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What’s On Your Summer Reading List?
Posted 7/13/2005
Avid readers from across the university were asked to share their summer reading lists with us, and their responses are being published in a series of installments in UNotes. This is the third installment in the series.
Read the first article in the series.
Read the second article in the series.
We’d love to know what’s on your summer reading list! If you would like to share it, please write to unotes@hartford.edu, and tell us what you’re reading this summer, and why.
In the meantime, if you’d like to know what some of your colleagues are reading, or if you’re looking for some recommendations to take to your local library or bookstore, read on.
Randi Ashton-Pritting, Director of University Libraries
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture, by Ross King. Mortensen Library NA 5621 F7 K56 2000
This is about the "how and why" Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi designed and managed the construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. My general curiosity brought me to this book.
Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin. Mortensen Library DU 105.2 C43 1988
This book is not about the Aborigines. Chatwin builds his own wanderings around the Aborigine stage. This book was recommended to me by Ella Holst (FCLD) as the best book she has ever read.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Mortensen Library PS 3608 .O832 K58 2004
A haunting tale of family, friendship, and betrayal, and the power of guilt. My brother recommended the book. I have to admit, the visual images stayed in my mind for weeks. Truly a haunting book.
The Poetics of Gardens, by Charles W. Moore, William J. Mitchell, and William Turnbull, Jr. Mortensen Library SB 472 M64 1988
This book discusses the impacts of gardens on the senses and how gardens are works of art. What drew me to the book was simply, the title.
Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World. Mortensen Library GR 515 F43 2000
A collection of female hero stories from all over the world. Stories of women who battle monsters, evil kings, and save villages. The women in the stories are not perfect and wrapped in flawless beauty, but women of all types -- young, old, courageous, clever, stubborn and even cantankerous.
Joseph Voelker, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
I just finished Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, a novel about Midwestern Protestant spirituality. Beautiful brooding prose. I am also reading Jonathan Rosen's Joy Comes in the Morning, about a woman rabbi who reminds me of my favorite Shakespeare heroine, Rosalind in As You Like It, and finally I Heard You Paint Houses, by Charles Brandt. It is Frank the Irishman Sheeran's life story and tells how he killed Jimmy Hoffa.
Darryl McMiller, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Hillyer College
On the nonfiction side, here are three books that I have read this summer:
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind?, by Michael Eric Dyson
In this book, cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson offers a well-reasoned critique of comedian Bill Cosby's well-publicized attack on the black poor — first done at the April 2004 NAACP dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. This book defends the black poor and explores the generational and growing class divide within the black community that Cosby's comments exploded to the surface.
Young, Black, Rich & Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture, by Todd Boyd
This book discusses how basketball became a game dominated by black men whose fame and wealth, combined with their embrace of hip hop and indifference to white/mainstream taste and sensibilities, has produced a sport, and a group of athletes, that are an important part of mainstream American culture, imitated globally, and reviled by many white Americans.
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities For Our Time, by Jeffrey D. Sachs
In this book, internationally renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs explains why there is poverty in the world and just how bad the problem is. But he does not stop there. Sachs also provides a road map for making the world a better place — "he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that most challenge the world's poorest societies and, indeed, the world."
On the fiction side, I am working my way through a group of works that are a part of the American literary canon:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, by Edward Albee
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennesse Williams
A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines
Japanese by Spring, by Ishmael Reed
Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Catherine Stevenson, Associate Professor of English and Drama; Academic Dean, International and Honors Programs
I began the summer by reading Mercedes Rodoreda's moving novel, The Time of the Doves (the original in Catalan is called El Plaza del Diamante), which is a first-person narrative about a working class woman's life in Barcelona before, during and after the Spanish Civil War. Since I was traveling to Barcelona, I wanted a novel that immersed me in the everyday life of the city.
Now I am deep in Dickens' magnificent Bleak House, which I am teaching in the fall. When I need a break from19th century London, I am reading Ian McEwan's Saturday, about a day in the life of a contemporary Londoner. I am loving the latter, as it reminds me of Joyce's Ulysses in its focus on one man's consciousness as he moves through an ordinary Saturday.
Power Boothe, Dean, Hartford Art School
This summer my reading seems to be focused on the American Revolution. I finished Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton in June, which made a great case for how Hamilton created modern banking practices in America to pay for the $34 million debt we owed France. A debt that Stacy Schiff describes in her book, The Great Improvisation, which was the result of the 70-plus year old Ben Franklin's ability to convince the 20-plus year old Louis XVI to provide, as support for, (of all things) an anti-monarchist government in America. (What was he thinking?). Plus how Ben found time to pursue many love interests during his years negotiating. (What else to do in Paris during down time?).
I just finished His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph Ellis, and David McCough's 1776. I am now looking forward to reading The Debate on the Constitution, by Bernard Bailyn. Especially after reading about Hamilton, I am intrigued with learning more about the Federalist Papers and the discussion over how to form a central government that will not squash states’ rights -- a struggle which clearly is continuing into the present day.
My vote for the best book of the group is Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, an astounding description of the chaotic pre-revolution, revolution and post-revolutionary period in which America was invented.
Patricia Cremins, Director, The President’s College
I am boning up on China, having visited there this spring. I am currently reading Empress Orchid, by Anchee Min, and I am planning to read Becoming Madame Mao, by Anchee Min, and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.
Visiting “Hardy Country” and Dorset, England, is causing me to re-read The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles. (We visited Lyme Regis, where the novel takes place). I am also reading the new biography of John Fowles, John Fowles: A Man in Two Worlds, by Eileen Warburton.
Read the first article in the series.
Read the second article in the series.
