With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 284 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2025-26. We will continue to update this listing to provide the most comprehensive record of programs available anywhere and welcome information about titles and institutions we might have overlooked. Please feel free to contact us here with additional information.
| University | Program Name | 2025-2026 Selection |
| Adler University | Common Book | Weathering: The Extraordinary Stress of An Ordinary Life in an Unjust Society, by Arline T. Geronimus |
| Aims Community College | Campus Read | Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me, by Glory Edim |
| Albion College | Richard M. Smith Common Reading Experience | The Moth Presents: A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding on and Letting Go, by The Moth |
| American University | Writer as Witness / College Writing Book | Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, by Amanda Montell |
| Amherst College | DeMott Summer Reading | Exhalation: Stories, by Ted Chiang |
| Appalachian State University | Common Reading Program | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| Arizona State University | Common Read | Custodians of Wonder: Ancient Customs, Profound Traditions, and the Last People Keeping Them Alive, by Eliot Stein |
| Arizona State University – West Valley Campus | Common Read | Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion, by Anthony Robles |
| Ashland University – Honors Program | AU Honors Summer Reading | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Auburn University | Auburn Connects! Common Book | Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin |
| Bard College | Language and Thinking Program | • Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, by Mary Shelley; Introduction by Charlotte Gordon |
| • Sophocles I: The Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, edited by David Grene and Richmond Lattimore | ||
| Baylor University – Honors Program | Freshman Reading Project | Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, by Matthew B. Crawford |
| Baylor University – Law School | Common Read | Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, by Bryan Stevenson |
| Benedictine College | Opening Academic Convocation | Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey |
| Bethel College | First-Year Seminar / Common Ground | The Beauty in Breaking: A Memoir, by Michele Harper |
| Boston College | Conversations in the First Year | Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times, by Gregory Boyle |
| Boston University | Common Read | Orbital, by Samantha Harvey |
| Brandeis University | New Student Book Forum | The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride |
| Brenau University | Common Reader | First Gen: A Memoir, by Alejandra Campoverdi |
| Bridgewater State University | One Book One Community | • Becoming Madame Secretary, by Stephanie Dray |
| • Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service, by Michael Lewis | ||
| Bunker Hill Community College | One Book Program | Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus |
| Cabrillo College – Honors Program | First-Year Read | Amplify: How to Use the Power of Connection to Engage, Take Action, and Build a Better World, by Adam Met, PhD, with Heather Landy |
| Calhoun Community College | Common Read | Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil |
| California Polytechnic State University, Pomona | Common Read | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| California State University, Bakersfield | One Book Project | Whiskey Tender: A Memoir, by Deborah Jackson Taffa |
| California State University, Chico | Book in Common | California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline, by Rosanna Xia |
| California State University, Long Beach | CLA Common Read | Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, by Michelle Zauner |
| California State University, Sacramento | One Book Program | Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Presence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Greene |
| California State University, San Marcos | Common Read | • Bird Songs Don’t Lie: Writings from the Rez, by Gordon Lee Johnson |
| • Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gariel Bá | ||
| • The Remember Balloons, by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte | ||
| • Sông I Sing: Poems, by Bao Phi | ||
| • Cemetery Boys, by Aiden Thomas | ||
| • The View From Down Here: Life as a Young Disabled Woman, by Lucy Webster | ||
| Case Western Reserve University | Common Reading Program | Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, by Ashley Shew |
| Catawba College | Common Summer Reading | “Black Earth,” by Christina Cooke, photos by Cornell Watson |
| Centenary College of Louisiana | John William Corrington Award for Literary Excellence | Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks, by Crystal Wilkinson |
| Cleveland Institute of Art | Summer Reading | Ctrl + S, a student-led publication produced by Cleveland Institute of Art students |
| Colgate University | Summer Reading | Primary Trust, by Eboni Booth |
