (as they should be).