2010 Archives

2010 Summer Reading Series: Best Books by Women Authors

'Reading is about exploration and living in someone else’s world.'

Summer Reading Lists

Vicki Hill

1995 - Conflict and Crisis: Resolution and Redemption

Mama Day by Gloria Naylor
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
Making History by Carolyn See
Beyond Deserving by Sandra Scofield 


1996 - Rituals and Passages: Four Contemoporary American Novels About Families in Transition

Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen
The Wedding by Dorothy West
Disturbances in the Field by Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Blue Rodeo by Jo-Ann Mapson


1997 - Consider the Children

At Weddings and Wakes by Alice McDermott
Civil Wars by Rosellen Brown
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Saying Grace by Beth Gutcheon


1998 - Encountering the Other

The Republic of Love by Carol Shields
Eight Months of Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
The River Beyond the World by Janet Peery
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell


1999 - Family Sagas of Tragedy and Renewal: Contemporary Women Writers

A Southern Family by Gail Godwin
The House of the Lagoon by Rosario Ferre
The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett
New Year’s Eve by Lisa Grunwald


2000 - The Daughter’s Story

Hanna’s Daughters: A Novel of Three Generations by Marianne Fredriksson
Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
Souls Raised from the Dead by Doris Betts
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver


2001 - Families in Crisis

Strange Fits of Passion by Anita Shreve
This is My Daughter by Roxana Robinson
Evening News by Marly Swick
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott


2002 - Journeys of Discovery

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Bee Season by Myla Goldberg
The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif


2003 - Mothers, Daughters, and Grandmothers: Lessons and Legacis Passed from One Generation to Another

The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The World Below by Sue Miller
Unless by Carol Shields


2004 - Relationships: Novels of Family, Friendship, and Love

Dreaming Water by Gail Tsukiyama
These Granite Islands by Sarah Stonich
Fortunate Lives by Robb Forman Dew
The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


2005 - First-Time Novelists

Swan by Frances Mayes
Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes
The Hazards of Good Breeding  by Jessica Shattuck
Harbor by Lorraine Adams


2006 - Affirmations: Contemporary Literature Series

Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos
The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard
Urusula Under by Ingrid Hill
Due Preparations for the Plague by Janet Turner Hospital


2007 - Novels of Fundamental Human Experiences: Identity, Loss, Love, Forgiveness

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Outside Valentine by Liza Ward
The Marriage of the Sea by Jane Allison
Blue Water by A. Manette Ansay


2008 - Love ….. American Style

Triangle by Katherine Weber
Dear Mrs. Lindbergh by Kathleen Hughes
Changing Light by Nora Gallagher
The Maytrees by Annie Dillard


2009 - Fiction’s Fundamentals: Character and Circumstance

The Air We Breathe by Andrea Barrett
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
Nothing is Quite Forgotten in Brooklyn by Alice Mattison
Run by Ann Patchett


2010 - Other Lives, Other Worlds

The Piano Teacher by Janice Lee
The End of Manners by Francesca Marciano 
The Girls by Lori Larsen
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

# # #

May 19, 2010

Grounded by a nonexistent travel budget?

Escape the Texas summer with a good book recommended by SMU’s Vicki Hill. Each summer for 16 years she has selected four of her favorite books written by women to discuss with the audience at Dedman College’s Godbey Lecture Series. This year’s series begins June 22.

"Reading is about exploration and living in someone else’s world," said Hill, who added that she is disappointed in herself if she doesn’t read two books a week. A former SMU English professor with a Ph.D. in English and American Studies from SUNY Buffalo and long-time director of SMU's Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center, Hill spends the year looking for just the right books for the series.

"A keeper is a book I want to read a second time, a book that makes me think or one I would recommend to a friend," Hill said.

The Godbey Lecture Series, presented by Dedman College, this summer will feature the theme of “Other Lives, Other Worlds.”

  • June 22 — The Piano Teacher, Janice Lee’s novel about intertwining war-time love affairs in China
       
  • June 29 — The Girls, Lori Larsens’ novel that features alternating narratives of conjoined twins
       
  • July 20 — The End of Manners, Francesca Marciano’s story of two mismatched journalists covering war-torn Afghanistan
       
  • July 30 — Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection

At each lecture Hill presents a 50-minute talk as one reader to another, then leads a discussion with the sold-out crowds she describes as “genuinely exhilarating.” 

Visit smu.edu/godbey for more information.


What:  Godbey Lecture Summer Book Series:
Other Lives, Other Worlds


 When:  Lecture at 11 a.m., lunch at noon, June 22, 29 and July 13, 20, 2010
 Where:  Maggiano’s at 205 Northpark Center
 Cost:  Individual Lectures - $45 members/$65 non-members
Complete Series - $180 members/$260 non-members

# # #

 

Find an Expert