The Complete “Mystery Date with a Book” List

Thank you to everyone who enjoyed going out on a Mystery Date With a Book last week! 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:

Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre: “A coming of age story featuring psychic connections, walks on the moors, and a house with a mystery.”

Naomi Novik, Uprooted: “The fairy tale you always wanted as a child…and finally got as an adult.”

Jenny Lawson, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened: “A memoir about marriage, children, and taxidermy.”

Sy Montgomery, The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness: “What does an octopus think about?”

Selected by Kim Duckett, Head of Research and Instructional Services:

Anthony Mara, The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories: “A collection of beautiful interlocking short stories dipping back and forth through 20th century Russia.”

Matthew Kneale, English Passengers: “Twenty narrators tell a fascinating story of Manx smugglers, seekers of the Garden of Eden, and the plight of Tasmanian Aborigines.”

Bruno Schulz, The Street of Crocodiles: “In this little town the real and the imagined blend together in a way you’ve never quite experienced.”

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

P. G. Wodehouse, How Right You Are, Jeeves: “For everyone who thought that Carson was the real hero of Downton Abbey.”

Naomi Alderman, The Power: “An electrifying read about gender and power.“

Selected by Elena Feinstein, Head, Natural Sciences and Engineering Section and Librarian for Biological Sciences:

Monique Truong, The Book of Salt: “Flavors, seas, sweat, tears – weaves historical figures into a witty, original tale spanning 1930s Paris and French-colonized Vietnam.”

Audrey Niffenegger, The Time Traveler’s Wife: “According to the author, the themes of the novel are ‘mutants, love, death, amputation, sex, and time.’ Many readers would include loss, romance, and free will.”

Selected by Jodi Psoter, Librarian for Chemistry and Statistical Science:

Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red: “Empire, espionage, and the quest for the color of desire.”

Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country: “Travel without having to fly….”

Catherine Baily, Secret Rooms: “A haunted castle, a plotting duchess, and a family secret.”

Larry Young, The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction: “Is love really just science?”

Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose: “Get ready to laugh with the funniest Scottsman in America….”

Selected by Hannah Rozear, Librarian for Instructional Services:

Mike Carey, The Girl with All the Gifts: “Zombie kiddo loves her teacher, and also spores!”

Stefan Fatsis, Word Freak: “Wonderful word weirdos. Glimpse inside the world of competitive Scrabble.”

Selected by Sarah Park, Librarian for Engineering and Computer Science:

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince: “It is a love story for the ages.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese: “44 different ways to say ‘I love you’ for your valentines.”

Thomas F. Moser with Brad Lemley, Moser: Artistry in Wood: “A story of an extraordinary woodworker who built the furniture in Perkins and Bostock libraries.”

Anne Tyler, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant: “Why do people leave loved ones?”

Clifford Nass with Corina Yen, The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships: “What we learned about ourselves from machines.”

Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain: “How music works in our brains…”

Ian Stewart, Why Beauty is Truth: A History of Symmetry: “Inspiring and entertaining. It will rekindle your love for Mathematics.”

Jeffrey Brown, Darth Vader and son: “We need to take care of our family before conquering the universe. Short and comical.”

Selected by Aaron Welborn, Director of Communications:

Richard Hughes, The Innocent Voyage: “One of the best novels you’ve never heard of. A combination of Peter Pan, Heart of Darkness, and Lord of the Flies, all rolled into one.”

Thorkild Hansen, Arabia Felix: The Danish Expedition of 1761-1767: “True story of a scientific expedition gone disastrously, comically, historically wrong.”

Ryszard Kapuściński, Travels with Herodotus: “ ‘Within every great book there are several others.’ One of those great books, by one of the great world travelers.”

Nicholas Shrady, The Last Day: Wrath, Ruin, and Reason in the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755: “One of the worst natural disasters ever recorded and how it shaped one of Europe’s greatest cities.”

Ian McGuire, The North Water: “If Moby-Dick had been written by Stephen King. Cold, terrifying, and awesome.”

Margalit Fox, The Riddle of the Labyrinth: “Real-life intellectual detective story blending history, cryptology, and the invention of writing.”

Selected by Katie Henningsen, Head of Research Services, Rubenstein Library:

Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo: “Love, Revenge, and Money.”

Lawrence M. Principe, The Aspiring Adept: “A well-known scientist hides his personal research, so as not to tarnish his reputation.”

Allison Hoover Bartlett, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much: “When your love of books goes too far…”

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

Selected by Megan Crain, Annual Giving Coordinator:

Lev Grossman, The Magicians: “For those who never gave up on getting their letter to Hogwarts…”

Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: “A must read for fans of science fiction and Harrison Ford.”

Want another way to make a literary match?

Join us on Feb. 27 for the next meeting of the Low-Maintenance Book Club. Our theme this month is “Love Between the Covers.” We’ll share our favorite reads from the past year and get recommendations from others. All are welcome!