Our faculty responded to our call and shared what they will be reading this summer. There is something for everyone.
Jan Arminio, Counseling, will be reading Fallen Angels by Tracy Chevalier since she liked two others of hers about women overcoming obstacles. Other books of strong women she’ll be reading are Bell Hooks’ Teaching Community and Cokie Roberts’ Founding Mothers: The Women Behind Our Nation. “I also love a good mystery so hope to find myself by the beach reading a suspense thriller.”
Allen Armstrong, Physics, is reading Headlong by Michael Frayn, The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio, The Big Year by Mark Obmascik, and The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl. “My wife and daughter gave me Paycheck by Philip K. Dick for my birthday. They know I like science fiction and went to some length to get it for me.”
Gary Armstrong, Accounting and MIS, is submersing himself in submarine lore with The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II by Carl Boyd and Akihiko Yoshida, and Wake of the Wahoo: The Heroic Story of America’s Most Daring WW II Submarine, USS Wahoo by Forest J. Sterling.
Michael Bibby, English, is reading Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt, Nuruddin Farah’s Secrets, Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, and The Letters of Robert Duncan and Denise Levertov edited by Bertholf and Gelpi.
William Blewett, Geography, is re-reading Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and a biography on Samuel Johnson. New are Anti-Intellectualism in American Life and a biography of Oliver Cromwell.
A. Joseph Borrell, Communication/ Journalism, is reading Walter Yetnikoff’s Howling at the Moon: The Odyssey of a Monstrous Music Mogul in the Age of Excess, Carlos Eire’s Waiting for Snow in Havana, and Kevin Maney’s Maverick and His Machine: Thomas Watson, Sr. and the Making of IBM.
Todd Bricker, Criminal Justice, is going forensic with his selections of Maggots, Murder and Men: Reflections of a Forensic Entomologist; Dead Men Do Tell Tales: The Strange and Fascinating Cases of a Forensic Anthropologist, and The Informant.
Steven Burg, History, is splitting his time between fiction and history by reading The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry; Robert Caro’s Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson; Alexander McCall Smith’s The Kalahari Typing School for Men; and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird.
Mentioned more than once were: The Known World by Edward P. Jones, The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith, Secrets by Nuruddin Farah, and The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Authors with more than one title mentioned are: Dan Brown, Neal Stephenson, Isabel Allende, Tom Perrotta, and Nuruddin Farah.
Your editor has already read John Sanford’s Hidden Prey, Lee Child’s The Enemy, and James Patterson’s 3rd Degree. She is now reading Dean Koontz’ ’67 brand new novel, The Taking. Her waiting-to-be-read pile keeps growing despite serious attempts to keep it under control.
Debra Cornelius, Sociology, will be reading Horse People by Michal Korda, Shakespeare, Einstein, and the Bottom Line: The Marketing of Higher Education by David Kirp, Life of Pi by Yann Martel, Worse than Watergate by John W. Dean, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, and The Known World by Edward P. Jones. “I’ve actually purchased these books….I look forward to working my way through the stack on my back porch with a glass of iced tea.”
Alison Dagnes, Political Science, reports she will be reading Casualty of War by David Dadge and What Liberal Media? by Eric Alterman. “For fun I’m looking forward to Little Children by Tom Perrotta, the author of Election and Joe College.”
Cindy Drenovsky, Sociology, finds Drop City by T.C. Boyle, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Sijie Dai, and Post-Soviet Chaos: Violence and Dispossession in Kazahstan by Joma Nazpary on her list.
Doug Ensley, Mathematics, has Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, Galileo’s Daughter by Dava Sobel, and Naked Prey by John Sanford on his nightstand. “I’m anxiously awaiting publication of R is for Richochet by Sue Grafton and The Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6) by Stephen King.”
Steven Haase, Psychology, plans to read Psychomythics: Sources of Artifacts and Misconceptions in Scientific Psychology by William R. Uttal and Nicholas Capaldi’s biography of the philosopher of science, John Stuart Mill.
Robert Hale, Psychology, is reading and re-reading “lighter” fare in his specialty of behavioral neuroscience like Nature via Nuture; The Synaptic Self: How Our Brains Become Who We Are; and Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. “I hope to re-read The Hobbit, one of my all-time favorite ‘just for fun’ books.”
William Harris, English, is optimistic he’ll read Pattern Recognition by William Gibson, An Arrow’s Flight by Mark Merlis, a few Anita Brookner novels, and perhaps another Iris Murdoch. “And the next Alice Munro book, if it comes out before fall.”
Sharon Harrow, English, is going with a historical bent with 18th century ballads, When Flesh Becomes Word: An Anthology of Early Eighteenth Century Libertine Literature, Sarah Scott’s The History of Sir George Ellison, John Locke’s Essays, Mary Robinson’s Walsingham, the novels and poems of Eliza Haywood, a number of Restoration comedies, Assia Djebar’s A Sister to Scheherazade, and Robert Kelly’s The Loom. “I plan to learn a little rudimentary Italian. Lots more, but that will do for now.”
