First -Year Read

Think of the first-year read as your first assignment. With discussion groups and activities based on the book, you’ll begin your life as a college student exploring topics, themes (particularly as it applies to the Campus Theme), and meeting other students.

The first-year read for 2012-2013:

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

In The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri enriches the themes that made her collection an international bestseller: the immigrant experience, the clash of cultures, the conflicts of assimilation, and, most poignantly, the tangled ties between generations. Here again Lahiri displays her deft touch for the perfect detail -- the fleeting moment, the turn of phrase -- that opens whole worlds of emotion. The Namesake takes the Ganguli family from their tradition-bound life in Calcutta through their fraught transformation into Americans. The New York Times has praised Lahiri as "a writer of uncommon elegance and poise." The Namesake is a fine-tuned, intimate, and deeply felt novel of identity.

Previous first-year read:

2011-2012
I Am an Emotional Creature by Eve Ensler