Category: Pop Lit Picks

Posts related to Popular Literature and monthly pop lit picks book displays around a particular theme

7 Books To Read This Summer

Travel Reads: Pop Lit Picks Blog Banner

We’ve all been working hard all year, and it’s time for us all to take a break before starting our new jobs or a new semester of classes. For some of us, that break may mean resting and enjoying family or traveling and acquiring new skills. But either way, there’s always room for a good book!

I’m Adira-Danique, a research graduate assistant with the Office of Digital Research & Scholarship (DRS) and one of the selectors for the Pop Lit Collection in Strozier Library for the “Travel” and “Self-Help” books. Here are a few great Travel reads I would recommend for kick-starting your Summer!

From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke (Call Number: NF Loc)

If your destination is your couch, grab Tembi Locke’s memoir and your remote to watch the Netflix series after you’re done reading. Here, Locke takes readers on a journey through Italy from Florence to Sicily and back to LA using grief, food, and her own study abroad memories. From Scratch, is perfect if you want the drama of a novel, while also craving a real world adventure.

The Impossible Road Trip: An Unforgettable Journey to Past & Present Roadside Attractions in All 50 States by Eric Dregni (Call Number: NF Dre)

For readers who are ready to jump in their cars and hit the open road, Dregni’s book is perfect. This guide has you covered from planning your road trip adventure to figuring out what attractions are a must-see and which ones you can pass by. Dregni has included a how-to guide with mapped illustrations, photographs of the most scenic routes across America, and insightful history about each stop. If you want an affordable adventure, this is the perfect pick.

Khabaar: An Immigrant Journey of Food, Memory, and Family by Madhushree Ghosh (Call Number: NF Gho)

 

If you’re not able to travel, no worries! Grab Ghosh’s book to take an adventure with food.

In this food memoir, Ghosh uses food and stories from her life to help readers learn about her South Asian heritage and her family’s history. The author tells how her family immigrated to India from Bangladesh during the 1947 Partition; recaps her journey into STEM as a woman of color; narrates her journey from leaving an abusive marriage; and talks about keeping her Bengali heritage alive through food. Khabaar is excellent for readers who love food and diving into history.

Secrets of the National Parks: The Expert’s Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail (Call Number: NF Nat)

Are you looking for an adventure that’s cost-effective but will also give you jaw-dropping views for your social media feed? If so, check out this National Geographic guidebook about America’s National Park to find extraordinary places off the beaten path to visit this Summer.

Here, National Geographic offers tips for finding low-key places in the Pinnacles National Park, Gateway Arch, Indiana Dunes National Park, Denali National Park and Preserve, and the Grand Canyon for a quieter traveling experience. This book is perfect for adventurers who enjoy road trips, camping getaways, and day hikes in the great outdoors.

The Catch Me If You Can: One Woman’s Journey to Every Country in the World by Jessica Nabongo (Call Number: NF Nab)

If you want to plan a more lavish trip, Jessica Nabongo, the first Black woman to visit all 195 UN-recognized countries in the world, travel memoir is the perfect book.

Listing out her favorite 100 destinations from her time traveling, Nabongo gives readers ideas about where to go, where to stay, and how to get to your destination. From horseback riding with Black cowboys at an Oklahoma ranch to making traditional Takoyaki in Japan and swimming with humpbacks in Tonga, Nabongo has stories that will capture every potential traveler’s imagination and some tips for your wallet.

Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, From Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster (Call Number: NF Sch)

Okay, so maybe travel is the furthest thing from your mind since this semester wasn’t your best one, and you’ve got a few changes you’d like to make before stepping back on campus next semester. Don’t worry! There’s a book here for you too.

Schuster, an executive at Comedy Central, writes from the perspective of someone who is successful on the outside but chronically anxious and self-medicating internally. With a few daily rituals, she was able to pinpoint some of her internal problems and get herself back on track in her personal journey. While it’s not a traditional travel read, it’s a great book if you plan on going on a journey of self-discovery this Summer.

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Call Number: F Erd)

So, technically, this isn’t a travel book. BUT, It is a dynamic read that will transfer readers into the rich storytelling world of Louise Erdrich’s eight-part Native American series.

Set on a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, Love Medicine tells a tale of love and loyalty. Here, Erdrich introduces two families, the Kashpaws and Lamartines whose fates are intertwined by the choices of their patriarch, Albertine Johnson, and his love for two women, Marie Kapshaw and Lulu Lamartine. In this series starter, Erdrich uses humor and magic to tell an intergenerational story.

