BY: AMARA OKEKE
As we enter the fall season the weather is becoming cooler and midterms are coming to a close, it’s the perfect time to cozy up with a good book.
Over the fall break, Boiling Springs Library recommended a couple of titles that the students at USC Upstate may enjoy.
Recommended by Patrick (USC Upstate Alumni)
Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better
by Woo-Kyoung Ahn
Psychologist Woo-kyoung Ahn devised a course at Yale University to help students examine the biases that cause so many problems in their daily lives. Called “Thinking," the course quickly became one of the university’s most popular. In Ahn’s class, students examine “thinking problems”—such as confirmation bias, causal attribution, and delayed gratification—and how they contribute to our most pressing societal issues and inequities.
Thinking 101 draws on decades of research from other cognitive psychologists, as well as from Ahn's own teaching and groundbreaking studies. She presents it all in a compellingly readable style that uses fun examples from K-pop dancing, anecdotes from her own life, and illuminating stories from history and the headlines. As Thinking 101 shows, with better awareness of our biases, we can improve our lives and tackle real-world problems. It is, quite simply, required reading for everyone who wants to think—and live—better.
(Goodreads)
Recommended by Annie
The Book of Cold Cases
By Simone St. James
In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.
Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes.
They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house? (Penguinrandomhouse.com)
Book Lovers
By Emily Henry
Nora Stephens’ life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect—a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion. Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases—a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes. They meet regularly at Beth’s mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she’s not looking, and she could swear she’s seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn’t right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?
Other Titles Recommended by Annie
Under the Whispering Door -TJ Klune (Fantasy)
House in the Cerulean Sea- TJ Klune (Fantasy)
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides (Thriller)
The Martian – Andy Weir (Science Fiction)
Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir (Science Fiction)
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid (Historical Fiction/Romance)
People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry (Romance)