Reading List: What the Pandemic Revealed
Alumni books that caught our eye
Reading List: What the Pandemic Revealed
A new book alum and business columnist Joe Nocera, plus other alumni books that caught our eye
Back to the Source
The Choir Press, 2023
By Rosemary Oxenford (GRS’83)
In this novel, six wildly assorted characters cross paths at the turn of the millennium, with unexpected consequences.
The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind
Portfolio, 2023
By Joe Nocera (COM’74)
Cowritten by Bethany McLean, the book looks at what the pandemic did to America and the inequalities it exposed.
A Delicate MarriageAtmosphere Press, 2023
By Margarita Barresi (COM’83)
A novel set in Puerto Rico from the 1930s to the 1950s explores class, oppression, and the effects of colonialism through the lens of a marriage.
Fun with Oceans & Seas: A Big Activity Book for Kids about our Wonderful WatersZ Kids, 2023
By Emily Greenhalgh (COM’12)
For readers aged 6–10, a chance to explore the world’s oceans, and 100 fun ways to do it.
Going Back to T-Town: The Ernie Fields Territory Big BandUniversity of Oklahoma Press, 2023
By Carmen Fields (COM’73)
The daughter of Tulsa-based musician Ernie Fields (1904–1997) tells his story of success, disappointment, and perseverance from the early jazz era to the 1960s.
Let Her Be EvilZOOP, 2024
Edited by Cassandra Jones (CAS’17)
Jones created, edited, and contributed a tale to this crowd-funded comics anthology celebrating “unapologetically wicked women with cruel intentions.”
A Self-Portrait in the Year of the High Commission on LoveStephen F. Austin University Press, 2023
By David Biespiel (CAS’86)
In 1981, a privileged, Jewish 18-year-old and his gay, Hispanic best friend leave Houston on a road trip that may change their lives and the life of an attractive runaway they meet along the way.
Tiny ExtravaganzasArrowsmith Press, 2023
By Diane Mehta (GRS’94)
The second poetry collection—from a former student of BU’s Derek Walcott (Hon.’93), the late Nobel Prize–winning poet and playwright, and Robert Pinsky, a three-time US poet laureate and a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor—looks at art, aging, grief, and the sublime.
What’s Eating Jackie Oh?
Penguin Random House, 2024
By Patricia Park (GRS’09)
In this young adult novel, a Korean American teen appears on a TV cooking show and has to balance her dream of becoming a chef with the cultural expectations of her family.
The Wild OnesLee & Low Books, 2024
By Megan Lacera (COM’00, MET’02)
A graphic novel–style picture book for readers aged 4–8 follows four best friends who turn to mythical monsters to help them save the only home they’ve ever known. Illustrated by the author’s husband, Jorge Lacera; the two previously published Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies! (Lee & Low, 2019) together.
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