Truman Capote preferred breakfast at Tiffany’s. Lewis Carroll’s White Queen savored her six impossible things before breakfast in Wonderland. But for nearly two dozen book-loving Fordham students, McMahon Hall’s Room 109 was the place to be on a recent Saturday in April.
At a Books and Brunch event hosted by Fordham’s Poetic Justice Institute, students cozied up with bagels and romance, muffins and mystery, scrambled eggs and so much poetry.
Sarah Gambito, the director of Fordham’s creative writing program, organized the gathering after seeing a New York Times article about similar reading parties throughout the city.
“I loved it so,” she said. “To see their commitment to close reading, to see their excitement and joy over bonding with words. To feed them. … Mary Oliver has said that writing is like speaking and reading is like listening. In our difficult times, it has been hard for folks to listen to one another. This event seemed to create a bridge between nourishment, reading, listening, and celebrating.”
Here’s a look at some of the books they brought to read.
Jamison Rodgers, FCRH ’24
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
“My mom recommended it to me, actually. I’m about five chapters in. I thought it was going to be a lighthearted read, but there’s some more dramatic, more real points to it as well. So it’s a nice, surprising read.”
Isabella DeJoy, FCRH ’24
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
“Anytime I hear ‘bookshop’ in the title of a book, I am drawn to it. And it is a little bit of a fantasy book, so I’m drawn to that as well.”
Sophia Grausso, FCLC ’24
All About Love by bell hooks
“I’m currently working on a thesis, and I love All About Love because I can revisit different sections and take what I need. And so, yeah, I’m just doing a little refresh today in the community section.”
Sarah Gambito
Director of the Creative Writing Program
The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by Ray Oldenburg
“It’s about how the fabric of a community is built through this idea of a third space. It’s different from home and work, bringing people in proximity to one another—which is an event like this too.”
Jake Colangelo, FCLC ’26
Walt Whitman’s Songs of Male Intimacy and Love: “Live Oak, with Moss” and “Calamus” edited by Betsy Erkkila
“It’s a collection of Walt Whitman’s poetry [from] a journal that was undiscovered until the 1960s, and then two sections of Leaves of Grass. I think it’s really cool. It is queer poetry before language for queerness existed. So you get to see Whitman invent that.”
Katie Lussen, FCRH ’24
Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
“My dad gave me this over winter break because I read East of Eden last year and I loved it. I figured today would be a perfect day to get started on it.”
Valerie Tauro, FCLC ’25
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
“It was recommended to me by my roommate because I found out about the show on Amazon Prime, and I thought it might be nice to read it first because usually I think the books are better. So far, it’s amazing.”
Chaise Jones, FCLC ’24
Hardheaded Weather by Cornelius Eady
“I’ve been really trying to get into poetry recently—or maybe actually more local poetry. I’m very excited to keep reading it. And I like the work being done at Cave Canem, the poetry workshop co-founded by Cornelius Eady.”
Rebecca Chretien, FCRH ’24
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
“I picked it up maybe a couple months ago because I was just looking for a new fun read. I feel like I haven’t had the chance to pleasure-read a lot lately. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, and it has maybe two others after. I’ve just been craving a series. And the cover’s really pretty.”
Jackie Kobeski, FCRH ’24
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
“This is the first book in the book club that we’re starting at Fordham’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honors society. I’m the vice president of our chapter.”
Madison Morris, FCRH ’24
Hardheaded Weather by Cornelius Eady
“It felt like a bit of a cop-out because it’s a required book for one of my [English] classes. We have an event coming up called the Reid Writers of Color [lecture]. So I picked the book that he’ll be talking about [on April 24], but it’s been really, really, really great. It is so much more enjoyable than I thought it would be because it’s really funny. I’m really liking the part about the homeowners and the honeymoon and the house is breaking apart. I know my sister is just about to start buying a house, and she’s looking at things like electricity and heating. Anyway, it’s really funny because it’s like, ‘Oh, this is what she’s going to go through in a second.’”
Photos and story by B.A. Van Sise, FCLC ’05
