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Life After College

A one-stop shop for all Bennies and Johnnies need to know once they graduate CSB+SJU.

Congratulations! You've graduated!

... Now what?

Among these pages you will find resources, recommendations, tips, and tricks for all you need to know about entering "the real world" and moving on from CSB and SJU. Have a recommendation to add to one of our lists? Reach out to Business Librarian Kelly Butorac!

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Book Recommendations: Non-Fiction

Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps

Adulting: How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps

Adult" isn't a noun; it's a verb. Just because you don't feel like an adult doesn't mean you can't act like one. And it all begins with this funny, wise, and useful book. Based on Kelly Williams Brown's popular blog, Adulting makes the scary, confusing 'real world' approachable, manageable - and even conquerable. This guide will help you navigate the stormy Sea of Adulthood so that you may find safe harbor in Not Running Out of Toilet Paper Bay.

 Adulting for Beginners: Life Skills for Adult Children, Teens, High School and College Students

Adulting for Beginners: Life Skills for Adult Children, Teens, High School and College Students

Congratulations, the day has finally arrived! You're officially a GROWN UP! Which is great in theory, but maybe a bit more stressful in practice... These are all the important life skills we need to know as an adult, that we're NOT taught in school! Right, don't panic! You're in the right place. This book will share with you the proven tips & strategies to make your adulting days the best days of your life.

Big Magic

Big Magic

The beloved author digs deep into her own generative process to share her wisdom and unique perspective about creativity. With profound empathy and radiant generosity, she offers potent insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear.

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

Crying in H Mart: A Memoir

In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up the only Asian-American kid at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food.

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now

The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now

Our "thirty-is-the-new-twenty" culture tells us the twentysomething years don't matter. Some say they are a second adolescence. Others call them an emerging adulthood. Dr. Meg Jay, a clinical psychologist, argues that twentysomethings have been caught in a swirl of hype and misinformation, much of which has trivialized what is actually the most defining decade of adulthood.

Designing Your Life: Build a Life That Works For You

Designing Your Life: Build a Life That Works For You

In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Educated: A Memoir

Educated: A Memoir

Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag." When her brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University.

Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir

Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir

When it comes to the trials and triumphs of becoming a grown up, journalist and former Sunday Times dating columnist Dolly Alderton has seen and tried it all. In this book, she vividly recounts falling in love, wrestling with self-sabotage, finding a job, throwing a socially disastrous Rod-Stewart themed house party, getting drunk, getting dumped, realizing that Ivan from the corner shop is the only man you've ever been able to rely on, and finding that your mates are always there at the end of every messy night out.

Everything is Figureoutable

Everything is Figureoutable

Whether you want to leave a dead end job, break an addiction, learn to dance, heal a relationship, grow a business, master your money, travel the globe, or solve world hunger, Everything is Figureoutable will train your brain to think more creatively and positively - especially in the face of setbacks.

Fail Until You Don't: Fight Grind Repeat

Fail Until You Don't: Fight Grind Repeat

As radio personality Bobby Bones reveals in his second book, Fail Until You Don't, a lot of what made him able to achieve his goals were mistakes, awkward moments, and embarrassing situations - lemons that he turned into lemonade through hard work and humility. Here he provides ideas and motivations for finding success even when seemingly surrounded by impossible odds or tough failures. He also includes anecdotes from some of his famous friends who open up about their own missteps.

I'm Glad My Mom Died

I'm Glad My Mom Died

A heartbreaking and hilarious memoir by iCarly and Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy about her struggles as a former child actor-including eating disorders, addiction, and a complicated relationship with her overbearing mother-and how she retook control of her life.

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave - "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" - wasn't about dying.

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World

On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. He shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves - and the world - for the better.

More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are

More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are

By age 30, Elaine Welteroth became the youngest and only the second Black editor-in-chief in Condé Nast history. She helped infuse Teen Vogue with social consciousness, amplifying youth voices on key issues and proving there was more to the selfie generation. As a young boss and the only Black woman in the room, she has had to contend with the notion that she wasn't enough. Now she unpacks profound lessons on race, identity, power, ambition, and love.