| College of DuPage | Great Read Series | Foul Lady Fortune, by Chloe Gong |
| College of New Jersey | Summer Reading | Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity, by Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi |
| College of Southern Maryland | One Maryland One Book | Kin: Rooted in Hope, by Carole Boston Weatherford, art by Jeffery Boston Weatherford |
| College of St. Scholastica | One Campus, One Read | The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement, by Sharon McMahon |
| College of the Holy Cross | First-Year Reading | Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg |
| College of the Holy Cross | Sophomore Common Summer Reading | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| College of William & Mary | One Book One Community | Where I Can’t Follow, by Ashley Blooms |
| College of Wooster | Summer Reading | Joy: Essays, by Ross Gay |
| Colorado College | Common Read | Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong |
| Colorado Mountain College | Common Reader | Bicycling with Butterflies: My 10,201-Mile Journey Following the Monarch Migration, by Sara Dykman |
| Columbus College of Art and Design | First-Year Common Read / Common Reading Book / Summer Reading | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| Community College of Baltimore County | Community Book Connection | The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd |
| Connecticut College | Common Community Reading | Don’t Cry for Me, by Daniel Black |
| Connecticut State Community College Manchester | Common Read | James, by Percival Everett |
| Connecticut State Community College Naugatuck Valley | One Book, One College | Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, edited by Alice Wong |
| Connecticut State Community College Norwalk | NCC Common Read | The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig |
| Cornell University – Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management | Summer Reading Program | You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate the Power of Persuasion and Why It Matters, by Vanessa Bohns |
| Cottey College | First-Year Seminar Common Reader | Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI, by Madhumita Murgia |
| County College of Morris | One Book, One College | The Moth Presents: A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding on and Letting Go, by The Moth |
| Crafton Hills College | One Book, One College | The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory, by Thomas Fuller |
| CUNY Queensborough Community College | Common Read | The Gangster We Are All Looking For, by Thi Diem Thuy Le |
| Cuyahoga Community College | Common Reading Program | The Moth Presents: A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding on and Letting Go, by The Moth |
| Dallas College | Common Book | Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity, by Michele Norris |
| Davidson College | Common Reading Book | The Light Pirate, by Lily Brooks-Dalton |
| Defiance College | First-Year Common Read | Acceptance: A Memoir, by Emi Nietfeld |
| Des Moines Area Community College | One Book One College | The Measure, by Nikki Erlick |
| Dordt University | One Book, One Sioux County | The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon |
| Duke University | Common Experience Summer Reading Program | James, by Percival Everett |
| East Central College | All-Campus Read | Mockingbird, by Walter Tevis |
| East Tennessee State University | ETSU Common Read | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| Eastern Mennonite University | EMU Common Read | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Eckerd College | Summer Reading | Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, by Michelle Nijhuis |
| Edison State Community College | Common Read / [Eng. 122] | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| Elmhurst University | One Book, One Elmhurst | The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin |
| Elms College | Common Read (First-Year Seminar) | The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers |
| Elon University | Common Reading | First Gen: A Memoir, by Alejandra Campoverdi |
| Evergreen State College | Orientation Common Reading | First Response: Taking a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence, from Northwest Reports (podcast) |
| Fashion Institute of Technology | Common Read Program | All We Can Save, edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson |
| Fisk University | Summer Reading Program | People of Means, by Nancy Johnson |
| Flagler College | Common Read | Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture, by Kyle Chayka |
| Florida Atlantic University – Honors Program | UHP Common Read | The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri |
| Florida College | Common Reading | Flatland: A Romance of Many Directions, by Edwin Abbott |
| Florida International University | FIU Common Reading | The World I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI, by Dr. Fei-Fei Li |
| Fordham University – English Department | Mary Higgins Clark Book | Wound from the Mouth of a Wound, by torrin a. greathouse |