If you want a bit of drama, pick this book up immediately and grab the other seven books in the series from Strozier while you’re at it!

Which read would you pack in your carry on?

This blog post was written by Adira-Danique Philyaw, is a 2022-2023 graduate research assistant with the Office of Digital Research and Scholarship Office at FSU Libraries.

13 Books to Read in Celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month 2023

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! May marks the official celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States. Established in 1990, the month of May was specifically chosen to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to arrive in the U.S. in May 1843, as well as to honor the Chinese immigrants who worked to complete the transcontinental railroad in May 1869. (Read more history here!)

In recognizing the varied experiences of all AAPI individuals and communities, we’ve selected 13 books from across different genres to celebrate Asian and Pacific Islander authors from our collections at FSU Libraries. Our list brings together contemporary titles that highlight distinct AAPI voices and raise important questions about culture and identity in the United States. 

From cozy cat mysteries to critical essays, all of the resources included can be checked out or accessed online through our website with an FSUID. Whether you’re in Tallahassee or elsewhere this month, join us in celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month with these notable books!

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

by Michelle Zauner

From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

Crying in H Mart is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

A Tale for the Time Being

by Ruth Ozeki

“A time being is someone who lives in time, and that means you, and me, and every one of us who is, or was, or ever will be.”

Full of Ozeki’s signature humor and deeply engaged with the relationship between writer and reader, past and present, fact and fiction, quantum physics, history, and myth, A Tale for the Time Being is a brilliantly inventive, beguiling story of our shared humanity and the search for home.

A Tale for the Time Being is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

by Cathy Park Hong

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. A radically honest work of art, Minor Feelings forms a portrait of one Asian American psyche—and of a writer’s search to both uncover and speak the truth.

Minor Feelings is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

The Bad Muslim Discount

by Syed M. Masood

Following two families from Pakistan and Iraq in the 1990s to San Francisco in 2016, The Bad Muslim Discount is an inclusive, comic novel about Muslim immigrants finding their way in modern America. With deep insight, warmth, and an irreverent sense of humor, Syed M. Masood examines universal questions of identity, faith (or lack thereof), and belonging through the lens of Muslim Americans.

The Bad Muslim Discount is available in the Pop Lit Collection located on the main floor of Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

This Is Paradise: Stories

by Kristiana Kahakauwila

In a stunning collection that announces the arrival of an incredible talent, Kristiana Kahakauwila travels the islands of Hawai’i, making the fabled place her own. Exploring the deep tensions between local and tourist, tradition and expectation, façade and authentic self, This Is Paradise provides an unforgettable portrait of life as it’s truly being lived on Maui, Oahu, Kaua’i and the Big Island. 

This is Paradise: Stories is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. Place a hold online and pick it up at your preferred library! 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

They Called Us Enemy

by George Takei

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon — and America itself — in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.

They Called Us Enemy is available in the Graphic Novels Collection by Pop Lit on the main floor of Strozier Library.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Afterparties: Stories

by Anthony Veasna So

Seamlessly transitioning between the absurd and the tenderhearted, balancing acerbic humor with sharp emotional depth, Afterparties offers an expansive portrait of the lives of Cambodian-Americans. As the children of refugees carve out radical new paths for themselves in California, they shoulder the inherited weight of the Khmer Rouge genocide and grapple with the complexities of race, sexuality, friendship, and family.

Afterparties: Stories is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue

by Jennifer J. Chow

This sassy cat mystery by Jennifer Chow follows the adventures of Mimi Lee, owner of Hollywoof – a new pet grooming business in Los Angeles. When a local breeder is found dead, Mimi must enlist her dreamy neighbor Josh and fluffy cat Marshmallow to clear her name and save her shop. A fun read with plenty of intrigue! 

Mimi Lee Gets a Clue is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description adapted from Amazon. 

The Incendiaries

by R.O. Kwon

A powerful, darkly glittering novel of violence, love, faith, and loss, as a young woman at an elite American university is drawn into a cult’s acts of terrorism. Haunting and intense, The Incendiaries is a fractured love story that explores what can befall those who lose what they love most.

The Incendiaries is available in the General Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House. 

