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Leisure Reading

A guide designed to promote use of the Libraries' leisure reading (best seller), personal development and other collections of note.

Recommended Reads from the Mount Libraries' Student Staff

A thorough application of attachment styles to adult relationships. Although this book is focused on romantic relationships, the concepts may also be applied to platonic relationships. Recommended for psychology and child development students to expand their knowledge of attachement styles.

Attached: the new science of adult attachement by Amir Levine and Rachel Heller

Gender Queer is a great book to educate yourself on people of the LGBTQ community. If you have ever felt different from everyone else or have had identity issues, this book is very relatable in that sense. It is a short sweet story that is very validating for LGBTQ individuals who are also BIPOC. In one word, this book is Validating. My favorite quote is “I don't want to be a girl. I don't want to be a boy, either. I just want to be myself.”

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

A Graphic Novel

Fahrenheit 451 follows the story of Guy Montag, who is a firefighter. In this book, firefighters burn books and are in charge of capturing people who secretly have books. This book is important for people to understand the importance of books and knowledge, especially knowledge found in banned books

Fahrenheit 451: the Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton and Ray Bradbury

A Graphic Novel

Call me by your name is a

Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman

This book gives insight on how to cope with your emotions in different situations you find yourself in. This book provides different examples on how the author coped with negative situations and made them positive. In this book, you will learn to make the best out of any situation no matter if it's a positive or negative, you are to keep thriving and not let anything stand in your way. No matter how big or small you will overcome your battles and tribulations. This book taught me to always find a positive in any negatives I come across because I cannot let my battles define who I am and take over. Neither should you.

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

For those who wish to go further into the issues of race, war, language, family, identity, drug misuse, same-sex relationships, and most importantly, what it means to live and be human, I heartily suggest this award-winning novel. It celebrates familial relationships and the expression of love, regardless of how flawed they may be. The story is formatted as a letter written in English from a son to his mother, all full of truth, secrets of the past, and concealed confessions of love and gratitude, remaining eternally hidden away behind foreign letters.

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

If you're looking for a book that accurately represents the Black LGBTQ+ experience, this is it. I love this book because it was able to capture how it is to be a queer Black woman in America.

The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus

within you, yet unknown. / Unlock the secrets of your soul, / Let dreams guide you, make you whole. /,In the journey of life, be the alchemist true, / And watch your wildest dreams come into view.. I recommend this book as it examines the value of self-discovery and shows that pursuing one's aspirations might have greater rewards.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

This story gives readers a sad but important perspective of the way a Black woman gets treated in society.

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley

There is a focus among the essays, meditations and speeches collected in this volume on subjects that are now affecting people on national and even global scale.

The Source of Self-Regard by Toni Morrison

Neon Genesis Evangelion (v.1-3) is the manga adaptation of the acclaimed anime series. NGE ells the story of Shizi Ikari, a 14-year-old boy who is thrust back into the eyes of his absent father in order to save Earth from foreign invaders known as

Neon Genesis Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

v.1-5

It's about Percy Jackson, son of Posidon, who needs to do three quests in order to get letters of recommendation to go to school. The book follows his first quest to find a missing chalice that can grant immortality.

The Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan

This is a great book for those who want to learn how to be a more positive person. The author gives guidance on how to use the four agreements so you can change your life for the better. Overall, it's a good book to start your transformation to a carefree and positive life.

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

This is a very famous dystopian society book that focuses on the loss of knowledge through the extinction of books. I highly recommend this book because it spreads the dea about how imporant individuality and education is.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A timeless classic that follows a teenage boy through his first-person pint of view while recounting his experiences in NYC while he explores the complexities of growign up through the eyes of an angsty, self-alienated, impulsive, teenager rushing to be treated like an adult while simultaneously mourning his childhood.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

This is a short story with a powerful message. The Characters feel realistic and famliar at the same time. The main characters are criticized by society and their own conscience. One of them is

The Swallow and the Tom Cat by Jorge Amado

This book is about providing hope during the bad days when you feel like there is no hope left. This book can help just about anyone who is feeling low and needs help with picking themselves back up again. It teaches you how you can look at the negatives in a positive light and to have hope that you will feel better by the advie and wise passages that Matt provides throughout the book. I learned ways to overcome the sadness by taking some steps in a more positive direction. The book mentions that this is achievable by first finding hope; being more present in the moment and acknowledging that we are enough; which are some powerful things to keep in mind during difficult times.

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

This book gives the reader chills and suspense. Beatriz goes through a series of events as she discovers the haunting of the Hacienda. It also ties into old Mexican folktales.

The Hacienda by Isabel Canas

A captivating story about a woman who is connected to her anestors in a horrific way as she is forcefully time traveled to the Antebellum South to save a young plantation ownder and ensure that her family tree is not interrupted from the mid 1800's and so on.

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

This book helps psychologists better understand their (Filipino) mindsets, upbringing, identity. It's a book that helped me identify with my upbringing and culture.

Filipino American Psychology by Kevin Nadal

Ada is our protagonist. She has spirits trapped inside her. Through her spirituality, Ada can experience being between both worlds (the spiritual realm and the real world). She moved from Nigeria to the USA to attend college. She gets trapped in a sexually abusive relationship with Soren. The events that follow are the reaction the spirits and her go through. She tries to process what happened to her. This is a trauma book that explores mental illness.

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi

Solid disability representation great expression of the intimacy found in lifelong friendships. Full of sorrow, strife and success. You will like this movie if you like the movie Ladybird. I do advise looking up the content warning prior to reading.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

An empathetic, enjoyable withdraw for readers who are interested in moral issues, bringing together ideas of love and grief with a bit of adrenaline.

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

This was a fascinating book for learing about the power of mindset. The book can help arents, teachers, coaches, businesses, students and relationships. Dweck teaches you how to achieve your goals, deal with tough situations, and approch people differently. You can learn to impact all aspects of your life and unleash your potential.

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck

This book is a beautiful celebration of trans love. Every page is swimming with magic and metaphor.

When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

Book Recommendations from News Sources

Book recommendations and reviews are courtesy of the Libraries' awesome student employees. Feel free to use the Suggest a Purchase form to recommend other books to us.

For additional book reviews, check out Access World News, New York Review of Books and Women's Review of Books.

Just click Books and Authors under Suggested Topics on the Access World News Homepage!

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