![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/Amazon3-192x300.jpg\")
Photo credit: Amazon.<\/p><\/div>\n
Ever feel like you\u2019ve just been running the same race for the past ten years with no end in sight? Do you frequently find\u00a0<\/span>yourself exclaiming, \u201cI never asked to be born\u201d? Tired of the constant performance of being alive? Not really able (or caring) to separate fantasy from reality anymore? Well then, it may just be me and my dubious half-alter ego you\u2019ve been looking for. (Timequake\u00a0<\/em>by Kurt Vonnegut<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You interested in hiking 2,000 miles in one boot to kick a nasty heroin and sex addiction with me?\u00a0(Wild <\/i>by Cheryl Strayed<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n I live in the South, and my family lives in the South, and we\u2019ve never left the South. All I know is death, carpentry and horses. Coffins are hard to make. I have to go now, before the rain comes. (As I Lay Dying<\/em> by William Faulkner<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Closeted gay man looking for love and fearing for my immortal soul among fellow expatriots in the mythic and wild streets of Paris. I\u2019d only recommend picking me up if you\u2019re ready to deal with constant moments of internal paranoia, grappling with masculinity and an affair of life and death–without hardly leaving your bedroom. (Giovanni\u2019s Room <\/i>by James Baldwin<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit: Paris Review.<\/p><\/div>\n A lot of nineteenth century novels are respected as standalone stories, but this twentieth century prequel might make things a little more interesting. From a British novel about love to a complicated story about race, gender, place and stereotypes, this book takes one popular story and completely flips it over on its head. Take a trip to the Caribbean with this book and enjoy the ride along the way…(Wide\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span>Sargasso Sea\u00a0<\/i>by Jean Rhys<\/strong>).<\/p>\n I\u2019m still unsure as to how we all got here. I tried to stop thinking about it long ago. They took us all to a school and trained us to be perfect women. I guess I did a good enough job. The only thing I care about anymore is my daughter. I need her to be safe. I used to watch a woman on TV who made beautiful music. Now the bastards are always trying to grind me down. (The Handmaid’s Tale\u00a0<\/em>by Margaret Atwood<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Do you like drama? Gossip? Romance? Comedy? This is the novel for you. Taking you through the dynamics of a family of 5 daughters who must be married off to the husband of their mother\u2019s choosing, one can only imagine the issues that arise.<\/span> Dealing with issues of class and how one fits in properly with society seems to be the only thing that matters. Lavish party invites and characters in love…what could go wrong? (Pride and Prejudice\u00a0<\/em>by Jane Austen<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit: Amazon.<\/p><\/div>\n I\u2019m unsure of myself; I feel like a sham. I spent the summer in New York, but when I got home, I started to feel worse and worse. I\u2019m trying to write a novel. My mother doesn\u2019t understand. Men don\u2019t either. I miss my father.\u00a0(The Bell Jar\u00a0<\/em>by Sylvia Plath<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Pick me up if you\u2019re interested in awkward conversations on the school bus about The Smiths, appreciate the post-punk scene or you\u2019re the type of person who loves hand-picked playlists on a TDK cassette tape. (Eleanor and Park <\/i>by Rainbow Rowell<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Teen angst ain’t so grand. I’m tired of this “nice to meet you” bullshit.\u00a0Let me buy you a drink and tell you about my brother\u2019s baseball mitt. (The Catcher in the Rye<\/i> by J. D. Salinger<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n A retired music teacher and an African immigrant move to the countryside of Northern England. What follows is a story of two characters that reflects on universal issues like unshakeable loneliness, permeating racism, reimaginations of what it means to be a citizen and the ways seemingly opposite lives interconnect–and how willing we are to let them. (A Distant Shore\u00a0<\/em>by Caryl Phillips<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit: Goodreads.<\/p><\/div>\n Monsters, cottagers, scientists, oh my! If you are interested in science fiction and monsters who want to find love then you have picked the right novel.