There are not many things on earth better than a good book. And SOCO members are a well-read bunch. Here are the books they recommend reading, whether you want to go to a fictional world or learn about something brand new.
Non-fiction
- Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
- The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of Christian Faith by Tim Keller
- A Way with Words: Using Our Online Conversations for Good by Daniel Darling
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
- The Lazy Genius by Kendra Adachi
- An Indigeonus People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
- 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Chales C. Mann
- The People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
- Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis
- The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X, Alex Haley
- Farming While Black by Leah Penniman
- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
- Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the United States (collection of essays)
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
- Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber
- The Shock Doctrine and Capitalism vs. The Climate by Naomi Klein
- Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Coggins
Fiction
- Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
- There, There by Tommy Orange
- The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson
- The Night Watchman by Louis Erdrick
- The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
- Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune
- The Cold Millions by Jess Walter
- How to Find Love in a Bookshop by Veronica Henry
- The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
- The Venice Sketchbook by Kaleigh Cox
- Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
- Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal-ElMohtar and Max Gladstone
- All Systems Red (Murderbot series) by Martha Wells
- The Calculating Stars (The Lady Astronaut series) by Mary-Robinette Kowal
- The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time series) by Robert Jordan
That’s enough to keep your nose in a book for quite a while. If you’re a Columbia local, go grab a copy of something on this list from our local bookstores, like Ed’s Editions in West Columbia or Odd Birds Books on Main St. in downtown Columbia. Bookstores are a treasure. Let’s keep supporting them.