We’d love to know what’s on your summer reading list! If you would like to share it, please write to unotes@hartford.edu, and tell us what you’re reading this summer, and why.
In the meantime, if you’d like to know what some of your colleagues are reading, or if you’re looking for some recommendations to take to your local library or bookstore, read on.
Randi Ashton-Pritting, Director of University Libraries
Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture, by Ross King. Mortensen Library NA 5621 F7 K56 2000
This is about the "how and why" Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi designed and managed the construction of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral. My general curiosity brought me to this book.
Songlines, by Bruce Chatwin. Mortensen Library DU 105.2 C43 1988
This book is not about the Aborigines. Chatwin builds his own wanderings around the Aborigine stage. This book was recommended to me by Ella Holst (FCLD) as the best book she has ever read.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini. Mortensen Library PS 3608 .O832 K58 2004
A haunting tale of family, friendship, and betrayal, and the power of guilt. My brother recommended the book. I have to admit, the visual images stayed in my mind for weeks. Truly a haunting book.
The Poetics of Gardens, by Charles W. Moore, William J. Mitchell, and William Turnbull, Jr. Mortensen Library SB 472 M64 1988
This book discusses the impacts of gardens on the senses and how gardens are works of art. What drew me to the book was simply, the title.
Fearless Girls, Wise Women and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World. Mortensen Library GR 515 F43 2000
A collection of female hero stories from all over the world. Stories of women who battle monsters, evil kings, and save villages. The women in the stories are not perfect and wrapped in flawless beauty, but women of all types -- young, old, courageous, clever, stubborn and even cantankerous.
Joseph Voelker, Dean, College of Arts & Sciences
I just finished Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson, a novel about Midwestern Protestant spirituality. Beautiful brooding prose. I am also reading Jonathan Rosen's Joy Comes in the Morning, about a woman rabbi who reminds me of my favorite Shakespeare heroine, Rosalind in As You Like It, and finally I Heard You Paint Houses, by Charles Brandt. It is Frank the Irishman Sheeran's life story and tells how he killed Jimmy Hoffa.
Darryl McMiller, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Hillyer College
On the nonfiction side, here are three books that I have read this summer:
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost its Mind?, by Michael Eric Dyson
In this book, cultural critic Michael Eric Dyson offers a well-reasoned critique of comedian Bill Cosby's well-publicized attack on the black poor — first done at the April 2004 NAACP dinner celebrating the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education. This book defends the black poor and explores the generational and growing class divide within the black community that Cosby's comments exploded to the surface.
Young, Black, Rich & Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture, by Todd Boyd
This book discusses how basketball became a game dominated by black men whose fame and wealth, combined with their embrace of hip hop and indifference to white/mainstream taste and sensibilities, has produced a sport, and a group of athletes, that are an important part of mainstream American culture, imitated globally, and reviled by many white Americans.
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities For Our Time, by Jeffrey D. Sachs
In this book, internationally renowned economist Jeffrey D. Sachs explains why there is poverty in the world and just how bad the problem is. But he does not stop there. Sachs also provides a road map for making the world a better place — "he offers an integrated set of solutions to the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that most challenge the world's poorest societies and, indeed, the world."
On the fiction side, I am working my way through a group of works that are a part of the American literary canon:
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, by Edward Albee
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennesse Williams
A Lesson Before Dying, by Ernest Gaines
Japanese by Spring, by Ishmael Reed
Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
Catherine Stevenson, Associate Professor of English and Drama; Academic Dean, International and Honors Programs
I began the summer by reading Mercedes Rodoreda's moving novel, The Time of the Doves (the original in Catalan is called El Plaza del Diamante), which is a first-person narrative about a working class woman's life in Barcelona before, during and after the Spanish Civil War. Since I was traveling to Barcelona, I wanted a novel that immersed me in the everyday life of the city.
Now I am deep in Dickens' magnificent Bleak House, which I am teaching in the fall. When I need a break from19th century London, I am reading Ian McEwan's Saturday, about a day in the life of a contemporary Londoner. I am loving the latter, as it reminds me of Joyce's Ulysses in its focus on one man's consciousness as he moves through an ordinary Saturday.
Power Boothe, Dean, Hartford Art School
This summer my reading seems to be focused on the American Revolution. I finished Ron Chernow's Alexander Hamilton in June, which made a great case for how Hamilton created modern banking practices in America to pay for the $34 million debt we owed France. A debt that Stacy Schiff describes in her book, The Great Improvisation, which was the result of the 70-plus year old Ben Franklin's ability to convince the 20-plus year old Louis XVI to provide, as support for, (of all things) an anti-monarchist government in America. (What was he thinking?). Plus how Ben found time to pursue many love interests during his years negotiating. (What else to do in Paris during down time?).
I just finished His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph Ellis, and David McCough's 1776. I am now looking forward to reading The Debate on the Constitution, by Bernard Bailyn. Especially after reading about Hamilton, I am intrigued with learning more about the Federalist Papers and the discussion over how to form a central government that will not squash states’ rights -- a struggle which clearly is continuing into the present day.
My vote for the best book of the group is Chernow's Alexander Hamilton, an astounding description of the chaotic pre-revolution, revolution and post-revolutionary period in which America was invented.
Patricia Cremins, Director, The President’s College
I am boning up on China, having visited there this spring. I am currently reading Empress Orchid, by Anchee Min, and I am planning to read Becoming Madame Mao, by Anchee Min, and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie.
Visiting “Hardy Country” and Dorset, England, is causing me to re-read The French Lieutenant’s Woman, by John Fowles. (We visited Lyme Regis, where the novel takes place). I am also reading the new biography of John Fowles, John Fowles: A Man in Two Worlds, by Eileen Warburton.
