Holiday Reading List

After a hectic year, the holidays are a great time to expand your knowledge by reading a new book. Here are Ivy Options recommendations:

Non-fiction

1. Boo, Katherine - Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity

2. Brown, Daniel - The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

3. Harari, Yuval Noah - Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind  •  Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow • 21 Lessons for the 21st Century

4. Hawking, Stephen - A Brief History of TIme 

5. Hillenbrand, Laura - Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

6. Iturbe, Antonio - The Librarian of Auschwitz

7. Larson, Erik - In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin • The Devil in the White City • Isaac’s Storm

8. Lewis, Michael - The Big Short • Moneyball • Flash Boys • The Undoing Project

9. Li, Fei-Fei - The Worlds I see: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI

10. Rhodes, Richard - Energy: A Human History

11. Thompson, Christina - Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia

Autobiography/Biography

1. Schroeder, Alice - The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life

2. Dinesen, Isak - Out of Africa

3. Frank, Anne - The Diary of Anne Frank

4. Jiang, Ji-Li - Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution

5. Wright, Richard - Black Boy

6. Vance, Ashley - Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is Shaping Our Future

7. Woodson, Jacqueline - Brown Girl Dreaming

8. Yen Mah, Adeline - Falling Leaves • Chinese Cinderella

9. Mandela, Nelson - Long Walk to Freedom

10. Wiesel, Elie - Night 

11. Angelou, Maya - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings 

12. Allen, Sandra - A Kind of Mirraculas Paradise: A True Story About Schizophrenia 

13. Issacson, Walter - Leonardo Da Vinci

14. Levi, Primo - If This Is a Man 

15. Chang, Jung - Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China

Traditional Classics

1. Austen, Jane - any work

2. Conan Doyle, Arthur - The Hound of the Baskervilles

3. Dickens, Charles - Great Expectations • Oliver Twist

4. Homer - The Odyssey

5. Dumas, Alexandre - The Three Musketeers

6. Forster, E.M. - A Passage to India • Room With a View • Howard’s End

7. Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Scarlet Letter

8. Stoker, Bram - Dracula

9. Shelley, Mary - Frankenstein 

10. Tolstoy, Leo - War and Peace • Anna Karenina

Modern Classics

1. Du Maurier, Daphne - Rebecca

2. Conrad, Joseph - Heart of Darkness

3. Ellison, Ralph - The Invisible Man

4. Fitzgerald, F. Scott - The Great Gatsby

5. Hemingway, Ernest - The Old Man and the Sea • A Farewell to Arms 

6. Keyes, Daniel - Flowers for Algernon

7. Lee, Harper - To Kill a Mockingbird 

8. Orwell, George - Animal Farm • 1984 

9. Steinbeck, John - Of Mice & Men • Grapes of Wrath •  East of Eden

10. Dostoevsky, Fyodor - Crime and Punishment 

11. Wharton, Edith - Age of Innocence• House of Mirth

Plays

1. Miller, Arthur - Death of a Salesman • A View from the Bridge

2. Williams, Tennessee - A Streetcar Named Desire 

3. Albee, Edward - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 

4. Lori-Parks, Suzan - Father Comes Home From the Wars

Fantasy

1. Brooks, Terry - The Sword of Shannara

2. Cashore, Kristin - Graceling • Fire • Bitterblue

