WHAT DEANS ARE READING
For Pleasure
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (Michael Chabon)
“Meandering but absorbing story of the rise of comic books, the Holocaust as experienced
from the U.S., and escape artistry.” --Kathryn Anderson-Levitt
The Ancient Maya (Robert Sharer and Loa Traxler)
--Thomas Riley
Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
--Mary Healey
Anna Pigeon Series (Nevada Barr)
“Detective fiction by Nevada Barr (protagonist Anna Pigeon park ranger; great sense of
place in a variety of national forests and always scary).” --Heather Hardy
The Atomic Bazaar – the Rise of the Nuclear Poor (William Langewiesche)
“Story of nuclear proliferation in particularly the Moslem world through A.Q. Khan in
Pakistan; thesis is that the real danger is rogue states, not terrorist explosion.” --Matthew
Moen
The Autobiography of Mark Twain (Mark Twain and Charles Neider, ed.)
“Twain's essays and musings are always a pleasure to return to.” --Robert Cole
The Bill Slider Omnibus (Cynthia Harrod-Eagles)
“Straightforward police detective fiction set in London. Slider is a wonderfully sympathetic
character with a complicated life, and the dialogue is full of entertaining wordplay. Pure
escapism.” --Timothy Johnston
Bleak House and Martin Chuzzlewit (Charles Dickens)
--Kathryn Anderson-Levitt
Brick Lane (Monica Ali)
--Gary Kiger
“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.” (Mark Haddon)
“Each year we ask our first-year students to read a book in the summer. Ordinarily, I
would not say a summer reading book would be appropriate, but this one is a novel
whose protagonist is a kid with Asperger’s syndrome. Universities have a growing
number of these mildly autistic students, and this book provides some insights that I
found surprising and personal (I think lots of us have some of the symptoms). –- Dick
Pratt
Death of a Department Chair (Lynn C. Miller)
“Anyone who has been through the politics of a charged faculty search process will
recognize these characters. This is a contemporary novel and incorporates many of the
academic and administrative issues prevailing now.” --Angela Durante
East West (Salman Rushdie)
“Short stories on cultural misunderstanding, people living between two worlds, and the
underside of globalization.” --Carl Strikwerda
Einstein: His Life and Universe (Walter Isaacson)
“Great book to get you mind thinking hard about science and the universe.” --Robert Olin
Empire Falls (Richard Russo)
“An excellent writer – makes me realize that it was best for me to leave thoughts of
creative writing to others (my undergraduate major was in English). Good for bedtime
escape and reminding me of my humanity. The latter is important for maintaining some
sensitivity after working in an environment that can dull the senses over the course of a
day.” --Frank Pezold
Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change (Elizabeth Kolbert)
--Mary Healey
Fluke (Christopher Moore)
--Thomas Riley
The Giver (Lois Lowry)
“A Newbery Award winner, is too good to let only children read it.” --Joel Haack
The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
“India, and human lives, are always changing, and never change.” --Carl Strikwerda
Going Postal (Terry Pratchett)
“Gives the flavor of an amazing satirical other world.”--Joel Haack
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)
--Thomas Riley
If You Want Me to Stay (Michael Parker)
“A 14-year-old boy and his little brother in eastern North Carolina abandon their
dysfunctional father and set out to find their mother, who is not in much better shape.
Like all of Parker's books, this one perfectly captures the tone of Southern dialogue and is
simultaneously sad and uplifting. (Full disclosure: Michael is a member of the Creative
Writing faculty at UNCG, so I'm biased, but accurate nonetheless.)” --Timothy Johnston
In the Land of White Death (Expanded Edition) (Valerian Albanov)
“An adventure story in which few survive after their ship is frozen into the polar ice
cap. Best read with a wool blanket and warm brandy at hand.” --Robert Cole
The Inheritance of Loss (Kiran Desai)
--Gary Kiger
The Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
--Gary Kiger
Lamb (Christopher Moore)
--Thomas Riley
The Lathe of Heaven (Ursula Le Guin)
“From time to time, for alternative futures of Portland and the need, once in a while, not to
act; The Dispossessed for an imagined anarchist society with all its flaws.” --Kathryn
Anderson-Levitt
Maya Cosmos (David Freidel, Linda Schele, and Joy Parker)
--Thomas Riley
Molecules of Emotion (Candace B. Pert)
--Mary Healey
Mountains Beyond Mountains (Tracy Kidder)
“Story of a Harvard doctor’s personal efforts in Haiti; good for students to read because it
speaks to the changes made possible by the individual.” --Matthew Moen
--Mary Healey
The Namesake (Jhumpa Lahiri)
--Gary Kiger
The One True Platonic Heaven and The Cambridge Quintet (John Casti)
“Two "scientific fictions" or fictional putting-together of well-known and influential
scientific and mathematical minds.” --Laura Foster Huenneke
Straight Man (Richard Russo)
“Written nearly a decade ago, this book captures with clarity academic life and the
concerns and relationships among faculty and administrators. The characters and
situations are entirely recognizable and identifiable. The story is well developed and
complex. Generally humorous and LOL funny in many places.” --Angela Durante
Tales from Spandau: Nazi Criminals and the Cold War (Norman Goda)
“I try to read books published by faculty in our college.”--Benjamin Ogles
Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire (Rafe Esquith)
“How a 5th-grade teacher in central LA enables his students to mount a performance of a
Shakespearean play every year despite the fact that none of them speak English as their
first language. Reminds us what dedicated teaching is all about. (Also recommended is a
companion DVD, "The Hobart Shakespeareans.")” --Timothy Johnston
Whale! (Kim L. Evans)
--Thomas Riley
The Whistling Season (Ivan Doig)
“Story of a one-room schoolhouse in rural Montana; beautiful book that teaches even the
most literate person, in the context of a fictional story about kids/learning/growing up.” -Matthew Moen
The Year of Magical Thinking (Joan Didion)
“A wrenching account of loss and grieving (certainly helps put all our work-related
stresses in perspective).” --Laura Foster Huenneke