Thursday, August 12, 2010

What have those college kids been reading?

Every summer, many colleges assign summer reading to incoming freshmen. A few summer assignments from Carolinas colleges:

Appalachian State University: "Mudbound," by Hillary Jordan. Set in the Mississippi Delta following World War II, the novel involves people coping with old questions of class, race, gender and ethnicity under new conditions.
Catawba College: "Three Cups of Tea," by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. The true story of Mortenson's mission to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Davidson College: "Here, Bullet," by Brian Turner. A poetry collection written by soldier-poet Turner after his stint in Afghanistan.
Queens University: "Mister Pip," by Lloyd Jones. In this fablelike novel, a man on a tropical island ravaged by war introduces the island's children to Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations."
UNC Chapel Hill: "Picking Cotton," by Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton. The true story of a woman and the innocent man she sent to prison.
Winthrop University: "Make the Impossible Possible," by Bill Strickland. A CEO and MacArthur genius grant winner, Strickland writes about dreaming bigger and achieving the extraordinary.
Know of more college summer readings? Tell me about them.

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