HWFDW: Summer Reading

During our fabulous local HWFDW (thanks Kristin and Kamran for rocking it!), I hosted a roundtable discussion for faculty to talk about something they had read this summer and it was maybe my favorite session ever. I came with a mess of books to talk about just in case no one showed up, but it turned out that we had more people, books, and recommendations than we could fit in to a measly hour. We probably could have fit more in, but in the middle of talking about the teaching-related book I brought, Claude Steele’s Whistling Vivaldi (about Stereotype Threat), I started to feel a little bit of it myself and rambled on a bit too long (I know, I know–Dave rambling? how can anyone tell the difference?). Anyway, that aside, I came away with exactly what I’d hoped to acquire: a fantastic and widely varied list of readings I’ve never heard of nor seen that sound too tempting to ignore!

And now, in fulfillment of the promise I made various people in the hours and days following (and with the participants’ permission) here is that list!

(Some of) What We Read This Summer

Please Note: Titles with an asterisk (*) were not discussed at the table, but would have been with more time

 

~Franklin Inojosa (World Language/Humanities)

 

• Bernie Sanders Outsider in the White House

 

 

~Jen Asimow (Child Development)

 

• Joshua Hammer The Badass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts

 

• HanyaYanagihara* A Little Life

 

 

~Margarita Chavez (World Language)

 

• Angela Duckworth Grit: Passion, Perseverence, and the Science of Success

 

• Paul Stoltz Grit: The New Science of What It Takes to Persevere, Flourish, Succeed

 

 

~Dave Richardson (Humanities)

 

• Claude Steele Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us

 

• Marlon James*   A Brief History of Seven Killings

 

• Don DeLillo*     Zero K*

 

 

~Suocai Su (English)

 

• Mark Updegrove Indomitable Will: LBJ in the Presidency

 

 

~Erica McCormack (Humanities)

 

• Joseph Conrad Heart of Darkness

 

• Octavia Butler Lilith’s Brood (Xenogenesis Trilogy)

 

 

~Adriana Tápanes-Inojosa (Humanities)

 

• Alberto Barrera-Tyska Patria o Muerte

 

• Gisela Kozak Rivero    Ni tan chéveres ni tan iguales: El «cheverismo» venezolano y otras formas de disimulo

 

 

~Juan Martinez (Social Science)

 

• Stephen King Dark Tower Series

 

• Sarah Vowell Lafayette in the Somewhat United States

 

• Malala Yousafzai I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

 

• Harvey Zorbaugh The Gold Coast and the Slum: A Sociological Study of Chicago’s Near North Side

 

• William Germano Getting It Published: A Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Serious Books

 

• William Germano From Dissertation to Book

 

 

~Megan Ritt (English)

 

• Joe Hill Locke and Key Series

 

• Neil Gaiman American Gods

 

 

~Ivan Tejeda (Art & Architecture)

 

• Larry Shiner The Invention of Art: A Cultural History

 

• Frank Sheed Theology and Sanity

 

• Wassily Kandinsky Concerning the Spiritual in Art

 

 

~Jashed Fakhrid-Deen (Mathematics)

 

• William Deresiewicz Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life

 

• Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis

 

• Bethany McLean Shaky Ground: The Strange Saga of the U.S. Mortgage Giants

 

• Tony Robbins Money–Master the Game: Seven Simple Steps to Financial Freedom

 

 

~Jane Regan (Art & Architecture)

 

• Kazuo Ishiguro The Buried Giant

 

• John Berger Bento’s Sketchbook

 

 

~Jeff Swigart (Mathematics)

 

• Margaret Atwood MaddAdam Trilogy

 

 

~Urszula Lechtenberg (Library)

 

• Clive Thompson Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better

 

• Bryan Stevenson Just Mercy

 

• Natsuo Kirino Out

 

 

~Marcy Rae Henry (Humanities)–submitted via email

 

 

Happy reading, all. And remember what Octavia Butler wrote (as passed along by Erica McCormack):

Your teachers

Are all around you.

All that you perceive,

All that you experience,

All that is given to you,

All that you love or hate,

need or fear

Will teach you–

If you will learn.