Itching for a new book to escape into this summer? The Fordham University Association just announced its University-wide summer read, The Measure, which we’re all invited to discuss together this fall. (You can RSVP for the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center discussions here!)
For more ideas, check out these faculty and staff favorites.
Fiction
James, Percival Everett
President Tania Tetlow thoroughly enjoyed this 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner, calling it “a brilliant and darkly funny retelling of the Huckleberry Finn story from the point of view of Jim.”
Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders
John Seitz, Ph.D., associate professor of theology, recently reread Saunders’ debut novel and “found it heartbreaking, funny, and wise. It is a stunningly creative and appealingly weird merger of historical fiction and Buddhist cosmology tucked into a poignant father-son love story.”
Daughters of Nantucket, Julie Gerstenblatt
This well-researched work of historical fiction follows the lives of three women in the lead-up to Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846. “I wanted to keep reading to discover how their lives would be ultimately impacted by the fire, which you know is coming,” said Amy Roy, Ph.D., professor of psychology. “It’s a great summer read!”
The Golem of Brooklyn, Adam Mansbach
Lance Strate, Ph.D., professor of communication and media studies, and his son, who graduated from Fordham with an English degree in 2017, both enjoyed this book. “I have a longstanding fascination with the legend of the Golem,” said Strate, “and situating it in present-day New York is really quite clever. … It’s like Seinfeld meets the son of Frankenstein in search of Paul Simon’s America.”
They Dream in Gold, Mai Sennaar
Tanya Katerí Hernández, J.D., Archibald R. Murray Professor of Law, calls this literary love story “a wonderful summer read, because you feel like you are traveling with the characters from New York City to France, to Senegal, Brazil, and Switzerland, while fully immersed in a fascinating narrative about Black identity and many forms of love.”
The Bee Sting, Paul Murray
Ida Bastiaens, Ph.D., political science department chair and associate professor, calls this Irish family saga with a perfect storm of an ending “so powerful and uniquely written.”
Nonfiction
The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson
This riveting account of the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago—interwoven with the chilling saga of a serial killer whose torture chamber was blocks away—remains “one of the best books I’ve ever read,” said Director of University Libraries Linda LoSchiavo.
Mark Twain, by Ron Chernow
Gain greater context into President Tetlow’s pick, James, with this recommendation from Phil Judge, S.J., executive director of campus ministry. He calls Chernow’s new biography “likely the definitive biography of one of our greatest authors, who was so much more fascinating than his humor.”
Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir, by Natasha Trethewey
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey retells a tragic event—her mother’s murder at the hands of her stepfather—in such a gripping way, said Bob Howe, associate vice president of media and public relations, “I had to keep reminding myself that it was a memoir, not a novel. It’s one of those books that stays in your head long after you finish reading it.”
Liberalism as a Way of Life, Alexandre Lefebvre
“Lefebvre makes a stunning argument—we are all liberals in the way we look at the world,” said Steven Stoll, Ph.D., professor of history, “but liberalism suffers from our assumption that it doesn’t need us to practice it thoughtfully.” Stoll said Lefebvre makes the case “that liberalism has to be lived in order to thrive.”
