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Southside Reads: 2025 Past Reads

Past Recommendations 2025

Did you miss a month? No worries! You can start at any time during the challenge. Want to catch up but need some help? You'll find our recommendations by month/theme.  Click on the heading to expand the selection with the recommendations.   

Each image of the book cover is a link to a description and more book details from Goodreads.  The Library Availability will give you details of format and availability by library.  Pick your title and start reading! 

Green/Wood Cover (January 2025)

Welcome to Southside Reads! We’re challenging you to read a variety of books in 2025 by assigning a different category to every month, but don’t worry! The categories are broad enough to put your own spin on them.

For January, we want you to read a book with a green and/or wood cover. Go out and find a book, but if you want some suggestions to get you thinking, check out the list below (with information about local library availability*):

Our Country Friends book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Salt Houses book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Island of Missing Trees book cover with link to Goodreads description page
A Sitting in St. James book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Night Watchman book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Conjure Women book cover with link to Goodreads description page
At the Bottom of the River book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Primal Animals book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Sula book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Caramelo book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Covenant of Water book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Shadow Hero book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The House in the Cerulean Sea book cover with link to Goodreads description page
All Over Creation book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat book cover with link to Goodreads description page
I Kissed Shara Wheeler book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Green World: A Tragicomic Memoir of Love & Shakespeare book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Driving the Green Book: A Road Trip Through the Living History of Black Resistance book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Everything the Light Touches book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Savi and the Memory Keeper book cover with link to Goodreads description page

Key for Local Library Availability

Locations:

  • CVRL - Central Virginia Regional Library
  • LU - Longwood University: Greenwood Library
  • HSC - Hampden-Sydney College: Bortz Library

Services:

*LU Libby/Overdrive is available for current students, faculty and staff only.

Book to Screen (February 2025)

Welcome to Southside Reads! We’re challenging you to read a variety of books in 2025 by assigning a different category to every month, but don’t worry! The categories are broad enough to put your own spin on them.

For February, we want you to read a book that’s been adapted for television, film, or any other screen you can think of. No restrictions other than that. Go out and find a book, but if you want some suggestions to get you thinking, check out the list below (with information about local library availability*):

The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Interior Chinatown book cover with link to Goodreads description page
High School book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal book cover with link to Goodreads description page
You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories about Racism book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Red, White & Royal Blue book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Aunt Who Wouldn't Die book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Nickel Boys book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Blue Is the Warmest Color book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Scarborough book cover with link to Goodreads description page
When Dimple Met Rishi book cover with link to Goodreads description page
From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Her Nightly Embrace book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Miseducation of Cameron Post book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Queenie book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Expatriates book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Queen Sugar book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Tiny Pretty Things book cover with link to Goodreads description page

Key for Local Library Availability

Locations:

  • CVRL - Central Virginia Regional Library: Farmville, Buckingham, Cumberland
  • LU - Longwood University: Greenwood Library
  • HSC - Hampden-Sydney College: Bortz Library

Services:

*LU Libby/Overdrive is available for current students, faculty and staff only.

HERstory (March 2025)

Welcome to Southside Reads! We’re challenging you to read a variety of books in 2025 by assigning a different category to every month, but don’t worry! The categories are broad enough to put your own spin on them.

For March, we want you to read a book that reflects the theme HERstory. Maybe you might read a biography or memoir about an important woman. Maybe you might read historical nonfiction or fiction about women who made an impact. Maybe you want to read a book by an author who is a woman. Go out and find a book, but if you want some suggestions to get you thinking, check out the list below (with information about local library availability*):

Becoming Madam Secretary book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Peggy book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Diva book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Finding Margaret Fuller book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Passionate Tudor book cover with link to Goodreads description page
In a League of Her Own book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Queen of Sugar Hill: A Novel of Hattie McDaniel book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Can't We Be Friends book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Secret War of Julia Child book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Thirteenth Husband book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The English Chemist: The Story of Rosalind Franklin book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Harlem Rhapsody book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Scandalous Women: A Novel of Jackie Collins and Jacqueline Susann book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Ella book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Katharine, the Wright Sister book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II book cover with link to Goodreads description page
A Black Women's History of the United States book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd book cover with link to Goodreads description page
Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts book cover with link to Goodreads description page
The Watchmaker's Daughter: The True Story of World War II Heroine Corrie ten Boom book cover with link to Goodreads description page

Key for Local Library Availability

Locations:

  • CVRL - Central Virginia Regional Library
  • LU - Longwood University: Greenwood Library
  • HSC - Hampden-Sydney College: Bortz Library

Services:

*LU Libby/Overdrive is available for current students, faculty and staff only.