The Dean's List 1982-Present
fr. neenan's suggested readings
Dates denote years on the list.
- James Agee, A Death in the Family, 1984-
- Uwem Akpan, S.J., Say You're One of Them, 2010
- Mitch Albom, Have a Little Faith, 2010
- John Allen, The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church, 2011
- Stephen Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, 1996
- Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim, 1982-
- Arthur Ashe, Days of Grace, 1993-1999
- Andrea Barrett, The Voyage of the Narwhal, 2000
- Peter Behrens, The Law of Dreams, 2007-2009
- Robert N. Bellah and Colleagues, Habits of the Heart, 1985-1991
- Peter Berger, Rumor of Angels, 1982-1983
- George Bernanos, Diary of a Country Priest, 1982-
- Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, The Gift of Peace, 1997
- Ben Birnbaum, “How to Pray: Reverence, Stories, And the Rebbe’s Dream,” in Kathleen Norris (ed.), The Best American Essays 2001, 2002
- Ben Birnbaum, Take Heart: Catholic Writers on Hope in our Time, 2008
- Allan Bloom, Closing of the American Mind, 1987
- Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons, 1982-
- Tom Brokaw, The Greatest Generation, 1999
- Frederick Buechner, Godric, 1984
- Olive Ann Burns, Cold Sassy Tree, 1991-93
- Albert Camus, The Fall, 1982-
- Ethan Canin, Emperor of the Air, 1994-1995
- Evan S. Connell, Son of the Morning Star, 1985
- George Crile, Charlie Wilson’s War, 2005
- Annie Dillard, An American Childhood, 1990-1991
- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1986-1989
- Annie Dillard, The Living, 1992
- Charles F. Donovan, S.J., History of Boston College, 1990-1993
- Brian Doyle, The Wet Engine, 2007-
- Clare Dunsford, Spelling Love with an X: A Mother, a Son, and the Gene that Binds Them, 2008, 2010-2011
- Freeman Dyson, Weapons and Hope, 1984-1985
- Paul Elie, The Life You Save May Be Your Own, 2004-2006
- Joseph Ellis, His Excellency: George Washington, 2005-
- Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man, 1982-1997
- Shusaku Endo, Deep River, 1995-1997
- Shusaku Endo, Silence, 1982-1994
- Anne Fadiman, Ex Libris, 2001
- David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere's Ride, 1995
- Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1982-
- Thomas Flanagan, The End of the Hunt, 1994
- Thomas Flanagan, Tenants of Time, 1988
- Thomas Flanagan, The Year of the French, 1982-1986
- Antonia Fraser, Mary Queen of Scots, 1982-1985
- Jane Gardam, God on the Rocks, 2011-2012
- Jane Gardam, The Queen of the Tambourine 2012
- Lisa Genova, Still Alice, 2011
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies, 1983-1990
- Adam Gopnik, Paris to the Moon, 2002
- Mary Gordon, Final Payments, 1982-1989
- Thomas Grady and Paula Huston (eds.) Signatures of Grace: Catholic Writers on the Sacraments, 2000-2001
- Elizabeth Graver, Unravelling, 1998
- Elizabeth Graver, The Honey Thief, 2000
- Graham Greene, The End of the Affair, 2000-2005
- Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory, 1982-1999, 2006-
- Thomas Groome, What Makes Us Catholic, 2002
- David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars, 1996
- Patricia Hampl, The Florist's Daughter, 2008-
- Ron Hansen, Atticus, 1997-1998
- Michael Harrington, The Other America, 1982-1986
- Shirley Hazzard, The Great Fire, 2005
- Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, 2000-2004
- Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, 2003
- Etty Hillesum, An Interrupted Life, 1990-2007
- Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, 2006
- James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1982-2000
- Sebastian Junger, The Perfect Storm, 1998-2003
- John Keegan, Face of Battle, 1982-1995
- Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, 1986
- Thomas Keneally, Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, 1982-1983
- Thomas Keneally, The Confederates, 1984
- William Kennedy, Ironweed, 1985-1987
- Ross King, Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling, 2004
- Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees, 1991-1995
- Milan Kundera, Immortality, 1995-1996
- Milan Kundera, The Joke, 1991
- Florence Ladd, Sarah’s Psalm, 1999
- Guiseppe Lampedusa, The Leopard, 1982-1997
- H. C. Robbins Landon, 1791 Mozart's Last Year, 1991
- Margaret Laurence, The Stone Angel, 1987
- Dennis Lehane, The Given Day, 2008-2009
