Finals are a stressful time for law students(Duh.)  I remember wishing in law school that I could just take a nap one day and wake up with the entirety of my finals season completed (with excellent grades on my exams of course.)  While that may not be possible, or probably healthy, it can be useful to look forward to the relaxing holiday break that is a few short weeks away.

For the first time in almost four months, you’ll probably have a little time on your hands.  You may want to sleep in or catch up with friends or family, or maybe, just maybe, read something for fun.  For this reason, we here at The Georgia State College of Law Library thought it might be fun to offer up a few non-law reading suggestions for winter break.  Here we go!

Patrick Parsons

Working  by Studs Terkel

Studs Terkel is maybe the most famous interviewer in American history.  He’s interviewed thousands of people and ran a longstanding interview program on WFMT Chicago between 1952 and 1997.  He also wrote a number of oral histories detailing everyday people’s accounts of World War II, The Great Depression, and in this case, what they do to earn a living

Meg Butler

Bad Feminist  by Roxanne Gay

I recommend Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. Although it is not read by the author, I enjoyed it as an audiobook. In addition to providing a thought-provoking and self-aware narrative, Gay has a gift for description. One of my favorite parts is the chapter describing her relationship with Scrabble. I checked this out from the library (afpls.org) and will return when I’m done! It’s also available in print form if you want to request it through GSU.) If you prefer fiction over essays, I recommend her collection of short stories Difficult Women.

Cassandra Patterson

Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis

Rachel Hollis has seen it too often: women not living into their full potential. They feel a tugging on their hearts for something more, but they’re afraid of embarrassment, of falling short of perfection, of not being enough. In Girl, Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people—whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee—instead of learning how to own who they are and what they want. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams, Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself.

Terrance Manion

Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

– coincidentally was named Entertainment Weekly’s Best Fantasy of the Decade just the other day

The Hike by Drew Magary –

“a surprisingly rewarding piece of fiction ”

The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

” stirring in that it is both troubling and hopeful” (which in all honestly I read at the behest of my wife who works for a non-profit organization whose platform includes international women and girl empowerment programs)

Movies and Other Things by Shea Serrano

is like arguing with your buddies (who know a lot more about film than you) at a bar and letting the debate go do whatever tangent the person who bought the last round wants.

Gerard Fowke

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

With a propulsive murder plot set in an insular academic environment during a season of bitter cold, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History is clearly the perfect diversion for any law student on winter break.