 Summer Reading
USFnews asked seven faculty and staff for their summer reading recommendations. Some recommendations were a snug fit with the faculty or staff member’s work, some were complete surprises. Following, a list for your reading or educational pleasure.
Carmen Silva, assistant to the provost: My Dream of You by Nuala O’Faolain. “A memoir-ish novel set in Ireland. It’s a few notches above what’s considered light reading—simply an engaging, pleasurable book. If it were a movie I’d call it a “chick flick,” though I’d recommend it to Irish guys too.”
Jack McLean, coordinator, community service and service learning: Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning: Service Learning Course Design Workbook. “Designed primarily for faculty trying to incorporate service learning into their classes. As USF is poised to require a service learning course for all undergraduates, this is highly recommended reading.” (His office has copies on order.)
Hilary Somers, women’s tennis coach: Lance Armstrong’s It’s Not About the Bike by Sally Jenkins. “It’s the most inspirational book I’ve ever read. It tells how he overcame cancer to become a Tour de France champion. It just puts everyone’s life in perspective.”
Peter Jan Honigsberg, law professor: Regeneration by Pat Barker. “An incredibly powerful war novel but what’s unique about it is that not a shot is fired. It’s an amazing understanding of the horrors of war just by watching people interact.” Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. “A bittersweet yet touchingly beautiful story of the human spirit.”
Matthew Collins, assistant head of circulation, Gleeson Library. The poetry of Seamus Heaney. “I like the way he words with rhythms as well as imagery.”
Dean Rader, assistant professor of English: Pastoralia by George Saunders. “This is the funniest book of short stories I’ve read in the past 10 years—maybe ever. Imagine an American Kafka with a sort of wacky sense of humor. The title story is dizzyingly good.” The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. “A novel within a novel within a novel, Atwood’s Booker Prize winning book is part faux autobiography, part science fiction novel. It’s very smart.” Negative Blue by Charles Wright. “Arguably the best living American poet just completed the final installment in the most ambitious of projects—a trilogy of trilogies, nine books of poems. Negative Blue collects the final trilogy. The poems are short but complex, funny but contemplative, easy but not so.” The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril by Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert Kaiser. “A fascinating look at the highs and lows of American journalism over the past decade.”
Jim Muyo, director of publications: Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck. “A great book that takes me along for the ride as Steinbeck searches for the real America. With an easy pace and a descriptive style that paints vivid pictures in the mind’s eye, Steinbeck allows me to experience the people and places of this country that I’ve never seen. I recommend it to anyone who won’t get away for a long vacation this year or to anyone who wants a light read that will inform the mind and tickle the soul.” 
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