3. Clare, Cassandra - Mortal Instruments series • Infernal Devices series

4. Nix, Garth - Sabriel, Lirael •  Abhorsen • Clariel • Keys to the Kingdom series

5. Pierce, Tamora - Beka Cooper series • Lioness series

6. Pratchett, Terry - Discworld series •  Wee Free Men

7. Pullman, Philip - Dark Materials series (Northern Lights • The Golden Compass •  Subtle Knife • Amber Spyglass)

8. Sanderson, Brandon - Mistborn series

9. Skelton, Matthew - Endymion Spring

10. Tolkien, J.R.R. - Lord of the Rings trilogy

Science Fiction/ Dystopian Future

1. Pierce Brown - Red Rising series

2. Adams, Douglas -  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

3. Asimov, Isaac - Foundation trilogy • I Robot

4. Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid’s Tale

5. Bacigalpli, Paolo - The Drowned Cities

6. Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451 • The Illustrated Man

7. Burgess, Anthony - A Clockwork Orange

8. Cline, Ernest - Ready Player One

9. Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World

10. Ishiguro, Kazuo - Never Let Me Go

11. Kuang, R.F - Babel

12. North, Claire - The Sudden Appearance of Hope

13. Sleator, William - The Boxes

14. Weir, Anthony - The Martian

15. Wells, H.G. - The Time Machine

16. Yancey, Richard - The Fifth Wave

17. Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis

18. Moore, Alan - V for Vendetta • Watchmen 

War Novels/ Spy Thrillers

1. Barker, Pat -  The Regeneration trilogy (WW1)

2. Crane, Stephen - The Red Badge of Courage 

3. Bruchac, Joseph - Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II

4. Clancy, Tom - The Hunt for Red October and others

5. Iggulden, Conn - Emperor: The Gates of Rome series

6. London, Jack - The Sea Wolf 

7. Morpurgo, Michael - War Horse

8. Myers, Walter Dean - Sunrise Over Fallujah • Fallen Angels

9. Remarque, Eric Marie - All Quiet on the Western Front

10. Shaara, Michael - Killer Angels (Battle of Gettysburg)

11. Silva, Daniel -  The Messenger • The Secret Servant

12. Wein, Elizabeth - Code Name Verity

13. Zusak, Markus - The Book Thief

World Fiction

1. Achebe, Chinua - Things Fall Apart (Nigeria)

2. Allende, Isabel - Eva Luna (South America)

3. Courtenay, Bryce - The Power of One (South Africa)

4. Garcia Marquez, Gabriel - Love in the Time of Cholera • One Hundred Years of Solitude (Colombia)

5. Gaarder, Jostein - Sophie’s World, A Novel about the History of Philosophy

6. Hoffman, Alice - The Marriage of Opposites (St. Thomas)

7. Levy, Andrea - Small Island (Great Britain/Jamaica)

8. Mahfouz, Naguib - The Thief and The Dogs (Egypt)

9. Markandaya, Kamala - Nectar in a Sieve (India)

10. McCourt, Frank - Angela’s Ashes (Ireland)

11. Mistry, Rohinton - A Fine Balance (India)

12. Murakami, Haruki - Norwegian Wood (Japan)

13. Park, Linda Sue - A Long Walk to Water (South Sudan) • When My Name Was Keoko (Korea)

14. Paton, Alan - Cry the Beloved Country (South Africa)

15. Saniee, Parinoush - The Book of Fate (Iran)

16. Tan, Amy - The Bonesetter’s Daughter • Kitchen God’s Wife • Hundred Secret Senses (China)

17. Verghese, Abraham - Cutting for Stone (Ethiopia)

18. Nelson, Jandy - I’ll Give You the Sun (Vietnam) 

19. Satrapi, Marjane - Persepolis (Iran) 

20. Spiegelman, Art - Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History  (Nazi Germany) 

21. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi - Americanah (Nigeria) 

