2024-2025 Book Recommendations List
Rudy Almasy, Emeritus Faculty, recommends:
The Aspern Papers by Henry James
All readers should tackle a Henry James every once in a while, something like this novella. A greedy
critic after the papers of the famous poet Aspern–papers held by a former mistress in Venice–the
mistress and Venice both old and crumbling yet with treasures.
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Last year I had wanted to recommend this book but couldn’t find the right words for this powerful
story of a father and daughter caught up in the years following the end of apartheid.
Brian Ballentine, Faculty, recommends:
Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by
Hampton Sides
Kit Carson, a mountain man, trapper, hunter, scout, and soldier, is at the center of this non-fiction
telling of westward expansion. Sides offers a captivating and sometimes brutal rendering of Carson,
the military leaders he served, and the Navajo people they displaced.
Mark Brazaitis, Faculty, recommends:
Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
My sister asked me recently if I'd read Charlotte's Web. I said yes, even though I hadn't. But I didn't
want to be untruthful, so I grabbed a copy out of my older daughter's room and read it. It's wry,
moving, funny, and deeply existential. A book about friendship, it speaks to our age of loneliness and
isolation.
Erin Brock Carlson, Faculty, recommends:
Circe by Madeline Miller
I'm a sucker for an adaptation of mythology, and especially those that re-cast a minor character or
even better, a villain, into someone with whom the reader can empathize. The story is told so
compellingly that I was riveted during 3 a.m. feedings with my baby, and if that isn't an endorsement
for Miller's craft, I don't know what is.
Rose Casey, Faculty, recommends:
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
Stunning novel about Palestinian experience, narrated through a staging of Hamlet in the Occupied
Territories. Beautifully crafted, theoretically complex, and politically astute, Enter Ghost is a novel
that we all should read.
Ren Clarke, MA Student, recommends:
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Coates presents a much-needed and topical personal novel in which to reimagine current dominant
narratives. Follow Coates through three essays: trips to Senegal, to South Carolina, and finally to
Palestine. You will find yourself haunted by his prose as Coates shares his thoughts on race, racism,
apartheid, colonialism, humanity, inequality, and journalism.
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann
For anyone who got lost in the tales of Robinson Crusoe as a child, this book fulfills every wish my
childhood self could imagine in a castaway story. Full of naval adventure, danger, survival, and
mutinous whispers, Grann keeps you on your toes the entire read with a satisfying blend of historical
research and narrative.
Brent Cronin, MFA Student, recommends:
Speedboat by Renata Adler
Full of sharply observed vignettes and anecdotes, this book is catnip for writers. I got swept up in
Adler's voice—spare, funny, enigmatic—offering quirky snapshots of 1970s New York.
Camille Gazoul, MFA Student, recommends:
We Were the Universe by Kimberly King
This book is a psychedelic and stunning take on motherhood, sisterhood, and the body in its many
confusing forms. It follows Kit, a stay-at-home mother to a four-year-old, who is looking for meaning
and purpose in the wake of her sister’s tragic death.
Catherine Gouge, Faculty, recommends:
The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
The Best We Could Do is a graphic memoir about Bui's family's escape after the fall of South
Vietnam in the 1970s. Bui offers a deeply personal account of family, immigration, and the legacy of
trauma, highlighting the impact of war on multiple generations.
Jason Kapcala, Alum, recommends:
Postscripts by Renée K. Nicholson
Reading Postscripts feels like stumbling across a box of long-forgotten postcards. Written by an alum
of WVU's MFA program, Postscripts is a surreal collection of poems that plays with the ideas of
travel, correspondence, and home. Sometimes, it's quite literal, describing trips from West Virginia to
New York to Ecuador to Spain. In other cases, these journeys are more like slanted and wondrous encounters with topics that hit close to home, like illness and grief, the opioid crisis, consumerism,
environmentalism, and cultural identity.
