Congratulations to the Emory and Candler communities for finishing the year on a high note — and particular congratulations to students in the Class of 2016! Whether you are headed to a new job, further education, or the perfect (much deserved) vacation, Pitts Library staff members have put together a list of our favorite books to keep you company.
If the beach is in your near future, Circulation Specialist Hannah Parks has the book for you! According to Hannah, Maria Semple’s “Where’d You Go Bernadette” (New York : Little, Brown and Co., 2012) is the perfect summer read: a screwball comedy about a plucky teenage girl and her eccentric mother as they navigate the ridiculous world of private schools and pushy parents.
Caroline Saxton ’16T, circulation student assistant and recent Candler alum, also recommends reading books that are fun and enjoyable, alongside the more “serious academic stuff.” She says “pleasure reading is what got me through seminary. In the midst of all of the reading I had to do, I made time to read things that I wanted to read. Fiction and novels, non-fiction and biography, whatever you find enjoyable is worth reading–and even re-reading!”
On Caroline’s list for summer 2016 are “Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song” by Brian Wren (Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), as well as “Houses: A Family Memoir of Grace” (Nashville, TN : Abingdon Press, 2000) by Roberta Bondi, Candler Professor Emerita of Church History. Caroline also suggests “Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer’s Life” (New York : Riverhead Books, 2008) by Kathleen Norris, and “Bay of Sighs,” one of the books in Nora Roberts’ “Guardian’s Trilogy.”
Stay tuned throughout the month of May for more great reading suggestions from Pitts staff members– and don’t forget that we are open during the summer for in-person reading recommendations!