What you should be reading now
By
Nathan Brown |
Inside
Published on
Sep. 6, 2009
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What you should have read this summer
Summer reading doesn’t have to end when school begins. Technically, it’s still summer until September 22. Here’s our list of reads —both classic and modern— to pick up now, or keep on your shelf until next summer. We asked Breon Mitchell, Lilly Library Director, what to pick up between Economy and Biology classes.
“Tea-time for the Traditionally Built”
Alexander McCall Smith
Start your list with a little mystery. Mitchell recommends the new No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Novel for a fun summer read. It’s funny, touching, and full of insights into the culture of Botswana, he says.
“East of Eden”
John Steinbeck
Steinbeck displays a supreme skill of guiding a narrative and not getting caught in a web of details. His descriptions of nature are just as beautiful as the scenes he’s describing, like the Salinas Valley in California where the book takes place. If you know the story of Cain and Abel, you know the basic premise of this book. Mitchell says the book tells something important about the time it was written –the 30s and 40s – and what it was like to live and to struggle at that time, but given our failing economic situation, most of us can relate to this work. “East of Eden is partly about hard times,” he says. “And these are hard times.”
“The Road”
Cormac McCarthy
A post-apocalyptic tale akin to none of its science-fiction brethren, “The Road” is a hopeful tale of a father who will literally go to the ends of his known earth for the happiness of his son. McCarthy writes in a simple manner and describes the grim reality the father and son face. This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007. Keep your eyes open: It’s slated to be released in a film version next month. Read the book before you see the film.
“The Old Man and the Sea”
Ernest Hemmingway
High school teachers fail us miserably when they leave this off the required reading list. This seemingly simple tale is of, well, an old man who’s fishing on the sea. “It’s a classic and it has that sort of biblical parable about it,” Mitchell says. “It’s not very long so it makes for very good summer reading.”
You can draw on the themes in the transition from summer to school. Everyone can relate to this book, because it’s about trying to do something difficult, taking chances and working hard to accomplish something even when your survival is at risk.
“My Name is Red”
Orhan Pamuk
Mitchell recommends this Turkish novel with colorful characters (like a tree and a gold coin) in 16th-century Istanbul. It’s an atmospheric interpretation of life in the Ottoman Empire. It also creatively deals with the current debate about women veiling their faces, and what they are allowed to wear in public settings.