david cherry's blog

This blog was contributed by Kristen S, Reference Librarian for the Brazoria County Library System

If you loved reading “The Faculty Lounge” please try these books. Read the first section for a similar setting! If you really liked the novel is vignettes or stories, try something from the second section. If you are vibing with the book in general, take a book from the third round!

Check your library for these titles' availability!

Gulf Coast Reads 2025: The Faculty Lounge

If you’ve ever wondered what teachers really talk about when the classroom door closes, or wished you could pull up a chair in the teachers’ lounge, Jennifer Mathieu’s The Faculty Lounge is your backstage pass. It’s sharp, funny, tender, and, honestly, one of those books that makes you want to corner your friends and say, “Have you read this yet? We need to talk.”

That’s exactly why we’re so excited that The Faculty Lounge is this year’s Gulf Coast Reads selection. It’s the book everyone across nine counties will be picking up this October, and you’re invited to join the conversation.

Gulf Coast Reads Is About Community

When I was a kid, Houston had only three network-affiliated TV stations (four if you count PBS) and a scrappy UHF channel that mostly showed reruns and wrestling. Which sounds limiting now, but there was something powerful about having so few options: everyone experienced the same things. We all watched Roots. We all saw the Fonz jump the shark. We all tuned in to find out who shot J.R.

Today, our screens offer us an infinite buffet of content, personalized by algorithms and delivered on demand. We don’t just choose what we like—we’re insulated from everything we didn’t choose. It’s rare now for large groups of people to experience the same story at the same time.

And that’s exactly why Gulf Coast Reads exists.