Sound Bites

Summer is around the corner! What books are on your vacation reading list — and why these books in particular?

Marian McKenna Olivas,program manager, Center for History in Schools, College of Letters & Science

This summer I am going to try the UCLA Transportation program, "Dump the Pump," to get in some summer reading on the bus, among other reasons. For entertainment, I enjoy fiction. My dad gave me some Brian Haig books and I enjoyed the first one so plan to read more. For learning, I have almost finished "Friends of Liberty: A Tale of Three Patriots, Two Revolutions, and the Betrayal that Divided a Nation: Thomas Jefferson, Thaddeus Kosciuszko, and Agrippa Hull" (about early encounters with slavery and abolition), by UCLA History Professor Gary Nash. I'm also reading this year's Pulitzer Prize winner in history, "What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848," by History Professor Daniel Howe. Olivas also runs the campus Virtual Book Club. For information, e-mail virtualbookclub@lists.ucla.edu.

Colleen Bruton, Neurosurgery Resident Program administrator, UCLA Health System

So many books, so little time! "Gotta Keep on Tryin'" by Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant is a sequel sitting on my end table. I fell in love with the characters in "Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made" and am excited that the authors wrote a long-awaited sequel. I am also working my way through the Maya Angelou autobiographies. I am planning to read "Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside" by Katrina Firlik, and "Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance" by Atul Gawande to continue to improve my knowledge of modern medicine and surgery.

Mary Ries, administrative coordinator, Office of the Associate Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education

Leon Uris, "O'Hara's Choice." I became a fan of Leon Uris in high school with my first reading of "Exodus." I've read all of his books since, but missed this one. What better time to read it than this summer. Also Michael Buckley's "The Sisters Grimm"series, Books 4-6. Having read the first three books, which I found enchanting, I plan to share the series with my nieces. And Jan Karon's "Home to Holly Springs." It's a given that anyone who has read any of the Mitford Series will read a new selection from Jan Karon.

Jenifer Abramson, assistant director, Library Human Resources, Young Research Library

On the top of my list are: "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions" by Dan Ariely. We think we're in control when we make decisions, but I hear that Ariely's evidence says differently. And "Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow's Big Changes" by Mark Penn and E. Kinney Zalesne. I'm fascinated by the idea that behaviors of a fairly small group of people can make a big impact on the world.

Fran Smith, administrative assistant, UCLA Extension Marketing

This summer I’m reading "One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way," by Robert Maurer, a psychologist on staff at the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. I first heard about the book at a UCLA "Learn at Lunch" lecture where the author presented an hour-long summary of the book as a means of coping with change at work and in our personal lives. "The Kaizen Way" is about making great and lasting change through small, steady increments. It's really inspired me as a way to circumvent the fear that change causes by slipping past it in tiny little steps that don't trigger the same fear as large leaps so often do. The book is an easy read so far, for something that is having a big impact on my life.

Arlene Pesigan, academic counselor, College of Letters and Science

I have the following on my summer reading list since I look forward to reading classic or epic works, especially during the long days of summer: "Dracula" by Bram Stoker, "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes, "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "World Without End" by Ken Follett. Also, last summer I read for the first time "Persuasion" by Jane Austen and, by Steinbeck, "Cannery Row" and "Sweet Thursday." I was so enamored by the writing style, substance and characters of these books that I plan to re-read them some time this summer and every summer from now on as a way of revisiting the familiar.

Our next Sound Bites question, for our July 15 online issue, How are the skyrocketing gas prices affecting you, and how are you coping? Respond to today@support.ucla.edu.