| Fort Lewis College | SkyWords Common Reading Experience | • A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon, by Kevin Fedarko |
| • Water Bodies: Love Letters to the Most Abundant Substance on Earth, edited by Laura Paskus | ||
| Frederick Community College | Frederick Reads | The books of R. L. Stine |
| Gannon University | Gannon READS | You Are Changing the World: Whether You Like It or Not, by David LaMotte |
| Georgetown University | Marino Family International Writers’ Academic Workshop | Em, by Kim Thúy; Translated by Sheila Fischman |
| Georgia College & State University | GC Reads Common Reading Program | • “Fear Not,” by Mathias Clasen |
| • “How to Be Resilient,” by Selda Koydemir | ||
| • “How to Know What You Really Want,” by Luke Burgis | ||
| • “How to Make the Most of University,” by Nic Hooper | ||
| • “The Art of Listening,” by M.M. Owen | ||
| • “The Happiness Ruse,” by Cody Delistraty | ||
| • “Trust Your Future Self,” by Jeff Wise | ||
| • “Why We Crave,” by Zoey Lavallee | ||
| Goucher College | Summer Reading | Behind You Is the Sea, by Susan Muaddi Darraj |
| Green River College | One Book | Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age, by Vauhini Vara |
| Hagerstown Community College | Big Read | The Last Beekeeper, by Julie Carrick Dalton |
| Haverford College | Campus Read | What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures, by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson |
| Hilbert College | Hilbert College Reads | Portraits of Peace: Searching for Hope in a Divided America, by John Noltner |
| Hiram College | Community Reading Program | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| Hope College | Big Read Lakeshore | I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger |
| Illinois Central College | One Book One College | Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel, by Agatha Christie, adapted and illustrated by Bob Al-Greene |
| Illinois Valley Community College | One Book, One College | Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, by Ethan Mollick |
| Indiana University – School of Medicine | Common Read | Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Green |
| Indiana University – Kelley School of Business | Common Read Program | How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan, by Catherine Price |
| Johns Hopkins University | Common Question | Common Question: “What Is Health?” |
| Johnson County Community College | Common Read | Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America, by Barbara Ehrenreich |
| Kankakee Community College | Common Read | Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways to Build a More Inclusive World, by Rohit Bhargava and Jennifer Brown |
| Kansas State University | K-State Book Network′s Common Reading | Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World, by Vivek H. Murthy, MD |
| Kean University | Common Read | Every Day We Get More Illegal, by Juan Felipe Herrera |
| Knox College | Summer Common Reading | Learning to Disagree: The Surprising Path to Navigating Differences with Empathy and Respect, by John Inazu and Tish Harrison Warren |
| Lansing Community College | One Book One LCC | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| Le Moyne College | Summer Common Reading Assignment | “Sonny’s Blues,” by James Baldwin |
| Lebanon Valley College | FYE Common Connection | • Good Will Hunting (film) |
| • The Collected Regrets of Clover, by Mikki Brammer | ||
| Lipscomb University | LIGHT Common Read | The Road to Assisi: The Essential Biography of St. Francis, by Paul Sabatier |
| Lone Star College-Kingwood | Common Read | The Witches of El Paso, by Luis Jaramillo |
| Lone Star College-University Park | ReadUP! | The Witches of El Paso, by Luis Jaramillo |
| Loras College | Common Reading / Summer Reading Book | Educated: A Memoir, by Tara Westover |
| Louisiana State University – Honors College | Honors College Summer Shared Read | A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, by Josh Neufeld |
| Loyola University Chicago – Stritch School of Medicine | Common Read | What the Eyes Don′t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City, by Mona Hanna-Attisha |
| Loyola University Maryland | Common Text Program | Happiness Falls, by Angie Kim |
| Luther College | Paideia Summer Read | I Talk About It All the Time: A Memoir, by Camara Lundestad Joof |
| Madisonville Community College | MCC Common Reader | Wild Ride: A Memoir of I.V. Drips and Rocket Ships, by Haley Arceneaux |
| Maine College of Art & Design | First-Year Experience Common Read | Feeding Ghosts: A Graphic Memoir, by Tessa Hulls |
| Manhattanville College | First-Year Common Read | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, Dave Isay |
| Marian University (IN) | The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory, by Thomas Fuller | |
| Marist College | Common Reading | Ab(solutely) Normal: Short Stories That Smash Mental Health Stereotypes, edited by Rocky Callen |
| Maryville University | Maryville Reads | The Moth Presents: A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding On and Letting Go, by The Moth |
