Meet Our Mystery Dates! The Complete Book List

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed going out on a Mystery Date With a Book this month! If you didn’t get a chance to check out our display, or if you’re just curious to know what books we selected, here’s a complete list of our mystery picks, along with the library staff member who recommended them. Add them to your Goodreads list. Happy reading!

Selected by Arianne Hartsell-Gundy, Head, Humanities Section and Librarian for Literature and Theater Studies:

Selected by Sara Seten Berghausen, Associate Curator of Collections, Rubenstein Library

  • Irene Nemirovsky, Suite Francaise“Love and loss in Nazi-occupied France.”
  • David Sedaris, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: “Dark and wickedly funny animal love stories.”
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me“A father’s heartfelt letter to his 16-year-old in an existentially unfair world.”
  • Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones“A teenage girl and her brothers strive to protect and love one another as Hurricane Katrina looms.”

Selected by Ciara Healy, Librarian for Psychology & Neuroscience, Mathematics, and Physics

Selected by Kelli Stephenson, Coordinator, Access and Library Services

Selected by Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications

  • Gabriel Garcia Maquez, The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: “What it’s like to be lost at sea, fending off sharks, thirst, and insanity.”
  • Helene Hanff, 84, Charing Cross Road: “Heart-warming long-distance friendship develops over books and the lost art of letter-writing.”
  • J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country: “A gem of a book: a quaint English village, a WWI vet, and a shimmering summer of youth.”
  • Patrick Leigh Fermor, A Time to Keep Silence: “History, travel, and the pleasures of the quiet life. Best savored slowly and antisocially.”
  • Andrea Barrett, Ship Fever: Stories: “Beautifully written stories about the love of science, and the science of love, set in the 19th century.”
  • Lawrence Weschler, Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: “The strangest museum you’ve never heard of is a real place, and you’re going to be obsessed with it.”
  • Ian Frazier, Travels in Siberia: “Despite what you read in the news, Russia is actually a pretty funny place.”
  • Sarah Vowell, Assassination Vacation: “Hilarious, irreverent road trip that brings American history to life (and death).”
  • Jan Morris, Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere: “A love letter to a city 4,000 years old.”
  • Peter Brannen, The Ends of the World: “A deep dive into deep time offers a glimpse of our possible future.”

Selected by Brittany Wofford, Coordinator for The Edge and Librarian for the Nicholas School of the Environment

Selected by Andrea Loigman, Head, Access and Delivery Services

Selected by Holly Ackerman, Head, International & Area Studies Dept. and Librarian for Latin American, Iberian and Latino/a Studies

  • Leonardo Padura, Havana Red“The first of a 5-part detective series set in Cuba.”

Selected by Katie Henningsen, Head of Research Services, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library

  • Leigh Bardugo, Six of Crows: “Ocean’s Eleven meets Game of Thrones.”

Selected by Kristina Troost, Librarian for Japanese Studies

  • Lynne Kutsukake, The Translation of Love: a novel: A portrait of post-war Japan, where a newly repatriated Japanese Canadian girl must help a classmate find her missing sister.”
  • Ann Waswo, Damaged Goods: A higher education mysteryAn art fraud investigator based in Tokyo, responds to a request from an old friend and soon arrives at Thaddeus Hall, England.”
  • Min Jin Lee, Pachinko: “Follows one Korean family through the generations.”

Selected by Megan Crain, Annual Giving Coordinator

Selected by Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science

  • Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo vadis“Where are you going?”
  • Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek“A recipe for happiness: ‘a glass of wine, a roast chesnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea. Nothing else.'”
  • Maya Angelou, And Still I Rise: “For a phenomenal woman.”

Selected by Lee Sorensen, Librarian for Visual Studies and Dance, Lilly Library

  • Collin Thurbron, Night of Fire: a novel: “John Banfield and I think this is the best book we’ve read in years. Zen meets Spoon River Anthology.”

Selected by Laura Williams, Head, Music Library

Selected by Keegan Trofatter, Communications & Development Student Assistant

  • Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant FriendBeing a smart (like really smart) girl in a rough Italian neighborhood is easier with a friend by your side—or is it?”
  • Neil Gaiman, American Gods, My favorite part of a cross country road-trip? A bunch of gods fighting one another.