Not Quite Not White: Losing and Finding Race in America

by Sharmila Sen

At the age of 12, Sharmila Sen emigrated from India to the U.S. The year was 1982, and everywhere she turned, she was asked to self-report her race – on INS forms, at the doctor’s office, in middle school. Never identifying with a race in the India of her childhood, she rejects her new “not quite” designation – not quite white, not quite black, not quite Asian — and spends much of her life attempting to blend into American whiteness. Part memoir, part manifesto, Not Quite Not White is a searing appraisal of race and a path forward for the next not quite not white generation –a witty and sharply honest story of discovering that not-whiteness can be the very thing that makes us American.

Not Quite Not White is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

Everything I Never Told You

by Celeste Ng

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

Everything I Never Told You is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image and description provided by Amazon.

All You Can Ever Know

by Nicole Chung

What does it mean to lose your roots—within your culture, within your family—and what happens when you find them? With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Nicole Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. All You Can Ever Know is a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.

All You Can Ever Know is available online through FSU Libraries.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

Girl Gone Viral

by Alisha Rai

Alisha Rai’s viral novel follows a reclusive Katrina King as she’s flung reluctantly into the spotlight of the Internet. Haunted by her traumatic past, Katrina escapes with her bodyguard Jas Singh into the country for refuge. Looming threats to Katrina’s safety reveal not-so-unrequited feelings, blurring the lines between the duo forever. This is a romantic and exciting read about family, healing, and trust.

Girl Gone Viral is available in the Pop Lit Collection at Strozier Library. 

Image provided by Amazon. Description adapted from Amazon. 

This post was created by Alaina Faulkner, Student Engagement Associate at FSU Libraries.

13 Books to Read This Women’s History Month

Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate the women of both past and present who make a difference in our lives. It’s a time to champion the progress we’ve made, and to challenge ourselves to go further in the fight for safety, visibility, and equality for every woman.

With so much to celebrate, what better way to learn about women’s history than to check out a book by a woman author? We’ve selected 13 different books from our catalog to get you started on your Women’s History Month reads.

This display highlights books from across time, place, and culture that each share diverse perspectives and experiences of womanhood. Below, you’ll find classic, must-read novels like Mrs. Dalloway and The Bluest Eye alongside popular modern works like the New York Times Bestseller, Mexican Gothic. For the more academically inclined, we’ve selected essential feminist writings by Audre Lorde and bell hooks; and for those seeking a gripping story, we’ve got Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban and Radclyffe Hall’s once-banned lesbian novel, The Well of Loneliness. You’ll find everything from laugh-out-loud comics like Alison Bechdel’s jaunty Dykes to Watch Out For, to compelling dramas like The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

There is something for everyone this Women’s History Month!

Each book featured here can be checked out at Strozier Library or retrieved online through the FSU Libraries website. To search for more women’s books, browse our online catalog.

Mrs. Dalloway

by Virginia Woolf

“Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” It’s one of the most famous opening lines in literature, that of Virginia Woolf’s beloved masterpiece of time, memory, and the city. In the wake of World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, Clarissa Dalloway, elegant and vivacious, is preparing for a party and remembering those she once loved. In another part of London, Septimus Smith is suffering from shell-shock and on the brink of madness. Their days interweave and their lives converge as the party reaches its glittering climax. In a novel in which she perfects the interior monologue and recapitulates the life cycle in the hours of the day, from first light to the dark of night, Woolf achieves an uncanny simulacrum of consciousness, bringing past, present, and future together, and recording, impression by impression, minute by minute, the feel of life itself.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com. Description provided by Penguin Publishing Group.

Did you know?

Virginia Woolf co-owned and operated a publishing company, The Hogarth Press, which published both her works and those of her contemporaries- authors like T.S. Eliot, Sigmund Freud, and E.M. Forster. As such, the Woolfs’ house became something of a cultural hub for London artists of the time.

Feminism is for Everybody

by bell hooks

bell hooks establishes what feminism is truly about through Feminism is for Everybody: Passionate Politics. The book analytically explores feminism from an intelligent perspective, shining light on the successes and shortcomings of the feminist movement. Removing the strong sexual appetite from the topic of love, the author explores ways to end oppression and sexism. Consider the book a simple guide to understanding feminism.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com. Description provided by bell hooks Books.

The Bluest Eye

by Toni Morrison

Pecola Breedlove, a young eleven-year-old black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. Yet as her dreams grow more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife. A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

Did you know?

