What is NYU Reads?
NYU Reads brings the NYU community together around a single common reading, chosen by a University committee made up of faculty, student, and administrator representatives. Building on our undergraduate schools’ first-year reading programs, NYU Reads extends this dialogue beyond NYU Welcome and opens it up to the entire University community.
2024-25: Stay True, by Hua Hsu
Stay True charts Hsu’s experience as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley in the mid-1990s—his days filled with mix tapes, “zines,” and making friends laugh and think. Social media and cell phones barely existed; email was so rarely used that friends checked one another’s inboxes every 2-3 weeks, as a neighborly gesture. As distant as this may seem from our current world, much of what Hsu evokes remains relevant, even pressing, to students today: from the significance that matters of taste (in music, movies, clothes) can suddenly take on, to a growing sense of one’s identity, to the important and transformative role that close friends can play in our lives.
After one of his closest friends at Berkeley dies in a senseless act of violence during his junior year, Hsu comes to grips with remembering the past in a way that does justice to both the meaningful and the mundane, as well as with the grief of losing someone so young, when growing up still means growing outward. The timeless themes of Stay True will prompt NYU readers to reflect on what it means to engage with each other today—to listen and cultivate curiosity; to build bridges with those who are different from us; and to grow from our experiences and contribute what we learn to the community.
Hua Hsu is a staff writer for The New Yorker and a professor of literature at Bard College.
Stay True: A Memoir was named one of the Top 10 Books of 2022 by The New York Times, receiving the 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award and 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography.
Accessing the Book
From the NYU Libraries
The Libraries has limited copies available on a first-come, first-serve basis. If a copy is not available, you can join a waitlist to be notified when it becomes available.
You will need your NYU Net ID and password, and to go through multi-factor authentication.
-
e-book of Stay True. You can read on your desktop or download the Adobe Digital Editions app for free to read on your desktop or mobile device.
-
For e-loans or time-based downloads, creation of an account on Adobe Digital Editions will be required for first time use.
-
Once you have set up your Adobe Digital Editions account use your NYU Net-ID to log-in and download these electronic resources.
-
-
Audiobook of Stay True from the Libraries.
- You can also listen to the audio book on the Libby app or on your desktop.
From the NYU Bookstore and other sources
You can purchase a paperback copy from the NYU Bookstore. Audio and ebooks are also available for individual purchase from your favorite booksellers.
When to Read the Book
Events and discussions for Stay True will take place primarily in the Fall 2024 semester, with some additional programming in Spring 2025. We recommend that you plan to read Stay True over the summer, before the start of the Fall semester.
Research Guide, Resources and Support
Please check back soon for the Stay True research guide.
Resources and Support
If you need emotional support while reading Stay True, professional counselors are available to talk 24/7 through the Wellness Exchange hotline at +1-212-443-9999 or to chat through the Wellness Exchange app (available in the Apple App Store or Google Play).
Accessibility
If you need help retrieving books or would like to request an alternative format, please email us at lib-accomodations@nyu.edu.