CHF Reads: Staff Recommendations

CHF 30th: Past Presenters

How can we better shape the future we want to live? How have plants evolved to satisfy humankind's most basic yearnings? What do the Chicago race riots of 1919 teach us about our current political moment?

Brittany Pyle, Production and Audience Experience:
Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds by adrienne maree brown

Joe Engleman, Marketing:

Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Tiff Beatty, Programming:

1919 by Eve L. Ewing

Mattie Voorheis, Production:
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

Transport Yourself: Cultural Perspectives and Scientific-Fi / Fantasy

Can technology rewire the human brain to become more generous? What is the power of female strength in a man's world? What happens when our obsession with positive psychology overlaps with our reliance on quick fixes?

Hanan El-Youssef, Development:
Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid

Emmett Mottl, Marketing:

Oval: A Novel by Elvia Wilk

Gregor Baszak, Programming:

Mein Name sei Gantenbein by Max Frisch

Shanna Brown, Production:

Circe by Madeline Miller

Kristen Fallica, Marketing:
Tell the Machine Goodnight by Kate Williams

Make a Commitment: Book Series

What happens when you discover your latent magical powers? What do you do when you discover your partner is heir to a massive fortune? What is the history of drug wars in the twenty-first century?

Shanna Brown, Production:

Akata Witch (YA Series) by Nnedi Okorafor

Mira Hayward, Programming:
Crazy Rich Asians (Trilogy) by Kevin Kwan

Jason Saldanha, Marketing:
The Cartel Series by Don Winslow

Bits and Pieces: Essays and Short Stories

How do personal narratives provide insight into broad societal misconceptions? Why is it important to expand our conceptions of artistic ambition? What would a truly feminist world look like?

Mattie Voorheis, Production:
The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang

Jason Saldanha, Marketing:
I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum

Daniella Mazzio, Audience Services:
The Feminist Utopia Project: Fifty-Seven Visions of a Wildly Better Future edited by Alexandra Brodsky and Rachel Kauder Nalebuff

Emmett Mottl, Marketing:
Exhalation by Ted Chiang

Keep It Light: Romance and Food

Did you know the job description of "internet security officer" can include reading other people's work emails? What's it like to fall in love with a merman? What is the story of America's eat and drink revolution?

Jason Saldanha, Marketing:
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Daniella Mazzio, Audience Services:

The Pisces: A Novel by Melissa Broder

Mira Hayward, Programming:
Burn the Ice by Kevin Alexander

CHF is proud to partner with Seminary Co-op Bookstores as our official bookseller. CHF Members receive 10% back in store credit at Seminary Co-op, 57th Street Books, and their online store.