In the 1960s, Toni Morrison worked as one of the first Black fiction editors at Random House, where she gave voice to other Black authors such as Angela Davis and Gayl Jones by acquiring and editing their books. In 1993, she became the first Black recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Mexican Gothic

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After receiving a frantic letter from her newly-wed cousin begging for someone to save her from a mysterious doom, Noemí Taboada heads to High Place, a distant house in the Mexican countryside. She’s not sure what she will find—her cousin’s husband, a handsome Englishman, is a stranger, and Noemí knows little about the region. Noemí is also an unlikely rescuer: She’s a glamorous debutante, and her chic gowns and perfect red lipstick are more suited for cocktail parties than amateur sleuthing. But she’s also tough and smart, with an indomitable will, and she is not afraid: Not of her cousin’s new husband, who is both menacing and alluring; not of his father, the ancient patriarch who seems to be fascinated by Noemí; and not even of the house itself, which begins to invade Noemi’s dreams with visions of blood and doom.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

The Essential Dykes to Watch Our For

by Alison Bechdel

Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it “half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel”) of the lives, loves, and politics of Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and the rest of the cast of cult-fav characters. Most of them are lesbians, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Bechdel’s brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends—academics, social workers, bookstore clerks—fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents. Bechdel fuses high and low culture—from foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex to postmodern theory—in a serial graphic narrative “suitable for humanists of all persuasions.”

Image courtesy of Amazon.com. Description provided by HarperCollins.

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

A powerful cultural touchstone of modern American literature, The Color Purple depicts the lives of African American women in early twentieth-century rural Georgia. Separated as girls, sisters Celie and Nettie sustain their loyalty to and hope in each other across time, distance and silence. Through a series of letters spanning twenty years, first from Celie to God, then the sisters to each other despite the unknown, the novel draws readers into its rich and memorable portrayals of Celie, Nettie, Shug Avery and Sofia and their experience. The Color Purple broke the silence around domestic and sexual abuse, narrating the lives of women through their pain and struggle, companionship and growth, resilience and bravery. Deeply compassionate and beautifully imagined, Alice Walker’s epic carries readers on a spirit-affirming journey towards redemption and love.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

Did you know?

Alice Walker participated in the historic March on Washington at which Dr. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1966, she moved to Mississippi to help local African Americans register to vote and much of her life was devoted to the fight for civil rights.

My Home as I Remember: A Collection of Essays

edited by Lee Maracle and Sandra Laronde

My Home As I Remember describes literary and artistic achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Metis women across Canada and the United States, including contributions from New Zealand and Mexico. Their voices and creative expression of identity and place are richly varied, reflecting the depth of the culturally diverse energy found on these continents. Over 60 writers and visual artists are represented from nearly 25 nations, including writers such as Lee Maracle, Chrystos and Louise Bernice Halfe, and visual artists Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Teresa Marshall, Kenojuak Ashevak, Doreen Jensen and Shelley Niro; and some who are published for the first time in this landmark volume. Lee Maracle is the author of numerous books, including Ravensong. Sandra Laronde, writer/actor, is Executive Director of Native Women in the Arts.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com. Description provided by Dundurn Press.

Dreaming in Cuban

by Cristina García

Cristina García’s acclaimed book is the haunting, bittersweet story of a family experiencing a country’s revolution and the revelations that follow. The lives of Celia del Pino and her husband, daughters, and grandchildren mirror the magical realism of Cuba itself, a landscape of beauty and poverty, idealism and corruption. Dreaming in Cuban is “a work that possesses both the intimacy of a Chekov story and the hallucinatory magic of a novel by Gabriel García Márquez” (The New York Times). In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the novel’s original publication, this edition features a new introduction by the author.

Image and Description courtesy of Penguin Books.

The Well of Loneliness

by Radclyffe Hall

The Well of Loneliness tells the story of tomboyish Stephen, who hunts, wears trousers and cuts her hair short – and who gradually comes to realise that she is attracted to women. Charting her romantic and professional adventures during the First World War and beyond, the novel provoked a furore on first publication in 1928 for its lesbian heroine and led to a notorious legal trial for obscenity. Hall herself, however, saw the book as a pioneer work and today it is recognised as a landmark work of gay fiction.

Image courtesy of Amazon.com. Description provided by Penguin Books.

Did you know?

Because of the book’s queer themes, Radclyffe Halle was put on trial for obscenity. She lost her case; the book was banned; and all copies were ordered to be destroyed. Still, The Well of Loneliness survives as one of the most important lesbian texts of the 20th century.

