Rice Library's Recommended Summer Reading List
Cover of The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams by Ben Bradlee, Jr.
Rice Library boasts more than valuable research materials; it's also home to recreational reading options available for USI employees. Library staff members shared some of their top picks they hope you'll consider checking out this summer.
The Accursed - Joyce Carol Oates
Recommended by: Becca Neel, associate librarian and reference and online learning librarian
Why she recommends it: "What do Grover Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson have in common? They're all characters in this loosely historical, supernatural, gothic novel-along with Mark Twain, Jack London, Upton Sinclair, and… the devil. Do you ever have those times when you're sitting at your desk working, or maybe standing in front of a class teaching; and all of the sudden you think, 'it would be awesome if things just got…real weird.' Yep. You're welcome."
More about the book: In 20th century Princeton, New Jersey, a powerful curse, which besets the wealthiest of families, causes the disappearance of a young bride. When her brother sets out to find her, he crosses paths with the town's most formidable people. (Rice Library website)
Where to find it: Rice Library fourth floor
Call number: PS3565.A8 A64 2013
The Kid: The Immortal Life of Ted Williams - Ben Bradlee, Jr.
Recommended by: Andrea Wright, assistant director of Rice Library and head of public services
Why she recommends it: "This audiobook offers a comprehensive look at the life of the greatest hitter in baseball history. See what obsessing over being the best at one thing does to everything (and everyone) else in a person's life. Plus, there's lots of cursing; Williams was a professional swearer."
More about the book: Williams was the best hitter in baseball history. His batting average of .406 in 1941 has not been topped since, and no player who has hit more than 500 home runs has a higher career batting average. Those totals would have been even higher if Williams had not left baseball for nearly five years in the prime of his career to serve as a Marine pilot in WWII and Korea. He hit home runs farther than any player before him-and traveled a long way himself, as Ben Bradlee, Jr.'s grand biography reveals. Born in 1918 in San Diego, Ted would spend most of his life disguising his Mexican heritage. During his 22 years with the Boston Red Sox, Williams electrified crowds across America-and shocked them, too: His notorious clashes with the press and fans threatened his reputation. Yet while he was a God in the batter's box, he was profoundly human once he stepped away from the plate. His ferocity came to define his troubled domestic life. While baseball might have been straightforward for Ted Williams, life was not. (Little, Brown and Company)
Where to find it: Rice Library first floor, Spoken Word CDs
Call number: GV865.W5 B73 2013ab
Camino Island - John Grisham
Recommended by: Debra Clark, circulation manager
Why she recommends it: "Who doesn't love a book that entertains you by pulling you into a story. It involves a heist from a university, includes a bookstore-another place that I love to go-and leads you on an adventure. These are all places associated with where we spend our days as employees.That's what makes this a fun book to read."
More about the book: Bruce Cable owns a popular bookstore in the sleepy resort town of Santa Rosa on Camino Island in Florida. He makes his real money, though, as a prominent dealer in rare books. Very few people know that he occasionally dabbles in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts. Mercer Mann is a young novelist with a severe case of writer's block who has recently been laid off from her teaching position. She is approached by an elegant, mysterious woman working for an even more mysterious company. A generous offer of money convinces Mercer to go undercover and infiltrate Bruce Cable's circle of literary friends, ideally getting close enough to him to learn his secrets. But eventually Mercer learns far too much. (Adapted from book jacket)
Where to find it: Rice Library first floor, Popular Reading Section (Adventure/Mystery/Suspense)
Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi
Recommended by: Cecilia Pryor, senior library assistant (circulation)
Why she recommends it: "The pacing of this novel was excellent, the world building was phenomenal, the plot was complex, and the characters were vastly different three-dimensional beings. The writing itself was superbly done. Everything felt so real and so fresh for the fantasy genre."
More about the book: Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie's Reaper mother summoned forth souls. But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope. Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good. Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers-and her growing feelings for an enemy. (tomiadeyemi.com)
Where to find it: Rice Library first floor, CMC Display (Children's Materials)
Call number: PZ7.1.A24 Ch 2018
Dopesick: dealers, doctors, and the drug company that addicted America - Beth Macy
Recommended by: Peter Whiting, scholarly communication librarian and associate librarian
Why he recommends it: "This is a page turner that at times can be heartbreaking. What makes this book so interesting is that the opioid crisis started in Appalachia and other small cities. It was certainly not the first addiction crisis, as Macy delves into morphine and heroin addiction as well."
