President Doti offers up his summer reading, film list

"The Pool," this year's movie suggestion from President Doti.

If you need to update the Netflix queue or are thinking about what to read next, President Jim Doti just sent out his traditional summer book and film recommendations in his annual May letter to Chapman University students.

This year’s picks include:

• David Benioff’s City of Thieves, a World War II coming-of-age story that President Doti calls “one of my favorites of all time.”
• The Uncommon Reader is a witty novella by Alan Bennet that imagines Queen Elizabeth throwing off her royal duties and royally upsetting palace life when she decides to just read, read, read.
• If you love great biography, consider the highly acclaimed Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, the master biographer who also wrote Seabiscuit. In Unbroken Hillenbrand chronicles the life of another American legend, Louis Zamperini. “You’ll love this book. I guarantee it,” he says.
• Since Japan has been on everyone’s mind this year, try The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto by Pico Iyer. Iyer is the insightful and talented essayist, novelist and travel writer who was one of the featured speakers in the university’s Distinguished Writer Series. And hang onto your copy for a special autograph because Iyer is expected to speak on campus again next year.
• Finally, make time to see The Pool, co-written and directed by Chris Smith. President Doti describes this film as a powerful work that tells the story of “real people yearning to find beauty in life.”