22. Pamuk, Orhan - The Museum of Innocence (Turkey) 

23. Roy, Arundhati - The God of Small Things (India) 

Humour

1. Andrews, Jesse - Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl

2. Burcaw, Shane - Laughing at My Nightmare

3. Coe, Jonathan - The Rotter’s Club

4. Hornby, Nick - About a Boy • High Fidelity

5. Smale, Holly - Geek Girl

6. Tyler, Anne - The Accidental Tourist 

7. Vonnegut, Kurt - Cat’s Cradle 

8. Weisberger, Lauren - The Devil Wears Prada

Sports Theme

1. Alexander, Kwame - The Crossover • Booked

2. Carter, Caela - Tumbling

3. Coy, John - Box Out • Crackback

4. Crutcher,Chris - Whale Talk • Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes • Ironman

5. DeLillo, Don - End Zone

6. Kinsella W.P. - Shoeless Joe

7. Klass, David - Losers Take All

8. Malamud, Bernard - The Natural 

9. Murdoch, Catherine - Dairy Queen

10. St. John, Warren - Outcasts United: The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team that Changed a Town

11. Smith, Andrew - Winger • Stand Off

Teen Fiction

1. Kwame Alexander  - Swing

2. Alexie, Sherman - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

3. Blackman, Malory - Noughts and Crosses trilogy 

4. Burgess, Melvin - Junk

5. Cormier, Robert - The Chocolate War • I am the Cheese

6. Doherty, Berlie - Dear Nobody

7. Green, John - Looking for Alaska • An Abundance of Katherines • Paper Towns

8. Haddon, Mark - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

9. Hinton, S.E. - The Outsiders

10. Hopkins, Ellen - Crank, Glass, Fallout

11. Ihimaera, Witi - The Whale Rider

12. Lowry, Lois - The Giver • Gathering Blue

13. Magorian, Michelle - Goodnight Mr. Tom • Back Home • Cuckoo in the Nest • A Spoonful of Red Jam

14. Myers, Walter Dean - Monster

15. Na, An - A Step from Heaven

16. Rosoff, Meg - How I Live Now

17. Rowell, Rainbow - Eleanor & Park

18. Taylor, Laini - Daughter of Smoke and Bone

19. Taylor, Mildred - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

20. Woodson, Jacqueline - Beneath a Meth Moon • Behind You • If You Come Softly

21. Anderson, Laurie Halse - Speak, Fever 1793

Popular Fiction

1. Brunt, Carol Rifka - Tell the Wolves I’m Home 

2. Doerr, Anthony - All the Light We Cannot See

3. Ford, Jamie - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

4. Irving, John - Cider House Rules • A Prayer for Owen Meany

5. Ishiguro, Kazuo - Remains of the Day • When We Were Orphans

6. Kidd, Sue Monk - The Secret Life Of Bees 

7. Kingsolver, Barbara - Prodigal Summer • Poisonwood Bible

8. Kostova, Elizabeth - The Historian

9. Morgenstern,  Erin - The Night Circus

10. Mosse, Kate - Labyrinth

11. Picoult, Jodi - My Sister's Keeper

12. Stein, Garth - The Art of Racing in the Rain

13. Stockett, Kathryn - The Help

14. Tartt, Donna - The Goldfinch • The Secret History

15. Towles, Amor - A Gentleman in Moscow • Rules of Civility

Sociology/ Psychology/Social Justice

1. Ng, Celeste - Everything I Never Told You • Little Fires Everywhere 

2. Coates, Ta-Nehisi - Between the World and Me

3. Thomas, Angie - The Hate U Gave

4. Obama, Michelle - Becoming

5. Morrison, Toni - Beloved • God Help The Child

6. Relin, David Oliver and Mortenson, Greg  - Three Cups of Tea 

7. Westover, Tara - Educated

8. Suskind, Ron - A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League

9. Gladwell, Malcolm - Outliers: The Story of Success •  Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking •  The Tipping Point 

10. Pollan, Michael - The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals 

11. Honeyman, Gail - Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine 

Science/Nature/Environment/Medicine

1. Skloot, Rebecca - The Best American Science and Nature Writing  • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2. Weisman, Alan - The World Without Us

3. Dawkins, Richard - The Selfish Gene

4. Wallace-Wells, David  - The Uninhabitable Earth

5. Elizabeth, Kolbert - The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History 

6. Mann, Charles C. -  The Wizard and the Prophet: Two Remarkable Scientists and Their Dueling Visions to Shape Tomorrow's World

7. Sides, Hampton - In The Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette

8. Gawande, Dr. Atul -  Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End  

9. Forbes, Peter - The Gecko’s Foot • Bio-Inspiration: Engineering New Materials from Nature

10. Shusterman, Neal and Shusterman, Jarrod -  Dry 

11. Spurlock, Morgan - Don’t Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America

12. Randall Munroe - What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions 

Politics/World Order/Law/Society/Equality

1. Sowell, Thomas - Discrimination and Disparities

2. Ziblatt, Daniel and Levitsky, Steven - How Democracies Die

3. Pfeiffer, Daniel  - Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump

4. Brooking, Emerson T.  and Singer, P. W.  - LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media

5. Traister, Rebecca - Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger

6. Tolan, Sandy - The Lemon Tree

7. Kristof, Nicholas D.  and WuDunn, Sheryl  - Half The Sky: How to Change the World 

8. Gates, Melinda - The Moment of Lift

9. Noah, Trevor - Born A Crime

Economics/Business/Management/Social Entrepreneurship

1. John McMillan - Reinventing the Bazaar 

2. R. Rajan and L. Zingales, - Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists

3. Amartya Sen - Development as Freedom 

4. Joseph Stiglitz, - Globalization and its Discontents 

5. McKenna, C.  - The World’s Newest Profession: Management Consulting in the Twentieth Century

6. Boyce, G. & Ville, S.P. - The Development of Modern Business 

7. Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner - Freakonomics 

8. Yunus, Muhammad  - Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs 

9. Blake Mycoskie (Tom’s Founder) - Start Something that Matters 

10. Phil Knight  - Shoe Dog: A Memoir By The Creator of Nike