| Menlo College | Common Book | Students may choose from: |
| • Imagination: A Manifesto, by Ruha Benjamin | ||
| • Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, by Octavia E. Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings | ||
| • The Coming Wave: AI, Power, and Our Future, by Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar | ||
| Meredith College | Summer Reading Program | Ordinary Light: A Memoir, by Tracy K. Smith |
| Merrimack College | First Year Seminar | The Road to Character, by David Brooks |
| Messiah University | Book of the Year Program | Confessions, by Augustine, translated by F. J. Sheed |
| Metropolitan Community College, Kansas City – Longview Campus | Common Read | Frankenstein: The Original 1818 Text, by Mary Shelley (Reader’s Library Classics) |
| Metropolitan State University of Denver | 1 Book/1 Project/2 Transform | We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People, by Nemonte Nenquimo and Mitch Anderson |
| Middle Tennessee State University | Summer Reading Program | Healing Wounds: A Vietnam War Combat Nurse’s 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C., by Diane Carlson Evans |
| Minot State University | First-Year Orientation | She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey |
| Mississippi University for Women | Common Reading Initiative | The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi, by Wright Thompson |
| Molloy University | Patricia Sullivan Common Reading Program | Advocate: A Graphic Memoir of Family, Community, and the Fight for Environmental Justice, by Eddie Ahn |
| Moberly Area Community College | I, Robot, by Isacc Asimov | |
| Monroe County Community College | One Book, One Community of Monroe County | The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel |
| Montana State University | Convocation Book | Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917, by Michael Punke |
| Montcalm Community College | MCC Reads and One Book One County | Down the Hill: My Descent into the Double Murder in Delphi, by Susan Hendricks |
| Moorpark College | One Campus, One Book | Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, by Michelle Zauner |
| Moraine Valley Community College | One Book, One College | The Dispossessed [50th Anniversary Edition], by Ursula K. Le Guin; Foreword by Karen Joy Fowler |
| Morgan State University | Common Read | Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| Mount Holyoke College | Common Read | Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler |
| Mount St. Mary′s University (CA) | Campus Read | Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings, by Reyna Grande |
| Nevada State University | Common Read Program | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| New College of Florida | Common Summer Book / Summer Reading Assignment | The Odyssey, by Homer; Translated by Robert Fagles |
| New York University | NYU Reads | Orbital, by Samantha Harvey |
| North Carolina A&T State University | Text-in-Community | Lovely One: A Memoir, by Ketanji Brown Jackson |
| North Idaho College | NIC Common Reading Program: Cardinal Reads | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| Northeastern State University | Common Read | Second Chances: A Marine, His Dog, and Finding Redemption, by Craig Grossi |
| Northern Michigan University | Common Reader Program | Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson, by Tourmaline |
| Northern State University | Common Read | First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers, by Loung Ung |
| Northwood University | Omniquest Program | • Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, by Art Carden and Deirdre Nansen McCloskey |
| • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J. D. Vance | ||
| Oakland University – Honors College | Common Read / Freshman Colloquim HC 1000 | • Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Green |
| • Open Throat, by Henry Hoke | ||
| Occidental College | First-Year Summer Reading | When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America, by Kevin F. Alder and Donald W. Burnes with Amanda Banh Andrijana Bilbija |
| Ohio University | Common Experience Project / Common Reading Project | James, by Percival Everett |
| Oregon State University | First-Year Reading Experience | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| Otterbein University | Common Book | Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter, by John Hendrickson |
| Owens Community College | The BIG Read | A Little Less Broken: How an Autistim Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole, by Marian Schembari |
| Owensboro Community and Technical College | Common Reading | The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal, edited by James Crews |
| Pace University | Common Reader / Summer Common Reading | Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey |
| Pennsylvania State University – Penn State Berks | Common Reading Program | Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport |
| Piedmont Virginia Community College | One Book Project | Frankenstein: or ‘The Modern Prometheus’: The 1818 Text (Oxford World’s Classics), by Mary Shelley |