Fairest: A Memoir

by Meredith Talusan

Fairest is a memoir about a precocious boy with albinism, a “sun child” from a rural Philippine village, who would grow up to become a woman in America. Coping with the strain of parental neglect and the elusive promise of U.S. citizenship, Talusan found comfort from her devoted grandmother, a grounding force as she was treated by others with special preference or public curiosity. As an immigrant to the United States, Talusan came to be perceived as white, and further access to elite circles of privilege but required Talusan to navigate through the complex spheres of race, class, sexuality, and queerness. Questioning the boundaries of gender, Talusan realized she did not want to be confined to a prescribed role as a man, and transitioned to become a woman, despite the risk of losing a man she deeply loved. Throughout her journey, Talusan shares poignant and powerful episodes of desirability and love that will remind readers of works such as Call Me By Your Name and Giovanni’s Room.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

Passing

by Nella Larsen

Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to “pass” as a white woman. Clare’s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare’s risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clare’s interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene’s black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning

by Cathy Park Hong

Poet and essayist Cathy Park Hong fearlessly and provocatively blends memoir, cultural criticism, and history to expose fresh truths about racialized consciousness in America. Part memoir and part cultural criticism, this collection is vulnerable, humorous, and provocative—and its relentless and riveting pursuit of vital questions around family and friendship, art and politics, identity and individuality, will change the way you think about our world.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

Sister Outsider

by Audre Lorde

In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde’s philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published. These landmark writings are, in Lorde’s own words, a call to “never close our eyes to the terror, to the chaos which is Black which is creative which is female which is dark which is rejected which is messy which is . . . ”

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Books.

This blog post was created by Lila Rush-Hickey, Student Engagement Assistant for FSU Libraries. She is a third-year Literature, Media and Culture major at FSU.

12 Books to Read This Black History Month

February is Black History Month, and it’s this time every year that we honor, celebrate, and highlight the achievements of African Americans that have helped shape our nation. 

Reading books written by Black authors or about Black history is a great way to amplify those underrepresented voices, learn from personal experiences, and help contextualize systemic issues for those who are not impacted by them firsthand. It can help to deepen our understanding of the ongoing struggle for racial equality and justice, and provide a greater appreciation for black culture. 

If you’re looking for a place to start your journey, we’ve picked out a short list of wonderful reads for Black History Month. These 12 books get to the heart of many of the racial issues from our country’s past, leading into the present, as well as how to make a better future. All of these books freely are available through FSU Libraries. Check out the catalog on our website to search for more titles!

The 1619 Project

by Nikole Hannah-Jones &The New York Times Magazine

The award-winning “1619 Project” issue reframed our understanding of American history by placing slavery and its continuing legacy at the center of our national narrative. This new book substantially expands on that work, weaving together eighteen essays that explore the legacy of slavery in present-day America with thirty-six poems and works of fiction that illuminate key moments of oppression, struggle, and resistance. The essays show how the inheritance of 1619 reaches into every part of contemporary American society, from politics, music, diet, traffic, and citizenship to capitalism, religion, and our democracy itself.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by The 1619 Project.

Invisible Man

by Ralph Ellison

“Invisible Man” is a thought-provoking and witty story about race that is beautifully narrated by a young, nameless Black man in 1950s America in search of self-knowledge. Readers are taken on a journey from the Deep South to Harlem, where the protagonist experiences horrifying intolerance, cultural blindness and racial bigotry all in an effort to find the true meaning of self-identity.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by CNN, 2022.

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

In “Between the World and Me” Ta-Nehisi Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, “Between the World and Me” clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by Random House Group.

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of 20 years of her life, beginning at age 14 when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by Lit Lovers.

The Hate U Give

by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-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. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. 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. It could also endanger her life.

Image and description courtesy of Goodreads.

How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America

by Clint Smith

Beginning in his hometown of New Orleans, Clint Smith leads the reader on an unforgettable tour of monuments and landmarks—those that are honest about the past and those that are not—that offer an intergenerational story of how slavery has been central in shaping our nation’s collective history, and ourselves. A deeply researched and transporting exploration of the legacy of slavery and its imprint on centuries of American history, “How the Word Is Passed” illustrates how some of our country’s most essential stories are hidden in plain view—whether in places we might drive by on our way to work, holidays such as Juneteenth, or entire neighborhoods like downtown Manhattan, where the brutal history of the trade in enslaved men, women, and children has been deeply imprinted.

Image and description courtesy of Goodreads.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

by Michelle Alexander

“The New Jim Crow” is a stunning account of the rebirth of a caste-like system in the United States, one that has resulted in millions of African Americans locked behind bars and then relegated to a permanent second-class status—denied the very rights supposedly won in the Civil Rights Movement. The novel challenges the civil rights community—and all of us—to place mass incarceration at the forefront of a new movement for racial justice in America.

