The 2013-2014 Common Reading vote has opened to the Shepherd community. This vote allows for students to have a voice in their future classes, events and on campus literature.
The 2013-2014 Common Reading selections are five books from various authors and topics. The selections include “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chobsky, “A Lesson Before Dying” by Ernest J. Gaines, “Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America” by Feisal Abdul Rauf, “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie, and “Strange as this Weather Has Been” by Ann Pancake.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a coming of age tale involving love, suicide and mental illness. Charlie, the main character, is an introvert trying to find his place in the world. The book was published in 1999 and is 224 pages. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” was also adapted onto the big screen. The film version was released in October 2012.
Gaines’s “A Lesson Before Dying” is set in the 1940s and focuses on a friendship between a convicted murderer sentenced to death and a college graduate. The friends learn lessons of heroism through resisting and defying what is expected. The book was published in 1994 and is 272 pages. “A Lesson Before Dying” was the 1997 selection for Oprah’s Book Club. It also won the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.
“Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America” deals with the common concerns of moderate Muslims living in America and abroad, such as the role of women, the mixing of Islam with democracy and the mosque at Ground Zero. “Moving” was published in 2012 and has 290 pages.
“Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Sijie is a tale set during China’s Cultural Revolution. The tale is centered on two young boys who are sent to a small village to live. During their exile, they find a collection of Western literature and are moved to ideas and places previously unknown to their imaginations. “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” was published in 2001 and has 192 pages. This novel was a consumer best-seller in 2000 along with winning the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Pancake’s “Strange as this Weather Has Been” is set in West Virginia in the current day. It tells of a family’s struggle through a mining boom and the mountain top removal destroying the landscape and lifestyle. The book was published in 2007 and has 360 pages. “Strange as this Weather Has Been” was a finalist for the 2008 Washington State Book Award for Fiction.
Joe Offutt, a junior education major, said, “The common reading is a great tool for this university. It gives the students a choice in the literature they are exposed to.”
According to the Common Reading Web site, Shepherd’s goals in having a Common Reading are to “provide a shared intellectual experience and create a sense of community.”
Students can follow the link for the Common Reading on the Shepherd homepage. Students may vote up until March 31, 2013.