Libraries summer reading list 2024, part 2

abstract white scribble lines on a pink and purple ombre background. Text that reads: Summer Reading List 2024 part 2

Already made it through your TBR (to be read) list this summer? The Libraries can help you find your next read! Between the leisure reading collection, borrowing requests from other libraries and local community resources, we’re never low on books. Here are some recent favorites from a few members of the Libraries team, whether you’re searching for mystery, romance or connection to the natural world. Happy reading!

cover for the book Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino

Beautyland

by Marie-Helene Bertino

This one is good for anyone who likes a weird book or a different perspective as it’s told from the point a view of a girl who is an alien from another planet who is tasked with sending information about Earth to her home planet. But she’s growing up as a “normal” child of a single parent in Northeast Philly in the late 70s/80s.

Elise Ferer, Instruction & Outreach Librarian


cover for the book Shady Hollow by Juneau Black

Shady Hollow

by Juneau Black

It’s like Wind in the Willows, but also a murder mystery. It’s the first in a series.

-Anonymous


cover for the book A Superfluous Woman by Emma Frances Brooke

A Superfluous Woman

by Emma Frances Brooke

This book will shock all your Victorian sensibilities, with runaway socialites, kisses out of wedlock and a bawdy description of a man’s legs in a kilt. This is as close to a bodice ripper as you can get in the Victorian era, although be warned- there is no happy ending.

Maddie White, Archival Processing Manager


Cover for the book Red Pottage by Mary Cholmondeley

Red Pottage

by Mary Cholmondeley

Mary Cholmondeley’s writing is the height of Victorian melodrama, with secret illegitimate children, murder plots, and surprise inheritance. Red Pottage is her best known book, which subverts convention with a fallen man and two spinsters who aren’t married by the end, but are still happy.

Maddie White, Archival Processing Manager


cover for the book Here We Go Again by Alice Cochrun

Here We Go Again

by Alice Cochrun

This is the perfect type of book for summer as its a queer romance that revolves around a summer road trip. Both funny and heartfelt, and worthy of a trip to a beach or pool.

Elise Ferer, Instruction & Outreach Librarian


cover for the book Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly

Greta & Valdin

by Rebecca K Reilly

This novel explores family dynamics, queer relationships, Māori identity and what it means to navigate the little and monumental decisions in your life. I fell in love with the characters and was invested in this quirky family all the way through.

Caitlin Holton, Digital Initiatives Assistant


Cover for the book The Only One Left by Riley Sagar

The Only One Left

by Riley Sager

If you like gothic thrillers that take place in giant creepy mansions, then this book may be for you! A desperate caretaker living in coastal Maine during the 1980s ends up taking a job caring for an old woman, Lenora Hope, who is rumored to have killed her family over 50 years ago. Although never proven, the mystery surrounding the murders of Lenora’s entire family have only grown as the years have passed, and as the caretaker begins building a relationship with Lenora, she starts to realize that there are even more secrets surrounding that horrible night that only continue to have dire consequences in the present.

Jen Embree, Subject Librarian for Psychology, Biology, LACAS, TRIP & Comparative Literature; Sustainability Hub Coordinator


Cover for the book Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

by Brandon Sanderson

It’s a very character-focused romance that follows two people from different worlds. They each have a fantastical job: a nightmare painter and a yoki-hijo shrine maiden. They end up body swapping and are forced to learn about each other as they each pretend to be the other person. It’s inspired by the anime movie, Your Name, and I would definitely recommend it to anime fans as well as anyone who enjoys whimsical love stories.

Aleshia Huber, Engineering Librarian


Cover for the book 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think by Brianna Wiest

101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

by Brianna Wiest

Incredibly insightful and life-changing.

Mien Wong, Preservation Specialist


Cover for the book An Immense World by Ed Yong

An Immense World

by Ed Yong

Ed Yong urges us to think about how a wide variety of different animals perceive the world around them, and how our own perspective might benefit from putting ourselves in their shoes (so to speak). Fascinating and deeply researched.

Jeremy Dibbell, Special Collections Librarian