Post by Lesley Brooks, Manager of Library Operations for the Data Analytics & Textbook Affordability department, USF Libraries

November 1st is National Author’s Day! In celebration, USF Libraries brings you works by some of our favorite authors. The recommendations below were submitted by our very own USF Libraries’ staff and faculty. We hope that you take some time for yourself and enjoy a good book. 

2026 Recommendations: 

• 

  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: A Novel by Michael Chabon 

• The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X 
• Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino 
• The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann  
• The Black Count by Tom Reiss 
• Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah  
• Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood 
• Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese  
• Crown of War and Shadow by J.R. Ward  
• Empire of Cotton by Sven Beckert 
• Gender and Jim Crow by Glenda Gilmore 
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 
• James by Percival Everett 
• Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins 
• The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Lubuskes 
• The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt 
• Stolen Sharpie Revolution: A DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture by 
• Theft by Abdulrazak Gurnah 
• There’s Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension by Hanif Abdurraqib 
• The Vegetarian by Han Kang   
• Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John Lewis  
• The Wide Wide Sea – Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook by Hampton Sides 
• The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill 

Want more staff recommendations?  

Check out our past recommendation lists.