Boston University launched a school-wide Common Read program to increase campus connections and create a new tradition through literary conversation.
The initiative intends to create a unifying activity, specifically for first-year and transfer students, across the University community All faculty, staff and students are encouraged to participate, according to BU Today.
“Common Read comes about as a way to form that friendship, and we feel that it can create an opportunity for people to know their neighbor a little bit better,” said Evan Purdie, BU policy, research and innovation analyst.
The program invites all students to read the same book, “Orbital,” by Samantha Harvey. A team from BU Libraries selected the Booker Prize-winning novel as the first read, and the program requested a book that would “resonate with the whole university,” according to the Common Read website.
“I convened a group of thoughtful readers from across our library system to ensure our review incorporated a multiplicity of perspectives and input from those in our libraries who work closely with first-year students,” wrote University Librarian Mark Newton in an email to The Daily Free Press.
The book follows six astronauts circling the earth and captures the day-to-day life of space travel, set through 16 sunsets and sunrises. It reflects on humanity’s fragility by highlighting the connection between Earth and the astronauts as life on the planet continues without them, according to the Booker Prize website.
BU Associate Vice President of Strategy and Innovation Sue Kennedy said the book’s international scope and themes “parallel” incoming students who are meeting new people.
“[The astronauts] are brought together under a certain set of circumstances because of their work, and it’s how they experience both interacting with each other and then sort of thinking about life on Earth as they know it,” Kennedy said.
The book’s non-traditional structure and universal themes are part of what “made it stand out as a book that directly connects to the experience of a new university student and would provide a unifying experience for our campus community,” Newton wrote.
Students can borrow “Orbital” from the University’s libraries or buy it at the BU bookstore. Free e-book copies are offered to first-year and transfer students who order prior to Sept. 21.
Common Read is planning “Orbital” related events for the spring semester, which gives students the entirety of the fall semester to finish it.
The program has not announced any events yet, but the Common Read website currently offers a discussion guide.
“I hope the Common Read will bring people together—students, staff, and faculty alike,” Newton wrote. “Engaging with fiction and the humanities can inspire curiosity and empathy that students can bring to their studies, experiences, and relationships, no matter their major.”