Reading Week
February 18, 2010 12:35 PM
The life of a student is intimately tied to books; technology has certainly changed and now we may have our noses stuck in e-books more so then we used to, but the book remains a staple of our educational diets.
In an unfortunate corollary, textbooks line bookshelves, dog-eared and highlighted while all those books you “really mean to read” languish with spines unbroken.
For those among us who have domestic fantasies of darkly painted rooms lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves; or who simply drool over the thought of actually needing one of those sliding library ladders, reading for pleasure is a rare escape from the analytical reading we are subjected to on a day to day basis.
For the literarily inclined, vacations generally mean one thing: packing up to a half of your allowed luggage weight in books.
Even those who would prefer not to be lumped into the category of obsessive can most likely understand the appeal of paperbacks on the beach, historical fiction on boats, and collections of short stories packed in the trunk of the car during camping trips and devoured between hikes.
Six Months in Sudan
James Maskalyk
This book was passed on to me by a close friend who bought it for herself after having dragged another’s copy through Africa.
Though she still covets the original copy, covered in red dirt and pawed through several times, her copy was the one that found its way into my summer reading list.
After reading it I immediately bought my own copy which I have subsequently pawned off on any of my friends who still listen to me speak for more than five minutes.
Maskalyk tells the story of his months working in Sudan as a young doctor with Medecins Sans Frontieres, his writing is raw and moving and while the book provides more question then it answers it leaves you feeling profoundly affected.
This book has been described to me as both life changing and as simply an extremely good story. While the topics are heavy, it is well written and easy to read.
I am the Messenger Markus Zusak
I am endlessly guilty of picking up books my mother picked out for my younger sisters and enjoying them immensely.
“I am the Messenger” is a young-adult fiction book, and winner of multiple awards for teen literature.
In order to assure myself that my tastes aren’t overly juvenile I’ve run this book through my roommate and other friends. All assure me that it is as good as I think it is.
Teen literature tends to suggest simple and perhaps cheesy plots; but “I am the messenger” is anything but. It focuses on Ed Kennedy who through a set of unusual circumstances is “chosen” to bring certain “messages” to people in need.
Zusak manages to balance enough whimsy to make the book age appropriate for teens with enough grit and reality to make it very readable by adults.
Frost(s) R.D. Wingfield
The eternal debate between murder mystery lovers is that of American writers vs. British writers. While I wish I could elaborate on this division; the book lovers in my life have always fallen vehemently on the side of the Brits.
In a house with a wall dedicated to murder mystery upon murder mystery, P.D James stacked haphazardly over Peter Robinsons, the only crime-fiction I have ever been able to drag myself through are those by R.D. Wingfield. The Frost series begins with “Frost at Christmas” and continues on in the thread of “Touch of Frost,” “Night Frost” etc.
In true British style the writing is blunt and full of dry wit. Inspector Frost is describable only in his native dialect, as being an utterly mad “old codger” but for those who enjoy distinctly British wit and bite these novels are quick to get through and thoroughly enjoyable.
The Sartorialist Scott Shuman
Shuman is the king of street-fashion photographers, regularly posting at his blog (http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/). His photography is beautiful and simple and provides enough inspiration weekly for even the most sartorially inclined person while his writing is unassuming and casual.
For those planning on a March break with the minimal requisite number of vowels and consonants, this book is largely pictorial; and who doesn’t love a good picture book.
For the avid photographer, Shuman’s work is a study in impromptu portraiture and street-shooting, for the fashionista it is a bible of eclectic style and substance.
Jane Sexes it Up Merri Lee Johnson
In the interest of full disclosure I’m only about half way through this book; trying madly to squeeze pages in between lunch breaks and essay writing. Already I want to throw it at every aspiring feminist I walk past, and unless things take a drastic turn for the worse I can see this book taking a key spot in my slowly growing library. Indeed, when I bought it the woman working the counter at Venus Envy announced to me that it changed her way of understanding feminism.
I highly recommend it to anyone who anyone who has struggled with conforming their sexual practices/beliefs/desires into a feminist framework. “Jane sexes it up” is an attempt (thus far) to reconnect with feminist history and to place sexual experiences and the “smart-ass take-no-shit anarcha-orgasmic feminist persona” within historical and cultural frameworks, but to do so in a way that questions sexual shame.
Essays included in “Jane sexes it up” include: “Pearl Necklace: The Politics of Masturbation Fantasies,” “Of the Flesh and Fancy: Spanking and the Single Girl” and “The Feminist Wife: Notes from a Political “Engagement” among others all of interest to anyone who has ever questioned the relationship of sex and feminism.
