Campus Novels for Back-to-School ReadingLike this list

60 items

• Either/or

  Batuman, Elif, 1977-

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  From the acclaimed and bestselling author of The Idiot, the continuation of beloved protagonist Selin's quest for self-knowledge, as she travels abroad and tests the limits of her newfound adulthood.

• Disorientation

  Chou, Elaine Hsieh,

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  A Taiwanese American woman’s coming-of-consciousness ignites eye-opening revelations and chaos on a college campus in this outrageously hilarious and startlingly tender debut novel.

• The World Cannot Give

  Burton, Tara Isabella,

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  The World Cannot Give is a shocking meditation on the power, and danger, of wanting more from the world.

• Vladímír

  a Novel

  Jonas, Julia May,

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  A provocative, razor-sharp, and timely debut novel about a beloved English professor facing a slew of accusations against her professor husband by former students—a situation that becomes more complicated when she herself develops an obsession of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• We Do What We Do in the Dark

  Hart, Michelle,

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  A novel about a young woman's life-altering affair with a much older, married woman.

• The Life of the Mind

  a Novel

  Smallwood, Christine, 1981-

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  A witty, intelligent novel of an American woman on the edge, by a brilliant new voice in fiction--"the glorious love child of Ottessa Moshfegh and Sally Rooney" (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

• Sirens & Muses

  a Novel

  Angress, Antonia,

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  With a canny, critical eye, Sirens & Muses overturns notions of class, money, art, youth, and a generation’s fight to own their future. Available in other formats.

• Groundskeeping

  Cole, Lee, 1990-

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  Exquisitely written; expertly crafted; dazzling in its precision, restraint, and depth of feeling, Groundskeeping is a novel of haunting power and grace from a prodigiously gifted writer. Available in other formats.

• Saint Sebastian's Abyss

  Haber, Mark

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  A darkly comic meditation on art, obsession, and the enigmatic power of friendship, Saint Sebastian’s Abyss stalks the museum halls of Europe, feverishly seeking salvation, annihilation, and the meaning of belief. Available in other formats.

• Tracy Flick Can't Win

  a Novel

  Perrotta, Tom, 1961-

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  An “engrossing and mordantly funny” ( People ) novel about ambition, coming-of-age in adulthood, and never really leaving high school politics behind—featuring New York Times bestselling author Tom Perrotta’s most iconic character of all time.…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• True Biz

  a Novel

  Nović, Sara, 1987-

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  This is a story of sign language and lip-reading, disability and civil rights, isolation and injustice, first love and loss, and, above all, great persistence, daring, and joy. Absorbing and assured, idiosyncratic and relatable, this is an…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Delphi

  a Novel

  Pollard, Clare,

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  A captivating debut novel about a classics professor immersed in research for a new book on a prophecy in the ancient world who confronts chilling questions about her own life just as the pandemic descends—for readers of Jenny Offill, Ottessa…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Hawk Mountain

  a Novel

  Habib, Conner, 1977-

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  An English teacher is gaslit by his charismatic high school bully in this tense story of deception, manipulation, and murder. Available in other formats.

• The Deceptions

  a Novel

  Bialosky, Jill,

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  The Deceptions is a page-turning and seductively told exploration of female sexuality and ambition. It is also a brilliantly conceived investigation of a life caught between the dueling magnetic poles of intimacy in a marriage and the privacy…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Great Man Theory

  a Novel

  Wayne, Teddy,

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  From acclaimed, Whiting Award-winning author Teddy Wayne, comes the hilarious, incisive, yet deeply poignant story of a liberal armchair-revolutionary desperate to save America from itself. Available in other formats.

• The Finalists

  Bell, David, 1969 November 17-

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  The Finalists is a chilling and profound look at the lengths both students and colleges will go to survive in a resource-starved academic world. Available in other formats.

• The IT Girl

  Ware, Ruth,

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  April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Cloisters

  a Novel

  Hays, Katy, 1982-

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  Bringing together the modern and the arcane, The Cloisters is a rich, thrillingly told tale of obsession and the ruthless pursuit of power. Available in other formats.

• Babel

  or the Necessity of Violence : An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution

  Kuang, R. F. (Rebecca F.),

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  From award-winning author R. F. Kuang comes Babel, a historical fantasy epic that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British Empire. Available in other…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Ordinary Monsters

  Miro, J. M.,

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  With lush prose, mesmerizing world-building, and a gripping plot, Ordinary Monsters presents a catastrophic vision of the Victorian world—and of the gifted, broken children who must save it. Available in other formats.