Books

Katie D.

August 15, 2010 - 7:06 PM

One week from tomorrow is my first day of grad school. I can't even believe how fast the summer has gone, and that suddenly now it feels like the rug has been pulled from under my feet. Orientation is Friday: a new cohort of students, new professors, a new field of study. I'm busy with all kinds of preparations: getting ahead on work projects, cleaning my room, spending time with friends. Reading. Because while I don't really know what to expect from this first year in the Conflict Resolution program at the University of Oregon, I don't plan on having lots of disposable free time.

I've been reading up a storm this summer. It's been quite refreshing to spend time on novels for a change, plus some entertaining and self-selected nonfiction. I've also taken up a discipline of reading the local news on a daily basis. I'm feeling more linked in to Eugene life and more connected to my love for books than I have in years. And thank goodness: there are hundreds of books on my waiting list. But here's some of what's being read this summer:

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series by Stieg Larsson This is one of the best mystery novels I've ever read. I totally love the characters and the style. I also saw the movie when it was showing at the Bijou theater in Eugene. While it was a masterfully produced movie, I wouldn't recommend it to most people because of the sexual violence portrayed. However, the series is a fascinating study of a revenge by a woman against men who prey on women. I spent about four hours today finishing The Girl Who Played With Fire, and can't wait to read the final volume of the series.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audry Niffenegger This was a re-read on tape. I love this novel, and it is one of the few with the power to completely break my heart, time after time. She has a second novel out in paperback, which I look forward to reading soon.

Everything is Illuminated, by Jonathan Safron Foer This was probably the most exciting book I read this summer. It is of a style all its own, with a tone and vocabulary unparalleled in my reading experience. Since the narrator is not a native English speaker, the syntax and word choice is hilarious: it reads exactly like a second-language-speaker talks, complete with the confusion, the untranslatable humor, and the blocks that end unresolved. The hilarity accompanies a beautiful story about searching for your history, and trying to find wholeness and forgiveness in the process.

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver is the latest of this favorite author's work. I love Barbara Kingsolver completely, and have read everything she's written. This latest is a totally different style from her former novels: it is historical fiction, melding the American Northeast with Mexico, art with politics with writing, and some favorite characters from art history in the forms of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. This touches on a number of topics I love, so even if Kingsolver wasn't a permanent member of my Top Five Favorite Authors, this book would be high on the list of greats.

Graphic Novels This summer has led me to an entirely new genre. I've read five or six graphic novels, and I love them. I'm well on my way to a new nerdy passion. The best have been: the series Y:The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra, Stitches by David Small, The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born by Robin Furth (based on Stephen King's series), and The Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Micheal Bendis. Any and all of these are highly recommended to beginning graphic novel readers.

Vampire novels OK, it's confession time. I, too, have been swept into the vampire mania that is all-too mainstream these days. My primary defense is that I've been a vampire novel reader for years and years, way back to middle school Dracula days, and continuing through young-adult novels by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes and Salem's Lot by Stephen King. A couple of years ago I read Sunshine, by Robin McKinley, which is my favorite vampire book to date and was a delightful re-read a few weeks ago. I'm currently slogging through The Historian by Elisabeth Kostova. It's a good read, but rather slow-going. I also have to confess to having read all of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. They might be what my mom calls "potato chip" books, but they are seriously entertaining and a great series to blaze through in the summer.

(Note: some readers might be Twilight fans. To you I will do the diplomatic courtesy of not explaining, in detail, my opinions regarding this unfortunate stain on the vampire genre. Keep your sparkles to yourself)

Unfortunately, with the summer ending so rapidly, I'll be taking a stack of unread books back to the library. It's one of the saddest moments of back-to-school chores: looking at all those optimistic summer plans and putting them in the "return" bin to await the next school break. I'm particularly sad to send the Wally Lamb novels back to the stacks, but they're too long to realistically start at this academic moment.

So, friends and readers, I challenge you to add a book or two to my wish list. As you can tell, I have a bit of an eclectic taste, running from thrillers to comedies to nonfiction, but generally letting romance lie. Any suggestions? Challenges? Please, I dare you. Fill my winter break with some high-quality or attention-grabbing literature.

And read a good one in my honor as grad school begins.