“‘The Devil in the White City’ by Erik Larson. It’s about late 1800s Chicago. It’s fiction but it’s pretty accurate historically.”

— Max Mikulecky, photo media major, Lawrence

“‘Living Dead in Dallas’ from The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. It has vampires and werewolves and all this supernatural stuff. It’s a lot of fun.”

— Jason Peterman, education major, Lawrence

“‘The Lost Symbol’ by Dan Brown. It was about the Masons and it’s excellent.”

— Virginia Kems, merchandise supervisor, Lawrence

“‘Super-Cannes’ by J.G. Ballard. It’s this very upscale corporate environment. It’s a different society and for some reason they advocate violence to deal with the cure the ills of the corporate world.”

— John Smithies, not working, Lawrence

“‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins. It’s about a girl who’s 16 years old and every year they go to the capital to be awarded to be in the hunger games. Pretty much the point of the game is to be the last one alive.”

— Samantha Smithies, fifth-grader, Lawrence