Summer Picks
As we begin a new school year, I asked faculty and staff for their favorite summer reads. Two of my favorites this summer were Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards and Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen. Very different from each other, they were both difficult to put down.
Edwards, Kim. Memory Keeper's Daughter. 2005. [F Edwards]
Memory Keeper's Daughter looks at how one decision changed everything for Dr. David Henry and his family. Forced to deliver his own twins during a snowstorm, he can tell immediately that his daughter has Down's Syndrome and asks his nurse to take her to an institution to be raised. He tells his wife that the baby girl has died.
Gruen, Sara. Water for Elephants. 2006. [F Gruen]
Water for Elephants moves between Jacob Jankowski's time with the circus during the 30s and his current situation in a care home at the age of 93.
For other recommendations, read on!
Barry, Rebecca. Later, At the Bar 2007
In the spirit of Winesburg, Ohio, this is a set of interlocking short stories set in the towns and spaces between the lakes of central New York. Quietly stated and with gentle humor, they capture the beauty and wildness of the people lost among the dairy farms and wineries--you can feel the wind moving through the hills and smell the dampness in the road after it rains. A quick read, but the stories linger with you.
(Full disclosure--I know Becky from high school, but this is an unsolicited recommendation.)
-Mike Lippert
Wouk, Herman. Don"t stop the Carnival. 1992.
-Mark Flynn
Obama, Barrack. Dreams From My Father. 1996 [305.8 Ob1]
Dreams From My Father by Barrack Obama is probably the best book on race in America that I've ever read (and that includes Malcolm X's autobiography). And he writes beautifully - I found myself stopping to re-read sections not for what he says but to admire how well he says it.
-Jay Seidenstein
Frazier, Charles. Thirteen Moons. 2006.
I have a couple. I am reading Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier...the author of Cold Mountain. It is an enjoyable, lyrical read about a boy who is sent into the Indian nation as a bond servant and the life he makes for himself there.
Coelho, Paulo. Veronika Decides to Die
Coelho, Paulo. The Devil and Miss Prym
Coelho, Paulo. By the River Piedra
I read three books by Paulo Coelho this summer. Veronika Decides to Die, The Devil and Miss Prym, and By the River Piedra I sat down and wept. Paulo Coelho is such a thoughtful storyteller that these books are a pleasure to read and worthy of some thought. They deal with temptation, redemption, and forgivness. Good choices when you want something thoughtful to read but do not have time for more lengthy books.
-Donna Hayes
Kolbert, Elizabeth. Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change. 2006. [363.7 K83]
I recommend this readable and interesting book about global warming. The author, who writes for the New Yorker, traveled to places around the world that are being affected by climate change. She talked with scientists and others and learned that the gradual process of global warming could become rapid and catastrophic change.
-Susan Clark
Dick, Philip. The Man in the High Castle. 1992
Set in 1960s San Francisco after the Axis Powers have won WWII...
Excellent!
-Dave Reiter
My all time favorites are the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick Obrian. Although it is a twenty book series it is impossible to stop reading. Only recommended for Summer reading as you will ignore all of your classes to immerse yourself in the books. All twenty are easily read in a Summer. After book four or five they get shorter and form one long story. I seldom reread books but I've read every book in the series at least three times. The story is set in the early 19th century with Capt Jack Aubrey of the royal Navy and his surgeon (secret agent) best friend Steven Maturin thwarting Napolean at every turn around the globe. More a buddy book than a war story it contains some of the best dialogue ever written and the second book is a naval story disguised as a Jayne Austin novel.
-Jack Belli
(Note: Cooke Library has Letter of Marque and Wine-Dark Sea, both [F O'Brian]. Deb Peterson)
Green, John. Looking for Alaska. 2005. [F Green]
I just finished reading "Looking for Alaska", a 2005 Printz Award YA novel by John Green. I really, really enjoyed it, both as a teacher of young people and as an aspiring writer myself! I would highly recommend it to my colleagues.
-Douglas Kiang
Note: I just started this book and I'm hoping to have some time to finish it this weekend. This is one that young adults will identify with.
-Deb Peterson
Lee Childs has 11 novels featuring a character named Jack Reacher. To
learn more about this character, you can log onto
http://www.leechild.com/.
If a person wants to read them in the order they were published:
#1 Killing Floor; #2 Die Trying; #3 Tripwire; #4 Running Blind (US title)/The Visitor (UK title); #5 Echo Burning; #6 Without Fail; #7
Persuader; #8 The Enemy (the prequel, this takes place before the events
of Killing Floor); #9 One Shot; #10 The Hard Way; #11 Bad Luck and Trouble.
-Lee Young-Kingsbury
Jones, Edward P. Known World. 2003. [F Jones]
I just finished the Known World by Edward P. Jones and I loved it. Set in antebellum Virginia, Jones centers his story around the black experience of freed slaves who became slave
owners themselves. The voice is almost reportorial; yet it is eloquent, brutally honest, without maudlin sentimentality or effusiveness. Neither white nor black is made out to be the bad guys--rather, Jones shows the characters and their lives as they were back then. He makes no judgments but leaves the reader to decide for herself that yes, slavery as an institution is one of the most heinous manmade setups in history. I loved this book also for the strong female characters and their resilience to persevere, working within their limited support systems
and their low status as females to do the very best they can for their loved ones. The men seem to be more entrapped by their own inability to rise above the dictates of the land at the time. I recommend this book highly.
-Carol Lee
Mahalo to everyone who recommended books. Keep reading (and recommending)!