Open Book

You can’t judge a book by its cover—but it is fun to see what Arts and Science students, staff and faculty are reading.

Senior Will Johnson (pictured) is reading Africa: A Biography of the Continent by John Reader. (Will traveled to South Africa a few semesters ago as part of Vanderbilt’s VISAGE program). The economics major is also reading:

• The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons
• From Poverty to Prosperity by Arnold Kling and Nick Schulz

• Shakespeare’s Richard II, Richard III, As You Like It and Henry IV Part 1
• The Routledge Drama Anthology and Sourcebook, edited by Maggie B. Gale and John F. Deeney

—Maddie Fansler, junior, theater

• The Lazarus Project by Aleksandar Hemon
• Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert
• The Yiddish Policemen’s Union: A Novel by Michael Chabon
• Phenomenology of Perception by Maurice Merleau-Ponty
• Beautiful Democracy: Aesthetics and Anarchy in a Global Era by Russ Castronovo

—Jennifer Fay, associate professor of film studies and English

And since film is her field of study, here’s what she’s viewing:

• Marwencol (Jeff Malmberg, 2010)—recently at the Belcourt
• The President’s Mystery (Phil Rosen, 1936)
• The Hole (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1998)
• TV on DVD: Friday Night Lights

• The Sacrament of Language by Giorgio Agamben
• The Implications of Immanence: Toward a New Concept of Life by Leonard Lawlor
• Hatred and Forgiveness by Julia Kristeva

—Sarah Hansen, PhD’10, lecturer in philosophy

• “On Faith” blog, Washington Post.com
• The Cider House Rules by John Irving

—Gabe Horton, senior, political science

• Anatomy of the Spirit by Caroline Myss
• Double Talk by Virginia M. Scott
• Elementary Hindi by Richard Delacy and Sudha Joshi
• Rajasthan: Delhi, Agra and Jaipur (Fodor’s Travel Guide)

—Todd F. Hughes, director, Vanderbilt Language Center, and associate editor, Hispania Journal

photo credit: Steve Green