bOOKS

Reading List: New Fiction by Alum Nell Stevens, a Debut Novel by Shubha Sunder

Plus, nonfiction on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist and true stories of resistance to Nazism

100 Train Journeys of a Lifetime: The World’s Ultimate Rides
National Geographic, 2025
By Everett Potter (CAS’74)

Potter is a longtime contributor to National Geographic Traveler whose coffee-table book features gorgeous photography and journeys on trains like La Dolce Vita Orient Express (Italy), the Blue Train (South Africa), and Sunset Limited (US).

The Curse of the Crummy Mummy
Dooney Press, 2024
By Thomas Tosi (COM’83)

Tosi won the 2025 People’s Choice New Hampshire Literary Award in the Middle Grade/Young Adult category for this book, about a class of fifth graders who want to make a mummy movie and the boy who plays the hero.

Developing Your Marketing Mindset: Real-World Lessons from Hospitality
Hospitality Strategies Press, 2025
By Leora Lanz (COM’87)

Lanz, an associate professor of the practice of marketing at BU’s School of Hospitality Administration, draws from her 10 years in the classroom. “Successful marketing hinges on mastering thoughtful, meaningful interactions that resonate with consumers on a personal level,” she writes in the introduction. The volume was awarded Business Book of 2025 by the New England Book Festival.

Frostlines: A Journey Through Entangled Lives and Landscapes in a Warming Arctic
Ecco, 2025
By Neil Shea (COM’01,’02)

Shea’s first book is a nonfiction excursion through the Arctic, from western Alaska to the border between Norway and Russia. “Each chapter visits a threshold,” he says, “where the older, colder world can be seen fading away, and the warmer, chaotic future can be seen barreling toward us.”

An Introduction to Error: Poems
Cornerstone Press, 2025
By Deirdre Lockwood (GRS’00)

Some of the poems in Lockwood’s debut collection were inspired by her time as a student working with Robert Pinsky, a College of Arts & Sciences professor emeritus of English, poet Rosanna Warren, a former BU faculty member, and Derek Walcott (Hon.’93), the late Nobel Prize–winning poet and playwright who taught at BU.

Little Great Island
Sibylline Press, 2025
By Kate Woodworth (GRS’07)

In Woodworth’s new novel, Mari brings her young son back to the Maine island where she grew up and reconnects with her old friend, Harry. The book is an exploration of love, community, and the impacts of climate change on the island.

Optional Practical Training
Graywolf Press, 2025
By Shubha Sunder (GRS’13)

Sunder’s debut novel follows Pavitra, who’s come to the US from Bangalore, India, on a student visa to earn a degree in physics. She decides to stay on for the extra 12 months her visa allows—a period called Optional Practical Training—all the while coming to grips with her identity, her culture, and her place in the world. Sunder was the winner of the 2025 Whiting Award in Fiction.

The Original
W. W. Norton & Company, 2025
By Nell Stevens (GRS’13)

At her uncle’s Oxfordshire estate, Grace employs her talent of forging masterpieces and selling the fakes. Questions arise when a man claiming to be her long-lost cousin returns to the country house. The novel was one of the Washington Post’s Notable Works of Fiction for 2025 and one of Literary Hub’s Favorite Books of 2025. Visit www.nellstevens.com.

Redefining Networking: How to Lead with Your Unique Value
Routledge, 2025
By Monique Kelley (COM’03)

Kelley, a corporate consultant and a BU College of Communication associate professor of the practice of public relations, offers guidance on more effective networking to everyone from students just getting started to professionals at all stages of their careers.

Resisting Nazism: True Stories of Resistance to the World’s Most Dangerous Ideology, from 1920 to the Present
Bloomsbury Academic, 2026
By Luke Berryman (CFA’09)

Berryman tells the stories of those who resisted the Nazis, including Alexander Pechersky, the Jewish soldier who led an uprising in the Sobibor extermination camp. The author is the founder and CEO of The Ninth Candle, a Chicago-based nonprofit that helps schools to improve Holocaust education.

Thirteen Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World’s Largest Art Heist
Post Hill Press, 2026
By Geoffrey Kelly (COM’89, MET’13)

Kelly was the lead investigator for 22 of the more than 30 years the FBI has investigated the notorious theft of artworks from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum on March 18, 1990. The title refers to how Kelly thinks of the still-missing objects: 13 perfect fugitives.