Duke and UNC to share summer reading book

The Robertson bus will not be the only thing connecting Duke University’s Class of 2015 with their counterparts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Freshman at both schools will also be assured a common literary experience: reading the same book over the summer.

This year, Duke’s Summer Reading Book Selection Committee is collaborating with UNC-CH to select a book that will tie both schools’ incoming freshmen together. The Committee, established in 2006, will choose a book from six finalists:

1. The Dew Breaker by Edwidge Danticat
2. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer
3. The Immortal Life of Henrieta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
4. Losing My Cool by Thomas Chatterton Williams
5. The Sea by John Banville
6. Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford

Some freshmen from the Class of 2014 are unsure that the colloboration will impact Duke students’ relationship with UNC-CH.

“I'd say it doesn't really make a difference,” said freshman Matt Parides. "I didn't notice any real benefit to the summer reading. The only time I heard people talk about it was at the FAC discussion."

Others agreed, adding that it takes more than a book to forge a substantial connection.

“Yes, we are rival schools and only fifteen miles apart, but I don’t think having the same summer reading assignment for the Class of 2015 makes us anymore related to UNC than we already are,” said freshman Mia Wise. “I don’t think having the same summer reading book changes anything.”