Common Reading Selection Subcommittee
October 19, 2012
In Attendance: Sheena Boran, Leslie Banahan (co-chair), Joanne Mitchell, Rosemary
Oliphant Ingham, Laurie Williamson, Bob Cummings (co-chair), Susan Scott, Katie
Tompkins, Dewey Knight, Corina Petrescu, Melissa Cinelli, Kelly Sokolowski, Ashley
Guinn Taylor, RoseAnn Foster
Hard Nominations from the website:
1. In the Sanctuary of Outcasts – Neil White (Dewey)
2. Perfect Peace – Daniel Black (Kelly)
Today we are going to look at what is out there and what other SEC schools are
choosing:
1. The Optimist’s Daughter – Eudora Welty [State]
2. Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace… One School at a Time
– Greg Mortenson [State]
3. Unbowed - Wangari Maathai [State]
4. The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education- Craig M Mullaney
[Kentucky] (RoseAnn)
5. Outcast United- Warren St. John [Florida] (Ashley)
6. The Dressmaker of Khair Khana: Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the
Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe – Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
[Florida]
7. The Devil’s Highway- Luis Alberto Urrea [Arkansas] (Laurie)
8. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks- Rebecca Skloot [Auburn & Tennessee]
9. Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American DreamAdam Shepard [Texas A&M] (Sheena)
10. Nothing to Envy: Oridnary Lives in North Korea – Barbara Demick [Missouri]
11. Motherless Brooklyn- Jonathan Lethem [South Carolina]
12. The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker – Eric Liu [Tennessee]
13. Half the Sky: Turning Opression into Opportunity for Women WorldwideNicholas Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn (Rosemary)
14. The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need- Peter J. Gomes [Vanderbilt]
Suggestions from Doubleday Books:
1. Brave Dragons: A Chinese Basketball Team, an American Coach, and Two
Cultures Clashing- Jim Yardley (Ashley)
2. Don’t Sleep, There Are Snakes: Life and Language in the Amazonian Jungle –
Daniel Everett
3. The Working Poor: Invisible in America- David Shipler (Melissa)
4. Global Weirdness: Severe Storms, Deadly Heat Waves, Relentless Drought,
Rising Seas and the Weather of the Future – Climate Central (Rosemary)
5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time – Mark Haddon
(Susan)
6. All Over but the Shoutin’- Rick Bragg [MUW, Alabama, Southern, &
others] (Katie)
7. In Pursuit of Silence: Listening for Meaning in a World of Noise – George
Prochnik (Leslie)
Verbal Nominations:
1. Black Boy - Richard Wright
2. The Septembers of Shiraz – Dalia Sofer
3. The Secrets of Mary Bowser- Lois Leveen (Joanne)
4. The Time Keeper- Mitch Albom (Korina- pending paperback
information)
5. Monster- Walter Dean Myers (Korina)
6. The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially
Ourselves - Dan Ariely (Melissa)
7. Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel - Jeanette Walls (RoseAnn)
8. Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World Most
Mystifying Nation – J. Maarten Troost (Katie)
9. The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm
Fields and the Dinner Table – Tracie McMillan (Bob)
*Selections in bold are being reviewed for our next meeting. The name in
parenthesis is the member reviewing the text.