Hitting the Books at the Beach

Jesse Roy Jacobsen has a bad case of “senioritis.”

The 17-year-old student at Rio Mesa High has already been accepted to UC Berkeley and has just a few more final exams before high school graduation this week. He is counting down the days until he can turn in his textbooks and throw out his binders.

And although Jesse plans to work part-time this summer, he wants to spend most of his days watching television, going to the gym and hanging out with friends.

The last thing Jesse said he wants to do is pick up a book. Especially a book about violence in Brazil or the history of architecture.

“I don’t want to read this summer,” Jacobsen said. “I want to relax.”

Too bad. Colleges and universities around the nation have something else in mind. They are trying to keep students like Jacobsen reading during the summer and are mailing out recommended book lists as incentives to incoming freshmen.

Most of the reading lists, which are compiled by librarians and professors, are optional and unofficial. They include poetry and plays, and both classic and contemporary books. They highlight authors from various ethnic backgrounds and often include selections tailored to young people’s interests.

A few universities only feature articles or books by local professors, while others focus on Nobel laureates and Pulitzer Prize-winners. Authors range from Sigmund Freud to Studs Terkel, Albert Einstein to Armistead Maupin.

University officials say their goals are to prepare new students for college, introduce them to possible majors and stress the importance of great literature. They also say the lists show students that college is about more than applying for a dormitory and filling out financial aid forms.

“After all this nitty-gritty kind of stuff, it brings students back around to what the university is really about--learning,” said Linda TerHaar, who compiled the University of Michigan’s list.

Officials at the Ann Arbor, Mich., campus include the recommended list of 130 books in the admission packet sent out to admitted students in the spring.

The list, divided by subject, includes a coffee table book on the resurgence of swing music, a biography of Jackie Robinson and an account of the origins of the Internet. The list also includes some of the more traditional classics: “Wuthering Heights,” “Catch-22” and “The Invisible Man.”

TerHaar said she encourages incoming students to use the books as pleasure reading, and she tells them to keep in mind possible majors.

Occidental Assigns Collection of Essays

At Occidental College in Eagle Rock, the summer book list is more than an enticement; it is required reading. School officials inform incoming freshmen that they are responsible for reading a 140-page compilation of essays sent out for the summer.

Students are told they will discuss the eight readings when they arrive in the fall, and will be asked to write a paper on one of them. The essays, which span six decades, include the letter Martin Luther King Jr. wrote from Birmingham City Jail, an article about the Vietnam War Memorial and a discussion of women in the 1960s.

Eric Newhall, a literature professor at Occidental, said he spent several months choosing the selections to ensure that the essays reflect the school’s emphasis on liberal arts. Newhall said a few of the articles focus on traditional subjects of economics and science, while others stress social change and justice.

Harvard University “requests,” but does not require, that students read a booklet of essays so they can participate in literature discussions in the fall. Harvard officials say they are banking on the motivated nature of their students to compel them to get the reading done.

The compilation includes six essays by Harvard faculty members, including Anna Quindlen and Henry Louis Gates Jr. The articles highlight ethnic diversity among Harvard’s students and staff, officials said.

Columbia University takes a more passive approach, waiting for students to inquire before supplying a list. If freshmen call and ask what they can do to get ready for school, officials advise them to read the first six books of the Iliad.

And at Stanford University, lists are different for each dormitory. Staff advisors make selections and inform future dorm dwellers what books they’ll be discussing during fall orientation.

The message is clear: Be prepared or risk being embarrassed by your peers.

Tristan Ivory, who is headed to Stanford, said he does not want to start the year off cold.

“I plan on doing a little bit of reading anyhow,” Tristan said. “If it’s just a different book, it really isn’t that much of a problem.”

Cal State L.A. posts its recommended reading list on the Internet.

University Librarian Doug Davis chose the 61 books this year after getting suggestions from throughout campus. Some of the books: “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.,” by Luis Rodriguez; “Typical American,” by Gish Jen; “Symposium,” by Plato; and “The Work of Nations” by Robert Reich.

Berkeley’s List Is All Its Own

At UC Berkeley, the school’s recommended summer reading list was started 15 years ago by a handful of professors from the college writing program. Previous lists have surprised students with such suggestions as “The Communist Manifesto,” the Old Testament and “Winnie the Pooh.”

This year, all 24 books are by current or former Berkeley professors, and are on such topics as horror films, vampires, slavery, surfing and AIDS. The selections include Bharati Mukherjee’s “Jasmine,” about a woman’s journey from India to Iowa, and Walter Alvarez’s “T-Rex and the Crater of Doom,” a detective story about the search for a crater where an asteroid knocked out dinosaurs.

Steve Tollefson, a lecturer in the Berkeley writing program, said he knows most high school graduates want a breather before starting college. But his committee tries to pick books that students will like, books they can read while sunbathing at the beach or lounging at home.

“They may feel burned out,” Tollefson said of the list, which is mailed out in late spring. “But we want them to use part of this break to actually prepare themselves in sort of a nonthreatening, no-tests way for college.”

High school counselors say the reading lists are a perfect way for students to get up to speed before starting college. For all their confidence and pride, students headed to college are often nervous about the classwork and competition, counselors say. The summer reading is also a way to keep their minds from going to mush during the summer, they say.

Sara Jacobsen, who helps Rio Mesa High School students apply to college, said she knows graduating seniors are anxious for summer vacation, but she believes most college-bound students are motivated and will at least read a few of the recommended books.

“You’re talking about the cream of the crop,” Jacobsen said. “The more prepared they are, the better.”

Hollie Lawyer, 18, who graduated from Ventura High School last Thursday, said she enjoys reading, but wants to take it easy this summer. For the past few summers, she has had to read, do reports and study for Advanced Placement exams.

“This will be the first summer I will actually have to myself,” she said. “And I’m sick of testing, reports, teachers, books, just everything.”

But Lawyer said she couldn’t ignore the book suggestions altogether. She anticipates tough classes at Berkeley and worries about keeping up with her classmates.

“I probably won’t be that ambitious and read the whole list,” she said. “But I might read one or two while I am camping or relaxing.”