If you’ve spent the year reading textbooks, case studies and reports, summer break can be a great time to catch up on some personal reading. [X]press asked around campus for literary picks to strike a chord with the diverse student body.

Philip Schultz is a poet and SF State alumnus. His fifth volume of poetry, “Failure,” won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Schultz recommends: “The Sun Also Rises,” by Ernest Hemingway.

“I remember graduating from SFSU in 1967 and going directly to Europe.
The heyday of the ‘60s, the Vietnam War raging, graduate school looming, I wanted, needed very much, to escape for a few months.

The book I kept reading and rereading is Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Sun Also Rises.’ Hemingway’s first novel served as a guide to Europe, a resource book on various cultures and cuisines, and an emotional tour of another generation trying to cope with the aftermath of war and the lingering malaise it causes.

I loved the light touch of his characters, their fascination with pleasure and sexual intrigue, their enormous self-involvement.

The novel also made me want to write. I loved its simple, straightforward sentences and musical phrasing, the strong emotional undercurrent flowing just beneath the surface. I can’t think of a book about another time that still represents our time, that hits the mark quite the way this one does.”

Barbara A. Holzman is an SF State professor of geography and environmental studies. Holzman will lecture on biogeography and environmental problems and solutions at SF State in the fall.

She will also conduct a graduate seminar in environmental management.
Holzman recommends: “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” and “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto,” both by Michael Pollan.

“[These books are] easy and fun to read, and incredibly informative about food and our ‘corn lifestyle.’
[They] will change the way you think about what you eat.”

Chris Mays is an SF State associate librarian and card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mays is a research specialist in California studies, human sexuality, psychology and other disciplines.

Mays recommends: “Cannabis and Meditation: An Explorer’s Guide,” by Simon Jackson.

“If you were one of the 18,847 Californians with a medical marijuana card, I would recommend this book on exploring your consciousness through meditation to develop your experience of altered states. The book is a little tricky to get—you have to buy it from the author—but it’s a very nice introduction to some healthy mental skills from several traditions that also help at school, on the job, and with your relationships.”
Mays also recommends: “Night Watch,” by Sergei Lukyanenko.

“The first of four novels that form a really moving, funny, gritty, unforgettable Russian urban fairytale. Magic, witches, vampires, curses, love affairs, moral conundra, and lots of edge-of-your-seat excitement. Made into two great movies so far, but the books are a little different and even more satisfying. I’ve been really sad to finish each one, and that doesn’t happen every day.”

Ramon Castellblanch is an SF State assistant professor of health education and president of the SF State chapter of the California Faculty Association. Castellblanch will lecture on the organization and function of health services and conduct a graduate seminar on public health policy in the fall.

Castellblanch recommends: “Pirates of the Caribbean,” by Tariq Ali.
“One book I’m planning [on] reading this summer is ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ by Tariq Ali. It describes the Bolivarian tide in Latin America, i.e., the rise of leaders such as Hugo Chavez who are no longer toeing the line of the U.S. It is an indication of how much of the 21st Century might go, not only in Latin America, but all around the world. The U.S. may have to get by with a lot less exploitation of Asian, African and Latin
American nations and the relatively cheap goods it has brought us, such as gasoline.

Since most SF State students should plan on living through much of the 21st Century, they’ll have a better sense of what’s in store if they better understand the rising movements in places like Venezuela. Also, the book may provide some pointers on how to effectively fight for economic justice.”