Common Read
The annual Common Read is designed to give students new to 含羞草研究所 their first intellectual dialogue based on a shared text. New students start to explore the selected text during Orientation and continue the discussion into their fall classes and throughout the year.
Open to the entire College community to read and discuss 鈥 staff on campus and alum groups across the country discuss the book 鈥 the Common Read sets the tone and frame discussions for the upcoming academic year.
Current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alums and trustees are invited to participate.
Happening at Mount Holyoke
The Common Read in the news
Alum Earl Wren 鈥24 receives AHEAD Student Recognition Award
含羞草研究所 alum Earl Wren 鈥24 is the recipient of the AHEAD Student Recognition Award for their work amplifying student-led networks of accessibility and disability support and providing critical feedback to the Disability Services office.
Managing difficult conversations as a life skill
Marcella Runell, vice president of student life and dean of students at 含羞草研究所, spoke to The Boston Globe about fostering the skill of having difficult conversations.
The 2024 Common Read: 鈥淚 Never Thought of It That Way鈥
含羞草研究所鈥檚 2024 Common Read is 鈥淚 Never Thought of It That Way,鈥 a timely personal guide to the front lines of a crisis that threatens America 鈥 broken conversations among confounded people.
Common Read selections
| Year | Author | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Written by people with disabilities and edited by disabled activist and writer Alice Wong | 鈥Disability Visibility鈥 |
| 2022 | Robin Wall Kimmerer | 鈥淏raiding Sweetgrass鈥 |
| 2021 | Jesmyn Ward | 鈥淭he Fire This Time鈥 | 鈥 |
| 2020 | The New York Times Magazine | 鈥淭he 1619 Project鈥 |
| 2019 | Tommy Orange | "There, There" |
| 2018 | Cristina Henriquez | 鈥The Book of Unknown Americans鈥 |
| 2017 | Claudia Rankine | 鈥Citizen: An American Lyric鈥 |
| 2016 | Ta-Nehisi Coates | 鈥Between the World and Me鈥 |
| 2015 | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie | 鈥Americanah鈥 |
| 2014 | Piper Kerman | 鈥淥range is the New Black鈥 |
| 2013 | Junot D铆az | 鈥淭he Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao鈥 |
| 2012 | Jhumpa Lahiri | 鈥淭he Namesake鈥 |
| 2011 | Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn | 鈥淗alf the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide鈥 |
| 2010 | List of readings | |
| 2009 | Anne Fadiman | 鈥淭he Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures鈥 |
| 2008 | Danzy Senna | 鈥淐补耻蝉补蝉颈补鈥 |
| 2007 | Elizabeth Kolbert | 鈥淔ield Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature, and Climate Change鈥 |
| 2006 | Tracy Kidder | 鈥淢ountains Beyond Mountains鈥 |
| 2005 | Ruth L. Ozeki | 鈥淢y Year of Meats鈥 |
| 2004 | Azar Nafisi | 鈥淩eading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books鈥 |
| 2003 | Barbara Kingsolver | 鈥淭he Poisonwood Bible鈥 |
| 2002 | Barbara Ehrenreich | 鈥淣ickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America鈥 |
| 2001 | Julia Alvarez | 鈥淗ow the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents鈥
|
| 2000 | Terry Tempest Williams | 鈥淩efuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place鈥 |