What We Read in 2004

Need ideas for your own reading pleasure? Need gift ideas? Take a look at what some of Ohlone's employees have been reading this year. So various!

Professor Mark Brosamer, English Department

Old School , Tobias Wolff

I'm a huge fan of the wolff-man, but I was a bit disappointed by this one. It starts off beautifully, but gets progressively more frustrating. Excellent writing, as usual, but the story doesn't satisfy like his others.

Nickel and Dimed , Barbara Ehrenreich

A thought-provoking social experiment: successful, well-to-do writer goes out and tries to live on minimum wage. How did she do? Her subtitle gives you a clue: On (Not) Getting By in America. 

High Fidelity , Nick Hornby

Good fun for the lad about town. A must read for those with a surplus of confidence in the goodness of humanity. Warning: men behaving very badly. Not as crass as Martin Amis, but a close second.

How Proust Can Change Your Life , Alain de Botton

Very, very charming! My favorite book of the summer. It's a hard one to categorize, though…part biography, part self-help, part random meditations on art, social etiquette, non-conformity, etc.

Professor Dean, English Department

The Fifth Book of Peace by Maxine Hong Kingston

This is a wonderful book by an amazing woman with the spirit of survival.  The book takes place (partly) when she was my professor.  This book has a lot of teaching in it about life. (*Ohlone owns)

While England Sleeps by David Leavitt

David Leavitt can tell a story like few others.  He has a lot of strength as a writer and it comes through in the narration of this novel.  (*Ohlone owns)

The Lost Language of Cranes by David Leavitt

This is a nice counter-balance to While England Sleeps both in setting and in how it highlights family.  In reading both, you’ll get a sense of Leavitt’s abilities.  (*Ohlone owns)

The Shaping of a Behaviorist by B.F. Skinner

English professors don’t read many books like this, but I was glad to have spent the time understanding some of this man’s life and how he viewed human nature.  He was someone really dedicated to what he believed in.  (*Ohlone owns)

The Capote Reader by Truman Capote

A lot of writers I studied as a student I no longer wish to re-read, but Capote is not one of them.  His writing is some of the finest ever.  He builds sentences like few others.  In just the right moment, you can forget that you’re even reading.  (*Ohlone owns)

Essays of Henry D. Thoreau by Henry David Thoreau

He’s considered an American philosopher now, but was seen as more of an agitator in his time.  His ideas are hard to get to at times, but worth the effort to understand. (*Ohlone owns)

Century edited by Bruce Bernard

There’s no text to consider, but this book is rich in history.  Some of the images are stories unto themselves.  You’ll remember some of these photographs for a long time. (*Ohlone owns)

Andy Warhol by Wayne Koestenbaum

Warhol is an icon of modern art.  He’s admired, disliked and almost always misunderstood.  We should all be so lucky.  (*Ohlone owns)

K.G. Greenstein, Librarian

Vernon God Little by D. B. C. Pierre

Over the top novel about a high school shooting and the media meltdown that follows. I got real attached to the voice of that vulgar little narrator, Vernon God Little. (Booker Prize Winner)   (*Ohlone owns)

Truth & Beauty; A Friendship by Ann Patchett

Patchett's story of her troubled friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy. (*Ohlone owns)

Giacometti, A Biography by James Lord.

Great psychological insight into the painter/sculptor. (*Ohlone owns)

Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor

Rural Ireland in 1921, Protestant family caught up in the troubles. Haunting and beautiful. (*Ohlone owns)

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

Why some civilizations thrived and others didn't. Amazingly readable science writing! (*Ohlone owns)

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Father and son story that starts in Afghanistan in the 1970's and moves to the Bay Area and Fremont in the 1990s. (*Ohlone owns)

Drop City by T.C. Boyle

Northern California hippie commune pulls up stakes and moves to Alaska with disastrous results. Boyle is an endlessly great storyteller.

Michele Lyon, Instructional Assistant

• Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (biography)
• Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (fiction) (*Ohlone owns)
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk (fiction)
• Thinking In Pictures by Temple Grandin (biography)
• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks (psychology) (*Ohlone owns)
• Science and Human Behavior by BF Skinner (psychology) (*Ohlone owns)
• Birds for Dummies (aviculture)

Professor Robert Mitchell, English Department

Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

A memoir of this writer's life in rural Florida.

Professor Joyce Tanaka, Nursing Department

Be Careful What You Pray For by Larry Dossey

Chock full of anecdotal and quantifiable research to show that distance prayer/meditation is effective, sometimes negatively or positively so. Good reading, not boring as you might think by my "research" description. (*Ohlone owns)

The Aging Brain by Lawrence Wahalley

An exceptionally well written book by physiologist Wahalley. He describes the anatomy and physiology of the brain with examples we can easily relate to. It is a book that is very optimistic about aging, memory, and all the other issues we concern ourselves with as we mature.(*Ohlone owns)

 

Marilena Tamburello, Distance Education

… who tells us "I am a crazed avid reader, it keeps me sane … here is the list of books I read this semester on my long Bart rides."

• The Namesake by Jumpha Lahiri
• The Uropean Dream by Jeremy Rifkin  
• The Hydrogen Economy by Jeremy Rifkin
• The Human Stain by Philip (saw the movie too - good rendition of the book)
• A Learning College for the 21st Century by O'Banion
• Chain of Command by Seymour Hirsh