Summer Reading List: Shannon Spencer

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!

WEEK 3 SELECTIONS BY

Shannon Spencer '89, '07
Director of Annual Giving, BGSU Foundation

There are so many reasons to read often, and to read the best stuff you can get your hands on. In my job, I meet new people constantly. Whether I'm working directly with the University's generous alumni and friends, our dedicated student callers in the Telefund, or BGSU class reunion guests, a conversation about a great book can be the perfect icebreaker when meeting someone for the first time. I love when new friends recommend titles, and often those books become my new favorites.

But most importantly, I've found that reading well leads to writing well. Sometimes an email or letter is the best way to make contact in the professional world, and it never hurts to know how to turn a phrase.

What better time than summer to stretch out with a good book? Here are a few I recommend:

• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
  This historical fiction imagines the real world of five of the lesser-known women of the Bible. It left me inspired.
• Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
  Here is a book about writing that doesn't feel like a book about writing.
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
  An interesting work based on cases of extraordinary human achievement and the circumstances leading up to those events.
• Pillars of the Earth series by Ken Follett
  Great plot - and you'll want to know what happens to these characters.
• The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg
  Simple advice on becoming "God's best version of you."
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  What can I say? Classic, short read that is worth digesting again and again.