| Pomona College | Orientation Book | They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us: Essays, by Hanif Abdurraqib |
| Princeton University | Princeton Pre-Read | On the Fringe: Where Science Meets Psuedoscience, by Michael D. Gordin |
| Purdue University – English Department | Big Read | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Purdue University Northwest – Calumet Campus | One Book, One University | Why Fish Don’t Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life, by Lulu Miller |
| Ramapo College of New Jersey | FYS Summer Reading | Fire Exit, by Morgan Talty |
| Reed College | Welcome to Reed | Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison |
| Reedley College | One Book, One College | They Call You Back: A Lost History, A Search, A Memoir, by Tim Z. Hernandez |
| Regis University | One Book, One Regis | Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science, by Jessica Hernandez, Ph.D. |
| Rowan College of South Jersey | One Book, One College | The Essay, by Robin Yocum |
| Russell Sage College | Dean′s Read | What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures, by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson |
| Rutgers University–New Brunswick – Honors College | Summer Reading | The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration, by Jake Bittle |
| Rutgers University–New Brunswick – School of Arts and Sciences Honors Program | Summer Reading | The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration, by Jake Bittle |
| Rutgers University – Robert Wood Johnson Medical School | Physicianship I Summer Assignment | • The First Year Experience: Reflections from Students of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (3nd edition) |
| • Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present, by Harriet A. Washington | ||
| Saddleback College | One Book, One College | The Geography of Bliss: One Grump′s Search for the Happiest Places in the World, by Eric Weiner |
| Saint Louis University | Campus Read | Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri |
| Saint Michael‘s College | Common Text | AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference, by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor |
| Saint Michael′s College – Education Department | Education Department Common Read | Gather, by Kenneth M. Cadow |
| Salem State University | First Year Reading Experience (FYRE) | Students may choose from: |
| • The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disability, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me, by Keah Brown | ||
| • Spare Parts, by Joshua Davis | ||
| • The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henríquez | ||
| • Ties That Bind: Stories of Love and Gratitude from the First Ten Years of StoryCorps, by Dave Isay | ||
| • Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison, by Piper Kerman | ||
| • 1,001 Voices on Climate Change: Everyday Stories of Flood, Fire, Drought, and Displacement from Around the World, by Devi Lockwood | ||
| • Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s, by John Elder Robison | ||
| • The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas | ||
| Salisbury University | One Maryland One Book | Kin: Rooted in Hope, by Carole Boston Weatherford, art by Jeffery Boston Weatherford |
| Sam Houston State University | Common Reader Program | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| San Diego State University | One Book, One San Diego | Deacon King Kong, by James McBride |
| San Jose State University | SJSU Reading Program | There There, by Tommy Orange |
| San Juan College | One Book/One Community | The Road to Roswell, by Connie Willis |
| Santa Clara University | Community Read | We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy, by Eboo Patel |
| Santa Rosa Junior College | Work of Literary Merit | Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley |
| School of the Art Institute of Chicago | Shared Read | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Seattle University | Common Text | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| Seminole State College of Florida | Campus READ | The Words We Keep, by Erin Stewart |
| Seton Hall University | Summer Reading | The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Shepherd University | Common Reading | Black Bear Creek: Stories, by Joshua Cross |
| Siena Heights University | Summer Reading Assignment | Hey, Kiddo: A Graphic Novel, by Jarrett Krosoczka |
| Simmons University | First Year Read | Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine, by Uché Blackstock, MD |
| Skidmore College | Summer Reading Program | Stay True: A Memoir, by Hua Hsu |
| Smith College | Smith Reads | Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel, by Loretta J. Ross |
| Somerset Community College | SCC Common Read | Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks, by Crystal Wilkinson |
| Southeastern Louisiana University | Common Read | Promises of Gold, by José Olivarez |
| Springfield College | Summer Reading | AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future, by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan |
| St. Catherine University | One Read for Racial Justice | The Message, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| St. Edward′s University | Common Read | • Making Room: Three Decades of Fighting for Beds, Belonging, and a Safe Space for LGBTQ Youth, by Carl Siciliano |
| • Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility, edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua | ||
| St. Olaf College | Common Read | Somewhere We Are Human: Authentic Voices on Migration, Survival, and New Beginnings, by Reyna Grande and Sonia Guiñansaca |
| St. Petersburg College | SPC Reads | • The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times, by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson |
| • The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step-by-Step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone, by Joseph Tychonievich, illustrated by Liz Anna Kozik | ||
| Stanford University | Three Books Program | • Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will, by Robert M. Sapolsky |
| • Selfless: The Social Creation of “You,” by Brian Lowery | ||
| • Free: Coming of Age at the End of History, by Lea Ypi | ||
| Stockton University | Freshman Common Reading | To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories, by Sarah Viren |
| SUNY Binghamton | Common Read | Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, by Kristen Radtke |
| SUNY Cortland | Common Reading | The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates |
| The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World, by Jeff Goodell | ||
| We Are Water Protectors, by Carole Lindstrom, illustrated by Michaela Goade | ||
| SUNY Geneseo | Common Summer Book Read | What If We Get It Right?: Visions of Climate Futures, by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson |
| SUNY Oneonta | Common Read | Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land, by Toni Jensen |
| SUNY Oswego | Oswego Reading Initiative | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| Sussex County Community College | College Novel | The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas |
| Texas A&M International University | Common Read | The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture, by Euny Hong |
| Texas A&M University at Galveston | Republic, by Plato, translated by G. M. A. Grube | |
| Thomas College | Common Read | The Book of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay |
| Towson University – Honors College | Honors College Common Read | The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos, by Jaime Green |
| Tulsa Community College | Common Book Program | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| United States Air Force Academy | One Book, One USAFA | Orbital, by Samantha Harvey |
| University of Alabama in Huntsville – Honors College | Common Book | The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| University of Arkansas, Fayetteville | One Book One Community | Deep Kindness: A Revolutionary Guide for the Way We Think, Talk, and Act in Kindness, by Houston Kraft |
| University of Arkansas, Fort Smith | UAFS Read This | Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, by Margot Lee Shetterly |
| University of California, Davis | Campus Community Book Project | Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora |
| University of California, Los Angeles | Common Experience / Common Book Program | Reservation Dogs (television) |
| University of California, San Diego | The Common Read | Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World, by Justin Lee |
| University of Colorado – Anschutz Medical Campus | One Book, One Campus | Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Presence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Greene |
| University of Colorado, Boulder | Buffs One Read | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| University of Evansville – Honors Program | Common Read Experience | Circle of Hope: A Reckoning With Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church, by Eliza Griswold |
| University of Houston–Clear Lake | Common Reader Program | The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters |
| University of Idaho | Common Read | The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement, by Sharon McMahon |
| University of Iowa | One Community, One Book | They Don’t Want Her Here: Fighting Sexual and Racial Harassment in the American University, by Carolyn Chalmers |
| University of Iowa | Common Reader – Interpretation of Literature | Frankenstein: The 1818 Text, by Mary Shelley; Introduction by Charlotte Gordon |
| University of Kansas | KU Common Books | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| University of Kansas Medical Center | One Book | Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body, by Rebekah Taussig |
| University of La Verne | One Book, One University | Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino, by” Héctor Tobar |
| University of Maine – Honors College | Honors Read | The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot |
| University of Maryland | First Year Book | The Constitution of the United States, Smithsonian Edition |
