In Fall 2025, a small cohort of UC Berkeley students served as inaugural Undergraduate Curators in a new internship from Morrison Library. They met with Morrison Library staff and visited local bookstores to curate a set of selections for the library’s collection. Interns were tasked with reflecting on their experience and sharing their selected titles. Read on to hear from Maya Looney about her experience and see her list of recommendations. Be sure to check out Ashley Taylor’s recommendations, too. Find your next read by seeing Maya’s and Ashley’s books now on display in Morrison Library!
Maya Looney
Astrophysics & Planetary Sciences, 2026
Q: Tell us about yourself.
“Hi I’m Maya, I’m in my final year at Berkeley and I do research on planetary interiors and melting permafrost. I grew up in Oakland and outside of school I work as a visual artist for low income housing projects there. I try to read as much as I can and I love reading sci-fi, literary fiction (when I get tired of space stuff) and poetry, especially from Bay Area writers.”
Q: How did you experience interning as a curator for Morrison Library?
“In my time as a curator intern at Morrison Library I’ve really enjoyed learning more about both the Berkeley library system and visiting my favorite local bookstores to find new additions. Taking the time to learn more about the Morrison collection and the considerations that go into the Berkeley library catalogue has changed the way I walk through a library. I love thinking about the ‘lifetimes’ of books I pick up, from why they were selected to how much they’ve circulated and how many times they’ve been read. Doing visits to Moe’s Books and East Bay Booksellers has also been personally exciting for me, beyond learning more about the different considerations they have to make about their selections, because I’ve been going to those stores since I was little and growing up in Oakland. Hearing about the inner workings and the highs and lows behind the scenes of being an independent bookstore owner has made me appreciate these community spaces. It reminded me that the books on their shelves aren’t just inventory – they’re the result of constant, thoughtful curation, risk-taking, and love for readers. This internship has made me more attentive to the stories behind how books travel through the world, and it’s deepened my connection to the literary spaces that shaped me. It’s been meaningful to feel like I’m contributing, even in a small way, to the future of those spaces and to the experiences of readers who will discover something new because of the work we’ve done.”
Maya’s Recommendations
Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna
“Evenings & Weekends is a perfect cure for Bay Area fog fatigue. The cast is messy, and everyone has a secret but McKenna writes every character with a compassion that draws the reader into an intense proximity to the drama. This debut novel is an exploration of empathy over the course of one hot, explosive, sweaty weekend.”
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrew Lawlor
“Paul takes the form of a mortal girl takes you on a wild introspective road trip across the gender spectrum and, occasionally, America (have fun in 90s San Francisco!) Paul Polydoris is alive on the page: he makes zines, loves to hook up with beautiful strangers and studies queer theory. He’s bright and curious about life and Lawlor explores this in the form of his biggest secret – he’s a shapeshifter!”
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
“In Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, Sanderson creates two rich, mysterious worlds and cultures with a mix of sci-fi and fantasy. Yumi and Nikaro couldn’t live more differently, with Yumi as a rare priestess in a hot world of light and Nikaro as a less-than-average laborer in a world of darkness. They meet when they inexplicably start switching lives and together start taking agency in their paths.”
Glove Money by Sophia Dahlin
“Dahlin’s word choice and perfect meter rocks the reader gently into an exploration of poetry, love and poets as lovers. The lush language of Glove Money feels hymnal and explores the joy and beauty of desire.”
The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie
(Coming soon!)
“The Summer House captures the excitement of careful and deliberate creation through a love letter to architecture and modern Japan. We follow a young architect spending his first summer after graduation helping to design a library under a notorious student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The summer house itself, a beautiful retreat in the Japanese countryside, is meticulously brought to life through Masashi’s meticulously tactile writing.”
All of Maya’s Selections
(*coming soon to Morrison Library!)
We Love You Bunny by Mona Awad
*On the Calculation of Volume (Book III) by Solvej Balle
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
*The Other Lives of Altagracia Sanchez by Felicia Martínez
*The Summer House by Masashi Matsuie
Evenings & Weekends by Oisín McKenna
*Ripeness by Sarah Moss
*The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson
*Girlfriends by Emily Zhou