The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien
A narrative of American soldiers in Vietnam: “They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the things they carried.”
Engaging Minds, Transforming Communities
Books@Work brings professor-led literature seminars to workplaces and community settings to build confidence, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. Through shared narratives, Books@Work builds human capacity to imagine, innovate and connect, strengthening cultures of trust, respect and inclusion.
What are we reading? Check out our bookshelf.
Bartleby the Scrivener - Herman Melville
Subtitled “A Tale of Wall Street,” this story focuses on the relationship between a lawyer and his employees, most notably the enigmatic copyist Bartleby who, when given a task, replies that he would “prefer not to.”
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass
Published in 1845, Douglass’s memoir is a foundational account of American slavery, recounting his journey from childhood on a plantation to his role as a spokesperson for the abolitionist movement.
Germinal - Émile Zola
Facing extreme poverty, miners protest worsening working conditions in a French mine and confront societal norms.
Stoner - John Williams
A powerful novel that follows the quiet tragedies and dreams of William Stoner, a fictional English professor at the University of Missouri.
Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen
One of the most famous novels in the English language, Austen’s masterpiece explores the role of “first impressions” in society and romantic relationships.
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
Written in 1931 and originally intended as a satirical novel, Brave New World depicts contemporary 20th century issues through a futuristic utopian lens.
Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
A sincere and deeply human autobiographical graphic novel about the author’s childhood during and after the Islamic revolution in Iran.
Man's Search for Meaning - Victor Frankl
The story of Frankl’s imprisonment in Auschwitz and his theories of what keeps people going in life challenging situations: meaning and desire to live for something larger than the self.
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg
An inventive novel about two woman, one middle aged and one elderly, enriched by the stories they share of the latter’s youth in Whistle Stop, Alabama.
My Ántonia - Willa Cather
A masterpiece of regional American literature, a novel of the prairie written in 1918 tells the story of the families of a fictional town in Nebraska.
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
First published in 1938, Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's account of his experiences during the Spanish Civil War.
The Road - Cormac McCarthy
A post-apocalyptic tale of a father and son, traveling a landscape marked by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and the majority of life on Earth.
Brother, I'm Dying - Edwidge Danticat
A powerful memoir, written in 2007, by a young Haitian writer whose life (and love) is split between family members in Haiti and the US, and the tragedies that befall both.
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The story of Amir, a young Afghan boy, whose closest friend is Hassan, his father's young servant.
The Republic of Wine - Mo Yan
A novel by Nobel Laureate Mo Yan about the Chinese people and their relationship to food and drink.
A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There - Aldo Leopold
A 1949 non-fiction book by an American ecologist, writing about the land around his Wisconsin home.
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin
Winner of the
Hugo and Nebula prizes for science fiction, LeGuin's
powerful novel tells the story of a human voyager to a planet where inhabitants can change their gender at will.
Lost Illusions - Honore de Balzac
The story of the handsome would-be poet Lucien Chardon, who learns that talent counts for less than money, intrigue and a lack of scruples. A classic of French literature.
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Perhaps the most famous book of the "beat generation," On the Road narrates a drive across the country in search of what Kerouac called "the inherent goodness in American man."
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
The 1969 autobiography of the early years of the poet and writer, Maya Angelou. Through rich metaphor, the book explores the the difficulties of an African-American girl coming of age in a white and male-dominated society.
The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
A memoir in the form of short stories by Holocaust survivor and chemist, Primo Levi, linking chemistry and humanity in broadly relevant ways.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
A satirical novel, centered around the fire-bombing of Dresden, exploring the World War II experiences of a soldier named Billy Pilgrim. Broadly considered Vonnegut's best novel.
The War of the Worlds - H.G. Wells
A science fiction novel of Mars and martians, first serialized in 1897 and made famous by Orson Welles' radio broadcast in 1938. First presented as a news bulletin, Welles' production caused panic among the listeners who thought the report was real.
About a Boy - Nick Hornby
Will Freeman, a forever-single bachelor living off the royalties of one Christmas song written by his father, discovers the perfect way to meet single women: attend support group meetings for single parents (even though Will doesn't actually have a child). Through this, he meets Marcus, a quirky 12 year old boy with whom he strikes up a friendship.
An Unquiet Mind - Kay Redfield Jamison
In her memoir, Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison, one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive (bipolar) illness, details her first-hand experiences with the illness.
