2008 Woodie Awards
Better Read Than Dead
Books from the academic experience
Jennifer Tanko
Arts | 4/6/08
Today's installment of Better Read Than Dead is somewhat unique and calls for a different type of introduction.
Rather than picking a single, recently released novel to share my thoughts about, I will be counting down the top five books I've read for school. My list will exclude popular staples such as "Catcher in the Rye" or books that every new professor you have assumes you've never read before such as "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." By exploring the most monumental books and short stories of my academic experience, I hope that you, gentle reader, will take a moment and appreciate books that were important to you, or at least ones you enjoyed hearing about in lecture but never actually cracked open.
5. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe: In high school, I saw not reading assigned novels as a form of protest, mainly because I was lazy but also because I wanted to be reading Tolkien and Robert Jordan. However, "Things Fall Apart" is one of those precious few novels I abandoned my problematic morals for and in the end, really enjoyed. This is essentially the first African novel in English to receive critical acclaim throughout the world and is seen as an archetypal novel for the region it is based in.
4. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell: Although I genuinely hope and acknowledge that a majority of students have read this, I felt it necessary to include this allegorical work on the list because one can never overemphasize how simply badass it is. For that one Towerlight reader out there who doesn't know what this is, it is a satirical work concerning Soviet totalitarianism with the main characters consisting of farm animals who each serve as different roles in the corruption of Marxist thought and theory. This novel is fun to read on both levels of analysis, and is still relevant in revolutionary political thought.
3. "Patriotism" by Yukio Mishima: This short story gives a beautifully detailed account of a Japanese war-era couple's final night before committing ritual suicide for ethical reasons. Everything depicted is ritualized, and the couple takes a surprisingly relaxed view of their forthcoming, self-inflicted violent end. However, there is a sense of true passion and love throughout all of what a western reader might find startling: arranged marriage, female oppression and honorable suicide. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend Googling it and experiencing it there. This is such a unique and powerful story about interpretations of what it means to be Japanese, and although it is seemingly grotesque at some points, it's a relatively quick read that everyone can get something out of.
Rather than picking a single, recently released novel to share my thoughts about, I will be counting down the top five books I've read for school. My list will exclude popular staples such as "Catcher in the Rye" or books that every new professor you have assumes you've never read before such as "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." By exploring the most monumental books and short stories of my academic experience, I hope that you, gentle reader, will take a moment and appreciate books that were important to you, or at least ones you enjoyed hearing about in lecture but never actually cracked open.
5. "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe: In high school, I saw not reading assigned novels as a form of protest, mainly because I was lazy but also because I wanted to be reading Tolkien and Robert Jordan. However, "Things Fall Apart" is one of those precious few novels I abandoned my problematic morals for and in the end, really enjoyed. This is essentially the first African novel in English to receive critical acclaim throughout the world and is seen as an archetypal novel for the region it is based in.
4. "Animal Farm" by George Orwell: Although I genuinely hope and acknowledge that a majority of students have read this, I felt it necessary to include this allegorical work on the list because one can never overemphasize how simply badass it is. For that one Towerlight reader out there who doesn't know what this is, it is a satirical work concerning Soviet totalitarianism with the main characters consisting of farm animals who each serve as different roles in the corruption of Marxist thought and theory. This novel is fun to read on both levels of analysis, and is still relevant in revolutionary political thought.
3. "Patriotism" by Yukio Mishima: This short story gives a beautifully detailed account of a Japanese war-era couple's final night before committing ritual suicide for ethical reasons. Everything depicted is ritualized, and the couple takes a surprisingly relaxed view of their forthcoming, self-inflicted violent end. However, there is a sense of true passion and love throughout all of what a western reader might find startling: arranged marriage, female oppression and honorable suicide. If you haven't read this, I highly recommend Googling it and experiencing it there. This is such a unique and powerful story about interpretations of what it means to be Japanese, and although it is seemingly grotesque at some points, it's a relatively quick read that everyone can get something out of.
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