Reading Recommendations

Staff Pick Recommendations | WashU Libraries Book Club | Faculty Book Talk

The University Libraries are your informational hub for research – but we also read for fun. Join us in celebrating and discussing some of the books your University Libraries’ staff and university faculty have enjoyed. Goodreads users can follow us for recommendations directly.

Want a more comprehensive reading selection? Check out our LibGuide on Local Libraries in the St. Louis area to see how Washington University students living on campus can get a library card. University Libraries involve more than research, so be sure to browse their book discussion or events calendars!

Staff Pick Recommendations

Staff Picks features many books the University Libraries staff recommended in recent years.

Tahmima Anam’s A Golden Age	Fredrik Backman’s My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry	Alberto Cairo’s How Charts Lie	Karen Dionne’s The Marsh King’s Daughter
Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder	Tim Falconer’s Bad Singer	David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon	Lauren Greenfield’s Generation Wealth
Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind	Leon Hendrix’s Jimi Hendrix	Lady Hyegyŏng’s Memoirs	Lee Israel’s Can You Ever Forgive Me?
Patrick Radden Keefe’s Say Nothing	Mikki Kendall’s Hood Feminism	Esther Kinsky’s Grove	Eric Klinenberg’s Palaces for the People
Russell Means’ Where White Men Fear to Tread	Michael Meyer’s The Last Days of Old Beijing	Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime	Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland
George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo	Richard Shone’s The Books that Shaped Art History	Jeffrey Toobin’s The Run of His Life	Jeff VanderMeer’s Dead Astronauts
Ryan H. Walsh’s Astral Weeks

WashU Libraries Book Club

Each book club gathering begins with a discussion or presentation, followed by a discussion of the book selected for the month. Visit the Events page for more details about upcoming book club events.

Mark Adams’ Turn Right at Machu Picchu	Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings	Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz’s Dr. Mutter’s Marvels	Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book	Rachel Caine’s Ink and Bone	Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason’s The Rule of Four	Ruth Downie’s Medicus
Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death	Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things	Robert Hellenga’s The Sixteen Pleasures	Katherine Howe’s The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane
Rachel Kadish’s The Weight of Ink	Mary Beth Keane’s Fever	Alfred Lansing’s Endurance	Katharine McMahon’s The Alchemist’s Daughter
Candice Millard’s River of Doubt	David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet	Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red	Carolyn Porter’s Marcel’s Letters
Oliver Pötzsch’s The Hangman’s Daughter	Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts	Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s The Shadow of the Wind	Vanitha Sankaran’s Watermark
Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore	Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club	Rose Tremain’s Restoration	Luis Alberto Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway
Eric Weiner’s The Geography of Bliss	Pip Williams’ The Dictionary of Lost Words

Faculty Book Talk

The Faculty Book Talk series at Washington University Libraries features professors discussing their published work. Learn more about these events on our Events page.

Tazeen M. Ali’s The Women’s Mosque of America	Heather Berg’s Porn Work	Patrick Burke’s Tear Down the Walls	Todd R. Decker’s Hymns for the Fallen
Jonathan Fenderson’s Building the Black Arts Movement	Gayle J. Fritz’s Feeding Cahokia	Hillel J. Kieval’s Blood Inscriptions	Rebecca J. Lester’s Famished
Edward McPherson’s The History of the Future	Lecia Michelle’s The White Allies Handbook	Sowande’ Mustakeem’s Slavery at Sea	Jake Rosenfeld’s You’re Paid What You’re Worth
Henry I. Schvey’s Blue Song	Holden Thorp and Buck Goldstein’s Our Higher Calling	Miguel A. Valerio’s Sovereign Joy	Rebecca Wanzo’s The Content of Our Caricature
Adia Harvey Wingfield’s Flatlining