I’m glad they made the serious literary distinction between these two books clear through choice of cover blurb. How else would I know THIS IS NOT A LADY BOOK if not for that mushroom stamp of approval from Philip Roth? (at Berkeley, California)
"What’s interesting about Common Reading, though, is the potential conflict that it can inspire, particularly in terms of which book the university should choose.
How do you choose a text that is important socially, that upholds the values of a college, that incites students to read and discuss AND makes faculty happy AND makes administrators happy? Other groups voice their opinion too, like when the National Association of Scholars was frustrated over the lack of classics used for Common Reading. This is a lot of expectation for a book, and commonly excessive responsibility for those assigned with choosing the book and developing the curriculum around it. This is especially true when writing classes are expected to incorporate the text as well.
But, at the same time, there is such a fantastic idealism in the concept of mass intellectual understanding."