Outliers: The Story of Success

Outliers: The Story of Success

In this provocative and inspiring book, Malcolm Gladwell examines everyone from business giants to scientific geniuses, sports stars to musicians, and reveals what they have in common. He looks behind the spectacular results, the myths, and the legends to show what really explains exceptionally successful people.

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

In this refreshingly entertaining guide to reshaping your mindset and your life, mega-bestselling author and world-traveling success coach Jen Sincero serves up 27 bite-sized chapters full of hilariously inspiring stories, sage advice, easy exercises, and the occasional swear word, helping you to: Identify and change the self-sabotaging beliefs and behaviors that stop you from getting what you want.

Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts

Dare to Lead: Brave Work, Tough Conversations, Whole Hearts

Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential. When we dare to lead, we don't pretend to have the right answers. We stay curious and ask the right questions. We don't see power as finite and hoard it. We know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don't avoid difficult conversations and situations. We lean into vulnerability when it's necessary to do good work.

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know

The bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals examines the critical art of rethinking: learning to question your opinions and open other people's minds, which can position you for excellence at work and wisdom in life. Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn, but in a rapidly changing world, there's another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to rethink and unlearn.

To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret

To Shake the Sleeping Self: A Journey from Oregon to Patagonia, and a Quest for a Life with No Regret

On the eve of turning thirty, terrified of being sucked into a life he didn't choose, Jedidiah Jenkins quit his dream job and spent the next 16 months cycling from Oregon to Patagonia. He chronicled the trip on Instagram, where his photos and reflections on life soon attracted hundreds of thousands of followers and got him featured by National Geographic and The Paris Review. Jed now narrates the adventure that started it all: the people and places he encountered on his way to the bottom of the world, and the internal journey that prompted it...

What Do You Want to do Before You Die?: The Buried Life

What Do You Want to do Before You Die?: The Buried Life

An illustrated selection of answers to the title's question, submitted online and collected by Ben Nemtin, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn and Jonnie Penn, collectively known as The Buried Life and featured in the MTV reality television series of the same name.

Book Recommendations: Fiction

1984

1984

Portrays life in a future time when a totalitarian government watches over all citizens and directs all activities. In 1984, London is a grim city in the totalitarian state of Oceania where Big Brother is always watching you and the Thought Police can practically read your mind.

The Alchemist

The Alchemist

Paulo Coelho's masterpiece tells the mystical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure. Santiago's journey teaches us about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, of recognizing opportunity and learning to read the omens strewn along life's path, and, most importantly, to follow our dreams.

All The Light We Cannot See

All The Light We Cannot See

From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

Before the Coffee Gets Cold

In a small back alley of Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee - the chance to travel back in time.

Beloved

Beloved

Sethe, an escaped slave living in post-Civil War Ohio with her daughter and mother-in-law, is persistently haunted by the ghost of her dead baby girl.

Brooklyn

Brooklyn

In Ireland in the early 1950s, Eilis Lacey is one of many who cannot find work at home. Thus when a job is offered in America, it is clear to everyone that she must go. Leaving behind her family and country, Eilis heads for unfamiliar Brooklyn, and to a crowded boarding house where the landlady's intense scrutiny and the small jealousies of her fellow residents only deepen her isolation. Slowly, the pain of parting is buried beneath the rhythms of her new life - and finally, she begins to realize that she has found a sort of happiness.

Call Me By Your Name

Call Me By Your Name

The story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Each is unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, when, during the restless summer weeks, unrelenting currents of obsession, fascination, and desire intensify their passion and test the charged ground between them

Demon Copperhead

Demon Copperhead

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father's good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival.

The Firekeeper's Daughter

The Firekeeper's Daughter

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi's hockey team.

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby

Gatsby - young, handsome, fabulously rich - always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.