| University of Miami | One Book, One U | The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett |
| University of Michigan–Dearborn | Community Read / Metro Read | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| University of Michigan–Flint | Common Read | Unraveled: The Life and Death of a Garment, by Maxine Bedat |
| University of Michigan – College of Engineering | Engineering Common Reading Experience | The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green |
| University of Michigan – School of Social Work | Summer Read | The Black Angels: The Untold Story of Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis, by Maria Smilios |
| University of Minnesota Twin Cities – College of Education and Human Development | CEHD Reads | The Seed Keeper, by Diane Wilson |
| University of Mississippi | Common Reading Experience | Leave Only Footprints: My Acadia-to-Zion Journey Through Every National Park, by Conor Knighton |
| University of Missouri – Honors College | Honors College One Read | A Children’s Bible, by Lydia Millet |
| University of Montana | Griz Read | The Books of Delights: Essays, by Ross Gay |
| University of Nevada, Las Vegas | Common Reader for FYS and SYS | The Moth Presents: A Point of Beauty: True Stories of Holding On and Letting Go, by The Moth |
| University of New Orleans – College of Liberal Arts, Education and Human Development | One Book One New Orleans | Daughters of the New Year, by E. M. Tran |
| University of North Alabama | Mane Read | • “Students’ sense of campus community: What it means, and what to do about it,” by David X. Cheng |
| • “The painful birth of blues and jazz,” by Stephanie Hall | ||
| • “On social connection in university life,” by Sara Kathleen Henry | ||
| • “Community, frame of reference, and boundary: Three sociological concepts and their relevance for virtual worlds research,” by J. Patrick Williams | ||
| University of Notre Dame – Glynn Family Honors Program | Glynn Summer Read | • The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt |
| • Silence, by Shusaku Endo | ||
| • Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel | ||
| University of Olivet | Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World, by Justin Lee | |
| University of the Pacific | Common Book | Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier, by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey |
| University of Pennsylvania – School of Social Policy & Practice | One Book, One SP2 | The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt |
| University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg | Westmoreland Reads | The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, by Jonathan Haidt |
| University of Portland | ReadUP – One Book Together | Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer |
| University of Redlands | #URReading | Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, by Mary Roach |
| University of Saint Joseph | Common Theme Reading | Students can choose from a variety of media on the theme of “Community” |
| University of San Diego | USD Just Read! | Talking Across the Divide: How to Communicate with People You Disagree with and Maybe Even Change the World, by Justin Lee |
| University of South Alabama | Common Read/Common World Initiative | Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss, by Margaret Renkl |
| University of South Carolina Upstate | PREFACE | I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times, by Mónica Guzmán |
| University of Southern Mississippi – Honors College | University Forum | Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel |
| University of Tennessee at Chattanooga | Read2Achieve | When We Walk By: Forgotten Humanity, Broken Systems, and the Role We Can Each Play in Ending Homelessness in America, by Kevin F. Adler and Donald W. Burnes; with Amanda Banh and Andrijana Bilbija |
| University of the District of Columbia | Freshman Book | The World Doesn’t Require You: Stories, by Rion Amilcar Scott |
| University of the Incarnate Word | Honors Common Read | Solito: A Memoir, by Javier Zamora |
| University of Vermont | Learning Community Summer Reading | • Advocate: A Graphic Memior of Family, Community, and the Fight for Evironmental Justice, by Eddie Ahn |
| • Stardew Valley (video game) | ||
| • How to Say Babylon: A Memoir, by Safiya Sinclair | ||
| • Hidden Systems: Water, Electricity, the Internet, and the Secrets Behind the Systems we use Everyday, by Dann Nott | ||
| • Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah | ||
| • How to Love a Forest: The Bittersweet Work of Tending a Changing World, by Ethan Tapper | ||
| • The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, by Robin Wall Kimmerer | ||
| • Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, by Geoffrey Cohen | ||
| University of Vermont – Honors College | First-Year Summer Reading | Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, by Martha Nussbaum |
| University of Virginia – School of Education and Human Development | The Common Read / Curry Common Read | After the Last Border: Two Families and the Stories of Refuge in America, by Jessica Goudeau |
