Most years I track the books assigned by a college or university for reading by all entering Freshmen. The former years’ posts are linked at the bottom of this post. Below is what the Covid Freshman were assigned to read this summer. The ever-predictable liberal political slant is still present. I’m a moderate to liberal person but I hate that. College is supposed to teach you to think for yourself–not impose a worldview on you.
I’ve read three from this list–my reviews are also linked at the bottom of the post. This year two books stood out–Educated: A Memoir and What the Eyes Don’t See. I’ve read, but did not review Educated. I’ve read so much about cultish religion it didn’t shock me at all. I was very proud of her her persistence though.
Past years have seen Just Mercy at the top of the list, but now that it is a movie it has fallen in popularity as a “One Read” book.
| Freshman Summer Reading Class of 2024 | ||
| Title | Author | University |
| Know My Name | Chanel Miller | Duke |
| Make Your Home Among Strangers | Jennine Capó Crucet | Lehigh |
| My Own Country | Abraham Verghese | WV School of Osteopathic Medicine |
| Crazy Brave | Joy Harjo | Connecticut College |
| What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis… | Mona Hanna-Attisha | Bucknell |
| Sweat [play] | Lynn Nottage | College of New Jersey |
| This America: The Case for the Nation | Jill Lepore | Princeton |
| No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference | Greta Thunberg | Hofstra |
| Exit West | Mohsin Hamid | Ramapo/NJ |
| Vote for US: How to Take Back Our Elections | Joshua A Douglas | Marist |
| Biased | Jennifer Eberhardt | Elon |
| The Person You Mean To Be | Dolly Chug | Vanderbilt |
| Rising | Elizabeth Rush | Applachian State |
| Educated | Tara Westover | Smith |
| Grit | Angela Duckworth | Seton Hall |
| Educated | Tara Westover | Meredith College |
| Line Becomes A River | Francisco Cantú | College of Charleston |
| The Ghost Map | Steven Johnson | Baylor (Honors Program) |
| Subject to Change | H. Melt | Williams College |
| Born A Crime | Trevor Noah | University of Denver |
| American Like Me | America Ferrera | Texas State |
| What the Eyes Don’t See | Mona Hanna-Attisha | Illinois Wesleyan |
| Dream Land | Sam Quinones | Otterbein |
| What the Eyes Don’t See | Mona Hanna-Attisha | Bucknell |
| What the Eyes Don’t See | Mona Hanna-Attisha | San Jose State |
| Mom’s Cancer | Brian Fies | Gustavus Adolphus |
| Full Body Burden | Kristen Iversen | Michgan (Engineering) |
| The Stranger in the Woods | Michael Finkle | Michigan Tech |
| Barking to the Choir | Greg Boyle | Scranton |
| Educated | Tara Westover | Providence |
| Educated | Tara Westover | Siena |
| Just Mercy | Bryan Stevenson | Northwestern |
| View From the Top | Michael Lindsay | Harding |
| Clade | James Bradley | Oregon |
| One Person, One Vote | Carl Anderson | Virginia Commonwealth |
| Dear America Notes of an Undocumented… | Jose Antonio Vargas | University of Delaware |
| The Girl Who Smiled Beads | Clemantine Wamariya | West Virginia U [Honors College] |
| Yellow House | Sarah Broom | Tulane |
My Review of the 2020 Books I’ve Read
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson
Dream Land: The True Tale of America’s Opioid Epidemic by Sam Quinones
Line Becomes River: Dispatches From the Boarder by Fransisco Cantu
The Yellow House by Sarah M. Broom
Past Lists
2019–no list
Can you add to this list? Did you have to read something before entering as a Freshman? I didn’t back in the summer of 1980. Leave me a comment or link to your own post.
This is an interesting list! I’ve read 3 and all 3 memoirs! I don’t remember being required to read anything before entering college.
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Thanks—did you review any of these?
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Yep! Reviewed Just Mercy, Educated, and Born a Crime!
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I’ll check them out. Thanks
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What a fun activity! I’m all about book lists, so I’d really enjoy pulling something like this together.
We weren’t required to read a book before entering undergrad (The University of Texas at Austin), but I was required to read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down before entering grad school (Boston University). I really enjoyed it, but I have a hard time reading things when it’s “required reading.” Needless to say, I am NOT a good student!
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I know that problem well!! I’m back in school for a year and I now want to read EVERYTHING….except….you guessed it! The stuff I have to read and comment on! lol
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It’s a curse! Are you familiar with Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies? I think I’m a rebel, which fits in perfectly with not wanting to read anything assigned to me, even if I DO actually want to read it!
Good luck with school this year!
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LOL Thanks!
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So interesting to see! My son is starting college (next week!), but didn’t have a reading assignment. I don’t remember having a pre-college reading list either. Of all of these, I’ve only read Educated, but I think it’s pretty cool that one college has Trevor Noah’s book as the assigned reading.
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The past years lists are at the bottom–I’ve been pleasantly surprised over the years at some of the picks. Thanks for reading.
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