With the holiday season at our doorsteps, it is time to think about the books we’d like to give to others. If you’re looking to support a Hoya author, here are 10 books to buy, give, or read right away:

Fiction

Daedalus is Dead by Seamus Sullivan (SFS’08)

Sullivan’s fantasy novella is a delirious and gripping story of fatherhood and masculinity, told through the reimagined Greek myth of Daedalus, Icarus, and the Minotaur.

The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer Brown (C’96, G’97)

When a professor finds a Reformation-era prophetess’s lost manuscript, she uncovers a murder mystery that unfurls across two timelines in an English country manor.

Blood of Hercules by Jasmine Mas (C’19)

Alexis Hert faces her immortality as she learns how to become a warrior from legendary gladiators and survive the monsters at her heels in the first book of Mas’s romantasy series.

The Union Spymistress: The Story of Elizabeth Van Lew by Libby McNamee (C’88)

When America shatters during the Civil War, Elizabeth Van Lew risks everything to save the embattled Union in McNamee’s upper middle grade historical fiction novel.

Squawk of Spanish by Gabriella Aldeman (C’05)

Max struggles with Spanish in this children’s picture book, but baking with Abuela shows him that trying matters, even when Lorito, his translating parrot, is missing for a day.

Nonfiction

Have Horn, Will Travel: The Life and Music of Herman “Junior” Cook by Courtney Nero (SLL’93)

Have Horn, Will Travel is the first full-length biography of jazz tenor saxophone virtuoso Herman “Junior” Cook (1934-1992).

Update: Reporting from an Ancient Land by Gayle Young (G’09)

The true adventures of a CNN correspondent and a warrior queen. Young’s memoir explores how warfare, ambition, and sexuality in antiquity compare with today.

COIN CHRONICLES: The Complete Guide to Navigating from Money Mystery to Money Mastery by Lisa Jane Celestine (B’06)

A collection of authentic life stories and actionable financial insights that are tailored for those who aim to build generational wealth.

The Invention of Rum: Creating the Quintessential Atlantic Commodity by Jordan Smith (G’18)

The Invention of Rum reveals how people engaged in making and consuming rum created a new means of profit that transformed the Atlantic world.

Never Far from Home: My Journey from Brooklyn to Hip Hop, Microsoft, and the Law by Bruce Jackson (L’88, ’90, ’91)

Jackson’s autobiography follows his journey from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to working for Microsoft’s president and the valuable lessons he learned along the way.

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