'Billiken Bookmarks': Summer Reading Recommendations

Linden Hills by Gloria Naylor. (New York: Penguin Book, 1985)

The novel tells the story of a prominent Black community in the mid-1970s. An allegorical interpretation of Dante's Inferno, the novel explores the rich complexities of the intersections of race, class, economics, sexuality and identity.

The reader follows two young men as they confront the "hell" that Linden Hills residents have built for themselves in struggling to maintain their social and financial status amongst their neighbors.

Naylor, a prominent author of the 1980s, recently passed away. She is most known for her novel, The Women of Brewster Place, that was adapted into a short series by Oprah Winfrey.

The SLU community should read this lesser read this lesser-known work to keep alive her beautiful and intricate exploration of black life in all its iterations.

The text also begs the reader to be introspective and question the morality of their life choices and aspirations – to understand the toll that choices can take on one's soul. 

TK Smith is a library assistant at Pius XII Memorial Library and an avid reader. His taste in reading fiction revolves around character development and beautiful prose. He is currently pursing a graduate degree in the Department of American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Power of Habit Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. (New York: Random House, 2012)

Habits impact everything from our health, mental and physical well-being, and productivity. This book delivers the science and psychology of habit in a series digestible short stories. Informative, entertaining, life changing.

As imperfect beings, we all have habits we'd like to change. Some of mine include perpetual lateness and a caffeine addiction. Yours may be anything from a daily vending machine trip to procrastinating on a big project. Whether you're looking to make a small healthy lifestyle change, or to manage and inspire an entire department, habit is at the root of it all. By examining how habits work, you're able to affect change in yourself and others.

Learning to recognize and understand habits has enabled me to take steps towards replacing bad habits with good ones; effectively increasing my engagement and productivity. This type of insight would be useful amongst staff, faculty, management, and students alike.

Meagan Cleary just celebrated her two-year anniversary with SLU as a grant development specialist in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology in the School of Medicine. She is a graduate from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor's degree in Media Studies and International Communications with a minor in Spanish.