For some, the holiday break is a perfect time to find a quiet nook, drink a hot beverage, and get lost in a good book. So, what book should you read?   

We asked several Georgia Tech librarians for recommendations. Some suggested books related to their areas of specialization, while others recommended titles that were just a good read. 

The Cartel by Don Winslow, Knopf 2015 

Recommended by Charlie Bennett: Undergraduate Programming and Engagement Librarian and Liaison to the Division of Student Affairs and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

“This is the best book I’ve read this year. Winslow writes excellent crime novels with a master’s control of language and pacing. What makes this crime novel a great book is Winslow’s simultaneous compassion and anger when digging deeply into the drug war and all its many casualties.”  

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Knopf 2014

Recommended by Sherri Brown: Head – Instruction Unit and Public Services and Subject Librarian for Literature, Media, and Communication

“This book explores the role of the arts and humanities in a post-pandemic world. ‘The Traveling Symphony,’ a band of actors and musicians, winds its way to the remaining posts of civilization after a flu pandemic wipes out most of humanity. It considers what makes life worth living and how we move on after disaster strikes.” 

Hiroshima Nagasaki by Paul Ham, Thomas Dunne Books 2014

Recommended by Fred Rascoe: Scholarly Communication and Aerospace Engineering Librarian

“The atomic bombs that the United States dropped on Japan in August 1945 were the products of one of the most intense scientific and engineering efforts the country has ever seen, widely viewed to have been necessary in ending World War II. This book takes a critical look at the decision to use atomic weapons, and, in particular, examines whether it was the primary factor in the surrender of Japan. Hiroshima Nagasaki incorporates the histories of political and military leaders of the time, the scientists and engineers who built the bomb, the events of the war in the months leading up to the attack on Hiroshima, and the Japanese cities and people who felt the bomb’s horrific effects.”  

A Hologram for the King by Dave Eggers, McSweeney’s 2012 

The Circle by Dave Eggers, McSweeney’s 2013 

Recommended by Ameet Doshi: Subject Librarian for Economics and Public Policy 

“A Hologram for the King chronicles the misadventures and ennui of an American IT consultant dispatched on a sales mission to the king of Saudi Arabia. The novel is among Eggers’ finer works, describing the impact of globalization in highly personal, approachable terms. It is a quick read for the holidays, leaving plenty of time for Eggers’ more recent novel, The Circle. This thoroughly enjoyable techno-thriller is about the dark side of a fictionalized Internet company seeking to create universal transparency at the expense of personal privacy and autonomy.” 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Scribner 2014

Recommended by Catherine Murray-Rust: Dean of Libraries and Vice Provost for Academic Effectiveness

“Doerr won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this intense, sad, and magical story of human connection in occupied France during World War II. The reader knows from the outset that the paths of the French girl, blind from the age of 6, and the German boy, who loves radios, will converge as the Allied armies invade Normandy. What made me stand in line for over an hour to thank Doerr for giving the world this book is his beautiful prose that often comes close to poetry. Phrases such as ‘...the air a library and the record of every life lived, every sentence spoken, every word transmitted still reverberating within it,’ …and the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner will keep you reading late into the night.”