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Alphabet Adventures: A–Z Reading Quest
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items One year, twenty-six letters, countless worlds to explore. A fun, wide-ranging challenge to read books whose titles begin with every letter of the alphabet. Expect surprises, new favorites, and a healthy dose of “wait… does ‘The’ count?” energy. Be s...benable.com/jillmariepaulson
With a long commute and a never-ending TBR, audiobooks have become my daily magic trick. While I still cherish my physical books and always have one of those in progress, too, I’d never get to enjoy even half the stories I love without them. Seriousl...
Audible
A
Set in present-day Mexico, American Dirt follows Lydia, a bookstore owner who flees Acapulco with her son after her journalist husband is murdered by a ruthless drug cartel, forcing them to embark on a harrowing journey as migrants toward the U.S. bo...
Set in present-day Mexico, American Dirt follows Lydia, a bookstore owner who flees Acapulco with her son after her journalist husband is murdered by a ruthless drug cartel, forcing them to embark on a harrowing journey as migrants toward the U.S. bo...
American Dirt
B
In Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown explores what it truly means to belong—not just to a group, but to yourself. Blending her signature mix of research, storytelling, and vulnerability, she challenges the idea that fitting in is the same as belong...
In Braving the Wilderness, Brené Brown explores what it truly means to belong—not just to a group, but to yourself. Blending her signature mix of research, storytelling, and vulnerability, she challenges the idea that fitting in is the same as belong...
Braving the Wilderness
C
Cultures of Growth by Mary C. Murphy, with a foreword by Carol Dweck, dives into the fascinating science of mindset—not just for individuals, but for entire teams and organizations. Building on Dweck’s original work on growth mindset, Murphy shows ho...
Cultures of Growth by Mary C. Murphy, with a foreword by Carol Dweck, dives into the fascinating science of mindset—not just for individuals, but for entire teams and organizations. Building on Dweck’s original work on growth mindset, Murphy shows ho...
Cultures of Growth: New Science of Mindset
D
Dopamine Detox explores how constant exposure to instant gratification—through social media, gaming, and other quick-fix pleasures—rewires the brain, leading to decreased motivation and productivity. What sets this book apart is its practical, scienc...
Dopamine Detox explores how constant exposure to instant gratification—through social media, gaming, and other quick-fix pleasures—rewires the brain, leading to decreased motivation and productivity. What sets this book apart is its practical, scienc...
Dopamine Detox: Beat Addiction & Wasting Life
E
Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks is a contemporary romance set in present-day North Carolina and Zimbabwe, where a chance encounter between a traveling American man and a recently separated woman sparks a powerful love story. What makes this novel sta...
Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks is a contemporary romance set in present-day North Carolina and Zimbabwe, where a chance encounter between a traveling American man and a recently separated woman sparks a powerful love story. What makes this novel sta...
Every Breath
F
Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal flips the traditional hustle narrative on its head by showing that you don’t have to grind yourself into burnout to get things done. Drawing from his experience as a doctor turned YouTuber and productivity expert,...
Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal flips the traditional hustle narrative on its head by showing that you don’t have to grind yourself into burnout to get things done. Drawing from his experience as a doctor turned YouTuber and productivity expert,...
Feel-Good Productivity: Do What Matters
G
Germany: Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor brings German history to life through objects, art, and personal stories rather than dry timelines. Based on the acclaimed BBC series, it explores how everyday items—from a Gutenberg Bible to a VW Beetl...
Germany: Memories of a Nation by Neil MacGregor brings German history to life through objects, art, and personal stories rather than dry timelines. Based on the acclaimed BBC series, it explores how everyday items—from a Gutenberg Bible to a VW Beetl...
Germany: Memories of a Nation
H
Set in 1972 in the rundown Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store follows a diverse community of Jewish and Black residents who band together to protect a deaf Black boy from institutionalization, r...
Set in 1972 in the rundown Chicken Hill neighborhood of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store follows a diverse community of Jewish and Black residents who band together to protect a deaf Black boy from institutionalization, r...
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel
I
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is a historical fiction novel set in the early 1800s American South, following the intertwined lives of Sarah Grimké, the daughter of a wealthy slaveholding family, and Handful, the enslaved girl given to her a...
