Many students use the library when getting work done (usually alone) or when trying but failing to get work done (almost always with friends), but they may neglect the building’s original purpose: checking out books, especially just for fun.
As a lifelong devourer of books, I’ve read several novels and nonfiction books on the shelves of MSU’s Library. I noticed that most of these books had been checked out once or twice before, but that’s a pretty uneven ratio of students taking books from the library to the total number of MSU students (over 50,000!) with access to said books.
Even with the stresses of homework and the lure of screens, I hope students take notice of the printed pages around them this upcoming semester, so here are five novels I recommend to different types of readers.
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh (2022)
In Ottessa Moshfegh’s most recent novel, Lapvona, the title’s medieval village is rife with misfortune. The Lord’s tyranny over his people goes without punishment, leading the villagers to suffer droughts, famines, and Lord-paid bandits. One villager is disfigured Little Marek, the 13-year-old son of a disgraced farmer, who commits a crime that lands him living in the Lord’s castle.
Anyone who’s read an Ottessa Moshfegh book knows of her stories’ and characters’ unconventional nature, and Lapvona is no exception. I would argue Lapvona is even stranger than Eileen (2015) and A Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) due to its unique setting, which lends to some very memorable gross-out scenes and odd satire I can’t imagine finding anywhere else.
I recommend Lapvona to readers who enjoy memorable yet uncomfortable stories. I especially recommend this to readers who want to interrupt conversations with, “Oh, you think THAT book was weird? Then you haven’t read Lapvona because there’s a scene where this ruler guy [REDACTED] because [REDACTED], so then [REDACTED], and that’s not even the wildest part.”
The Scholomance Series by Naomi Novik (2020, 2021, 2022)
Young adult dark fantasy The Scholomance trilogy follows grumpy teenage wizard El Higgins as she navigates a magical, reality-bending school that is nowhere near as whimsical as Hogwarts.
The Scholomance series is one of my all-time favorites, so I took notice when I caught The Golden Enclaves on the shelves. However, The Golden Enclaves is the third in the trilogy, so I would recommend starting with A Deadly Education (El’s junior year at this school, where she learns of something deadly brewing in the basement) then continuing with The Last Graduate (most of El’s senior year, where many students battle an impossible situation) before reading the last book.
I recommend this trilogy to almost anyone, though I warn readers of the protagonist’s stream-of-consciousness narration, which many reviewers say they had to adjust to when first reading (including me). Ironically, the narration itself improved my reading experience, as this made an already great story and in-depth world-building even more original and full of detail.
Nightcrawling by Leita Mottley (2022)
Debut novel Nightcrawling follows 17-year-old Kiara, a high school dropout who feels responsible for supporting her older brother and neighbor’s young son. When a miscommunication lands her doing work she’d never considered, Kiara learns of dark happenings in San Francisco’s law enforcement.
That premise may sound like the set-up for a thriller, but Nightcrawling is much more literary, focusing on how our protagonist handles each conflict in her life, both with and without success. Even with such dramatic events happening on the pages, author Leita Mottley chooses small, subtle details in each scene, like a filmmaker moving the camera uncomfortably close, which leaves a much bigger impact on the reader than if she had shown the entire scene from afar.
I recommend Nightcrawling to readers who enjoy poetic, literary writing and narratives. I believe reading this novel in just a few sittings instead of slowly over time will improve readers’ experience, but doing so may not always be possible in a busy students’ semester, so check out this book during weeks not leading up to midterms or finals.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey (2022)
Horror novel Just Like Home switches between two time periods: Vera returning to her childhood home as an estranged adult to care for her dying mother; and decades before, when Vera was a child, unsure of what her father could be hiding in the basement that he’d built. Throughout the story, Vera learns from investigating the small house itself what her father had been creating this whole time.
Many horror novels rely on gore and shock value, leaving little time for atmosphere. While these elements aren’t absent from Just Like Home, the true eeriness comes from the weirdness of the characters and the setting, all described in heavy prose reminiscent of a literary novel. For a while, I thought I knew where this story was headed, but I was wrong. Very wrong.
I recommend Just Like Home to readers who enjoy when books throw mind-boggling twists, especially endings that cause them to rethink the entire story – but less in an “Oh, it all makes sense now!” way and more of an angry “HUH???”
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (2022)
Many short story collections tie together through the theme or timing of when they were written, but every short story in How High We Go in the Dark builds a larger narrative surrounding a deadly virus that spreads worldwide (no, not COVID, though the similarities can be striking in the most unexpected ways). Each chapter moves forward and backward in time, showing how the plague came to be and its immediate aftereffects, but also how humans in the United States and Japan attempted to push forward.
Like many books consisting of short stories, not all chapters will appeal to every reader. My favorites were “30,000 Years Beneath a Eulogy,” showing how the virus escaped the Arctic ice due to a search team’s unwitting efforts; “Pig Son,” about a grieving scientist using a hyper-intelligent animal as a replacement child; and “A Gallery A Century, A Cry A Millenium,” which leans even more heavily into sci-fi with an expedition to find a new home galaxies away.
I recommend How High We Go in the Dark to readers who enjoy books that combine science-fiction with literary writing. I especially recommend this to readers who enjoy stories that make them cry, which I did several times while reading this book.
Summary
I love recommending books, especially those that are easily accessible (such as books in a campus library that’s free for students). Lapvona, The Scholomance series, Nightcrawling, Just Like Home, and How High We Go in the Dark are far from the only good books on MSU’s shelves, and I hope to recommend more in the future.