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DATEBOOKAUTHORGENREDESCRIPTION
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Nov 2021There, ThereTommy OrangeFiction, Contemporary, Race, Native American, IndigenousJoin Book Club as we read There, There by Tommy Orange, a poignant, New York Times-bestselling novel that follows twelve characters from Native communities who are all traveling to the Big Oakland Powwow and who are all connected to one another in ways they may not yet realize.
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Oct 2021Mexican GothicSilvia Moreno-GarciaFiction, Horror, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy, Thriller An isolated mansion. A chillingly charismatic aristocrat. And a brave socialite drawn to expose their treacherous secrets. Join Book Club as we read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, a New York Times bestselling gothic horror novel set in glamorous 1950s Mexico.
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Sep 2021Klara and the SunKazuo IshiguroFiction, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Contemporary, JapaneseKlara and the Sun, the newest novel by Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro, tells the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities who watches customers and passersby from her place in the store, hoping to be chosen soon.
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Aug 2021The Midnight LibraryMatt Haig Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Mental Health. Contemporary Somewhere, beyond the edge of the universe, there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. In The Midnight Library, regretful, thirty-something Nora Seed explores each of her alternate realities; she must decide what is truly fulfilling in her life and what makes it worth living.
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Jul 2021Tuesdays with Morrie
(no formal meeting)		Mitch AlbomNonfiction, Memoir, Biography, ClassicsMaybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.
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Jun 2021Felix Ever AfterKacen CallenderFiction, Young Adult, LGBT, Queer, Transgender, Romance, ContemporaryIn celebration of Pride, join Book Club as we read Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender, a young adult novel about Felix, a Black, queer, transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.
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May 2021Trick MirrorJia Tolentino (COL '09)Nonfiction, Essays, Feminism, Autobiography, Cultural, Politics, PsychologyJoin Book Club as we read a NYT-bestselling collection of essays from one of UVA's own: Jia Tolentino (CLAS '09). In each essay in Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self Delusion, Tolentino—a current staff writer at The New Yorker—explores a cultural prism that shapes us (from the nightmare social internet to the punitive dream of optimization) with a dazzling combination of humor and honesty.
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Apr 2021One Night in MiamiKemp PowersNonfiction (inspired), Play, Adapted Screenplay, Race, Historical FictionIn honor of the Oscars, join Book Club for a special "double feature," where we will discuss both the Kemp Powers stage play and film adaption of One Night in Miami, a nominee for Best Adapted Screenplay. One Night in Miami tells the story of four Black American icons on the brink of changing history. In addition to reading the play, attendees are also encouraged to watch the movie, which is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
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Mar 2021We Should All Be FeministsChimamanda Ngozi AdichieNonfiction, Feminism, Essays, Womens, PoliticsWhat does “feminism” mean today? That is the question at the heart of We Should All Be Feminists, an eloquently argued essay by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the award-winning author of a past book club selection Americanah. We Should All Be Feminists was adapted from her much-viewed TEDx talk of the same name. We encourage you to watch her other TEDx talk The danger of a single story to discuss.

Join us as we commemorate the observance and celebration of Women's History Month and debate why we should all be feminists.
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Feb 2021The Water DancerTa-Nehisi CoatesFiction, Historical Fiction, Race, African American Studies, Magical RealismYoung Hiram Walker was born into bondage. When his mother was sold away, Hiram was robbed of all memory of her — but was gifted with a mysterious power. Years later, when Hiram almost drowns in a river, that same power saves his life. This brush with death births an urgency in Hiram and a daring scheme: to escape from the only home he’s ever known.
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Jan 2021Such a Fun AgeKiley ReidFiction, Contemporary, Race, FamilyIn the midst of a family crisis, white blogger Alix Chamberlain asks her African American babysitter, Emira, to take toddler Briar to the local market for distraction. There, a security guard accuses Emira of kidnapping Briar, and Alix's efforts to right the situation turn out to be good intentions selfishly mismanaged. A bestselling debut novel from exhilarating new voice Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege.