The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd is a historical fiction novel set in the early 1800s American South, following the intertwined lives of Sarah Grimké, the daughter of a wealthy slaveholding family, and Handful, the enslaved girl given to her a...
The Invention of Wings
J
The Joy Luck Club is a contemporary literary fiction novel set in San Francisco and China, following four Chinese American daughters and their immigrant mothers as they navigate identity, generational conflict, and cultural legacy. What makes this no...
The Joy Luck Club is a contemporary literary fiction novel set in San Francisco and China, following four Chinese American daughters and their immigrant mothers as they navigate identity, generational conflict, and cultural legacy. What makes this no...
The Joy Luck Club
K
Kindred is a groundbreaking blend of science fiction and historical fiction, set between 1970s California and the antebellum South. When a young Black woman named Dana is mysteriously pulled back through time to a slave plantation, she must navigate ...
Kindred is a groundbreaking blend of science fiction and historical fiction, set between 1970s California and the antebellum South. When a young Black woman named Dana is mysteriously pulled back through time to a slave plantation, she must navigate ...
Kindred
L
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a historical adventure novel set in 1954, following 18-year-old Emmett Watson as he embarks on a road trip with his younger brother, Billy, intending to start fresh in California. Their carefully laid plans take ...
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles is a historical adventure novel set in 1954, following 18-year-old Emmett Watson as he embarks on a road trip with his younger brother, Billy, intending to start fresh in California. Their carefully laid plans take ...
The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles
M
My Notorious Life is a historical fiction novel set in 19th-century New York City, following the rise of Axie Muldoon, a poor orphan who becomes one of the city’s most controversial—and sought-after—midwives. Inspired by real-life figures, the book o...
My Notorious Life is a historical fiction novel set in 19th-century New York City, following the rise of Axie Muldoon, a poor orphan who becomes one of the city’s most controversial—and sought-after—midwives. Inspired by real-life figures, the book o...
My Notorious Life: A Novel
O
The Orphan’s Tale is a historical fiction novel set in World War II Europe, where a young woman hiding from the Nazis joins a traveling circus and forms an unlikely bond with a Jewish aerialist also in hiding. What makes this book especially compelli...
The Orphan’s Tale is a historical fiction novel set in World War II Europe, where a young woman hiding from the Nazis joins a traveling circus and forms an unlikely bond with a Jewish aerialist also in hiding. What makes this book especially compelli...
The Orphan's Tale: A Novel
P
The Pedagogy of Kindness (Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed) by Catherine Denial reimagines what it means to teach, lead, and learn in higher education through the lens of intentional kindness. Drawing from her experience as a history pro...
The Pedagogy of Kindness (Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed) by Catherine Denial reimagines what it means to teach, lead, and learn in higher education through the lens of intentional kindness. Drawing from her experience as a history pro...
A Pedagogy of Kindness in Higher Ed
Q
Set in the 1950s and 60s across orphanages, U.S. tournaments, and Cold War-era Moscow, The Queen’s Gambit is a psychological drama about a young chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who rises through the male-dominated world of competitive chess while battlin...
Set in the 1950s and 60s across orphanages, U.S. tournaments, and Cold War-era Moscow, The Queen’s Gambit is a psychological drama about a young chess prodigy, Beth Harmon, who rises through the male-dominated world of competitive chess while battlin...
The Queen's Gambit
R
Set in a small Pacific Northwest town, this contemporary novel weaves together the stories of a grieving widow who works the night shift at an aquarium and a surprisingly insightful giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. 🐙💙 Remarkably Bright Creatu...
Set in a small Pacific Northwest town, this contemporary novel weaves together the stories of a grieving widow who works the night shift at an aquarium and a surprisingly insightful giant Pacific octopus named Marcellus. 🐙💙 Remarkably Bright Creatu...
Remarkably Bright Creatures
S
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune is a contemporary fantasy set in the whimsical, ocean-kissed world of the Cerulean Chronicles, where magic meets modern life and found families shine. 🌊 While this sequel takes a more serious and political turn t...
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune is a contemporary fantasy set in the whimsical, ocean-kissed world of the Cerulean Chronicles, where magic meets modern life and found families shine. 🌊 While this sequel takes a more serious and political turn t...
