VSU's Summer Reading List

VALDOSTA -- Valdosta State University librarians have recommended a few books to add to your summer reading list. Check out these award-winning titles:

"Caleb’s Crossing" by Geraldine Brooks

Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks shares the life of the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College (in 1665). She relays the story of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk through the eyes of a Calvinist minister's brilliant daughter, who yearns for an education. Read the NY Times Book Review at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/books/review/book-review-calebs-crossing-by-geraldine-brooks.html?_r=1.

"A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother" by Janny Scott

Little is known about Stanley Ann Dunham, the fiercely independent woman who raised Barack Obama. Award-winning reporter Janny Scott interviewed nearly two hundred of Dunham's friends, colleagues, and relatives, and combed through boxes of personal and professional papers, to uncover the woman's inspiring and untraditional life. Read more about the woman Obama credits for "what is best in me." LA Times Review at http://articles.latimes.com/2011/may/03/entertainment/la-et-book-20110503.

"American Vampire" by Scott Snyder and Stephen King

This comic book series explore vampire evolution and traces the bloodline of a new kind of vampire, with new powers and characteristics developed throughout American history. The first hardcover collection of American Vampire, which appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List for Graphic Books, was published in October 2010. The second hardcover collection came out May 25. Read more on the publisher's website at http://www.dccomics.com/vertigo/graphic_novels/?gn=15268.

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

An uplifting debut novel, this book -- set in Jackson, Miss., during the Civil Rights movement -- reflects the shocking and prideful stories about life during this turbulent time. A movie based on the book will hit theatres in mid-August. Read the Washington Post review at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/31/AR2009033103552.html.

Also on the list ...

"Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon

"Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell

"Looking for Salvation at Dairy Queen" by Susan Gilmore

"Prodigal Summer" by Barbara Kingsolver

"BB Wolf and the Tree LPs" by J.D. Arnold

"The Rum Diary: by Hunter S. Thompson

"The Boys of Summer" by Roger Kahn

"Cold, Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns