July 8, 2020, by Ross Wilson
Summer Reading
Summer is here! The opportunities for travel might not be as extensive this year, so we wanted to suggest a few books from the Liberal Arts Team that we’ve read and are planning to read that you might enjoy. Feel free to suggest some yourselves. Reading will be our adventure this summer! We’re using these books to take us to different places and times and to expand our ideas. However, we wanted to stress that this is our list of fun books. Taking a break from studies is essential this summer. Enjoy the reading!
Fiction
Circe by Madeline Miller is a fantastic retelling of the story of the goddess. If you enjoy classics, history and a good narrative then it is definitely worth a read.
Melmoth by Sarah Perry explore how we are haunted by our pasts and the ways we come to live with our experiences. Set in Prague, it is a brilliant evocation of the gothic city.
Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a fascinating account of the experience of two sisters in occupied France during the Second World War.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay this novel charts a creative partnership and friendship between its titular characters that results in the creation of The Escapist, an antifascist superhero and comic book legend.
Happiness by Aminatta Forma is a story of love and loss as two people, a psychiatrist and an environmental biologist meet by chance in London. A story of society and immigration, it questions ideas about who we are and the connections we make with each other.
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveller by Italo Calvino is a modern classic. A blend of magic, emotion and suspense as Calvino asks you to read several different stories at the same time. Really inspirational.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo. A novel that unpacks identity and place in modern Britain. The story of 12 individuals are relayed through a succession of narratives that examines ethnicity, class and the nature of life in this country.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng is a thriller which takes local, suburban life in the United States and turns it upside down.
Middle England by Jonathan Coe is a comedy that exposes how strange the nature of middle-class life really is.
Non-Fiction
The Good Immigrant by Nikesh Shukla is a collection of essays that explores what modern Britain is like for individuals from BAME backgrounds.
How To Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi is a stunning account of what we need to do to stop racism and prejudice.
She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey is the account of how two journalists broke one of the most important stories of the modern era which ushered in a powerful movement for change.
Coming into the Country, by John McPhee. The author calls Alaska ‘a foreign country significantly populated with Americans’ and he speaks with all manner of people from bush pilots and fishermen, to politicians and businessmen, all of whom have differing interpretations of the landscape they occupy and the opportunities it offers.
I Think You’ll Find It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That by Ben Goldacre is a fantastic assessment of how ‘science’ is used and abused for the sake of bad arguments.
Feeding Britain: Our Food Problems and How to Fix Them by Tim Lang is a really useful read to reflect on how lockdown has changed eating and food habits in this country.
The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World’s Favourite Board Game by Mary Pilon is a study of how the origins of the board game are far more complicated than we think.
Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm by Isabella Tree is a fascinating account of how we can live differently with the natural world.
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