What Is GW Reading This Summer?

Top recommendations from SA President Nick Gumas, CCAS Dean Ben Vinson III, Chef José Andrés and more.

June 30, 2014

summer reading
 
It might be summertime, but the George Washington University is still hitting the books. George Washington Today reached out to Colonials everywhere to see what students, alumni, staff and faculty are leafing through before the semester starts. Whether you’re looking for a quick beach read or hoping to brush up on a scholarly interest, this list includes suggestions from bookworms across the university.
 
“Anthony Doerr writes gorgeous prose filled with vivid imagery that makes you feel like you can touch, smell or see everything he's describing. It's just beautifully written.”
-Ryan Welsh, B.A. ’12
 
“It happens in Barcelona. It’s amazing—you travel in time!”
-Chef and humanitarian José Andrés, 2014 Commencement Speaker
 
“Through humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories with important world leaders, the book offers us the only firsthand account of Hillary Clinton's historic tenure in the Obama administration.”
-Senior Nick Gumas, Student Association President
 
“The prominent psychiatrist pulls back the curtain on doctor-patient confidentiality and invites readers into 10 patients' courses of therapy—as well as his own struggles as their guide. There's illumination and insight here at every turn.”
-Danny Freedman, B.A. ’01, Managing Editor GW Magazine
 
“This book is a must-read by a Washington Post writer, and it explores gender roles and time management in an increasingly busy age.”
 
“It’s such a heart-wrenching story that gets the reader emotionally involved. I read it in a day!”
-CCAS Junior Leah Cunningham 
 
"I look forward to joining the entire GW Class of 2018 and faculty and staff as we all read the GW First Chapter Books selection for this academic year."
Vice Provost and Dean of Student Affairs Peter Konwerski
 
“It is an epic story of a Hungarian Jew and the people he loves at the beginning of World War II.”
-Lorraine Voles, Vice President for External Relations
 
“A tale of survival on Mars by an astronaut left behind. It's a guilty pleasure of some people at NASA and on the Hill.”
-Scott Pace, Director of the Space Policy Institute
 
“By studying a little known population, the author posits that self-aware subjects of study absorb their depictions by scholars, while simultaneously writing their own ethnography. This is an important book.”
-Ben Vinson III, Dean of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
 
“It's a witty, intelligent novel about a dysfunctional family that includes a chimpanzee. It won the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction this past spring.”
-Lisa Page, Acting Director of the Creative Writing Program
 
"Douglas Coupland popularized the term ‘Generation X,’ and his writing really focuses on the unique struggles people of that generation seem to have but in a very funny, satirical way."
-Olivia Kohler-Maga, Assistant Director of Luther W. Brady Art Gallery