Summer Reading List: Grounds for Thought

What would summer be without a good reading list? Throughout the summer BGSU faculty, staff and students will share their picks for best summer reading. We hope you find time to read some of the selections and share your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page!

Summer-Reading-Week-02

WEEK 2 SELECTIONS BY

Grounds for Thought coffeehouse
Co-owner Laura Wicks (and crew)

I love a good book that can illuminate the beauty of an ordinary life, take me on a grand adventure, or educate and inform. Stories help us reflect upon the connections that bind and support us.

Since Grounds for Thought became the first specialty coffee shop and used bookstore to open in Bowling Green in October 1989, it has become a space where connections are made every day. I love that conversation as well as reading can be heard and seen at most every table. BGSU students studying for class are sitting next to the senior citizens’ informal coffee klatch, their conversations overlapping and sometimes connecting. All are enriched by the chance to share their stories in this community.

We take great pride in serving both the University and town, and are thankful for your support over the past two decades.

In honor of the many people who make up Grounds, our reading list is a selection of books from regular customers and our outstanding crew.

Happy reading!

  • Laura Wicks, coffeehouse co-owner:
    The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
    A sweeping historical epic set in Japan’s only seaport open to Western trade in 1799.  This book has it all — romance, intrigue, politics, medicine, philosophy and the ultimate struggle of evil versus good.
  • Scott Fleegle ’10, manager:
    Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl
    This collection of short fiction reveals a darker side to the author of such childhood favorites as “James and the Giant Peach” and “Mathilda.”
  • Aimi Bouillon, manager and BGSU junior:
    I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki
    Written from a professor’s pet cat’s perspective. Very cute and relaxing summer naptime tone. Interesting to imagine a cat observing human interactions in the home and around the neighborhood.
  • Jeff Barnes, longtime favorite customer:
    Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell
    A nonfiction exploration of the assassinations of three of our presidents. It is funny, informative and serious at the same time.
  • Saebra Waterstraut, barista and BGSU senior
    A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
    Perspective jumps between husband and wife as this story unfolds in an unwelcoming town. The author leaves almost the entire investigation/discovery to the reader. So good.

More of our team’s favorites:

Updated: 12/02/2017 12:55AM