A Faculty (Non) Required Reading List
Recommended Books to Read on Your Downtime
This Issue:
Professor Vincent Mahler
Political Science
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Memoir from Antproof Case by Mark Helprin
This comic novel offers a fictional memoir of an old man living in Brazil, which has been placed in an antproof case to protect it from the elements [‘it’ being the memoir, not the old man]. During a long and eventful life, Oscar Progreso (one of many aliases) spent his teenage years in a Swiss insane asylum, was shot down as a fighter pilot during World War II, became a multimillionaire investment banker, killed two men and conducted a massive heist—all the while fighting an obsessive battle against, of all things, coffee.
Cudahy Main Stacks
PS3558 .E4775
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Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
by Simon Singh
A highly readable account of the remarkable developments in cosmology over the last century. Singh describes not only the science of mankind’s efforts to understand how the universe came to be but also the often colorful scientists who conducted the inquiry.
Cudahy Main Stacks
QB991 .B54 S56 2004
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The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
This novel is narrated by Amir, who came of age in Afghanistan during that country’s civil war of the 1970s and 1980s. It is at heart the story of the ramifications of Amir’s betrayal of his household servant, Hassan, which extend over two continents and several decades.
Cudahy Main Stacks
PS3608 .O832 K58 2003
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Life of Pi
by Yann Martel
The story of Piscine Molitor Patel, who finds himself in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a lifeboat with a 450 pound Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. A fascinating blend of allegory, farce and philosophy that is very difficult to put down.
Cudahy Main Stacks
PR9199.3 .M3855 L54 2001
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Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett
This beautifully written novel tells the story of a lavish birthday party for a wealthy Japanese businessman held somewhere in Latin America that is interrupted by terrorists who hold the entire group hostage. As time goes on, unexpected relationships—and even love—develop among and between the hostage-takers and their hostages. (Cudahy Library, PS3566 .A7756 B4 2001)
Cudahy Main Stacks
PS3566 .A7756 B4 2001
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The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
The story of a family that left Georgia in 1959 to live as missionaries in a remote village in the Belgian Congo, led by a fiery and uncompromising evangelical preacher. It is told from the perspective of the preacher’s wife and four daughters, who offer subtly different accounts of their family’s life during the Congolese struggle for independence and its violent aftermath.
Cudahy Main Stacks, and Lewis Curriculum Library
PS 3561 .I496 P65 1998
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So What: The Life of miles Davis
by John Szwed
This biography recounts the life of Miles Davis, among the most influential of all jazz musicians. Like Frank Lloyd Wright before him, Davis was at the same time a seminal contributor to his art and a difficult human being who casually mistreated or neglected his wives, children and associates. The book offers detailed accounts of Miles’ performing and recording career that will be of interest to those familiar with, or interested in learning more about, his music.
Cudahy Main Stacks
ML419 .D39 S98 2002
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Volume 1 Number 2
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