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Oct 2020So You Want to Talk About RaceIjeoma OluoNonfiction, Race, Social Justice, AntiracismIn this breakout book, Ijeoma Oluo explores the complex reality of today's racial landscape--from white privilege and police brutality to systemic discrimination and the Black Lives Matter movement--offering straightforward clarity that readers need to contribute to the dismantling of the racial divide.
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Aug 2020The Vanishing HalfBritt BennettFiction, Historial Fiction, Race, African American Studies, Family, LGBTA stunning new novel about twin sisters, inseparable as children, who ultimately choose to live in two very different worlds, one black and one white. The Vanishing Half is at once a riveting, emotional family story and a brilliant exploration of the American history of passing and race in America.
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Jul 2020Red, White & Royal BlueCasey McQuistonFiction, Romance, Contemporary, LGBTWhat happens when America's First Son and the Prince of Wales—former enemies—fall in love? In honor of Pride, join Book Club in reading and discussing Casey McQuiston's Red, White, and Royal Blue, an LGBTQ+ romance and NYT Bestseller that proves true love isn’t always diplomatic.
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May 2020A Gentleman in MoscowAmor TowlesHistorical Fiction, Russian Literature, Adult Fiction, Literary FictionIn 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is deemed an unrepentant aristocrat by a Bolshevik tribunal and is sentenced to house arrest in an attic room at a grand hotel. Meanwhile, some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel's doors. Unexpectedly, his reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
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Apr 2020Hidden FiguresMargot Lee Shetterly (COMM '91)Nonfiction, History, Science, Biography, African American Studies, FeminismHidden Figures tells the true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. The book was later made into an award-winning film starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae.
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Oct 2019Ask Again, YesMary Beth Keane (UVA MFA '05)Fiction, Contemporary, Literary FictionAsk Again, Yes tells the story of two neighboring families in suburban New York. As tragedy strikes both families, love blossoms between their children. The novel takes readers on a compelling, aching journey through the beauty of forgiveness and the wisdom that comes with retrospective understanding.
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Jun 2019Where the Crawdads SingDelia OwensHistorical Fiction, MysteryFor years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say; sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life – until the unthinkable happens.
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Apr 2019PersepolisMarjane SatrapiGraphic Novel, Nonfiction, Memoir, BiographyPersepolis tells the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland.
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Feb 2019If Beale Street Could TalkJames BaldwinFiction, Classics, African American StudiesYoung lovers Tish and Fonny are separated when Fonny is falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. As their families set out to clear his name, the couple faces an uncertain future and a kaleidoscope of emotions, from affection to despair to hope.
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Jan 2019The Hate U GiveAngie ThomasRealistic Fiction, Young Adult, African American Studies, Social Justice, ContemporarySixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr. But what Starr does or does not say could upend her community and endanger her life.
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Dec 2018EducatedTara WestoverNonfiction, Memoir, BiographyBorn to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
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Oct 2018The Girl With All The GiftsM.R. CareyScience Fiction, Dystopia, HorrorMelanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her “our little genius.” Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children’s cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she’ll do when she grows up. Melanie doesn’t know why this makes Miss Justineau look sad.
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Sep 2018We Were the Lucky OnesGeorgia Hunter (COL ’00) Historical Fiction, World War II, HolocaustInspired by the incredible true story of Georgia’s own family, We Were the Lucky Ones tells the story of a Jewish family who was separated at the start of World War II but was determined to survive and reunite, against all odds.
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Jul 2018Station ElevenEmily St. John MandelScience Fiction, Dystopia, Post-ApocalypticAn audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.
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May 2018Sing, Unburied, Sing Jesmyn WardLiterary Fiction, Contemporary, Magical Realism This National Book Award winner brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi’s past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power—and limitations—of family bonds.
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Apr 2018A Wrinkle in TimeMadeleine L’EngleFiction, Fantasy, Classics, Science Fiction, Children's LiteratureIn 1962, Madeleine L’Engle debuted her Newbery Medal-winning novel A Wrinkle in Time. Bridging science and fantasy, darkness and light, fear and friendship, this novel became a beloved classic of children’s literature, and now Disney is taking it to the silver screen.
