Top Ten Books I Read in College: Numbers 3

College has begun, and my list has been neglected.

To make things worse, I've made a drastic change in my schedule, putting me very far behind in my schoolwork, so the posts may be even fewer and farther between.

This change in schedule has also presented another interesting dilemma: I have decided to drop the secondary education emphasis on my degree. I'm officially a literary studies student now. That means I will be reading more books. More books that might contend for the title of "Best Book Read in College." So, should I continue with the list? Or should I put everything on hold until graduation next May?

I'm so far in, I've decided to finish, and then amend as necessary.

The number three spot is another cheater spot. Two books taking one place. I really couldn't decide between these two, and, like entries number 4, I decided that the reasons were so similar that I'd make a single entry for both books.

In descending order, my favorite books (and by books I mean fiction-novels) from four years of study at Dixie State College (so far):

3. To the Lighthouse By Virginia Woolf

Maybe it's the setting, but for some reason I think of this book as a "beach" read. It's pretty short, and quite easy to read. But unlike the fluff you'll find on the shores today, this book packs an amazing punch. Woolf's novel spans a couple of decades, but really only tells the story of a couple of days. The story starts with a young boy wanting to go to the lighthouse, and ends with him being granted his wish as a young man. Trying to write a description of the book makes me realize again how incredible the book is, for the beauty in the book comes in the reading, so if you really want to know what it's all about, you'll just have to take my advice and let the words wash over you.

3. Light in August by William Faulkner

This novel begins with a young woman chasing down the man who got her pregnant. She ends up in a town that is about to be shocked by a horrible murder covered up by a house fire (the lightof the title). Of course, being by Faulkner, the novel has many more intricately interwoven stories: The story of the murderer's past, his relationship with the victim, and the story of the man who falls in love with the pregnant woman-to name a few.

I read both of these novels for the same class: Period Studies: Realism and Modernism. Both of these novels are modernist novels. (Is that a good enough connection for me to get away with the cheating?) One of the reasons I put these two novels together is because of the class. I have taken a lot of Literature classes, but this is the first one that I really "got" it in terms of the movements behind the writing. Most of the other classes, the works were chosen because they met the time period culturally or historically. These books do that, but they also are great examples of the goals set by modernists. Because they're such great examples, I couldn't really find a reason to have one and not the other. Although, if I were to say which one I will read again first: To the Lighthouse.

To the Lighthouse features one of the best female characters ever written in Mrs. Ramsay, and she gets that qualification even though she's only in half the book. Light in August features a very complex character in Joe Christmas, the possibly white black-guy who murders his lover because she felt bad for him. While the characters in these novels are enough to put them on my list, the best reason I can find for their appearance would be movement. (Yes, the literary movement like stated above, but also the way the stories are told through movement.) Both stories have a definite sense of movement in their telling. To the Lighthouse moves the focus from character to character in a lighthouse like manner. Imagine the light scanning across the land as it completes it's circle, going from one character to the next. That's how this story unfolds. Light in August has a very interesting juxtapostion between the movement of Joe Christmas, who is trapped in a cycle; and Lena Grove, the pregnant girl, who is moving from east to west, never going where she's been.

For shedding some light on this whole academic reading thing, To the Lighthouse, and Light in August illuminate the number 3 spot on my list.