"We believe that ideas matter and as a consequence of that, all of us in the College are passionate about reading. Expressing our enthusiasm for books is a natural way to share ideas, to stimulate discussion, and to simply embrace a love of reading. In order to share widely, we, including the faculty and staff of the College, are writing a series of book reviews about favorite books. We hope you enjoy our suggestions."
For a period from 2008-2013, LAS had an arrangement with NUVO to have faculty write short, non-scholarly, “what we’re reading” book reviews. Those reviews have been preserved and are now accessible through this series.
Submissions from 2013
Joe Holmes: Here I Am Amongst You, by Len Graham, Four Courts, 2010, George W. Geib
Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, by William Rosen, Viking, 2007, George W. Geib
Hard Times, by Charles Dickens, Penguin Hardback Classics, 2003, Angela Hofstetter
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, Vintage, 2007, Bill Johnston
1776, by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2005, Richard McGowan
Made for Goodness and Why This Makes All the Difference, by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu, Harper Collins, 2010, Richard McGowan
Review Essay: Allan Gotthelf, Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle’s Biology, Tiberiu Popa
Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America, by Cameron McWhirter, St. Martins's 2011, John Ramsbottom
Defending Jacob, by William Landay, Random House, 2012, Larry Riggs
Don't Look Twice, by Andrew Gross, William Morrow, 2009, Larry Riggs
The World Until Yesterday: What Can WE Learn from Traditional Societies?, by Jared Diamond, Penguin, 2012, Larry Riggs
Watching the Dark, by Peter Robinson, William Morrow/Harper Collins, 2012, Larry Riggs
Joseph Anton. A Memoir, by Salman Rushdie, Random House, 2012, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Time Keeper, by Mitch Albom, Hyperion, 2012, Eloise Sureau-Hale
Submissions from 2012
The Kitchen Boy, by Robert Alexander, Penguin, 2004, Lacey Echols
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, by Laura Hillenbrand, Random House, 2010, Lacey Echols
A Magnificent Catastrophe, The Tumultuous Election of 1800, by Edward J. Larson, Free Press, 2007, George W. Geib
The McKinley Monument: A Tribute to a Fallen President, by Christopher Kenney, The History Press, 2006, George W. Geib
Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, by Atul Gawande, Picador, 2003, Bill Johnston
Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce, by Kent Nerburn, Harper One, 2005, Richard McGowan
John Adams, by David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, 2001, Richard McGowan
McCarthy's Bar, by Pete McCarthy, St. Martin's Press, 2000, Richard McGowan
Peace Like a River, by Leif Enger, Grove Press, 2001, Richard McGowan
Doctor Who: Shada: The Lost Adventure by Douglas Adams, by Gareth Roberts, Ace, 2012, James McGrath
Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn, Crown, 2012, Judi Morrel
Philoponus and the Rejection of Aristotelian Science, 2nd edition, by Richard Sorabji, Institute of Classical Studies, 2010, Tiberiu Popa
Teleology, First Principles, and Scientific Method in Aristotle's Biology, by Allan Gotthelf, Oxford, 2012, Tiberiu Popa
The Relentless Revolution: A History of Capitalism, by Joyce Appleby, Norton, 2010, John Ramsbottom
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage, 2010, Mary Ramsbottom
A Wanted Man, by Lee Child, Delacorte, 2012, Larry Riggs
Believing the Lie, by Elizabeth George, Dutton, 2012, Larry Riggs
Betrayal of Trust, by J. A. Jance, William Morrow, 2011, Larry Riggs
Down the Darkest Road, by Tami Hoag, Penguin, 2011, Larry Riggs
Left for Dead, by J. A. Jance, Touchstone, 2012, Larry Riggs
The Black Box, by Michael Connelly, Little, Brown 2012, Larry Riggs
The Drop, by Michael Connelly, Little, Brown, 2011, Larry Riggs
The Social Conquest of Earth, by Edward O. Wilson, Norton, 2012, Larry Riggs
Zero Day, by David Baldacci, Grand Central, 2011, Larry Riggs
1Q84, by Haruki Murakami, Knopf, 2011, Eloise Sureau-Hale
Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety, by Daniel Smith, Simon and Schuster, 2012, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Hermetica of Elysium, by Annmarie Banks, Knox, 2011, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa, Picador, 2009, Eloise Sureau-Hale
What the Best College Teachers Do, by Ken Bain, Harvard University Press, 2004, Liliana Torres-Goens
Submissions from 2011