Benito Cereno - Herman Melville
This book explores happens when an American merchant ship comes upon a mysterious Spanish ship where the nearly all-black crew and their white captain are starving and yet hostile to offers of help.
As We Are Now - May Sarton
This book tells the story of Caroline Spencer, a 76 year-old woman who, while mentally sharp, is physically frail and placed in a "home" by her relatives. Subjected to humiliation and cruelty, Caroline fights back.
Citizen 13660 - Mine Okubo
A memoir describing the author's time spent in relocation centers as one of the 110,000 Japanese-American citizens who was placed in "protective custody" during World War II.
50 Great Short Stories - Milton Crane, editor
A comprehensive selection of the world's finest short fiction. Authors represented include James Joyce, Henry James, Edgar Allen Poe, Katherine Anne Porter and E.B. White
Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift
This classic satire follows its main character, Lemuel Gulliver, through his adventures with the little people of Lilliput and his subsequent encounters with the crude giants of Brobdingnag, the philosophical Houyhnhnms and the brutish Yahoo - each giving Gulliver different insights into human behavior.
If I Stay - Gayle Forman
17-year-old Mia Hall deals with the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family. In a coma, Mia has an out-of-body experience, and watches as friends and family gather at the hospital where she is being treated. The only choice she has is to decide whether to wake up.
In the Garden of Beasts - Erik Larson
The true life story of William Dodd who served as the American Ambassador to Germany from 1933-1937. The book traces the relationship between Dodd and his daughter, Martha as the personal and political intersect as the terror of the Nazi regime unfolds.
In the Gloaming - Alice Elliott Dark
In these ten stories, Alice Elliott Dark visits the fictional town of Wynnemoor and its residents, present and past.
Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust - Immaculee Ilibagiza
This memoir of the Rwandan genocide traces the author's search for God and forgiveness while surviving 91 days with 7 other women hiding in a cramped bathroom as machete-wielding killers hunted for them.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two rivals (and ex-lovers) who use seduction as a weapon to humiliate and degrade others, all the while enjoying their cruel games and boasting about their manipulative talents.
Love Medicine - Louise Erdrich
A tale of two families and how their destinies intertwine over the course of fifty years on and around a North Dakota reservation.
Red Leaves - Thomas Cook
Eric Moore has a successful business and good family life until one night, when the girl his son is babysitting goes missing. Eric struggles with the aftermath and the fact that he isn't sure of his son's innocence.
Sandalwood Death - Mo Yan
Set during China's Boxer Rebellion, the novel centers around Sun Meiniang and the three paternal figures in her life.
The Glass Castle: A Memoir - Jeanette Walls
A memoir of the author's unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing with dysfunctional parents.
The Blood of Lorraine - Barbara Corrado Pope
The second in the Bernard Martin mystery series, the book follows a magistrate battling anti-Semitism in the province of Lorraine, France.
The Faith Club - Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner
Three American mothers of three different faiths come together to try and understand each other and their three religions.
The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway - Ernest Hemingway
The definitive collection of Hemingway's short stories, including "The Snows of Kilimanjaro", "Hills Like White Elephants" and "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place".
The Imperfectionists - Thomas Rachman
This debut novel follows the topsy-turvy private lives of the reporters and editors of an English-language newspaper in Rome as they try to keep a paper afloat as the age of print news gives way to the Internet age.
The God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy
Seven-year old twins who live with their affluent family in India see their world changed forever with the arrival of their beautiful young cousin.
Walden and Civil Disobedience - Henry David Thoreau
"Walden" details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond. "Civil Disobedience" is an essay that argues that individuals should prioritize their consciences over the government and laws.
What Work Is - Philip Levine
A poetry collection exploring many themes, including physical labor, class identity, family relationships and personal loss.
The Farm - Tom Rob Smith
Daniel's father swears his mother has experienced a psychotic break, while his mother believes his father is trying to keep her captive – he must travel to Sweden and unravel the truth.
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Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Forget everything you know about green monsters covered in scars. Shelley’s gothic novel, which she began writing when still a teenager, is a tale of loneliness, hubris, and the pursuit of knowledge.
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The Giver - Lois Lowry
In a dystopian society where emotions have been erased, the child who retains deep feelings struggles to find his place.
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The Interpreter of Maladies - Jhumpa Lahiri
Winner of the Pullitzer Prize and the Hemingway/PEN Foundation Award, this moving collection of Lahiri's short stories depicts the lives of Indian Americans who struggle to reconcile their new culture with the one they've left behind.