Kim Long, English, has waiting: Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins, Book on Bush by Alterman and Green, American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips, House of Bush, House of Saud by Craig Unger, and MoveOn’s 50 Ways to Love Your Country. “I have been really disgusted with the political situation lately.”
Xin-An (Lucian) Lu, Speech, is reading Proposed Roads to Freedom by Bertrand Russell and Human Action by Ludwig von Mises.
Margaret Lucia, Music, in no particular order, is reading The Tale of the Genji by Murasaki Shikibu, a classic novel written in the 11th century by a lady of the court. Geisha by Liza Dalby, The Three Women of Herat by Veronica Doubleday, Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer’s Search for American Music by Judith Tick (“I am fascinated by her life”), She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb, Empire Falls by Richard Russo, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, David McCullough’s John Adams, and Katharine Graham’s Washington. “I’m sure I’ll throw in a few thrillers along the way!”
Deborah Montuori, English, also has an extensive list for the summer with Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn, The Trials of Frances Howard: Fact and Fiction in the Court of King James by David Lindley, The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Bridegroom by Ha Jin, The Known World by Edward P. Jones, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, and the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. “Now I am working on a wonderful first novel, Brick Lane by Monica Ali.”
Suzanne Morin, Psychology, hopes to read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown in addition to child development research. “There are so many books I plan on reading…I love to read authors who write psychological thrillers such as Kathy Reichs, Stephen White (Blinded), Patricia Cornwell, Iris Johnson.”
Eric Morser, History, is short and to the point: David Maraniss, They Marched Into Sunlight; Michael Perry, Population 485; Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin; Neil Stephenson, Quicksilver; Thomas Friedman, Longitudes and Attitudes.
Craig Oyen, Geography, when he gets time will read Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester and Basin and Range by John McPhee.
Paris Peet, Speech, “My one choice awaiting me at present is called Kitchen Confidential, an insiders take on being a chef and the lifestyle of restaurant workers.”
Agnes Ragone, Modern Languages, is already reading Collateral Language by John Martin Collins and The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat with Banking and Business in the Roman World by Andreau and The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman lined up next. “I just finished Noam Chomsky’s latest.”
Susan Rimby, History, plans to read works by Harrisburg area poets and puts The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith at the top of her list.
Dennis Ritz, Music, directs you to: “My fairly recent (and incomplete) reading list” at his website: http://www.ship.edu/ ~dwritz/Intro/ReadingList.htm.
Jan Ruby, Art: “ Books on Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator will be my primary reads.”
Tracy Schoolcraft, Chemistry, is reading Dr. Joe and What You Didn’t Know: 177 Fascinating Questions About the Chemistry of Everyday Life, Harold Kushner’s Living a Life that Matters, and mysteries by Agatha Christie and Anne Perry.
Christine Senecal, History, has The Love Artist and Running with Scissors on her list. “There’s more, but I must run.”
Robert Shaffer, History, was methodical with his list: Isabel Allende’s Portrait in Sepia and House of the Spirits (after reading Daughter of Fortune.); Mary Beth Norton’s In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692; Henry Wiencek’s An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America; Garry Wills’ The Negro President: Jefferson and the Slave Power; Roger Kennedy’s Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase; Gary Gerstle’s American Crucible: Race and Nation in the 20th Century; Bob Woodward’s Bush at War and Plan of Attack; Richard Clarke’s Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror; and Tariq Ali’s Bush in Babylon: The Recolonisation of Iraq. “Having stumbled by accident over a small book on colonialism in India by the famous mid-20th century popularizer of history, Will Durant, I am motivated to go back and look at some of his volumes in The Story of Civilization, especially volume 1 on ‘the orient,’ to see what kinds of political messages are embedded in his work.”
Mary Stewart, English, as preparation for a trip to the Orient read Lonely Planet Australia and Lonely Planet China and How to guides on scuba diving and hanggliding. Other reads include Nuruddin Farah’s Links and Secrets, plus Kate Walbert’s Our Kind.
Thomas Verney, Management, is reading Caddy for Life: The Bruce Edwards Story and Who’s Your Caddy? Looping for the Great, Near Great, and Reprobates of Golf. “As a youngster I spent most of my summers caddying. This was the best way to earn money and learning the game of golf. This summer I thought I would return to my roots by reading a few books on caddies.”
Walli Ann Wisniewski, Modern Languages, said, “Well, I am looking forward to some fun reading. I would like to read The Devil Wears Prada and The Da Vinci Code.”
It’s all here – politics, science, mystery, fantasy, and more. The choice is yours.