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Book Recommendations

From beach reads to thought provokers, these summer reading recommendations from the Harvard community will help you choose your next great book.

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For a unique read

Members of the Harvard community recommend books that expand the notion of what literature can be.

Find a unique book

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Calling all detectives

Mysteries are responsible for an estimated 30% of annual fiction sales in the U.S., and tend to be mainstays of summer beach-read recommendations.

Learn about the classic mystery

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Figure out your finances

Money can be a source of frustration and confusion, but these Harvard economists have reading recommendations that can help you better understand money and the economy.

Explore the economists’ picks

Read and recommended

Members of the Harvard community share books they have read and loved.

Explore Harvard Reads for more book recommendations


‘Beloved’ is at its heart a love story—the love of a mother and a daughter plunging in and out of the darkest of hours.”

“Beloved” by Toni Morrison

Recommended by Trisha Pasricha, Harvard Medical School

Trisha Pasricha stands outside
‘North Woods’ is a fascinating novel … tracing the evolution of a home in Western Massachusetts over four centuries.”

“North Woods” by Daniel Mason

Recommended by Karen Dynan, Harvard Kennedy School

Karen Dynan wearing a blue top in a classroom.

“Topics of social justice, homelessness, friendship, community action, individual power to effect change, and the many gifts of imagination are all investigated through the endearing antics of the characters.”

-Peter Girguis, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

“Hepworth is this amazing, amazing music historian and journalist, and reading this book is like [listening] to a friend go in deep about the year 1971, where he argues that rock became fully self-aware.”

-Colin Lukens, Harvard Library

“The Color Purple”

By Alice Walker

“I always am struck by how those women in the story come together and survive so much, but through it all, they’re bonded to each other.”

-Evelynn Hammonds, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Beyond the book

Harvard authors

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Jill Lepore

In the Pulitzer Prize-winning “We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution,” Professor Jill Lepore explores how the framers of the Constitution expected Americans to tinker with and renew the document.

Jill Lepore

Jeffrey Marlow

“The Dark Frontier: Unlocking the Secrets of the Deep Sea” details life in one of Earth’s harshest environments.

Jeffrey Marlow stands outside by a body of water
Jeffrey Marlow

Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

“The Double Tax,” written while pursuing her Ph.D, discusses the expense of being a woman and a person of color in our society.

A smiling woman wearing an orange dress
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman

Chloe Chapin

“Suitable: The Sartorial Revolution and the Fashioning of Modern Men” examines the shift in men’s suits from colorful and ornate to plain and dark.

A woman outside by a stone pillar
Chloe Chapin

Ranjay Gulati

“How to be Bold” explores how people can see themselves as strong, capable, and in control of their destinies.

Ranjay Gulati outside
Ranjay Gulati

Megan Kate Nelson

“The Westerners” is an interwoven saga that challenges myths of the American frontier.

Megan Kate Nelson
Megan Kate Nelson

Even more to read

Harvard Law School
From oddball goats to evolution, these are the books HLS faculty are reading this season.

Harvard Graduate School of Design
HGSD faculty and alumni recommend books that span continents, disciplines, and generations of practice.

EdRedesign Lab
This reading list offers stories and ideas to deepen your understanding of equity, expand your empathy, and inspire action.

Harvard Graduate School of Education
Gutman Library staff share 10 books that help tell the story of education in America.

Harvard Griffin GSAS Fellowships & Writing Center
The Fellowships & Writing Center created a list of books their team has read and enjoyed, and books that they are eagerly anticipating.

Harvard Business School
This reading list from HBS faculty includes many books on AI, but also some lighter options.

Harvard University Press
In honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, HUP suggests these books focused on the American Revolution.