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The Stories of John Cheever - John Cheever
Sixty one stories from a master short story writer that explore people beneath the surface: the dichotomy between outer appearances and inner thoughts.
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In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
One of the most influential works of literary non-fiction, Capote tells the story of a murdered family in a small Kansas town.
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Dracula - Bram Stoker
Written in 1897, Dracula is the gothic novel, written in letters, that introduced the famous vampire and his efforts to move to England from Transylvania.
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Five Dialogues (Euthyprho, Apology, Crito, Meno, Phaedo) - Plato
Five powerful dialogues covering the most famous aspects of Socrates' life: his trial and subsequent execution.
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Close Range: Wyoming Stories - Annie Proulx
Known best for the story Brokeback Mountain, Proulx’ stark and often brutal short stories explore the rough edges of hardship, missed opportunity, sadness and spirit.
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A River Runs Through It - Norman McLean
A semi-autobiographical collection of short stories marrying nature, religion, humanity and fly fishing.
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Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain - David Eagleman
A neuroscientist answers the question: "If the conscious mind – the part you consider you – accounts for only a tiny fraction of the brain’s function, what is all the rest doing?"
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The Vintage Book of Latin American Short Stories - Carlos Fuentes, Julio Ortega, editors
An anthology of short stories by prominent Latin American writers, including stories by Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
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Broken Harbor - Tana French
Fourth novel in the Dublin Murder Squad series finds its main character, cop Mick "Scorcher" Kennedy trying to solve a triple homicide. This triple homicide reminds him of something that that happened in his past that he's tried to keep to keep tightly under control.
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The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
The first woman to
win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for this novel, Edith Wharton explores the values, biases, and institutions of people living in nineteenth century New York.
Snow Falling on Cedars - David Guterson
Set on the fictional San Piedro Island in the northern Puget Sound region of the state of Washington coast in 1954, the plot revolves around a murder case in which Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese American, is accused of killing Carl Heine, a respected fisherman in the close-knit community.
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The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
Private investigator Philip Marlowe is called to the home of a dying millionaire to help handle the blackmailer of one of his two daughters. Marlowe soon finds himself involved with more than extortion.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
The touching, hilarious tale narrated by Christopher, a gifted and incredibly logical teenager who struggles to interpret the world around him. When his neighbor's dog is found killed, Christopher takes it upon himself to investigate the murder.
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Othello - William Shakespeare
A tragedy of jealousy, manipulation, and revenge. Alongside Hamlet, the villain Iago may be one of Shakespeare’s most remarkable characters.
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
The story of Henrietta Lacks and the immortal cell line HeLa, that came from her cervical cancer cells in 1951.
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The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka
The classic novella in which a young man who, transformed overnight into a giant beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, a quintessentially alienated man.
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Collected Fictions - Jorge Luis Borges
Borges' Collected Fictions brings together his genre-bending and deeply philosophical works, showcasing his contributions to what would come to be called "magical realism" and his monumental place in Latin American literature.
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Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
A heartbreaking novel set in England that raises questions about what it means to live for yourself and for others. Never Let Me Go tells the story of children attending a special school for those who have been cloned and raised to live as organ donors.
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Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
This book tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate who attempted to live life on his own terms, culminating in his death in the Alaskan wilderness. In Krakauer's painstakingly researched work, he examines modern values expectations and the price of going against them.
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For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf - Ntozake Shange
The second play by an African American woman to be performed on Broadway, Shange's "choreopoem" is now a classic reflection on what it means to be black and female in America. Confronting issues such as rape, abandonment, abortion, and domestic violence, it is both unflinching and deeply compassionate.
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Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga
Nervous Conditions is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young woman in modern Africa. The story takes place in Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s and centers around female cousins who, until their early teens, lead very different lives.
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The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life.
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The Postmortal - Drew Magary
In this absorbing post-apocalyptic novel, a cure for aging profoundly alters the social, moral, and political landscape of the Earth.
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The Girl with All the Gifts - M.R. Carey
The young narrator of this post-apocalyptic thriller lives underground in a bunker and is retrieved every day by armed guards for school. The novel plays with several genres as it reveals surprising information about the narrator and raises questions about adaptation and survival.
