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.