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Feb 2018Call Me By Your NameAndré AcimanFiction, LGBT, Romance, ContemporarySet in Lombardy, Italy in 1983, the novel tells the story of a sudden and powerful romance, which blossoms between a young boy and a summer guest at his parent’s villa on the Italian Riviera. Amid their sun-drenched surroundings, Elio and Oliver discover the beauty of awakening desire over the course of a summer that will alter their lives forever.
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Jan 2018Lord of the FliesWilliam GoldingFiction, Young Adult, Classics, DystopiaAs provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, William Golding’s compelling story about a group of ordinary boys marooned on an island presents a startling, brutal portrait of human nature.
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Nov 2017Little Fires EverywhereCeleste NgRealistic Fiction, ContemporaryFrom bestselling author Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere is a riveting novel that races the intertwined fates of the picture-perfect Richardson family and the enigmatic mother and daughter who upend their lives.
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Sep 2017Beneath a Scarlet SkyMark T. SullivanHistorical Fiction, World War II Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, the #1 Amazon Charts bestseller Beneath a Scarlet Sky is the triumphant tale of a teenager who served as an Allied spy within the German High Command during World War II.
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Aug 2017Kitchen ConfidentialAnthony BourdainNonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Food & DrinkIn this memoir, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain shares personal stories and offers a behind-the-scenes look at restaurant kitchens.
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Jun 2017AmericanahChimamanda Ngozi AdichieLiterary Fiction, Africa Culture, Contemporary, FeminismIfemelu and Obinze are young and in love when they depart military-ruled Nigeria for the West. Beautiful, self-assured Ifemelu heads for America, where despite her academic success, she is forced to grapple with what it means to be black for the first time. Quiet, thoughtful Obinze had hoped to join her, but with post-9/11 America closed to him, he instead plunges into a dangerous, undocumented life in London. Fifteen years later, they reunite in a newly democratic Nigeria, and reignite their passion—for each other and for their homeland.
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May 2017SweetbitterStephanie DanlerFiction, Cotemporary, Food & DrinkIn Sweetbitter, Stephanie Danler deftly conjures with heart-stopping accuracy the nonstop and high-adrenaline world of the restaurant industry and evokes the infinite possibilities, the unbearable beauty, and the fragility and brutality of being young in New York.
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Apr 20171984George OrwellScience Fiction, Dystopia, ClassicsThe year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia"—a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words.
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Feb 2017FencesAugust WilsonHistorical Fiction, Play, Classics, Drama, African American StudiesTroy Maxson has gone through life in an America where to be proud and black is to face pressures that could crush a man, body and soul. But the 1950s are yielding to the new spirit of liberation in the 1960s, a spirit that is changing the world Troy Maxson has learned to deal with the only way he can, a spirit that is making him a stranger, angry and afraid, in a world he never knew and to a wife and son he understands less and less.
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Jan 2017Born a CrimeTrevor NoahNonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Africa CultureThe book is a compelling, inspiring, and comically sublime story of one man’s coming-of-age, set during the twilight of apartheid and the tumultuous days of freedom that followed. Born a Crime narrates Trevor Noah’s unlikely path from apartheid South Africa to the desk of The Daily Show.
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Dec 2016Imagine Me GoneAdam HaslettLiterary Fiction, Contemporary, Mental HealthIn his third book, Adam Haslett tells the story of what unfolds from acts of love and faith. Told in alternating points of view, this gut-wrenching novel brings alive the love of a mother for her children, the devotion siblings feel toward one another, and the legacy of a father’s pain in a family.
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Oct 2016
Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Irin Carmon, Shana KnizhnikHistorical Nonfiction, Biography, Feminism, PoliticsInspired by the Tumblr that amused the Justice herself and brought to you by its founder and an award-winning feminist journalist, Notorious RBG draws on intimate access to Ginsburg’s family members, close friends, colleagues, and clerks, as well an interview with the Justice herself.