Top Ten Books I Read in College: Number 2

It's almost official--again. There are only 1 and a half books left in my college career. Half way through one is enough to tell me it likely won't make the list and the other is a book I've already read and posted on this list. So, after many months I will resume.

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

2. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

This is a somewhat controversial choice, but only in that while reading it for class everyone in class, myself included, felt that the book was entirely overrated. There is some truth to that. This book is supposed to be the greatest love story ever told, yet a lot of that love involves hurting people who are loved. Turns out that's where the book gets good.

For the most part this is a story of two people in love told using the history of Russia as its backdrop. That's a big part of what I like about the book. Stories that span vast areas in space and time, yet still manage to connect very personally always have impacted me. The thing that really made me finally decide to place this novel on the list, and place it so high, is that I found myself referring to it so often. The experiences of these characters have a universal appeal, and while they may not always be good to eachother, this book really is about people who are in love. People do love, and people do get hurt because of it. Pasternak tells us this amazing love story by showing us how brave the characters are to participate in such a dangerous activity.

For being the first grown-up love story I've read and liked, Doctor Zhivago makes a house call on my list at number 2.

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.

Top Ten Books I Read in College: Numbers 4

It's cheating time. I've read a lot of really great books during my college career. Narrowing down to a top 10 is quite difficult, so I didn't. When all is said and done, there will be 12 books on this list. But here's the thing, this isn't a tie. The way I look at it: this is the number four reason for a book to be on my top ten list.

As I was trying to narrow my choices I was trying to decide which of these two books to cut. I love them both, but I couldn't justify both of them being on my list. That's when it struck me: it doesn't matter which one I choose, the reason will be the same, so why not put both books on the list as perfect examples. So, again this isn't a tie, it's a cheat.

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

4. Nightwatch by Sergei Vasilievich Lukyanenko

The Nightwatch is a group of "light others" who monitor the activities of the "dark others." Apparently, there are all kinds of supernatural beings out there in the world, but we don't get to see what they do because they do it in the "twilight," a layer of reality that you need magical ability to participate in. When a person discovers that they have supernatural abilities, whether it be something simple like vampyrism, or something a little more complex like shape-shifting, they must choose whether they are light or dark. Lukyanenko does an impressive job of showing the good and bad qualities of both sides, and through that he manages to create a large ensemble of very likable characters. He also barely veils the comparisons between "light" and "dark" and capitalism and communism.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Katniss Everdeen is an ordinary teenage girl: She likes to spend her time alone; she can't figure out her feelings for her best friend; she hunts for animals to trade on the black market in order to provide for her family in a post-apocalyptic world. You know, usual stuff. Kat's lives in District 12, one of the feeder colonies for the Capital. The people in the Capital control every aspect of her life and the lives of every one else in the 12 districts. To show their control, each year the Capital requires the colonies to send two teenagers to participate in the Hunger Games. A fight-to-the-death challenge wherein the winner gets fame and fortune while losing their sanity. Of course, Kat goes to the games, and while there, she changes the rules and finds a way to maintain her dignity.

The reason both of these books are on my list is because if I had read them before I started college, they would be among my favorite books of all time. These are the books that I loved in my youth and my early adulthood. These books represent pop-fiction at it's very best. During four years of intense literary study, it was a very nice relief to make new friends that reminded me so much of "the good old days." I was also very pleased to learn that sometimes "fun" books can have very "academic" purposes. (This is more true of Nightwatch, and I recognize that canonical books can be fun, and fun books are usually more fun when they're academic.)

For reminding me of a simpler time while still teaching me valuable things Nightwatch sinks its teeth into the list, and The Hunger Games forces me to find a way for two winners, at number 4.

Top Ten Books I Read in College: Number 5

Here we are: The top 5. I'm so nervous. What if my readers don't like my choices? I don't think either of you has read number 1, how's that for a teaser? You'll have to wait for that one. Right now, we'll focus on number 5.

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

5. The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

Sadly, this is Cormier's final novel, it was published a year after he died. In this novel, Jason is accused of murdering a girl in his neighborhood. The local police bring in a crack-interrogator to get Jason's confession. This novel reads a little younger than most of Cormier's work, but true to his style, the real surprise isn't whether or not Jason is guilty, it's what happens next.

