On behalf of the Common Read Committee, we write with exciting news. Last Friday, October 31, after an intensive month-long process, the committee selected three finalists for the University’s Common Read, 2015-16. We began this process with more than 30 book nominations from faculty, staff, and students across campus, including nominations from faculty in eight different colleges and schools. We then involved nearly three dozen readers in evaluating potential books on a range of criteria, including readability for first-year students and fit with the Chancellor’s Common Read themes of community, connection, and active engagement. The committee was especially cognizant of its responsibility to the campus community to select books that would promote dialogue and engagement around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The three finalists we selected are Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Round House by Louise Erdrich, and The True American by Anand Giridharadas. Fuller information about the three books is provided below and in the attached handout.
• Americanah, by Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie, is a novel about a young Nigerian woman who leaves her country for the West, coming to America for college and life beyond. It’s a moving, often funny, always engaging story about race, immigration, and youth. Published in 2013, it was one of the New York Times’ Ten Best Books of the Year and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction. One of our readers wrote of the book that it was full of “nuanced descriptions of characters, from the subtle differences in their skin tone to the way they move their arms when picking up a cup of tea. It also does an awesome job of tapping into the mindset of a young person experiencing college and life in America for the first time.” Another reader wrote, “The book will challenge diverse audiences across multiple categories of identity and experience, and it will do this with a compelling narrative rather than through journalistic non-fiction.”
• The Round House, by Louise Erdrich, is set on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota. Told through the voice of a 13-year-old boy, it’s a captivating story of a family shaken by violent crime and the search for justice that follows. The book is not only an exciting read; it is rich with themes of race, history, law, and family. It won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2012. As one of our readers wrote, it’s a “coming-of-age story that also opens up a world that most students will likely be unaware of.” Another reader found it “engrossing . . . beautifully written yet also fast-paced . . . Through Erdrich’s writing, the reader gets a sense of the multi-layered community that is the Ojibwe Reservation.” Another simply wrote, “This is a remarkable novel.”
• The True American, by Anand Giridharadas, is a true story of racial hatred and forgiveness in the contemporary United States. Published in 2014 and set in Texas, the book chronicles the lives of “American terrorist” Mark Stroman and Raisuddin Bhuiyan, the Bangladeshi store clerk whom he shoots in an act of revenge for the 9/11 attacks. It follows the two men as they try to re-build their lives and learn to understand each other. One of our readers called the book “a landmark read . . . a story of forgiveness and coming together.” Another described it as “deeply moving . . . it deftly makes the reader sympathetic to a murderer and one of his intended victims. It’s a critique of some of the worst aspects of American culture but acknowledges capacity for individual and societal growth.”
Our next steps include identifying approximately 100 campus readers (50 faculty/staff and 50 students) to review all three books over winter break. We will be making a general call to students and faculty/staff to serve as readers; we will also be soliciting readers from particular campus groups, such as SGA, CEPA, Student Bridges, the Chancellor’s Diversity Advisory Committee, and CLC. Once our readers have provided their input, the Common Read Committee will submit a report to the Chancellor, Provost, and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, along with a book recommendation. We hope to make a mid-February public announcement about the University’s Common Read for 2015-16.
