Summer reads: Week 5
Fall semester is coming up, but there’s still time for a last-minute summer read. Check out these suggestions for a mysterious and thrilling experience.
Thanks to everyone who recommended their favorite books!
Marelet Kirda, assistant to the vice chancellor for research, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
Marelet Kirda, a UIC grad (1996 master’s in education), is a fan of the crime series genre, especially books by novelist Michael Connelly.
One series features the character Mickey Haller, a criminal defense lawyer whose office is the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car. His client list? Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers and drug dealers. The other series tracks Harry Bosch, an L.A. police detective who gets caught in life-or-death situations during homicide investigations.
“Between the Haller series and the Harry Bosch series, I’d have to vote for Harry,” Kirda says.
Other favorites: authors John Sandford, Robert Parker, Harlan Coben, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
Because Kirda is a big fan of book series, she highly recommends CARLI I-SHARE — a service offered by the UIC Library that lets students and faculty borrow books from other libraries in the network.
“It might be dramatic to say, but once I discovered I-Share, it changed my life,” Kirda says.
Krystle Morrison, doctoral student in curriculum studies
What’s a good way to get to know Chicago? Delve into the history, Krystle Morrison says, recommending Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City.
“Chicago history comes to life in this novel,” she says.
The novel intertwines the true stories of Daniel Burnham, architect of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, and H. H. Holmes, serial killer who lured victims to his hotel.
“The author crafts the most unique kind of ‘fiction,'” Morrison says. “He uses well-sought research and primary documents to detail the ways in which Chicago’s architects and a mass-murderer changed America forever.”
While Morrison was familiarizing herself with Chicago’s history, she was spending time in France, Switzerland and Germany. “It was such an amazing experience,” she says. “The perfect adventure before I go back to living on a budget.”
She’s about to drive 19 hours from Tampa, Florida, to Chicago for fall semester.
“No more big trips for a while after this one,” she says.