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All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
Remarque's classic novel about the trench warfare of WWI tells the story of young German men struggling to make meaning out of senseless violence.
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Learning to Swim - Sara Henry
Learning to Swim centers on an amateur sleuth protagonist living in the Adirondacks in New York who rescues a child and uncovers dark secrets in unraveling the mystery of who the child is and how he came to be endangered in this gripping novel.
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When the Emperor was Divine - Julie Otsuka
Otsuka tells the story of a Japanese family displaced into an internment camp in California during WWII.
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All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
Doerr tells the stories of a blind French girl and a German boy growing up in the midst of WWII in this bestselling, Pulitzer Prize winning novel.
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H is for Hawk - Helen MacDonald
Winner of several awards, in H is for Hawk, MacDonald shares how she processed her grief on losing her father by training a goshawk, in solitude.
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Nervous Conditions - Tsitsi Dangarembga
Nervous Conditions is a semi-autobiographical coming of age story about a young woman in modern Africa. The story takes place in Rhodesia in the late 1960s and early 1970s and centers around female cousins who, until their early teens, lead very different lives.
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The Hard Way On Purpose - David Giffe
A moving portrait of Akron and Ohio, told by a native son who reflects candidly on the economic fall of the region and its effects on local culture.
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Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson's famous exploration of humanity's capacity for evil has become synonymous with the idea of a split personality. More than a morality tale, this dark psychological fantasy is also a product of its time, drawing on contemporary theories of class, evolution, criminality, and secret lives.
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The Book of Laughter and Forgetting - Milan Kundera
Published by the Czech writer, Milan Kundera in the 1970s, this book reflects on human existence in various forms – music, philosophy, and memoir, to name just a few. The book is divided into seven different brilliant reflections on aspects of life and living.
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"The Color Master" - Aimee Bender
This companion story to the classic fairytale "Donkeyskins" imagines the workplace where dresses the color of the moon, sun, and stars are created. It deftly illustrates issues around mentorship, confidence, and workplace ethics.
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Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance: a former student who has lost the will to live: Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse.
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The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman
In this powerful work of nonfiction, Ackerman tells the story of the Warsaw zookeepers, who saved hundreds of people from the Nazis during WWII.
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The Tempest - William Shakespeare
In one of Shakespeare's most lyrical plays, Prospero – a magician on an enchanted island – punishes his enemies, brings happiness to his daughter, and comes to terms with human use of supernatural power.
The Time Machine - H.G. Wells
The story that launched H.G. Wells’s successful career and earned him his reputation as the father of science fiction.
Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson
A cycle of short stories concerning life in a small town at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Complete Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi
Satrapi's memoir-in-comic-strips is the story of her coming of age in a large and loving family in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution.
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven - Sherman Alexi
These darkly comic short stories create a complex and grim portrait of life in and around the Spoke Indian Reservation.
The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics - Arthur Frank
A collection of illness stories, ranging from the well-known to the private testimonials of people with cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and disabilities.
Wild - Cheryl Strayed
A memoir of the author's 1100 mile solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail after her life has fallen apart.
Sheherazade Goes West - Fatima Mernissi
The world-renowned Islamic feminist tells her life story and experiences as an independent Moroccan woman facing Western culture.
My Year of Meats - Ruth Ozeki
A cross-cultural tale of two women brought together by unusual circumstances – Jane Takagi-Little, a producer of a Japanese TV show, and Akiko Ueno, a Japanese housewife trying to escape her overbearing husband.
Farmer's Almanac: A Work of Fiction - Chris Fink
The author works to crack open rural America in his imaginary handbook for rural living.
Daphnis and Chloe - Longus
The classic, ancient Greek story of a shepherd boy and girl who fall desperately in love, yet face incredible obstacles.
A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of Four - Arthur Conan Doyle
A Study in Scarlet marks the first appearance of famed detective Sherlock Holmes as he and Dr. Watson unravel a mysterious murder after their first acquaintance. In The Sign of Four, Watson confronts Holmes about his growing dependence on cocaine while they solve a mystery that links England, the Indian subcontinent, and Mormon country in Utah.
The Hound of the Baskervilles - Arthur Conan Doyle
Doyle weaves an eerie tale about the recent death of a baronet, seemingly caused by a spectral hound that has been haunting his family for generations. Set on Dartmoor in Devon, this is one of Doyle's most atmospheric and haunting works.
