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Northeastern partnered with the Massachusetts Center for the Book to get students, faculty and staff back into reading for fun.
In January, students, staff and faculty across Northeastern’s global campuses dove into books from their past to see just how well some of their favorites (or least favorites) held up over time.
“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”? Still great, said one reader.
“The Sun Also Rises”? Much better than in high school, said another.
About 100 Northeastern students, faculty and staff across Northeastern’s global campuses participated in the first month of the Massachusetts Center for the Book’s 2024 Reading Challenge done in partnership with Northeastern.
MCB’s annual reading challenge encourages participants to read a book each month in alignment with a monthly theme set by MCB. Readers then submit a form about their reading for a chance to win a prize.
Brooke Williams, a research and student success librarian at Northeastern’s Snell Library, said MCB approached Northeastern about partnering for the challenge. Williams, who’s in charge of the Snell Library’s recreational reading collection, saw it as a good way to engage readers across Northeastern’s global campuses and highlight the library’s resources.
“It’s a nice way of encouraging our students and staff to read more … and explore other themes in their reading,” Williams said. “It’s a good opportunity for us as well as the library to look at our own collections and see what gaps we can fill. That’s definitely something I’ve been doing as part of this challenge is (seeing) what are some books that might have this theme that we don’t have on our shelves or virtually in our catalog already.”
This is the first time Northeastern has partnered with MCB for the reading challenge. While MCB offers a chance at monthly prizes in addition to a dinner party for dedicated readers at the end of the year, Williams said Northeastern is tailoring its version to consider students and staff on campuses beyond Boston. Instead of a grand prize, those who participate at Northeastern will be entered into a monthly prize drawing.
So far, participation has been “really great,” Williams said, thanks in part to tabling events in the library with free swag and books that match the monthly theme.
The library collects the titles and comments participants made on their monthly titles, showing the array of books Northeastern read. In January, many people revisited grade and high school favorites, with “The Hunger Games” and “Percy Jackson” being popular (and enjoyable) rereads along with the “Harry Potter” series and young adult novels by John Green.
Many commenters also said they found more nuance in the stories when reading them again, especially when it came to classic literature.
“When I read this book in middle school, I don’t think I fully understood the nuance and perspective that this story really tells,” said one reader of “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka. “Rereading it this year, I was honestly really shocked by how moved I felt by it.”
In February, readers were challenged to read a book with a color in the title, prompting many to pick up titles like the classic “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne or the contemporary romance “Red, White, and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston.
For March, readers must read a book with a protagonist who has a different culture or lifestyle from them. As she’s done every month, Williams compiled a list of suggested reads on the library’s website. This month’s suggestions focus on books from authors with disabilities and who live in rural areas.
“We have campuses in other countries and so thinking about taking a more global perspective has been really interesting,” Williams said. “Instead of just looking at cultures and lifestyles in terms of what countries people are from or what ethnic backgrounds they’re from, I was pulling books that were memoirs of people with disabilities … (and) rural culture.
“(We have) pretty urban campuses, so we have a number of books that focus on rural American culture that might be unfamiliar to some of our students. (We’re) not just thinking about culture in terms of what country you come from or what language you speak, but in terms of all different aspects of identity that can make up what you feel is your culture.”