| University of Washington | Big Read | Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, by Heather Cox Richardson |
| University of Wisconsin–Madison | Go Big Read | James, by Percival Everett |
| University of Wisconsin–Madison – Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work | Community Read | What It Takes to Heal: How Transforming Ourselves Can Change the World, by Prentis Hemphill |
| University of Wisconsin–Stout – Honors College | Honors Colloquium | The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez |
| Ursinus College | Summer Readings – Common Intellectual Experience | • Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
| • “Allegory of the Cave,” from The Republic of Plato, translated by Allan Bloom | ||
| Vanderbilt University | Commons Reading | In lieu of a common read, students are asked to conduct interviews with members of their communities in alignment with the 2025–26 theme “Stories That Connect Us.” |
| Vassar College | Common Reading | Sabrina & Corina: Stories, by Kali Fajardo-Anstine |
| Villanova University – School of Business | Read to Lead | The Nvidia Way: Jensen Huang and the Making of a Tech Giant, by Tae Kim |
| Virginia Commonwealth University | VCU Common Book | The Coming Wave: Technology, Power, and the Twenty-first Century’s Greatest Dilemma, by Mustafa Suleyman with Michael Bhaskar |
| Viterbo University | First Year Student Common Read | This Changes Everything: A Surprisingly Funny Story About Race, Cancer, Faith, and Other Things We Don’t Talk About, by Tyler Merritt |
| Wake Forest University | Project Wake | Project Wake 2025 Theme: A Brave New World; students will be able to choose from: |
| • Bad Blood: The Final Chapter, by John Carreyrou (podcast) | ||
| • Barbie (film) | ||
| • Blade Runner (film) | ||
| • Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, by Trevor Noah | ||
| • Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley | ||
| • The Circle Season 5 (television) | ||
| • Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, by Ethan Mollick | ||
| • Devout: A Memoir of Doubt, by Anna Gazmarian | ||
| • Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (book or movie) | ||
| • Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros | ||
| • The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood | ||
| • How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, by David Brooks | ||
| • Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro | ||
| • Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy, by Katherine Stewart | ||
| • Neuroqueer Heresies: Notes on the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Autistic Empowerment, and Postnormal Possibilities, by Nick Walker | ||
| • Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler | ||
| • Parasite (film) | ||
| • The Pitt (television) | ||
| • The Remains of the Day, by Kazuo Ishiguro (book or film) | ||
| • Remarkably Bright Creatues, by Shelby Van Pelt | ||
| • Severance Season 1 Episode 2, “Half-Loop” (television) | ||
| • The Trial of the Chicago Seven (film) | ||
| • Umurangi Generation (video game) | ||
| • “Welcome and Departure,” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (poem) | ||
| • When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi | ||
| • Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language, by Amanda Montell | ||
| Washburn University | iRead | The Princess Will Save You, by Sarah Henning |
| Washington and Lee University | First-Year Read / Common Book | The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| Wenatchee Valley College | One College, One Book | • Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City, by Andrea Elliott |
| • The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters | ||
| • We Are Free to Change the World: Hannah Arendt′s Lessons in Love and Disobedience, by Lyndsey Stonebridge | ||
| Wesleyan University | First Year Matters Common Experience | Origin (film) |
| West Kentucky Community & Technical College | One Book Read | In the Wild Light, by Jeff Zentner |
| West Shore Community College | Common Read | Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro |
| West Virginia University | Campus Read | James, by Percival Everett |
| Western Carolina University | One Book | A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book, by Becky Chambers |
| Westminster College (PA) | First Year Summer Reading Program | Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist, by Judith Heumann |
| Wheaton College (IL) | Core Book | The Odyssey, by Homer |
| Wichita State University | WSU Reads | Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures Farming the Ocean to Fight Climate Change, by Bren Smith |
| Wilbur Wright College | They Called Us Enemy, by George Takei, Justin Eisinger and Steven Scott; Illustrated by Harmony Becker | |
| Winona State University | WSU Common Book Project | Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, by Mary Roach |
| Winthrop University | Common Book Project | Callings: The Purpose and Passion of Work, by Dave Isay |
| Yavapai College | Riders Read | Diaries of War: Two Visual Accounts from Ukraine and Russia [A Graphic Novel History], by Nora Krug |
| Last Updated | 10/16/2025 | |
| Programs Reporting | 284 |