- William Leonard, S.J. The Letter Carrier, 1993
- William J. Leonard, S.J., Where Thousands Fell, 1995
- Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics, 2006
- Bernard Lewis, The Crisis of Islam, 2003
- Alan Lightman, Einstein's Dreams, 1993
- Anthony J. Lucas, Common Ground, 1986
- Paul Mariani, Thirty Days, 2002
- Yann Martel, Life of Pi, 2003
- James Martin, S.J., The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, 2010-
- Suzanne Matson, The Hunger Moon, 1998
- Suzanne Matson, The Tree-Sitter, 2006
- Suzanne Matson, A Trick of Nature, 2001
- Francois Mauriac, Viper's Tangle, 1982
- Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing, 1994
- Eugene McCarthy, Up 'Til Now, 1987
- Frank McCourt, Angela's Ashes, 1997-1998
- David McCullough, John Adams, 2002
- David McCullough, Truman, 1993-
- Alice McDermott, After This, 2007-
- Alice McDermott, At Weddings and Wakes, 1993-1994
- Alice McDermott, Charming Billy, 1999-2000
- Alice McDermott, Child of My Heart, 2003-2010
- James M. McPherson, The Battle Cry of Freedom, 1989
- Stephen Miller, Conversation: A History of a Declining Art, 2006
- Antonio Monda, Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion, 2008-2009
- J. Donald Monan, Echoes of a University Presidency, 2008
- Charles Morris, American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built America’s Most Powerful Church, 1999-2010
- Gloria Naylor, Women of Brewster Place, 1994-1999
- Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son, 1998-
- Christopher Nolan, Under the Eye of the Clock, 1988
- Thomas O'Connor, The Boston Irish, 1996-1997
- Thomas O'Connor, Civil War Boston, 1998
- Thomas O’Connor, The Hub: Boston Past and President, 2001
- John O'Malley, S.J. The First Jesuits, 1994-
- Thomas P. O'Neill, Man of the House, 1988-91
- James O'Toole, The Faithful, 2008
- Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus Through the Centuries, 1987-2004
- Ann Petry, The Street, 1996-2000
- David Pietrusza, 1948, 2011
- S.M. Plokhy, Yalta, 2011
- J. F. Powers, Morte d'Urban, 1982-1984
- J. F. Powers, Wheat that Springeth Green, 1989-1990
- Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, 2005-2010
- Marilynne Robinson, Home, 2000, 2011
- Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping, 1997-1999
- O. E. Rolvaag, Giants in the Earth, 1982-1983
- Colin A. Ronan, The Natural History of the Universe, 1992
- Tim Russert, Big Russ and Me, 2005
- Tim Russert, Wisdom of Our Fathers, 2007
- Simon Schama, Citizens, 1989
- Nancy Lusignan Schulz, Fire and Roses, 2001
- Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels, 1999-
- Hampton Sides, Ghost Soldiers, 2003
- Ignazio Silone, Bread and Wine, 1983-1992
- Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands, 2011
- Dava Sobel, Galileo’s Daughter, 2001-2004
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The First Circle, 1982-1988
- Wallace Stegner, Collected Short Stories, 1990-
- Wallace Stegner, Crossing to Safety, 1989
- Wallace Stegner, Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs, 1992
- Peter Steinfels, A People Adrift, 2004-2005
- Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club, 1990
- R. H. Tawney, Religion and Rise of Capitalism, 1982-1983
- Stuart Taylor, K.C. Johnson, Until Proven Innocent Political Correctness and the Shameful Injustices of the Duke Lacrosse Rape Case, 2008-2009
- Studs Terkel, Race: How Blacks & Whites Think & Feel About The American Obsession, 1992
- Christopher Tilghman, In a Father's Place, 1992-1993
- Sigrid Undset, Gunnar's Daughter, 1989
- Sigrid Undset, Kristin Lavransdatter, 1982-1988, 1990-
- Jeanette Walls, Half Broke Horses, 2010
- Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, 1982-
- David Warsh, Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations, 2007
- Bill Watterson, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, 1996
- Mark Whitaker, My Long Trip Home, 2011
- Garry Wills, Saint Augustine, 2000-
- Simon Winchester, River at the Center of the World, 1997, 2011
- Jay Winik, April 1865, The Month that Saved America, 2004-
- Alan Wolfe, The Transformation of American Religion, 2004
- Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities, 1988
- Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, 1982-1990
- Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, 1982-1996
Recommendations for an evening of good reading from Fr. William Neenan.