VOTE NOW 2026 Gulf Coast Reads

VOTE NOW 2026 Gulf Coast Reads

 
Each year, the Gulf Coast Reads Committee selects books that have broad appeal to adults and young adults, and that encourage dialogue about important issues. You, the readers, will decide the Gulf Coast Reads selection. Click here to vote now! 
Polls close Midnight Friday, MAY 28th (One vote per person, please.)

Cover of Hole in the Sky by D. H. Wilson

“Thrilling and personal… an important addition to the landscape of science fiction.”-Pierce Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Rising


On the Great Plains of Oklahoma, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, a strange atmospheric disturbance is noticed by Jim Hardgray, a down-on-his-luck single father trying to reconnect with his teenage daughter, Tawny. At NASA’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, astrophysicist Dr. Mikayla Johnson observes an interaction with the Voyager 1 spacecraft on the far side of the solar system, and she concludes that something enormous and unidentified is heading directly for Earth. And in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the United States, an American threat forecaster known only as the Man Downstairs intercepts a cryptic communication and sends a message directly to the president and highest-ranking military brass: “First contact imminent.”

Cover, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

“NASA? Space missions? The ’80s? This is a collection of all the things I love.”-Andy Weir, author of Project Hail Mary and The Martian

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Cover, The Librarians by Sherry Thomas

“This delicious murder mystery is a must-read for any library lover!”-New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt

When two patrons turn up dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians’ quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library—and themselves—is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together….