Selected Stories - Andre Dubus
In stories often compared to those of Carver and Chekhov, Dubus chronicles the struggles of blue-collar manufacturing towns in Massachusetts.
"We Like You So Much and Want to Know You Better" - Dave Eggers
Adapted from his novel, The Circle, "We Like You So Much" depicts Mae's arrival on the fictional campus of the world's largest tech company. Eggers slyly satirizes contemporary corporate culture, most notably in an obsession with rankings of employees via an in-house social media system.
Bacchae - Euripides
The story of a king who defied a god and, as punishment, was torn apart by women. One of the classics of ancient Greek drama, Bacchae reflects on the human duality of rationality and sensuality.
Medea - Euripides
An ancient greek tragedy wherein Medea takes revenge on her faithless husband by killing the children she shares with him as well as his new wife. Considered shocking when it was first performed, Medea continues to provide a nuanced portrait of a woman struggling to exist in a male-dominated world.
Brief Encounters with Che Guevara - Ben Fountain
From Burma to Colombia, Haiti to North Carolina, Ben Fountain's collection tells the stories of everyone from a Duke graduate student who finds himself trapped in difficult circumstances in the Colombian mountainside to an aid worker in Sierra Leone faced with the ultimate of ethical dilemma. Fountain creates funny and approachable stories of both daily life and extraordinary situations.
The Good Husband - Gail Godwin
This book traces the relationships between two couples – Magda and Francis and Alice and Hugo. A scholar slowed by ovarian cancer, the husband who cares for her, and two others pulled apart by tragedy. Beautifully told, the novel weaves the narratives of the four characters, reflecting on grief, loss and love.
In Our Time - Ernest Hemingway
In Our Time is Hemingway's first book, published in 1925 when he was only 26 and offers a look at his writing before he became famous. It contains several classic Hemingway stories, set in northern Michigan, which provide a key for understanding and appreciating his signature prose style.
Zoo Story - Thomas French
Based on six years of research, Zoo Story is an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants.
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
This is a story about how the women of Afghanistan try to live with the dangers that surround them – both in the streets of Kabul, as well as in their own homes. The novel follow Mariam and Laila, two women of different generations brought together by war, loss and fate.
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston's most famous novel – but one that was largely forgotten when it was first published – tells the story of Janie Crawford, an African American woman in central and southern Florida in the early 1900s. Told in the first person, the book traces Janie's life across three marriages, and family and community tragedies and celebrations.
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
This novel depicts a middle-class family commonplace in all ways but one--the narrator is raised believing that a chimpanzee is her sister. Raising questions about scientific experimentation, memory, and human identity, Fowler thoughtfully explores the unintended consequences of a well-meaning choice.
Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri
Eight stories by Jhumpa Lahiri move from the U.S. to Asia as they explore questions of race, nation, and family dynamics.
Do I Dare Disturb the Universe?: From the Projects to Prep School - Charlise Lyle
Living in the projects in Cleveland, Ohio and experiencing the race riots of the 1960's, Charlise Lyles, placed in a slow learners' class, refuses to give up her dream of getting a better education. She wins a scholarship to a prestigious prep school and discovers that there is a world which she never knew existed. Through hard work and many challenges, Lyles succeeds in entering this world and finding out who she is.
Asterios Polyp - David Mazzucchelli
The protagonist of this critically acclaimed graphic novel, Asterios Polyp, is middle-aged, meagerly successful architect and teacher, aesthete and womanizer, whose life is wholly upended when his New York City apartment goes up in flames. As Polyp’s story unfolds, Mazzucchelli creates an extraordinarily imagined world of brilliantly conceived eccentrics, sharply observed social mores, and deftly depicted asides on everything from design theory to the nature of human perception.
Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Alan Moore's now classic graphic novel imagines a world where superheroes helped the U.S. win the Vietnam War, but have since either retired or worked for the government. The murder of a superhero sponsored by the government brings them together again in this gritty, critically acclaimed work.
McTeague - Frank Norris
This 1899 novel tells the story of a turn-of the century dentist, his courtship and marriage, and his ultimate decline into poverty. Often described as the one of the most representative texts of the American "naturalist" literary movement, McTeague explores the darker impulses behind the American drive for success.
No-No Boy - John Okada
This is the story of Ichiro Yamada, a Japanese-American man who was imprisoned after refusing to serve in the American military or swear loyalty to the United States. Against the backdrop of the internment of Japanese-Americans, and based on the lives of real “no-no boys”, the book asks us to reflect on how we engage with communities who aren’t always accepting.
