The summer is finally here! The temperatures are rising, the sun is shining, and there’s finally free time to read more! Huzzah! As an English and Drama major, I read so much throughout the school year that in my spare moments, I rarely want to do additional reading. However, the summer is a great time to make a list of all the great things you’ve been meaning to read but never had the time for, and to finally read them! Reading is a nifty way to keep your mind sharp and entertain your imagination. I’ve put together a list of some reads I’ve come upon recently that could be good suggestions for any summer reading list (I attempted to acknowledge many different genres so hopefully the suggestions are diverse).
If you want a book that reflects on identity…
In Another Place, Not Here by Dionne Brand
I cannot express how beautiful this piece of literature is. Switching between the two main locales of Toronto and what is believed to be Grenada, this post modern piece centers around Elizette and Verlia, two Caribbean women struggling to deal with their identities and ideas of belonging to the communities in which they inhabit. Hailing from a background of little education and abusive relationships on the Caribbean island, Elizette has an intense fascination and love for Verlia, who managed to flee the island, immigrate to Toronto, and who regularly recites the works of Fanon and Che Guevara as she embarks on the revolutionary cause. This novel explores the multifaceted ideas of identity in every sense: race, gender, sexuality, and more. It often switches between first person and an unknown third person narration, sometimes without you even realizing it, and is told in two perspectives of Elizette and Verlia. It is a bit of a challenge, since Elizette’s narrative is a lot of broken English, and since the narration slips into different alternating forms so dizzyingly, but Brand’s background as a writer is poetry and this novel is fashioned almost like an extremely long poem. It’s difficult to unpack, but once you do so, the message is beautiful.
If you love history…
Wolf Hall/Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel
Whether you read the play version or the two novels, both are breathtakingly dramatic and beautiful. They tell the massive story of Henry VIII in his crazed quest for a male heir to the throne. Told in the perspective of Sir Thomas Cromwell, the king’s advisor, Henry VIII goes through multiple women while trying to conceive a male son. First, he divorces his first wife Catherine of Aragon as he is allured to Anne Boleyn, who promises a son no matter what (even though that’s sort of a genetic thing? You can’t really control that, Anne, go take a genetics class). Her lust for becoming queen becomes reality, but that reality is short lived once she does not produce a son, and Henry VIII has her executed only to move on to Jane Seymour next. Of course, she will have a son, Edward VI, but we all know this is the son who ascended the throne at the age of 9 and it was very short lived. This tale is a soap opera, Tudor style, only it was REAL which makes it all the more scandalous! I’ve only read and seen the plays (which are still on Broadway, go check em out!) but I’ve heard flawless reviews of the book series as well.
If you love Yes Please by Amy Poehler…
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
I am a major fan of Mindy Kaling and her witty writing, and this book is no exception. She has written hysterical episodes of The Office and of course created/stars in The Mindy Project, and her book is easily another great accomplishment. In it, Mindy is funny and very direct about her struggle in the industry as an Indian female, and she talks about her rise to glory and awesomeness going back to her awkward childhood, days at Dartmouth, her major success with the Off-Broadway comedy “Matt and Ben” (which sort of put her on the map), and how she got her first big break with “The Office”. Mindy’s book is inspiring to keep fighting for your dreams no matter how hard they may seem, and they really give further insight into this wonderful woman who is a pioneer in modern Hollywood today. Read it fast before her new book, Why Not Me, comes out at the end of this year!
If you love dystopia and The Hunger Games…
“The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson
This is a short story, so this is definitely doable even if you happen to be someone who is incredibly busy this summer. Plus, The Hunger Games had to have been based on or inspired by this, because the similarities are too present. The tale starts out with the sun shining in an unnamed small town. Everyone in the town is preparing for some kind of community event which, as you read further into the story, becomes clear that it is a dark and deadly event. Just like in the Hunger Games, one be selected to be killed (only in this universe, it is more direct with the community stoning the selected, versus Suzanne Collins having the ill-fated ones fight it out first). Full of twists and turns, you’ll be on the edge of your seat when you finally see who is chosen and the true nature of certain characters revealed. It is a classic literature example of what exactly “dystopia” entails, and it is also a commentary on the dog-eat-dog world of small town suburbia.
If you love classic romance and/or the Gothic Novel..
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Ah, yes. The gothic novel. The love story often taking place in the northern, mystical, woodsy part of England that involves some kind of dangerous, brooding antihero that you shouldn’t like but yet a part of you loves. As an English major, I have a love/hate relationship with this genre (for hate, see “Things As They Are” by William Godwin). Wuthering Heights, however, is a classic romance tale that should be told with as much frequency and passion as Romeo and Juliet. The tortured, misunderstood Heathcliff is driven to madness after the death of his beloved soulmate, Catherine, but their love proves to stand no limits in this tale of intense passion and insanity. One of the first so-called ghost stories, this novel has also produced some of the most beautiful quotes about love in existence, my personal favorite being, “Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” *Sniffles* NO I’M NOT CRYING IT’S JUST ALLERGIES.
If you want a more modern romance and a tale with imaginary friends…
Sunday’s at Tiffany’s by James Patterson
Little Jane’s mother is a big-time Broadway producer who is never home, and she copes with their strained relationship by playing with her imaginary friend Michael, except he’s not so imaginary after all. In this tale, imaginary friends are sent to us as we need them in childhood and once we reach a certain age, they disappear forever to help the needs of other children. Fast forward to Jane as an adult, who is an aspiring writer and still has a strained relationship with her mother. One day she runs into someone that is, of course, Michael, who is now also an adult. Only, imaginary friends aren’t supposed to return to former “clients” of theirs. The two bond as adults and fall in love, and Jane and her mother need to come to grips with their struggling relationship. Sure, the story is a little far-fetched, but it’s creative and heartwarming, and still a nice romance novel for the beach. It was also made into a Lifetime movie, so that should give you a clue of the kind of book you’d be getting into.
If you feel like getting a little more Shakespearean…
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
” To be or not to be?” Okay, okay, this suggestion might be a personal preference, but it’s Hamlet!! Everyone knows/loves Hamlet. It’s the dark, moody tale of a son seeking revenge in the name of his father by going after his uncle, who murdered Hamlet’s father and married Hamlet’s mother. Crazy stuff, right? Filled to the brim with family drama and mental insanity (real or fake, we don’t quite know), Hamlet practically invented emo. It’s complexity and powerful monologues/character development make me rank it as possibly one of the best if not the best Shakespearean play. Plus it inspired “The Lion King”, so if you didn’t already know that #mindblown. And if you still haven’t gotten enough of the tragic Prince of Denmark, you can also read Tom Stoppard’s absurdist play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”, which expands upon the two characters of the same name and their role in the overall story of Hamlet.
Of course there are a million other books I’d recommend, but I think that’s a decent amount to get ya started. I’ll be posting more suggestions of books and making a separate list one day soon of plays only. As for my reading list? My personal goal is to tackle some plays I’ve never read, and that consists of the following:
The English Channel, Mortal Terror, and The Last Will by Robert Brustein
Stunning- David Adjmi
The Drunken City- Adam Bock
Dead Man’s Cell Phone- Sarah Ruhl
Eurydice- Sarah Ruhl
Belleville- Amy Herzog
Be A Good Little Widow- Bekah Brunstetter
Clybourne Park- Bruce Norris
All’s Well That Ends Well- Shakespeare
Much Ado About Nothing- Shakespeare
The Tempest- Shakespeare
Miss Julie- Strindberg
The Cherry Orchard- Chekhov
Endgame- Beckett
Cloud Nine- Caryl Churchill
Doubt- John Patrick Shanley
Happy reading!!
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