The Group

The Group

Mary McCarthy’s most celebrated novel follows the lives of eight Vassar graduates, known simply to their classmates as “the group.” An eclectic mix of personalities and upbringings, they meet a week after graduation to watch Kay Strong get married. After the ceremony, the women begin their adult lives - traveling to Europe, tackling the worlds of nursing and publishing, and finding love and heartbreak in the streets of New York City.

Happy Place

Happy Place

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college - they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now - for reasons they're still not discussing - they don't. They broke up six months ago. And still haven't told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group's yearly getaway for the last decade.

Little Fires Everywhere

Little Fires Everywhere

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother - who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.

A Little Life

A Little Life

A Little Life follows four college classmates - broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition - as they move to New York in search of fame and fortune. While their relationships, which are tinged by addiction, success, and pride, deepen over the decades, the men are held together by their devotion to the brilliant, enigmatic Jude, a man scarred by an unspeakable childhood trauma.

Little Women

Little Women

Grown-up Meg, tomboyish Jo, timid Beth, and precocious Amy. The four March sisters couldn't be more different. But with their father away at war, and their mother working to support the family, they have to rely on one another. Whether they're putting on a play, forming a secret society, or celebrating Christmas, there's one thing they can't help wondering: Will Father return home safely?

A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon-the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him the bitter neighbor from hell. But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time.

The Measure

The Measure

It seems like any other day: You wake up, pour a cup of coffee, and head out. But today when you open your front door, waiting for you is a small wooden box. This box holds your fate inside: the answer to the exact number of years you will live. The Measure charts the dawn of this new world through an unforgettable cast of characters whose decisions and fates interweave with one another...

The Midnight Library

The Midnight Library

Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices. Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?' A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived.

My Oxford Year

My Oxford Year

Offered a fantastic job in a rising star's political campaign on condition that she will work abroad and return to Washington after spending a dream year at Oxford, Ella clashes with, and then falls for, an outspoken literature professor with a life-changing secret that forces her to rethink her ambitions.

The Nightingale

The Nightingale

The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France--a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. 

Normal People

Normal People

At school Connell and Marianne pretend not to know each other. He's popular and well-adjusted, star of the school football team, while she is lonely, proud, and intensely private. But when Connell comes to pick his mother up from her job at Marianne's house, a strange and indelible connection grows between the two teenagers - one they are determined to conceal.

On The Road

On The Road

On the Road is a 1957 novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

A haunting coming of age novel told in a series of letters to an unknown correspondent reveals the life of Charlie, a freshman in high school who is a wallflower, shy and introspective, and very intelligent. It's a story of what it's like to grow up in high school, tracing a course through uncharted territory in the world of first dates, family dramas and new friends.

Ready Player One

Ready Player One

It's the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world.

Song of Achilles

Song of Achilles

Set during the Greek Heroic Age, Song of Achilles is a retelling of the Trojan War as told from the perspective of Patroclus.

Such a Fun Age

Such a Fun Age

A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

There, There

There, There

Tony Loneman is a young Native American boy whose future seems destined to be as bleak as his past, and he has come to the Powwow with darker intentions - intentions that will destroy the lives of everyone in his path. Fierce, angry, funny, groundbreaking - Tommy Orange's first novel is a wondrous and shattering portrait of an America few of us have ever seen.

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird

A young girl growing up in an Alabama town in the 1930s learns of injustice and violence when her father, a lawyer, defends a black man accused of raping a white girl.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

A modern love story about two childhood friends, Sam, raised by an actress mother in LA's Koreatown, and Sadie, from the wealthy Jewish enclave of Beverly Hills, who reunite as adults to create video games, finding an intimacy in digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

From the moment she entered the world, Francie Nolan needed to be made of stern stuff, for growing up in the Williamsburg slums of Brooklyn, New York demanded fortitude, precocity, and strength of spirit. Often scorned by neighbors for her family’s erratic and eccentric behavior - such as her father Johnny’s taste for alcohol and Aunt Sissy’s habit of marrying serially without the formality of divorce - no one, least of all Francie, could say that the Nolans’ life lacked drama.

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

Podcasts to Listen to