\u00a0(Frankenstein\u00a0<\/em>by Mary Shelley<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My mother died in an explosion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I miss her so much, but I have her favorite painting to remember her. I met a Russian kid; he introduced me to drugs and women. My guilt haunts me every day, and it tears me into a thousand pieces over the course of my life (The Goldfinch\u00a0<\/em>by Donna Tartt<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Repressed late-twentysomething doing my best to act like a sensible and grounded young woman, even if this means rejecting the love of my life (coming up on eight years of pining) to preserve my family\u2019s reputation. Send me a letter or a few passionate glances across a crowded theatre sometime and save me from this silent suffering. (Persuasion <\/i>by Jane Austen<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Powwows and dancing and magic and suspense and death and jealousy and greed and ghosts. This book has it all. (The Grass Dancer\u00a0<\/em>by Susan Power<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bangladeshi mother seeking liberation in London\u2019s East End from an arranged marriage. Ready for small acts of defiance, like a sewing job and an unaccomplaied walk around town, to an affair with radical protest and cultural and religious identity. (Brick Lane<\/em><\/strong> by Monica Ali<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit: Amazon.<\/p><\/div>\n Heartbroken over a summer fling? I am too, but at least I\u2019m getting to work on time. Oh, and I got some free fruit while it lasted. I\u2019d better go now before my neurotic Jewish aunt yells at me for talking too loud, but feel free to look me up later in the phone book if you\u2019re into class conflict, religious stereotypes and sex on dusty old couches.\u00a0(Goodbye, Columbus<\/em> by Philip Roth<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A cross-generational search among mothers and daughters to define their femininity and secure their identity as Chinese Americans, sometimes holding tight to family traditions, sometimes learning to let go, sometimes not realizing what they\u2019ve lost until it\u2019s gone. (The Joy Luck Club <\/i>by Amy Tan<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n This play takes you back to medieval Scotland to explore the castles there. Out for revenge and seeking the throne, these characters are in for a wild ride.\u00a0(Macbeth\u00a0<\/em>by William Shakespeare<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One of the best ways to try to learn about Native American cultures is to try your hand at reading native poetry. Go ahead. Take this book home with you and dive into the lyricism, the details, the personal. You know you want to.\u00a0(When My Brother Was an Aztec\u00a0<\/em>by Natalie Diaz<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Photo credit: Wikimedia.<\/p><\/div>\n Are you ready to be taken back to the summer of 1926? \u00a0This novel promises to immerse you into a new world of glitz and glam and everything in between. It<\/span>\u00a0follows the life of a billionaire and represents the extremes one goes to for wealth and, hopefully, love. (The Great Gatsby\u00a0<\/em>by F. Scott Fitzgerald<\/strong>). I\u2019ve got a lot of death in me, and rats. We had to close down the towns; the situation grew out of hand. The doctors try to come up with a cure and fail many times before reaching a solution. For some, though, it\u2019s already too late. (The Plague\u00a0<\/em>by Albert Camus<\/strong>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n California in the 60s. It\u2019s hot, grimy, and full of tragedy. Strap yourself in for a ride through Hell and back.\u00a0(Play It As It Lays<\/em> by Joan Didion<\/strong>).<\/span><\/p>\n Patient and contemplative lawyer attempting to simultaneously fight an unjust system with logic and pragmatism, and raise his children to be intelligent and ethical individuals. For fans of naive narrators getting up close and personal with the Golden Rule, or people looking to break into the house of their creepy mythical maybe-murderer neighbor. (To Kill a Mockingbird\u00a0<\/em>by Harper Lee<\/strong>).<\/p>\n For weekly book recommendations and notifications about English Department events, follow the department on Instagram (@owuenglishdepartment<\/a>).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/ParisReview-204x300.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/Amazonwhatever-200x300.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/Goodreads2-194x300.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/Amazon5-195x300.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/engblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/118\/2018\/03\/Wikipedia4-201x300.jpg\")
\n<\/span><\/p>\n