Snow - Orphan Pamuk
An epic novel from Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk that depicts Poet K's silent odyssey into the heart of Anatolia (Turkey), his rekindled love affair with Ipek, and a fascinating narration of the conflict between modernity and conservative Islam.
The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread: A Novel - Don Robertson
This forgotten classic of urban transformation in mid-century traces the actions of a nine year old boy during Cleveland's gas explosion of 1944, one of the worst industrial disasters in American history. It is at once a story of childhood, but also a story of Cleveland, a changing city.
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, in the small Far West town of Fingerbone, a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere." Ruth and Lucille's struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.
An Anthropologist On Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales - Oliver Sacks
Oliver Sacks brings his usual wit, insight, and sensitivity to seven stories of people living with neurological disorders.
Kokoro - Natsume Soseki
Originally published in 1914, Kokoro examines Japan's rise to modernity in the early twentieth century through the story of the relationship between a the narrator (a young man) and the older man he thinks of as his teacher. Dealing with themes of guilt, responsibility and isolation, the novel traces changing mores and resulting anxieties of the time.
Trust Me: Short Stories - John Updike
The theme of trust, fulfilled or betrayed, runs through this collection of short stories by beloved American writer John Updike.
Into the Beautiful North - Luis Alberto Urrea
This is the story of a young Mexican girl named Nayeli who sets out on a quest to rescue her town. She begins in search of her own father, but quickly realizes that all of the men have left to go North to work leaving no men to protect the town from bandidos or to serve as potential husbands and fathers as she and her friends consider marriage and family.
Brothers and Keepers: A Memoir - John Edgar Wideman
Brothers and Keepers is John Edgar Wideman's memoir detailing the divergent paths that led one to become a prize-winning author and professor and the other, his brother Robby Wideman, to become a fugitive wanted for robbery and murder.
The Maid's Version - Daniel Woodrell
Alma DeGeer Dunahew, a maid to a prominent family in Missouri investigates the explosion that killed her sister and dozens of others in a local dance hall in 1929. As she digs deeper and deeper into her family and community’s past, Alma and her son become estranged, though she is able to build a stronger relationship with her grandson through her recollections of the past.
Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson
Woodson's book of poems capture her experience as an African American girl growing up in the 1960s and 70s in the midst of a historical turning point away from Jim Crow and toward the hope of the Civil Rights Movement.
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
In this dystopian novel, Atwood imagines a future where the American government has been overthrown and replaced by a totalitarian regime that strips women of their rights. Exploring questions of women's subjugation and reproduction, the novel richly illustrates the necessity of an equal order.
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey – with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride.
Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin
Baldwin's lyrical masterpiece recounts a fourteen-year-old boy's coming of age within a religious family context. Baldwin movingly portrays the main character's realization of his own sexual identity.
Regeneration - Pat Barker
Regeneration takes place in an “asylum” where battle-scarred soldiers are being treated by the then new practice of psychiatry. This story is based on actual people and recounts early treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder.
A Long, Long, Way - Sebastian Barry
Set in 1914, Barry's novel depicts the Irish protagonist's experience of World War I and his return to an Ireland divided by political tensions.
Henderson, The Rain King - Saul Bellow
Eugene Henderson is a wealthy man who can’t stop the voice inside him that says, I want, I want. Almost like a character in a tall tale or fable, he sets off for the ancient villages of Africa on an adventure that he hopes will address the spiritual void in his life. What he discovers is completely open to discussion.
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Latest chapter from the notebook
Energy at Work: How Good Feelings Translate to Productivity
How do we reenergize at work? And what does that energy do for us, as employees and colleagues? Researchers from Brigham Young University, California State University and the University of Michigan took on these questions in a recent article for the Journal of Applied Psychology. Their research shows that relational energy – the psychological resources we gain from our interactions with others – has the capacity to make us simultaneously more effective and satisfied in the workplace.
Read moreWhat are people saying?
The first Books@Work session that I led was for a well-established law firm. The participants were from every branch of the firm and, as the seminar progressed, they all began to speak openly about their experiences and values. It wasn’t only that they felt free to challenge each other, but that they found spaces of community and common experience. Our discussion of literature created a safe space, a welcoming and vibrant community of readers.
-Alexis Baker, Professor
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