![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MysteryBook-5-600x400.jpg\")
Two mystery books displayed at the Mystery Book event on campus on Oct. 9, 2025, at Peck Hall. (Ephraim Rodenbach)<\/p>\nThe English Graduate Student Organization\u2019s Mystery Book Sale returned to MTSU from Oct. 8 to 10 in the Peck Hall courtyard, where it drew a crowd of students seeking affordable books \u2014 mirroring the success of last year\u2019s sale..<\/p>\n
Each $5 book was wrapped in paper to conceal its cover, while hints about the genre and basic content were provided for students, such as \u201cfiction\u201d or \u201cfantasy.\u201d Buyers entered the sale unaware of titles or authors.<\/p>\n
All the books sold were donated by members of the graduate student organization, who sought to share their favorite books with new readers.<\/p>\n
Two mystery books displayed at the Mystery Book event on campus on Oct. 9, 2025, at Peck Hall. (Ephraim Rodenbach)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of steps that went into it. We accepted donations for about two weeks. I do PR and promotions for the Organization, so I had to make all of the announcements, \u201d Brittany Norton, a PhD student in the English department and EGSO member, said. \u201cAnd then, the biggest thing was getting everything all wrapped and researching what the genres were [for the books], and getting hints written on all of the books. That takes a lot of people and quite a few hours to get it done. It took two days and 12 different people on it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
From graphic novels to non-fiction, the Mystery Book Sale featured a wide range of genres; however, some were more popular than others.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a lot of romantasy (romance and fantasy) this year, a lot of fantasy, and a lot of memoirs,\u201d Norton said. \u201cRomantasy [sold the most]\u2026They literally disappeared in stacks at the beginning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The organization uses the money from the sale to fund future activities and events. The organization is dedicated to supporting PhD and MA English Graduate students throughout their academic careers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/MysteryBook-3-300x224.jpg\")
A mystery book for sale with the sticker \u201cread more books\u201d at the Mystery Book event on campus on Oct. 9, 2025, at Peck Hall. (Ephraim Rodenbach)<\/p>\n
\u201c[Our goal] for EGSO is community. Because grad school on its own is just a wild and lonely ride, so we really wanted to have a place where you\u2019re not alone,\u201d Carmen Miller, an MA English graduate and EGSO member, said. \u201cAll of these overwhelming feelings that you have, we\u2019re probably having them too. So let\u2019s help each other get through them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Norton stressed the importance of the graduate student organization in her life at MTSU.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t making a ton of friends \u2014 I was just going to class, coming home and doing homework, and coming back to class,\u201d Norton said. \u201cAnd once I got involved in EGSO, I made some really good friends that I now communicate with nearly daily and hang out with,\u201d Norton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
An eager crowd sifted through the quickly disappearing selection of books on the first day of the event. By the second day, the number of books available had dwindled, but the excitement had not.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I was younger, I hated reading, but as I\u2019ve gotten older, I\u2019ve started to pick up the habit of reading,\u201d sophomore Re-Kevin McKinney said. \u201cIt\u2019s always good to read because it can expand your vocabulary, even with a middle-grade book. There are a lot of words in there that a lot of people our age struggle with.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinney is an avid fan of fantasy-horror and purchased two fantasy books on the second day of the event. He expressed excitement that he was familiar with one of the books, which he had never had the chance to read until now.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As fall break fast approaches, students can unwind with their mystery picks \u2014 each book is a small surprise that supports the community behind it.<\/p>\n
To contact the features editor, email\u00a0[email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more news, visit\u00a0www.mtsusidelines.com<\/a>, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The English Graduate Student Organization\u2019s Mystery Book Sale returned to MTSU from Oct. 8 to 10 in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3938],"tags":[3444,77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-489206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115351742419112872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}