Reading for your own enjoyment can become a luxury in college that not everyone makes time for. Between chapters in textbooks, assigned articles on Blackboard, and editing papers weekly… there is no shortage of reading in college. While the readings our professors assign are of great value and contribute to our education, there is something to be said for reading something of your own choosing, on your own time. Reading for fun teaches us lessons outside the classrooms, changes our perspectives on the world, and exposes us to new ways of thinking. While it sometimes feels like we are insanely busy and too stressed out to read for fun, that is simply not true. Spend one less hour on Facebook, wake up before 2pm on Saturday, and find time to read for fun!
“Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James
The story of Isabel Archer an adventurous and idealistic young women who is determined not to allow anyone else to dictate her future. This novel can most simply be explained as a young woman confronting her destiny, and figuring it out along the way. She does not bend to the rule of society, but follows her own stubborn head and heart.
“The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America” by Daniel Boorstin
In the 24/7 media crazed world we now live in, it is essential to read this book before graduation. Published in 1962, Boorstin invented the idea of “pseudo-events” and explained their implication on society. These pseudo-events he writes of are things such as press conference and political debates, or simply events that are created in order to be reported. In this book Boorstin questions and comments on society’s obsession with the idea of simulations, illusions, and false appearances. When we graduate with a horribly polarized media, PR plagued society, and spun statistics everywhere it would be great to have read The Image.
“The Secret History” by Donna Tartt
This novel takes place in 1990s at a small and terribly picturesque and pretentious liberal arts college in New England. It follows a close-knit group of six students through their tumultuous and mysterious years of college. While this story falls into the murder mystery fiction genre, the subplot can be defined as a tragic romance of the relationships experienced in college. This book is worth the read, if only to make you appreciate and question the strength of the friendships you have formed over your four years at AU.
“The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath
A classic on most reading lists, Sylvia Plath is a must read for any college female. The Bell Jar is a tragic and emotionally gripping story of a woman falling into the confines of insanity. We follow the digression of the young, successful, and beautiful Esther Greenwood into a devastatingly haunted insanity that is exquisitely written. Underneath the darkness is a story of self-identity that all women should read and understand.
“The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” By Junot Díaz
This modern work of fiction is hilariously heartwarming, and a definite must read. The story chronicles the life of Oscar Wao, an overweight Dominican boy growing up in New Jersey who is obsessed with science fiction and falling in love. Oscar has dreams of being the next Tolkien and finally getting his first kiss; his dreams are threatened by an ancient curse that has plagued his family for years. While self-doubt and cynicism are almost unavoidable in college, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a comical account of contemporary America and the human spirit’s ability to persevere.
“Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace
One of DFW’s shorter works, this collection of essays is more realistic for the college schedule, but still a great read. These ten entertaining essays are thought provoking, ridiculous, and just so incredibly true of DFW. While reading you become so enthralled you barely notice you’ve begun to think critically about the mundane occurrences in life. Topics include everything from the Academy Awards of Pornography, to John McCain’s presidential campaign, to the 2003 Maine Lobster Festival. Reading DFW is essential at this time in a young collegiate life because it is the extreme opposite of any and all Blackboard readings you’ve been assigned.
“Ulysses” by James Joyce
While this seems like an unconventional choice for most college females, you will be a better person after reading Joyce’s most celebrated work. This modernist novel by notoriously wordy Irishman James Joyce is not an easy read. Ulysses is approximately 265,000 words in length, uses a lexicon of 30,030 words, and is divided into 18 episodes. That being said, no work of literature will make you appreciate the English language more. Today we take for granted the techniques that Joyce mastered in this book. Stream of consciousness, varied structuring, prose, puns, parodies, allusion, in-depth characterizations, and humor all combine to create one of the most controversial novels in literature. Read it to appreciate everything else you’ll ever read it, or simply read it because you will never have time after college.
“The Innocents Abroad” by Mark Twain
It would be hard to believe you’ve gotten this far into your higher education without reading some of Twain’s work. The Innocents Abroad is a travel book which chronicles Twain’s adventure through Europe and the Holy Land alongside American tourist in 1867. This incredibly popular book hilariously depicts what Twain calls his “Great Pleasure Excursion” while also commenting on and poking fun at the diverse cultures he encounters. What better way to get excited about studying abroad?
“Lucky Jim” by Kingsley Amis
Lucky Jim is set sometime in 1950s England and illustrates the exploits of Jim Dixon, a medieval history professor at a rustic English university. It is a cult classic novel that skillfully executes British humor. When college seems to get too serious, too overwhelming, or just too much… the hostile and up-front tone of this book may help you get through it. It is easy to lose perspective if you stay on campus too long, reading Lucky Jim may help open your eyes, and reminds us that professor are people too!
“Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel García Márquez
What college female reading list would be complete without a heart wrenching love story? Certainly not this one! Love in the Time of Cholera is my absolute favorite romance saga. Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall in love at an early age, passionate and heart-warming kind of love, but life comes between them. Fermina marries someone else, and Florentino is devastated, but hopelessly romantic. Márquez crafts a story that is brutal, beautiful, and better than anything Nicholas Sparks ever wrote. He makes you question love, life, death, and what kind of person you truly are. This love story is a must read for any woman before she leave college and enters the chaotic, beautiful, real world.
Photo credits:
http://www.cocorioko.net/?attachment_id=29787
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-portrait-of-a-lady/id395540427?mt=11
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/159979.The_Image
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29044.The_Secret_History?from_search=true
http://www.youthedesigner.com/2010/03/19/86-beautiful-book-covers/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brief_Wondrous_Life_of_Oscar_Wao
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6751.Consider_the_Lobster_and_Other_Essays
http://books.google.com/books/about/Ulysses.html?id=XE6rwU48KLIC
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2443.The_Innocents_Abroad