Blog

Here's a look at what freshmen entering college this fall have been asked to read by their respective schools. Lots of nonfiction and memoirs, some fiction and even a few graphic novels. How many of these books has your group read? And which ones are you inspired to read?

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Texas Tech University
The Ape and the Sushi Master by Frans de Waal - San Diego State University
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand - Fayetteville State University
Barefoot Heart: Stories of a Migrant Child by Elva Trevino Hart - Utah State University
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner - Brown University
Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian - The College of New Jersey
Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Social Movement in History is Restoring Grace, Justice, and Beauty to the World by Paul Hawken - Salve Regina University
Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell - Lehigh University
Bliss by Eric Weiner - University of California, Davis
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz - Brandeis University; Duke University; Tulane University; Western Michigan University
Catalyst by Laurie Halse Anderson - Western Michigan University
Children of Jihad: A Young American's Travels Among the Youth of the Middle East by Jared Cohen - Framingham State College
Choosing Civility by P.M. Forni - Frank Phillips College
The Chosen by Chaim Potok - John Brown University
The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts by Tom Farley, Jr., and Tanner Colby - Edgewood College
Cion by Zakes Mda - Ohio University
The Civility Solution by P.M. Forni - Southern Utah University
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky - Keene State College Color of the Sea by John Hanamura - San Jose State University
The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride - Southern Vermont College; University of Kentucky
The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - Parkland College; SUNY Oswego
The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer - University of Montana, Missoula
Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough - Philadelphia University
Deep Economy by Bill McKibben - University of Texas, Arlington
The Devil in White City by Erik Larson - Goucher College
The Devil's Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea - University of Florida
The DNA Age: A series of New York Times Articles by Amy Harmon - James Madison University
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson - Sweet Briar College
Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama - Albion College; Augustana College; Ithaca College
Drown by Junot Díaz - Hunter College
Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything by Daniel Goleman - Virginia Tech
Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman - Agnes Scott Collge
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs - Barry University
The End of the Spear by Steve Saint - Grace College
Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario - Florida Southern College; Gustavus Adolphus College; Northern Arizona University; University of South Carolina, Aiken
Ethics for the New Millennium by the Dalai Lama - UC Santa Barbara
Everything Bad is Good for You by Steven Johnson - Manhattan College
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – UCLA; Xavier University of Cincinnati, Ohio
Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elzabeth Kolbert - Linfield College; St. Mary's College of Maryland
Fountain and Tomb: Hakayat Haretna by Naguib Mahfouz and Soad Sobhy - University of Richmond
The Front by Patricia Cornwell - John Jay College of Criminal Justice
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls - Eastern Kentucky University; University of Tennessee, Knoxville
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - Cornell University
The Green Collar Economy by Van Jones - Smith College
Growing Up by Russell Baker - Winthrop Univsersity
A Home on the Field by Paul Cuadros - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman - George Washington University; Northwestern University
How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?: Being Young and Arab in America by Moustafa Bayoumi - Johnson State College
How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else by Michael Gates Gill - Middle Tennessee State University
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan - University of Texas; University of Wisconsin, Madison
In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong by Amin Maalouf - Quinnipiac University
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn - Pennsylvania State University, Berks
It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini - Murray State University
The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert - Roanoke College
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch - Florida State University; Ramapo College of New Jersey; Thomas College; Valparaiso University; Indiana State University (Terre Haute)
Lay that Trumpet in our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy - Michigan Tech
The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon - Earlham College
Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny by Hill Harper - Saint Augustine College
Letters to a Young Sister: DeFINE Your Destiny by Hill Harper - Saint Augustine College
Life is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman - U.S. Coast Guard Academy
Listening is an Act of Love by Dave Isay - Butler University; Endicott College; Salem State College; Seton Hall University; St. Bonaventure University; UNC Charlotte; University of Toledo Little Brother by Cory Doctorow - Hawaii Pacific University
A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Boy Soldier by Ismael Beah - Adams State College; Florida Community College, Jacksonville; University of Pittsburgh, Johnstown; Ball State University; University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Make the Impossible Possible: One Man's Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary by Bill Strickland - Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Maus I by Art Spiegelman - Virginia Commonweath University
Maus II by Art Spiegelman - University of Wisconsin, Parkside
The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka, Ritchie Robertson, and Joyce Crick - St. Michael's College
Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder - Dartmouth College; University of Alabama, Birmingham
My Own Country: A Doctor's Story by Abraham Verghese - Stanford University
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich - Bryant University; Colorado College; Lincoln University; Ohio Wesleyan University; State Fair Community College; Texas Lutheran University; Western Illinois University
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan - Belmont University; Marymount Manhattan College; Merced College; Siena College; UC Berkeley; University of California, Berkeley; Washington State University; Western Washington University
Once Upon a Quinceanera: Coming of Age in the USA by Julia Alvarez - University of Illinois
One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash - Wofford College
Only a Theory: Evolution and the Battle for America's Soul by Kenneth R. Miller - University of Cincinnati; Fort Lemoyne College
The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama by Pico Iyer - Seattle University
An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina - Berry College
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood - Indiana University Southeast
Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi - University of the Sciences, Philadelphia
Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't by Stephen Prothero - Oakland University
Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji - Villanova University
Run by Ann Patchett - University of Akron
Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard - Coastal Carolina University
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd - Midlands Technical College
The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry - Georgetown University
Serena by Ron Rash - St. Andrews Presbyterian College; Erskine College
Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup - Rosemont College
The Soloist by Steve Lopez - California State University (Northridge, Chico, Long Beach); Chapman University; Gwynedd-Mercy College; Johnson County Community College; Los Angeles City College; Michigan State University; Montana State University; Moorpark College; UT Tyler
Soul of a Citizen by Paul Loeb - Kennesaw State University
Sounds of the River by Da Chen - Okahoma City University; Stony Brook University
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon - Clemson University
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman - Mount Holyoke College
Stealing Buddha's Dinner by Bich Minh Nguyen - Purdue University
Telex from Cuba by Rachel Kushner - Kalamazoo College
The Translator by Daoud Hari - Mars Hill College
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell - Madaille College
The World is Flat 3.0: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman - University of Louisiana, Monroe
The World without US by Alan Weisman - Green Mountain College; Roger Williams University; University of California, Merced
There are No Children Here by Alex Kotlowitz - Indiana University, South Bend
This I Believe edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman - Bowling Green State University; Eastern Illinois University
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini - University of Missouri, West Texas A&M University
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin - Appalachian State University
Arcadia University; Case Western Reserve University; Chaffey College; Cumberland University; Duquesne University; East Caroliona University; Florida Gulf Coast University; Graceland University; Grand View College; Holy Cross; Idaho State University; Illinois Wesleyan University; North Carolina State University; Ohio State University; Principia College; University of Bridgeport; University of Delaware; University of Northern Colorado; Viterbo University; Whitworth University
True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society by Farhad Manjoo - American University
What is the What by Dave Eggers - University of Maryland
What Learning Leaves by Taylor Mali - Miami University (OH)
When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka - Sacramento State University; Washington University in St Louis; Niagara University
Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks - Coker College
A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink - Texas State University San Marcos, University of Northern Florida
Whose Water is It? The Unquenchable Thirst of a Water-Hungry World by Douglas Jehl and Bernadette McDonald - Indiana University Southeast
Wit by Margaret Edson - Baylor University