This winter – in tribute to having no academic responsibilities for one month – get ready to curl up on the couch and indulge in some reading for pleasure. Reading literature allows one to, even if for just a brief moment, escape the world in they are in and become a part of the narrative that is printed upon the pages of a novel.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
I think everyone has been stressed out by the dysfunctionality of family at one point or another, especially around the holidays. If you are looking for a story where a broad range of emotions are expressed then this is a good one for you. Spanning over a few decades, this novel follows the stories of six children from different families forced together after the marriage of their parents.
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The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
A young college girl listens to a famous speaker who fuels the ambition she already has. This is a story about people who become mentors to us, encourage us along the way, and believe in us for our goodness and in spite of the bad. If you are in need of some motivation, I highly encourage this novel to help spark the “flame we all hope is flickering inside us, waiting to be seen and fanned by the right person at the right time.”
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The Immoralists by Chloe Benjamin
Chloe Benjamin’s second novel follows the lives of four young kids until their deaths. Dying of heat in the summer of 1969 in New York, they wind up being told the day of their death by a traveling fortune teller. The novel takes turns sharing the lives of each of the four children and how this one day enabled them to live the rest of their lives. There is a juggling act of certainty and uncertainty that these characters must perform carefully. At the end of the novel, you are left debating if we knew the day our lives would end, would that effect our actions in life?
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Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Despite its standing as a classic, I have not yet read this story of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy. With the much anticipated, contemporary adaption of Little Women by Greta Gerwig, I feel I would be doing myself an injustice if I went to see the film without ever reading the novel. So, upon my arrival home I will definitely be caught reading this before its release on December 25th.
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The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Tartt’s razor sharp narrative interweave complication of understanding one’s identity and the battle between right and wrong that is so prevalent on every page. A group of eccentric Northeast college students are isolated within their Classics studies when things being to go awry with the entrance of a new boy and the spiraling of an insider. The puzzle-like narratives and beautifully interwoven sentences snake their way until the last simply minded line of the novel to sustain your attention in spite of the lack of brevity.
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