Image courtesy of Amazon. Description provided by New Jim Crow.

The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap

by Mehrsa Baradarian

When the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, the black community owned less than 1 percent of the total wealth in America. More than 150 years later, that number has barely budged. “The Color of Money” seeks to explain the stubborn persistence of this racial wealth gap by focusing on the generators of wealth in the black community: black banks.

Image and description provided by Amazon.

The Underground Railroad

by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned, and Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Image and description provided by Penguin Random House.

Heavy

by Kiese Laymon

In “Heavy,” the author Kiese Laymon writes eloquently and honestly about growing up a hard-headed black son to a complicated and brilliant black mother in Jackson, Mississippi. From his early experiences of sexual violence, to his suspension from college, to his trek to New York as a young college professor, he charts his complex relationship with his mother, grandmother, anorexia, obesity, sex, writing, and ultimately gambling. By attempting to name secrets and lies he and his mother spent a lifetime avoiding, Laymon asks himself, his mother, his nation, and us to confront the terrifying possibility that few in this nation actually know how to responsibly love, and even fewer want to live under the weight of actually becoming free.

Image and description provided by Simon & Schuster.

The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett

The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters’ storylines intersect?

Image and description provided by Goodreads.

Deacon King Kong

by James McBride

In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and, in front of everybody, shoots the project’s drug dealer at point-blank range. The author brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the residents who witnessed it, the local cops assigned to investigate, and the neighborhood’s Italian mobsters. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.

Image and description provided by Goodreads.

This blog post was written by Kaylan Williams, Student Engagement Assistant at FSU Libraries.

New Year, Same Goals?

Get back into those favorite habits with some Pop Lit Picks for the new year! With an entire genre selection on self help and inspiration, work on building your healthy habits with advice from some of the best authors and more. From simple goal setting and habit making advice, to digging into the harder topics like setting boundaries and confronting racism, below is a list of just a few of those helpful “Self Help” books we keep in the Pop Lit collection in Strozier Library. While January is winding down, 2023 is just starting – and it’s never too late to work on your goals!

Atomic Habits


James Clear, an expert on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. He draws on proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible.

Feeding the Soul (because it’s my business)

Actress, vegan superstar, and “America’s Mom” Tabitha Brown offers inspirational life lessons in her warm, charismatic voice. For years Brown pursued acting while raising a family and dealing with undiagnosed chronic autoimmune pain. Before she became vegan, her condition made her believe she wouldn’t live to see forty. With her relatable personality and health struggles, approachable and nonjudgmental take on plant-based living, and warm voice reflecting her Southern upbringing, she shares with readers how to make a life for themselves that is rooted in kindness and love, both for themselves and for others. Brown roots her lessons in stories about her own life, career, faith, and family.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace who you are

Each day we face a barrage of images and messages from society and the media telling us who, what, and how we should be. We are led to believe that if we could only look perfect and lead perfect lives, we’d no longer feel inadequate. So most of us perform, please, and perfect, all the while thinking, What if I can’t keep all of these balls in the air? Why isn’t everyone else working harder and living up to my expectations? What will people think if I fail or give up? When can I stop proving myself? In The Gifts of Imperfection, Brené Brown shares what she’s learned from a decade of research on the power of Wholehearted Living — a way of engaging with the world from a place of worthiness. In her ten guideposts, Brown engages our minds, hearts, and spirits as she explores how we can cultivate the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough, and to go to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am sometimes afraid, but I am also brave. And, yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am worthy of love and belonging.

Hello Fears

Michelle has always had a problem with the word “fearless.” Facing your demons doesn’t mean you’re fearless; it means you fear them, but you do it anyway! So for 100 days she faced 100 of her fears, and the message went viral. Written in Michelle’s hilarious, honest voice and driven through storytelling, expert interviews, and practical tools, Hello, Fears conveys the lessons she learned from facing each fear and inspires readers to make the right choice – the brave choice. For readers of Girl, Wash Your Face and 100 Days of Brave, Hello, Fears is a growth mindset personal development book for those who are ready to push past their comfort zone and embrace their fears

Capital Gains: smart things I learned doing stupid stuff

Chip Gaines is well known as a TV star (HGTV’s Fixer Upper), renovation expert, husband to Joanna, and father of 4 in Waco, Texas. But long before the world took notice, Chip was a serial entrepreneur who was always ready for the next challenge, even if it didn’t quite work out as planned. Whether it was buying a neighborhood laundromat or talking a bank into a loan for some equipment to start a lawn-mowing service, Chip always knew that the most important thing was to take that first step. We walk alongside him as he relives some of his craziest antics and the lessons learned along the way. His mentors taught him to never give up and his family showed him what it meant to always have a positive attitude despite your circumstances. Throw in a natural daredevil personality and a willingness to do (or eat!) just about anything, and you have the life and daily activity of Chip Gaines.

