Pondering how you’re going to stay busy this winter, or looking for some last-minute gifts?
As always, the UC community is there for you, whether you like romance novels or history, folk music or EDM, comedy or horror. Take a look at some recent titles from alumni and faculty across the UC system and while away the winter with us.
Television
The College Tour, Season 11
Find it: Amazon Prime or Youtube (below)
Campus: UC Merced
Who: UC’s youngest campus
Wondering what it’s like to go to UC from the comfort of your couch? Amazon Prime’s “College Tour,” a half-hour, student-driven program that showcases colleges and universities around the world, takes you to UC Merced, where you will join 10 students who take viewers into the community’s academics, athletics and social life. It’s a great primer for an aspiring applicant or their parent, or anyone who wants to know what college is like these days, particularly at a school on a meteoric rise through the college rankings. UC Merced is now ranked among the top 25 public schools and No. 57 nationally, according to U.S. News and World Report) and earlier this year joined the ranks of prestigious R1 research universities. Want more? You can catch UC Davis (Season 2) and UC Riverside (Season 7) on the program, too.
Books
Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America
Campus: UC Berkeley
Author: Robert Reich
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Knopf
It’s not often a former Secretary of Labor writes a fascinating and affecting memoir, but UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich has meshed storytelling and policy like few others throughout his long career in public life. In “Coming Up Short: A Memoir,” Reich uses his own upbringing and adult life as a lens for understanding how America has changed, offering unparalleled insights into the cultural and generational shifts he has witnessed during his long years of political advocacy. A No. 1 New York Times Bestseller, the book was called “essential reading for understanding this moment in American history” by political commentator and New York Times bestselling author Molly Jong-Fast.
Liquid, a Love Story
Campus: UCLA
Author: Mariam Rahmani
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: Algonquin/Hachette
In this award-winning debut, UCLA alumna Mariam Rahmani writes a strikingly contemporary tale of a young academic looking to lock down her future, both domestically and professionally, with the added twist of marriage itself as her field of study. Shuttling between Tehran and Los Angeles, academic battles and the most banal and relatable dating disasters imaginable, Rahmani’s book is both a satire and a fully-realized portrait of one person pursuing the timeless goal of happiness amid the very recognizable detritus of our time.
Water Mirror Echo
Campus: UC Berkeley
Author: Jeff Chang
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Harper Collins
More than half a century after his passing, Bruce Lee is as compelling as ever to audiences around the world. UC Berkeley alum and acclaimed cultural biographer Jeff Chang brings into focus the world that created Lee — his birth in segregated San Francisco, his childhood in Hong Kong, his teenage years in West Coast counterculture. And how Lee in turn influenced the world around him, expanding opportunities for Asian Americans in media and public life. If you’ve ever been drawn in by Lee’s charisma, this might be the book for you. Named a best book of the year by NPR, Vogue and Publishers Weekly. Read more.
Woodland
Find it: Streaming
Campus: UC Santa Cruz
Who: Gillian Welch
As a student at UC Santa Cruz in the late 1980s, Gillian Welch played bass in a goth group, drums in a psychedelic surf band, and performed with local bluegrass outfit Harmony Grits. It was the bluegrass that stuck, with Welch going on to an acclaimed career rich in storytelling and acoustic tradition. Her 2025 album Woodland, created with longtime collaborator David Rawlings, won the Grammy for Best Folk Album. Pitchfork praised “Woodland” as a “terrific” work of “quiet adventure and clear empathy,” with “moments that feel carved in wood: rustic, weathered, and permanent.”
Hiroquest 3: Paragon
Find it: Streaming
Campus: UC Santa Barbara
Who: Steve Aoki
Grammy-nominated DJ and record producer Steve Aoki is more than a dance music legend — he is also a Gaucho, who began producing music and putting on concerts while at UC Santa Barbara. When not traveling the world and DJing for euphoric audiences, Aoki collaborates with the likes of Iggy Azalea, Lil Jon and others while making his own music, including “Hiroquest 3: Paragon,” released this year. He has also given back to the Gaucho community in his own unique way, throwing a free, Gaucho-only online rave to keep students’ spirits up during the pandemic.
Cookbooks
Breaking the Rules
Campus: UC Davis
Author: Joe Sasto
Genre: Cookbook
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/Simon Element
You might recognize UC Davis alum Joe Sasto from his two seasons on “Top Chef,” where his signature mustache and passion for pasta made him a standout. His new book pairs years of experience in some of the country’s best restaurants with an inviting, improvisational approach meant to empower home cooks of all levels. “Breaking the Rules” demystifies Italian traditions, encouraging readers to swap ingredients, trust their instincts and embrace flexibility. It’s a lively collection that blends personal stories with approachable dishes, from dried and filled pastas built on a single versatile dough to reimagined classics and inventive twists.
Good Things
Campus: UC Berkeley
Author: Samin Nosrat
Genre: Cookbook
Publisher: Random House
Samin Nosrat’s “Good Things” reframes the cookbook as a celebration of connection, comfort and creative possibility, offering more than 125 of her favorite dishes. Alongside go-to recipes like saffron-roasted chicken, ricotta pancakes and Calabrian chili crisp, Nosrat weaves in practical guidance on ingredients, tools and techniques, from selecting a good olive oil to making the most of a pressure cooker. Written as a response to the isolation of the pandemic, the book embraces the sharing of food as a meaningful ritual that can anchor us in difficult times. Joyful and warm, it’s a guide to living and a reminder that cooking for ourselves and others is one of life’s most reliable sources of connection.
Nickel Boys
Find it: Streaming
Campus: UC Irvine
Who: Ethan Herisse
Released in theaters in Dec. 2024 and now available on streaming, “Nickel Boys” adapts Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name into a moving, visually transcendent film about two boys helping each other survive an isolated, segregated and brutal reform school in 1960s Florida while the outside world is on the cusp of change. “Nickel Boys” earned two Oscar nominations and acclaim for its lead performances, including that of Ethan Herisse, a UC Irvine student at the time of audition, who was sitting in chemistry class at the time he learned he got the part of Elwood (a class he was reluctant to leave, as both a disciplined student and someone who describes chemistry, not acting, as the hardest thing he’s ever done). What he created on screen is one of the most memorable performances of the past few years. “When Elwood and Turner look at each other they look right into the camera and, of course, at you,” writes Manohla Dargis of The New York Times. “Their eyes hold you and, in a way few movies do, make you feel that something profound is at stake.”
Come See Me in the Good Light
Find it: Apple TV
Campus: UCLA
Who: Sara Bareilles
Sara Bareilles broke out in 2007 as a musician with her No. 1 album “Little Voice,” but she has since shared her talents across many different genres, including as an actress (Girls5Eva). In 2025, she tried two new major things: speaking at the UCLA commencement to tens of thousands of graduates, and serving as executive producer for the award-winning documentary, “Come and See Me in the Good Light.” Bareilles’ commencement address brought her full circle from her student years, when classmates heard early versions of her famous song “Gravity” during UCLA Awaken a Cappella performances years before its global release. Her latest producing venture builds on Bareilles’ longtime commitment as an LGBTQ+ ally, telling the story of former Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they navigate Gibson’s terminal cancer diagnosis. A unique and beautiful love story, “Come See Me in the Good Light” has earned exceptional praise from critics and audiences alike, with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bring hankies.
