The Best Books
What makes these books the "best" varies a great deal from one recommender to the next. "They're just good," wrote one person, of Now Is Not the Time to Panic, The Sympathizer, and Anansi Boys.
Some books are recommended for students in particular majors.
Books that are not available immediately at Watzek Library may be requested from other libraries. Please ask library staff if you are uncertain of how to request an item.
General Fiction
Piranesi by Call Number: Available through SummitPublication Date: 2020This is one of the weirdest books I’ve read, in the best way possible—it is such a unique and fun style of storytelling.
Transcendent Kingdom by Call Number: PS3607.Y37 T73 2020Publication Date: 2020Crossing of multiple studies: biology, psychology, religion. This is great for how all different subjects interact with each other in a natural and meaningful way which is great for this school since there are so many majors and programs of study that interact with each other.
The Bean Trees by Call Number: Available through SummitPublication Date: 1988It’s environmental storytelling at its best—it connects a deep love for nature with a deep love for people.
The Overstory by Call Number: PS3566.O92 O94 2018Publication Date: 2018"The most impactful book about the climate crisis to date. The trees tell the story."
The Little Prince by Call Number: PQ2637.A274 P413 1993Publication Date: 1993"A pilot stranded in the Sahara meets a strange boy who tells him about his travels through the universe."
The Secret History by Call Number: PS3570.A657 S4 1992Publication Date: 2004"Invented dark academia, super thrilling read, college taken to the extremes."
Science Fiction and Fantasy
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Call Number: Available through SummitPublication Date: 2021"Queer, Science Fiction, Comfort. Combines philosophy, nature, science, and religion and shows an optimistic future where humans have a good interaction with nature. It's easy to only look at dystopian futures, especially in fiction, but this is an optimistic outlook. It is also short which makes it easy to read for busy college students."
Collections
Changelings by Publication Date: 2023
Memoirs
Fun Home by Call Number: PN6727.B3757 Z46 2007Publication Date: 2007An essential graphic novel about all of the ins and outs of a complicated family and queer life.
Nonfiction
The Cheese and the Worms by Call Number: BR877.F74 G5613Publication Date: 1980"A classic work of microhistory that can be read by anyone. Might take a moment to understand the writing style and to familiarize oneself with the content, but still a great read."
The Argonauts by
An intrepid voyage out to the frontiers of the latest thinking about love, language, and family Maggie Nelson'sThe Argonautsis a genre-bending memoir, a work of "autotheory" offering fresh, fierce, and timely thinking about desire, identity, and the limitations and possibilities of love and language. It binds an account of Nelson's relationship with her partner and a journey to and through a pregnancy to a rigorous exploration of sexuality, gender, and "family." An insistence on radical individual freedom and the value of caretaking becomes the rallying cry for this thoughtful, unabashed, uncompromising book.
Call Number: PS3564.E4687 Z46 2015Publication Date: 2016
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Call Number: CT275.P648 A3 1999Publication Date: 1974"Gives new meaning to the purpose of education."
Destiny Disrupted by Call Number: DS35.63 .A57 2009Publication Date: 2010"Tells an alternate history in which the Western 'timeline' or universe is not the dominant narrative. Rather, it centers the Middle East and Islamic history, putting it on its own timeline."
Recommendations by Major
Classics
English
Mrs. Dalloway by
This annotated edition of Viriginia Woolf's classic Mrs. Dalloway, named one of Time's 100 Best Novels, features an introduction by Women's Studies professor Bonnie Kime Scott, and is perfect for critical analysis in classrooms and beyond.This brilliant novel explores the hidden springs of thought and action in one day of a woman's life. Direct and vivid in her account of the details of Clarissa Dalloway's preparations for a party she is to give that evening, Woolf ultimately manages to reveal much more; for it is the feeling behind these daily events that gives Mrs. Dalloway its texture and richness and makes it so memorable.This annotated edition of Mrs. Dalloway offers students the resources to help them understand the text as well as the reasons and methods behind Woolf's writing.
Call Number: PR6045.O72 M7 2005Publication Date: 2005
Hispanic Studies
- El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha byCall Number: PQ6005 .C43, in eight volumesPublication Date: 1961-4
History
A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, Ninth Edition by Call Number: Reference ; LB2369 .T8 2018Publication Date: 2018