Andy Kerstetter, MFA Student, recommends:
The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers
Powerful exploration of PTSD, masculinity, US military culture, recent history. Beautiful, difficult,
and affecting.
Kanza Fatima Mirza, Ph.D. Candidate, recommends:
Bewilderment by Richard Powers
I recommend this book to readers deeply concerned with environmental issues and the emotional
impact of ecological loss. The novel beautifully explores "solastalgia," the distress caused by
environmental destruction, offering a poignant reflection on our fragile world and a deep emotional
connection to the environmental crisis.
Sanchita Sahoo, MFA Student, recommends:
Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason
One of the best books on mental illness that is as powerful as it is oddly comforting.
Gharchar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbag
A short, tight lesson in storytelling with a gripping plot—the perfect read for writers.
Mary Ann Samyn, Faculty, recommends:
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Does this novel have it all? Well, yes, of course, at 1300 pages there's room for everything: love
stories and war stories, comedic and tragic bits, moments of lyric beauty, lots of timeless insight into
characters and their motivations [Hawthorne is also very good at this sort of thing], and, my favorite,
history lessons. Tolstoy reminds us that everything that seems so clear in retrospect was not so at the
time. Beware of certainty. I've enjoyed reading the novel as part of a year-long, chapter-a-day,
read-along. Both on and off the page, the seasons come and go.
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
Of course I've seen movie and play versions,, but wow—the book! Parts of it feel dated; parts of it
ought to feel more so. Alas. In any case, on nearly every page: something delightful and/or
frighteningly too-true. For example, make-believe is fine "by day with the chairs and table-cloth... but
in the two minutes before you go to sleep it becomes very real. That is why there are night-lights."
Yikes. Goodness, yes.
The Wisdom of Sheep: Observations from a Family Farm by Rosamund Young
I’ve really enjoyed reading this book for its wisdom and humor and, especially, for moments like this:
“As November becomes December, it starts to get dark so early that we have to visit the sheep by torchlight. Their eyes are sparkling fairy lights of gold and nearly red, of icy blue and twinkly green,
and of the silver that makes the stars.”
Andrea Starr, MA Student, recommends:
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
Simultaneously uplifting and heartbreaking story about the friendship between two women from
different classes in 15th century China–a midwife and a noble. Both girls connect over womanhood
and work as a pair with traditional Chinese medicine to treat other women. If you like historical
fiction and feminist works, this is for you!
David Stewart, Faculty, recommends:
Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard
The black dinner of Emperor Domitian where everything was painted black–the table, chairs, dishes,
walls, the naked male slaves who served–and the places for the guests inscribed on imitation
tombstones placed on seats, is one of the many household topics Beard explores. Others include
laundry, the role of servants in the palace, vacations, the handling of daily correspondence and, of
course, dinners, details of which provide a fascinating and unorthodox account of the Roman emperor
from 33BCE to 235CE.
Tim Sweet, Faculty, recommends:
James by Percival Everett
In this brilliant and funny novel, Everett retells The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in Jim's voice,
fixing Twain's problematic ending and revealing a truth that Twain's readers didn't dare to suspect.
Michael Vozniak, Interim Associate UWP Coordinator, recommends:
What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia by Elizabeth Catte
A direct counter to J. D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, Elizabeth Catte’s What You Are Getting Wrong about
Appalachia demonstrates that the region is much more complex than is commonly imagined. Glenn
Taylor called this book “a spiky polemic,” and that “you couldn’t kill this book with a hammer.” An
effective antidote against anti-Appalachian prejudice.
Cassandra Whisenant, PhD Student, recommends:
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Appalachia and a Charles Dickens retelling in the hands of a masterful author is always a recipe for
success. Even Oprah agrees.
Emily Yandel, MFA Student, recommends:
If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura (translated by Eric Selland)
"I'm sorry I don't remember her. But I do remember that I was happy." If Cats Disappeared from the
World is an often humorous, often deeply profound look at life, love, and loss.