Throughout high school and most of my early adulthood, Cormier was my favorite author. I discovered him when I was in junior high school. I think part of the appeal back then was that I was shocked that people thought I was reading YA Lit. While Cormier's characters are young adults, his themes certainly are a bit older. But that's the great thing about this great author, he never questions what his audience can handle; he simply tells his story. The Rag and Bone Shop continues in that tradition. As you begin reading this novel, you get the feeling it was written for twelve year olds, but by the time you're done reading, like a twelve year old, you're trying really hard to be grown up but you're secretly wishing you could go sleep in mommy and daddy's bed that night.

For being written by one of my favorite authors, for treating me like a grown-up even when I don't want to be one, and for a simply shocking ending, The Rag and Bone Shop enters the line-up at number 5.

Top Ten Books I Read in College: Number 6

I think it would have been easier for me to publish my list all at once. Posting a new one each day gives me the opportunity--each day--to second guess myself, my choices, and my order. So far, I haven't changed anything from the day I created the list, but I have decided that this is a mood-oriented process. So, hopefully the mood I was in the day I made the list is the best representation of my college experience.

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

6. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

The story of the Macons Dead. Morrison's novel follows the Dead family for three generations--from the beginning to the end of the Dead family name. This novel vividly, and at times graphically, follows Milkman's search for his own identity. There is a great motif on flight in this novel; if you can, read the introduction by the author before reading the book, for she can explain it a lot better than I.

This was one of the last novels I had a chance to read in college. I don't know if it took me four years to develop the skill, or if Morrison does a better job of doing it, but I love this book because of all of the little details that travel through the novel that are always so significant. I was bewildered at Morrison's ability to intertwine such small details. It is obvious that she was aware on page one of exactly what she wanted to accomplish on the last page. I liked that Things Fall Apart did such a good job of making Okonkwo's experience feel universal. Song of Solomon seems do the opposite of that, yet still maintains its appeal. The story of Milkman Dead is very unique--and certainly different from anything in my own life. While we all spend copious amounts of time searching for ourselves, it is the uniqueness of Milkman's life and quest that kept me turning the pages.

For making me drop my jaw over and over again--whether it be the story itself or the way it's told--Song of Solomon flies on to the list at number 6.

Top Ten Books I Read in College: Number 7

So is this going to come down to a battle between YA lit and more conventional literature? If so, have fun with this one. I read it in YA Lit and World Lit. (In fairness, I was only required to read the cliffs-notes version for YA Lit.)

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

7. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

A heart-breaking tale of post-colonial Africa about a respected tribesman who finds adjusting to life under the rule of the British to be unbearable. Okonkwo accidentally kills a boy in his village and is forced to spend 7 years exiled to the village of his mother's family. When he is finally able to return home, he finds that the British have arrived in order to civilize everyone. Okonkwo is disgusted at how his fellow tribesmen could allow such a thing to happen and tries to return his tribe to their traditional roots. His futile efforts come to a very tragic, and poignant, end.

As I thought about it, I realized this was the first novel I was assigned to read in college. I was in my first literature class, and I was terrified. When I chose to become an English major it was because I wanted to help future generations of kids be more effective writers; I had no idea reading was involved. Luckily, as annoying as it was having a professor telling me what to read, I was enthralled by this story. I'd never really connected to literature that was outside my own culture before. Achebe's novel is amazing at connecting the tiny world of an African tribesman with my own.

For opening my eyes to a world beyond my own, Things Fall Apart captures the number 7 spot on my list.

Top Ten Books I Read in College: Number 8

So far I'm having fun with my list, but the pressure is on. I'm polarizing my readers. One of you is expecting great things ahead, while the other is a bit bored with my choices; probably even wondering if I read anything legit while in college.

Well, welcome to the canon:

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

8. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Who hasn't read Gatsby? Beautiful story about lost love and the pursuit of money. Nick arrives in New York and befriends Gatsby. Gatsby is in love with Daisy who is married to some jerk. The jerk is sleeping with a girl who is married to a gas station attendant (the only nice guy in the book, hence the reason his wife is cheating on him.) One thing leads to another and (spoiler alert) Gatsby ends up dead. And practically no one goes to his funeral. Meanwhile, the reader learns so much about class-systems, money, love, and good writing.

Until college, I hadn't read this novel; otherwise, it wouldn't be on the list. I ended up reading it three times in college. That may seem like overkill, but when you learn about American literature, how do you skip this book? I like the book because it really is classic American story-telling. I like the unreliable narrator, I like the unattainable-love story, and I like the passion.

For being the only book I read 3 times in college, yet still would read again, The Great Gatsby makes an entrance at number 8 on my list.