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A guide to reclaiming yourself

Healthy boundaries. We all know we should have them–in order to achieve school/work/life balance, cope with toxic people, and enjoy rewarding relationships with partners, friends, and family. But what do “healthy boundaries” really mean–and how can we successfully express our needs, say “no,” and be assertive without offending others?

What Happened to You?

“What happened to you?” Many of us experience adversity that has a lasting impact on our physical and emotional health. What happens to us in childhood is a powerful predictor of our risk for health problems down the road and offers scientific insights into the patterns of behaviors so many struggle to understand. Here, Winfrey shares stories from her own harrowing past and her understanding of the vulnerability that comes from facing trauma at a young age. Joining forces with Dr. Perry, one of the world’s leading experts on childhood trauma, Winfrey marries the power of storytelling with science and clinical experience to better understand and overcome the effects of trauma. The two focus not only a new understanding of people’s behavior but also on trauma’s effects on our own lives. It’s a subtle but profound shift in our approach to trauma that allows each of us to understand our past so that we may clear a path to our future – opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

Overcoming Everyday Racism

This enlightening and reflective guide studies the psychological impact of racism and discrimination on BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) people and offers steps to improve wellbeing. It includes definitions of race, racism and other commonly used terms, such as microaggressions, and evaluates the effect of definitions used to describe BAME people. Each chapter of the book focusses on one category of wellbeing – self-acceptance, personal growth, purpose in life, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, autonomy – and includes case examples, spaces for reflection and practical, creative exercises. For use as a tool within counseling and therapeutic settings as well as a self-help tool by individuals, each category provides a framework for thinking about how to manage everyday racism, live with more resilience, and thrive.

Me and White Supremacy: Combat Racism, Change the World, and be a Better Ancestor

Me and White Supremacy teaches readers how to dismantle the privilege within themselves so that they can stop (often unconsciously) inflicting damage on people of color, and in turn, help other white people do better, too. When Layla Saad began an Instagram challenge called #MeAndWhiteSupremacy, she never predicted it would spread as widely as it did. She encouraged people to own up and share their racist behaviors, big and small. She was looking for truth, and she got it. Thousands of people participated in the challenge, and over 90,000 people downloaded the Me and White Supremacy Workbook.

Not seeing one you like? Just type “self help” into the one search bar and narrow your search by location (on the left side of your screen) and choose the Popular Literature Collection.

If you feel overwhelmed and need assistance navigating any issues in life, the University Counseling & Psychological Services is free to all students and equipped to help you with everything from anxiety management, peer support, individual and couples counseling, substance abuse help and more. You can find their website at https://counseling.fsu.edu/

This blog post was written by Dianna Bradley, Digital Library Center Metadata Associate at FSU Libraries.

As Seen on #BookTok

Happy Spring! With classes just starting, it’s a perfect time to do some reading for fun before the semester gets too busy. FSU Libraries has many popular and bestselling books from lists like the New York Times available for students to check out for free. With TikTok and the hashtag #BookTok on the rise, we’ve compiled a list of 10 trending books to help you find your next read!

All of these books are located in the Pop Lit collection in Strozier Library, which is just next to the Starbucks café area inside the library. We also have tons of popular YA titles available in Dirac Library. Check out the libraries’ catalog on our website to search for more titles, and even reserve books online for pickup!

Red, White & Royal Blue

by Casey McQuiston

What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?

Image and description courtesy of St. Martin’s Griffin.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder

by Holly Jackson

As her senior capstone project, Pippa Fitz-Amobi is determined to find the real killer in a closed, local murder case, but not everyone wants her meddling in the past.

Image courtesy of Ember, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. Description provided by FSU Libraries.

It Ends with Us

by Colleen Hoover

Lily is overwhelmed with passion for the inflexible and proud Ryle. But her too-good-to-be-true romance is suddenly a lot more complicated when her first love, Atlas, suddenly comes back into her life.

Image and description courtesy of Atria Books.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown

by Talia Hibbert

A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things.

