In order to get to know our professors a little better, The Outlook decided to come up with a “Top 10” monthly spotlight to learn about the hobbies and passions of some of our favorite professors.
Not only does this monthly series aim to bring students and faculty closer together, but it also builds a sense of community throughout the University. Starting off, we talked to Dr. Werner about her top 10 favorite books of all time. Books can be a powerful tool for connecting people, particularly when shared with your mentor or advisor.
Dr. Werner, Ph.D, Director of First-Year Composition and Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Composition, is teaching College Composition II, as well as the graduate class Writing Program and Writing Center Administration this semester.
1. Watership Down by Richard Adams. The book follows a group of rabbits from their warren in the countryside on a journey across parts of England to found a new home. On its surface, it’s about bunnies, but the story is actually a philosophical discussion about political, governing systems.
2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. This book introduced me to magical realism. I read it for the first time as a young adult, and it has always made me think about how our past tethers us, for better or worse.
3. Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman. This is a graphic novel adaptation of Gaiman’s radio play by the same name. The story is beautifully rendered by P. Craig Russell, and I find the retelling of the fall to be a fascinating discussion of what faith and obedience mean.
4. The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway. I can’t explain why I love this book because of the nature of how the story is told, but I can say that it hit me so hard, I couldn’t stop talking about it for months.
5. Lives on the Boundaries by Mike Rose. This book explains why I love rhetoric so much: we are all experts in our discourse communities, and we all have knowledge, value, and skills.
6. The Geopolitics of Academic Writing by Suresh Canagarajah. Canagarajah’s book made third world countries deeply real for me when I was too young and stupid to realize everyone’s world wasn’t the same as mine.
7. Storm in the Mountains by James Moffett. I was a burgeoning educator when I first read this book. It highlighted for me the ideas many communities value over science and social science. It has helped me understand the dangers facing education today (even though the book was written in 1989).
8. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This book is my favorite love story. And there is literal magic.
9. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. This book takes three elements I love: theology, science, and history, and weaves them into one story. It shows us how shortsighted our views of the past are while simultaneously showing us what it means to be human.
10. On the Beach by Nevil Shute. I don’t know that I’d say this book is a favorite, but it has stuck with me since the first time I read it 25 years ago. It’s a book about the last humans alive at the end of a nuclear world war, and the last months of their life as they wait for the nuclear cloud to come to Australia.