The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe by Theodore Gray, Black Dog and Leventhal, 2009, Adam M. Azman
Composting a Life by Mary Catherine Bateson, Grove Press, 1989, Terri Carney
Re/Search #10: Incredibly Strange Films by Vivian Vale and Andrea Juno, Re/Search Publications, 1988, J. Rocky Colavito
Long, Obstinate, and Bloody: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse by Lawrence A. Babits & Joshua Howard,University of North Carolina Press, 2009, George W. Geib
The Attic Express and Other Macabre Stories by Alex Hamilton, Ashtree Press, 2007, George W. Geib
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, Random House, 2009, Bill Johnston
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Harper, 2010, Richard McGowan
The Killer Angels by Michael Schaara, Ballantine Books, 1996, Richard McGowan
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Algonquin Books, 2007, Richard McGowan
Forged: Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman, HarperOne, 2011, James McGrath
11/22/63: A Novel, by Stephen King, Scribner, 2011, Judi Morrel
Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter: A Novel (P.S.) by Tom Franklin, Harper Perrenial, 2011, Judi Morrel
Room: A Novel, by Emma Donoghue, Little, Brown, and Company, 2010, Judi Morrel
The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, Penguin 2006, Judi Morrel
The Stonecutter's Aria by Carol Faenzi, Aperto, 2005, Judi Morrel
A Companion to Aristotle Edited by Georgios Anagnostopoulos, Blackwell Publishing 2009, Tiberiu Popa
The Campaigns of Alexander, by Arrian (translated by A. de Sélincourt and revised by J.R. Hamilton), Penguin, 1971, Tiberiu Popa
The Litigators, by John Grisham,Doubleday, 2011, Larry Riggs
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Crown, 2010, Paula Saffire
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith, Grand Central Publishing, 2010, Eloise Sureau-Hale
A Twisted Ladder, by Rhody Hawk,Forge, 2009, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Elephant's Journey by Jose Saramago, Harcourt, 2010, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Killing Room by John Manning, Pinnacle, 2010, Eloise Sureau-Hale
The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes, Borzoi, 2011, William Watts
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, Vintage, 2010, Anne Wilson
House: A Memoir by Michael Ruhlman, Viking Adult, 2005, Anne Wilson
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, 2002, Anne Wilson
How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories: Evolutionary Enigmas David P. Barash and Judith Eve Lipton, Columbia University Press, 2009, Michael Zimmerman
Submissions from 2010
A Brain Wider than the Sky: A Migraine Diary by Andrew Levy, Simon and Schuster, 2009, Chad Bauman
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham, Bantam Books, 2008, Lacey Echols
A Gate at the Stairs by Loorie Moore, Vintage, 2009, Hilene Flanzbaum
People, Parks and Perceptions: A History and Appreciation of Indiana State Parks by Glory-June Grieff, Trafford Publishing, 2009, George W. Geib
Tau 4 by V. J. Waks, AuthorHouse, 2007, George W. Geib
The Case of Witchcraft at Coggeshall, Essex in the Year 1699 by Rev. J. Boys, A.R. Smith, 1901 - Reviewed by George Geib, George W. Geib
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001, Ulf Goebel
Under a cruel star: A life in Prague 1941 -1968 by Heda Margolius Kovály, Holmes & Meier Publishers, Inc., 1997, Nathan Harter
The Lost Painting by Jonathan Harr, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2006, Jim Keating
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, Berkley Publishing Group, 2008, Richard McGowan
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (translated by Lucia Graves), Penguin Books, 2001, Richard McGowan
To Absent Friends from Red Smith by Red Smith, NY: Atheneum, 1982, Richard McGowan
Something Missing: A Novel by Matthew Dicks, Broadway: 2009, LuAnne McNulty
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, Little, Brown and Company, 2008, Judi Morrel
Eclipse by Richard North Patterson, St. Martin's, 2009, Judi Morrel
Home by Marilyn Robinson, Picador, 2010, Judi Morrel
Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian, Crown, 2010, Judi Morrel
South of Broad by Pay Conroy, Knopf Doubleday Publishing, 2009, Judi Morrel
The Intelligencer by Leslie Silbert, Washington Square Press, 2001, Judi Morrel
The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, Little, Brown and Company, Judi Morrel
Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl, Beacon, 2006, Allison O'Malley