I hope you had a joyful Christmas and are heading into a wonderful New Year’s celebration. As the year comes to a close, members of the National Association of Scholars (NAS) staff have offered a short list of books they read this past year as possible suggestions for readers planning their reading in the year ahead.

Seth Forman, managing editor of Academic Questions, recommends All Fours by Miranda July. He describes it as a semi-autobiographical novel about a married woman overwhelmed by perimenopause. The book reflects on the ennui of modern affluence and the social destruction caused by feminist views of sexuality.

David Randall, director of research at the NAS and executive director of the Civics Alliance, offers recommendations across history, literature, and science fiction, including Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley; Peter Brown’s Augustine of Hippo; José Maria de Eça de Queirós’s The Crime of Father Amaro; Rosemary Sutcliff’s Sword at Sunset; and Jack Vance’s Trullion: Alastor 2262.

Nathaniel Urban, development associate, recommends Slacking: A Guide to Ivy League Miseducation by Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan. He notes that the book argues Ivy League general education programs have become a “smorgasbord of heavily politicized courses” and that many students graduate without having learned about Western civilization. He also recommends The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which he says is a nostalgic book that preserves the innocence of American childhood.

Suzannah Alexander, external relations coordinator, recommends works spanning history, political theory, and literature. American Nations by Colin Woodard examines how early migration patterns shaped regional cultures in the United States and continue to influence American life today. Anarchy, State, and Utopia by Robert Nozick explores the relationship between individual rights and the responsibilities of the state, a framework she sees as essential for grappling with contemporary political problems. The True Believer by Eric Hoffer analyzes the psychology of fanaticism and mass movements, focusing on the conditions that produce instability and shape the individuals who drive historical change. She also recommends Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville, a short work of fiction that raises questions about meaning in a complex world and the limits of what individuals owe one another.

Jared Gould, managing editor of Minding the Campus, recommends Richard Vedder’s Let Colleges Fail, which argues that failing colleges and universities should be allowed to close rather than continue to receive federal or state support. He also suggests Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, a novel set along the U.S.–Mexico border that depicts violence and lawlessness in the mid-19th century.

These selections represent a small sampling of what is available to read, but each offers a different kind of engagement with history, politics, or literature. Readers can approach them in any order—or use them as a starting point for building their own list in the year ahead.