Image and description courtesy of Harper Collins.

Arsenic and Adobo

by Mia P. Manansala

The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes–one that might just be killer….

Image and description courtesy of Berkley Prime Crime.

The Wedding Date

by Jasmine Guillory

A groomsman and his last-minute guest are about to discover if a fake date can go the distance in a fun and flirty debut novel.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Publishing Group.

The Maidens

by Alexis Michaelides

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient comes a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder, and obsession, that further cements “Michaelides as a major player in the field” (Publishers Weekly).

Image and description courtesy of Celadon Books.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong

Poet Ocean Vuong’s debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling.

Image and description courtesy of Penguin Publishing Group.

One Last Stop

by Casey McQuiston

From the New York Times, bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes a new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks…

Image and description courtesy of St. Martin’s Griffin.

Seven Days in June

by Tia Williams

Running into reclusive author Shane Hall at a literary event, bestselling erotica writer Eva Mercy, over the next seven days, reconnects with this man who broke her heart twenty years earlier until he disappears again, leaving more questions than answers.

Image and description courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

This blog post was written by Alaina Faulkner, Student Engagement Associate at FSU Libraries.

Cozy Fall Reads

As the temperature finally cools off and we experience the whisper of a new season, it’s time to find that perfect book to curl up with in a big cozy chair in a coffee shop or by a fireplace, if you have one. Cozy reads are, of course, different for everyone depending on the books they prefer, but for me they should involve a happy ending, an entertaining cast of characters, a classic who-don-it, and a cat if possible (usually in the real world, curled up on my lap).

Below is a list of cozy stories with elements of love, mystery, and magic for your long and chilly evenings ahead.

The Night Circus

Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways.

A Familiar Tail: A Witch’s Cat Mystery

Unlucky-in-love artist Annabelle Britton decides that a visit to the seaside town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is the perfect way to get over her problems. But when she stumbles upon a smoky grey cat named Alastair, and follows him into a charming cottage, Annabelle finds herself in a whole spell book full of trouble. Suddenly saddled with a witch’s wand and a furry familiar, Annabelle soon meets a friendly group of women who use their spells, charms and potions to keep the people of Portsmouth safe. But they can’t prevent every wicked deed in town.

The Collector

When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson witnesses a murder/suicide from her current apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for one. Artist Ashton Archer knows his brother isn’t capable of violence–against himself or others. He recruits Lila, the only eyewitness, to help him uncover what happened.

Magpie Murders

After working with bestselling crime writer Alan Conway for years, editor Susan Ryeland is intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries in sleepy English villages. His traditional formula has proved hugely successful, so successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job. Conway’s latest tale involves a murder at Pye Hall, with dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects. But the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder.

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

THE RULES OF BLACKHEATH: Evelyn Harcastle will be murdered at 11:00p.m. There are eight days , and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then lets begin..

The Bookseller’s Secret

Now he’d fled for a second time, to a city where he believed no one would recognize him, identity secure until confronted by Sara Olson. Maintaining cover demanded he stay away from her while at the same time getting close enough to find out how much she knew. This mission impossible caused him to leave his safe zone to obtain information crucial to keeping his secret …

Intercepted

Marlee Harper is the perfect girlfriend. She’s definitely had enough practice by dating her NFL-star boyfriend for the last ten years. But when she discovers he has been tackling other women on the sly, she vows to never date an athlete again. There’s just one problem: Gavin Pope, the new hotshot quarterback and a fling from the past, has Marlee in his sights.

Cats on the Prowl

Willow, the fluffy white Persian cat, gets more than she bargained for when she comes to live at the Nelson Police Station. Nat, the big tabby tom cat, takes her under his wing and starts teaching her the art of the police cat. Before she knows what hit her, Willow finds herself caught up in a web of intrigue, murder, and adventure that will take her to her limit and beyond. With the help of Nat and a curious collection of mysterious alley cats, Willow is on her way to discovering a depth of potential and excitement she never thought possible

This blog post was written by Dianna Bradley, Digital Library Center Metadata Specialist at FSU Libraries.

Digital Book Display: American Stories Through the Ages

July is a month of celebration and remembrance of America’s greatest accomplishments. To commemorate America’s 246th birthday, we have compiled a list of novels and films telling the American stories of success, struggle, and growth as time has passed. We hope to celebrate the diverse American experience throughout history and provide a reflection on the American mosaic.

Continue reading Digital Book Display: American Stories Through the Ages