Somewhere Beyond the Sea
T
Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by C. Edward Watson and Jose Antonio Bowen is a friendly, forward-thinking guide for educators navigating the brave new world of artificial intelligence in the classroom. The authors ...
(Read this one as part of the USD faculty/staff book club and so glad I did!)
Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning by C. Edward Watson and Jose Antonio Bowen is a friendly, forward-thinking guide for educators navigating the brave new world of artificial intelligence in the classroom. The authors ...
(Read this one as part of the USD faculty/staff book club and so glad I did!)
Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide
U
The Unmaking of June Farrow is a contemporary fantasy-mystery set in a small mountain town, where a woman begins unraveling a decades-old family curse that blurs the line between past and present. What makes it extra addictive is how Adrienne Young w...
The Unmaking of June Farrow is a contemporary fantasy-mystery set in a small mountain town, where a woman begins unraveling a decades-old family curse that blurs the line between past and present. What makes it extra addictive is how Adrienne Young w...
The Unmaking of June Farrow
V
The Vaster Wilds is a historical literary novel set in 17th-century colonial America, following a young servant girl who escapes into the unforgiving wilderness amid a deadly plague in Jamestown. With spare yet poetic prose, Lauren Groff crafts a hau...
The Vaster Wilds is a historical literary novel set in 17th-century colonial America, following a young servant girl who escapes into the unforgiving wilderness amid a deadly plague in Jamestown. With spare yet poetic prose, Lauren Groff crafts a hau...
The Vaster Wilds
W
Set during World War II and the Vietnam War, The Women by Kristin Hannah follows a young nurse, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, as she volunteers to serve in Vietnam, facing the horrors of war and the harsh realities awaiting her upon returning home. With...
Set during World War II and the Vietnam War, The Women by Kristin Hannah follows a young nurse, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, as she volunteers to serve in Vietnam, facing the horrors of war and the harsh realities awaiting her upon returning home. With...
The Women: A Novel
Y
Yellowface is a contemporary literary satire set in present-day Washington, D.C., following the story of June Hayward, a struggling white author who steals the manuscript of her recently deceased, more successful Asian American friend—and publishes i...
Yellowface is a contemporary literary satire set in present-day Washington, D.C., following the story of June Hayward, a struggling white author who steals the manuscript of her recently deceased, more successful Asian American friend—and publishes i...
Yellowface
Z
This historical fiction novel sweeps you into the glittering Jazz Age of the 1920s, following Zelda Sayre from her Alabama roots into the whirlwind marriage with F. Scott Fitzgerald and their glamorous, chaotic life in New York, Paris, and beyond. Wh...
This historical fiction novel sweeps you into the glittering Jazz Age of the 1920s, following Zelda Sayre from her Alabama roots into the whirlwind marriage with F. Scott Fitzgerald and their glamorous, chaotic life in New York, Paris, and beyond. Wh...
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
ANIMAL IN TITLE
Set in a dystopian near-future, The Rain Heron is a lyrical eco-fable that unfolds across a war-ravaged landscape shaped by myth and survival. The story follows a solitary woman in the mountains and a young soldier on a mission, both entangled with a...
Set in a dystopian near-future, The Rain Heron is a lyrical eco-fable that unfolds across a war-ravaged landscape shaped by myth and survival. The story follows a solitary woman in the mountains and a young soldier on a mission, both entangled with a...
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott
COLOR IN TITLE
The House in the Cerulean Sea is a heartwarming contemporary fantasy set in a seaside orphanage where a by-the-book caseworker is sent to evaluate six magical children who could change the world—or bring it to ruin. What makes it truly special is TJ ...
The House in the Cerulean Sea is a heartwarming contemporary fantasy set in a seaside orphanage where a by-the-book caseworker is sent to evaluate six magical children who could change the world—or bring it to ruin. What makes it truly special is TJ ...
The House in the Cerulean Sea
NUMBER IN TITLE
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a contemporary historical fiction novel set mainly in Hollywood from the 1950s to the 1980s, telling the story of glamorous film icon Evelyn Hugo as she finally reveals her scandalous and de...
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid is a contemporary historical fiction novel set mainly in Hollywood from the 1950s to the 1980s, telling the story of glamorous film icon Evelyn Hugo as she finally reveals her scandalous and de...
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: A Novel