More about the book: Beth Macy takes us into the epicenter of America's 20-plus year struggle with opioid addiction. From distressed small communities in Central Appalachia to wealthy suburbs; from disparate cities to once-idyllic farm towns; it's a heartbreaking trajectory that illustrates how this national crisis has persisted for so long and become so firmly entrenched. Beginning with a single dealer who lands in a small Virginia town and sets about turning high school football stars into heroin overdose statistics, Macy endeavors to answer a grieving mother's question-why her only son died-and comes away with a harrowing story of greed and need. From the introduction of OxyContin in 1996, Macy parses how America embraced a medical culture where overtreatment with painkillers became the norm. In some of the same distressed communities featured in her bestselling book Factory Man, the unemployed use painkillers both to numb the pain of joblessness and pay their bills, while privileged teens trade pills in cul-de-sacs, and even high school standouts fall prey to prostitution, jail, and death. (Adapted from Little, Brown and Company)
Where to find it: Rice Library electronic book
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
Recommended by: Marna Hostetler, director of Rice Library
Why she recommends it: "This is one of my favorite books. The characters truly evolve, and events in this specific time period had a deep effect on the development of the United States. The locations in this book are also special to me, having lived very near the Blue Ridge Mountains as well as in the southern United States for 15 years. Inman is a fascinating character, but for me, the book is really about Ada and her development as a strong and independent person. There is a movie, but the book is better!"
More about the book: Cold Mountain, the extraordinary story of a soldier's perilous journey back to his beloved at the end of the Civil War, is at once an enthralling adventure, a stirring love story, and a luminous evocation of a vanished land, a place where savagery coexists with splendor and human beings contend with the inhuman solitude of the wilderness. Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, a Confederate soldier named Inman decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge mountains to Ada, the woman he loves. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with bounty hunters and witches, slaves and marauders. At the same time, the intrepid Ada is trying to revive her father's derelict farm and learning to survive in a world where the old certainties have been swept away. As it interweaves their stories, Cold Mountain asserts itself as an authentic odyssey, hugely powerful, majestically lovely and keenly moving. Anthony Minghella's film adaptation received seven Academy Award Nominations including Best Actor (Jude Law) and Best Supporting Actress (Reneé Zellweger). (charlesfrazier.com)
Where to find it: Rice Library fourth floor
Call number: PS3556.R3599 C6 1997
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - Christopher Hitchens
Recommended by: Shane White, assistant librarian and head of reference and instructional services
Why he recommends it: "God is Not Great may have a provocative title, but it is a worthy book for any who want to explore religion in human life. Whether secular or theistic (or perhaps unsure), this book is an excellent way to explore faith, unfaith and disbelief. Hitchens lays out an argument against religion's place in government from close textual readings of the Abrahamic faiths, historical facts, world literature and personal accounts. This argument is not the end, nor should it be, of the debate about what role religion should play in Humanity's lives, but it is a good place to start the discussion."
More about the book: Whether you're a lifelong believer, a devout atheist or someone who remains uncertain about the role of religion in our lives, this insightful manifesto will engage you with its provocative ideas. With a close and studied reading of the major religious texts, Christopher Hitchens documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope's awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix. (twelvebooks.com)
Where to find it: Rice Library third floor
Call number: BL2775.3 .H58 2007
The Negotiator - Dee Henderson
Recommended by: Debra Clark, circulation manager
Why she recommends it: "If you like a good, clean read with action, suspense and a little bit of romance, you will enjoy The Negotiator. Henderson has a gift for using a horrible event to send her main character on a trail of confusion full of questions as the character tries to figure out life."
More about the book: FBI agent Dave Richman from Danger in the Shadows is back. He's about to meet Kate O'Malley, and his life will never be the same. She's a hostage negotiator. He protects people. He's about to find out that falling in love with a hostage negotiator is one thing, but keeping her safe is another. Introducing the O'Malleys, an inspirational group of seven, all abandoned or orphaned as teens, who have made the choice to become a loyal and committed family. They have chosen their own surname, O'Malley, and have stood by each other through moments of joy and heartache. Their stories are told in CBA best-selling, inspirational romantic suspense novels that rock your heart and restore strength and hope to your spirit. (tyndale.com)
Where to find it: Rice Library first floor, Popular Materials
Genius and the Mobocracy - Frank Lloyd Wright
Recommended by: Dr. Laura Bernhardt, reference and instruction librarian
Why she recommends it: "For someone who might be interested in design, Frank Lloyd Wright's Genius and the Mobocracy is a fascinating read. The book is very much representative of its author's style-elegant, often beautiful, and sometimes just a bit too impressed with itself to take seriously. In addition to Wright's occasionally lyrical and provocative observations about the nature of art and architecture, it also includes a large collection of lovely design sketches for everything from building details to personal items."
More about the book: Frank Lloyd Wright's intimate account of his personal and aesthetic relationship with Louis Sullivan, founder of modernism in architecture, with drawings by both artists, and two essays by Sullivan himself. (goodreads.com)
Where to find it: Rice Library third floor
Call number: NA737.S9 W7 1971