What shall we read for the 2010-2011 BSC Campus Read? Here are the basic guidelines:
- The book must be in print and in a paperback edition to ensure that it is available and affordable.
- The book should be reasonably short -- 200-350 pages.
- The Campus Read selection should be an engaging read that will generate lively discussion.
- The book should explore any of the universal themes of literature such as coming of age, abuse of power, triumph over adversity, the importance of the individual, conflicts with self, others, and nature, etc.
The Campus Read Committee will take suggestions through January 2010. Please post your suggestions as a comment on the blog, or contact one of these committee members:
- Theresa Felderman, Chair
- Marlene Anderson
- karen bauer
- Lynette Borjeson-Painter
- Dan Leingang
- Janelle Masters
- Kitty Netzer
- Erin Price
- Dan Rogers
- Jean Rolandelli
- Carla Sivesind
- Tom Stein
- Lynn Warnke
11 comments:
Please consider Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time." This is a beautifully written novel about a British teen with autism. Because it's written in the autistic teen's voice, the language is very simple and direct, but because he's intelligent, he experiences deep revelations. In the course of the book he needs to negotiate the perils of daily life (for example, he's afraid of eating foods of a certain color), but he also needs to deal with human situations such as divorced, loving parents and well-intentioned "specialists" who do all the wrong things to help him. The book is funny, easy to read, and enlightening about all sorts of issues. It would give readers a different perception of this particular disability--and perhaps of disabilities in general, because, of course, even in his oddness this kid turns out to be the wisest person in the book.
I came across Jane's recommendation of Mark Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time" when I was intending to submit a recommendation of my own. I was intrigued by the description of Haddon's book, and our library has a copy, so I decided to check it out before submitting a recommendation. So I now find myself seconding Jane's recommendation.
Haddon's book is a fabulous piece of fiction and would make a great campus read. Beyond the issues directly facing the autistic teen, several other topics are discussed. While mostly mathematical in nature, the narrator covers evolution, oddities in language, atheism, and even black holes. The very detailed reference to the "Monty Hall Problem" brought back childhood memories of reading Marilyn vos Savant's column. A probability problem that even trips up Nobel physicists -- can it get any better?
While I have never known a child such as the one depicted in this story, this book made me feel as if I have a greater understanding of autism than just reading about it in a text. Powerful stuff! And did I mention that it's a murder mystery?
I reccomend "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers a straightforward/linear non-fiction account of one man and his family's experience in Hurricane Katrina and its effects on them up to the present.
Posted on behalf of Theresa Felderman -- My recommendation is "Hurry Down Sunshine: A Father's Story of Love and Madness" by Michael Greenberg. The following is a synopsis taken from Random House Publishing website:"Hurry Down Sunshine tells the story of the extraordinary summer when, at the age of fifteen, Michael Greenberg’s daughter was struck mad. It begins with Sally’s sudden visionary crack-up on the streets of Greenwich Village, and continues, among other places, in the out-of-time world of a Manhattan psychiatric ward during the city’s most sweltering months. “I feel like I’m traveling and traveling with nowhere to go back to,” Sally says in a burst of lucidity while hurtling away toward some place her father could not dream of or imagine. Hurry Down Sunshine is the chronicle of that journey, and its effect on Sally and those closest to her–her mother and stepmother, her brother and grandmother, and, not least of all, the author himself."
I've also read 'Zeitoun' by Dave Eggers and it was one of the best books I've read in a long time. I'd strongly rec. it for the campus read next year.
A second rec. of mine is a book that again centers around Hurricane Katrina - 'One Dead in Attic' by Chris Rose. Rose is journalist who refused to leave New Orleans - the book is a collection of his editorials which give the reader an excellent sense of what New Orleans went through during and after Katrina.
Both could be great for campus-wide discussion!
I suggest "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Wells, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith, or "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt. All great books (personal favorites) that show triumph over adversity, coming of age, and conflicts. I also noticed many schools read the book "The Soloist" by Steve Lopez last year. It looks like an inspiring book. It has also been made into a movie recently, which could be positive or negative.
Posted on behalf of Lynn Warnke --
King Solomon’s Ring by Konrad Lorenz.
From the back cover of my copy:
“Solomon, the legend goes, had a magic ring which enabled him to speak to the animals in their own language. Konrad Lorenz was gifted with a similar power of understanding the animal world. He was that rare beast, a brilliant scientist who could write…beautifully. He did more than any other person to establish and popularize the study of how animals behave, receiving a Nobel Prize for his work. King Solomon’s Ring, the book which brought him worldwide recognition, is a delightful treasury of observations…of all sorts of creatures.”
187 pp.
Awarded Nobel in 1973 for Medicine and Psychology
Easy read
One story involves how when animals like lions, tigers, and bears live free in his house so he can observe them ALL the time. Lorenz locked his young children into cages to sleep so the animals wouldn’t eat his young. Unbelievable.
Hi Folks,
I would like to suggest Michael Pollan's "Food Rules. An Eater's Manual". It is very short, quite clever, very practical and has tremendous potential for discussion.
With obesity becoming the nation's #1 health issue and the diseases that are obesity related costing billions every year in health care dollars, it is time to take this epidemic seriously. Childhood obesity is Michelle Obama's focus and rightly so. Obesity not only is unhealthy but it can affect learning in a big way.
The book is 140 pages, $11.00, and absolutely right on nutritionally. It is not long enough to qualify for literary genius but short and sweet, without high fructose corn syrup :)
Suggestion for Campus Read posted on behalf of Larry Skogen:
An Ordinary Man: an autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina with Tom Zoellner.
From publisher description: The life story of Paul Rusesabagina, the man whose heroism inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. As his country was torn apart by violence during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, hotel manager Rusesabagina--the "Oskar Schindler of Africa"--refused to bow to the madness that surrounded him. Confronting killers with a combination of diplomacy, flattery, and deception, he offered shelter to more than 12,000 members of the Tutsi clan and Hutu moderates, while homicidal mobs raged outside. This book explores what the film could not: the inner life of the man who became the most prominent public face of that terrible conflict. Rusesabagina tells his full story--the son of a rural farmer, the child of a mixed marriage, the career path which led him to become the first Rwandan manager of the Belgian-owned hotel--all of which contributed to his heroic actions in the face of horror.
Posted on behalf of Jane Schreck:
“Bringing it to the Table: on Farming and Food” by Wendell Berry. Many essays, 256 pages.
Additional suggestions:
Life on the Color Line: the True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
Longitude: the True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
Outcasts United: an American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference by Warren St. John
Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis
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