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Discovery & User Experience

Reading Recommendations Roundup!

As American aphorist Mason Cooley wrote, “Reading gives us somewhere to go when we have to stay where we are.” In this spirit, the DUX department offers you a delightfully diverse list of what librarians and staff at IU Libraries are reading right now. When possible, we’ve linked to where you can read a ebook or purchase through a local bookshop.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (2019)

by Marlon James

Cover of "Black Leopard, Red Wolf" by Marlon James with teal leopard and red wolf.
Image from Penguin Random House

Read by:  Jaci Wilkinson, Head of Discovery and User Experience

Details: According to NPR: “Our critic likens reading Marlon James’ new epic fantasy to being slowly eaten by a bear that occasionally cracks jokes— painful and strange, but upsettingly beautiful for all that.”

War and Peace (1865)

Light blue cover of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Image from Amazon

by Leo Tolstoy, Translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (Note: Link is to a different translation.)

Read by: Jamie Wittenberg, Research Data Management Librarian and Head of Scholarly Communication

Heavy: An American Memoir (2018)

Cover for book heavy with word "heavy" down red cover in large lettering.
Image from Amaz

by Kiese Laymon

Read by: Anne Haines, DUX Web Content Specialist

Details: Kiese Laymon got his MFA in creative writing here at IU!

Abaddon’s Gate (2013)

by James S. A. Corey

Cover of Abaddon's Gate which features what looks like two or three metal spaceships.
Image from Amazon

Read by: Anna Marie Johnson, Head Librarian, Scholar’s Commons

Details: “Hopefully, this is a judgement-free zone,” says Anna Marie. This is the third book in a sci-fi series that her thirteen-year-old recommended. Anna Marie adds, “One of the two authors is a research assistant to George R. R. Martin of Game of Thrones, and the series was apparently made into a tv/internet series called The Expanse.”

The Water Dancer (2019)

Cover image of The Water Dancer with black man with arms stretched over his head while under water.
Image from AbeBooks

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Read by: Theresa Quill, Map and Spatial Data Librarian

How Long ’til Black Future Month? (2018)

Cover of How long til Black future month features the profile of a younger black girl with flowers in her hair and a big necklace.

by  N.K. Jemison

Read by: Rivkah Cooke, Head of Electronic Research Acquisitions

Details: For more on this book, see Amal El-Mohtar’s review on NPR’s website, “Gorgeous ‘Black Future Month’ Tracks A Writer’s Development.”

The Lions of al-Rassan (1995)

Cover of The Lions of al-Rassan that is red and features a row of tan buildings in medieval Spain

by Guy Gavriel Kay

 Read by: Karen Stoll Farrell, Head of Area Studies

My Struggle (2009-2011)

by Karl Ove Knausgård (six volumes)

Cover of book 6 of My Struggle that shows three people on a pier. One stands while two jump off.
Image from AbeBooks

Read by:  Ian Carstens, Public Services and Outreach Manager

Note: Link above is to Book 2, the only e-Book available. Ian is on book 6  pictured below.

The King Whisperers: Power  Behind the Throne, from Rasputin to Rove (2011)

by Kerwin Swint

Read by: Rachael Cohen, Discovery User Experience Librarian

The Nightingale (2015)

Cover for Nightingale with Eiffel Tower in background on rainy day.
Image from AbeBooks

by Kristin Hannah

Read by: Jackie Fleming, Visual Literacy and Resources Librarian

Details: Jackie recommends this book if you like historical fiction.

Some of our librarians have more than one current read!

Allison McClanahan, Collections and Cataloging Librarian at the Archives of Traditional Music, is “rereading a favourite from my teen fiction days,” the Great Tree of Avalon series (2004-2006), as well as  Himself and I (1957) by Anne O’Neille-Barna. Allison adds that Anne O’Neille-Barna is a pseudonym for folklorist Elaine O’Beirne-Ranelagh.

The cover of Child of the Dark Prophecy features a big tree and its roots and a starry sky.
Image from Google
The cover of Himself and I features two people on bikes, one a woman, riding into a gated area with a stone fence and building in the distance.
Image from Abebooks

Ilana Stonebraker, Head of Business/SPEA Information Commons, usually reads four books at a time, “so I don’t get bored of them”. Here are three she’s reading right now:

Covers of Big Burn, Gone World, and Great Spring, and a cartoon worm in glasses holding a book
Images from Amazon and Google.

We hope some of these choices bring you somewhere new or help widen your range of usual genres as many of us read a bit more than usual while we all stay at home.

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