Reading List for 2017

[Le Chat]

     Since I will be out of school until the Fall of 2017, I decided to make my New Year's Resolution to read more frequently. I have always regretted not reading as much of the classics as I would like. I will be studying psychology, so I may want to avoid books on that subject, but I love anything educational and enhancing. If you have a list or recommendations for must-reads, please share them! I'm currently focusing on The Classics according to Good Reads.

 

[PhDorBUST]

All the books by Yalom

[kekology4]

Orientalism by Edward Said

[I_mix]

Entertainment purposes/ just overall great reads too?
Of what I've read recently, I REALLY recommend Han Kang's The Vegetarian and Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life. Also, if you haven't read some of Haruki Murakami's works before, Kafka on the Shore is my favorite, followed by Norwegian Wood. I also recommend The Tin Drum by Gunter Gras and Franz Kafka's The Castle (if you like Kafka).

EDIT: Sorry. Not all of these are classics. The latter two are definitely what I would consider "modern classics". The first three are just recent lit that I really enjoyed.

Edited January 2, 2017 by I_mix

[IoneMacaroni]

Not a classic, but Flowers for Algernon is a really great read! Brave New World is also a classic and a pretty good book.

I need to start reading more frequently as well. 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

I read 106 books last year because the goodread challenge.  Right now I'm working on 1984. Have you read Gilgamesh? Can't get more classic than that.

[Some violinist]

 

On 1/7/2017 at 0:55 PM, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I read 106 books last year because the goodread challenge.  Right now I'm working on 1984. Have you read Gilgamesh? Can't get more classic than that.

 

On 1/7/2017 at 11:25 AM, IoneMacaroni said:

Not a classic, but Flowers for Algernon is a really great read! Brave New World is also a classic and a pretty good book.

I need to start reading more frequently as well. 

If you're enjoying 1984 and are still feeling dystopian-ey, Brave New World is the way to go, like IoneMacaroni said. I remember thinking it was a lot closer to where I felt the world was going when I read it, kind of scary. As far as dystopias go, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 would be my favorite, I think. 

As for classics, don't know if Moby Dick can stand up to Gilgamesh if being a classic is about age, but I would definitely recommend it.

Edited January 9, 2017 by Some violinist

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

1 minute ago, Some violinist said:

 

 

If you're enjoying 1984 and are still feeling dystopian-ey, Brave New World is the way to go, like IoneMacaroni said. I remember thinking it was a lot closer to where I felt the world was going when I read it, kind of scary. As far as dystopias go, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 would be my favorite, I think. 

As for classics, don't know if Moby Dick would stand up to Gilgamesh in terms of age, but I would definitely recommend it.

I'm actually reading Brave New World next.  I'm taking a course next semester called Thought Control in Contemporary Society and both 1984 and Brave New World are on the reading list. 

[Some violinist]

2 minutes ago, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I'm actually reading Brave New World next.  I'm taking a course next semester called Thought Control in Contemporary Society and both 1984 and Brave New World are on the reading list. 

That course sounds awesooooome. Definitely add Fahrenheit 451 to your list then. 

[IoneMacaroni]

On 1/8/2017 at 8:43 PM, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I'm actually reading Brave New World next.  I'm taking a course next semester called Thought Control in Contemporary Society and both 1984 and Brave New World are on the reading list. 

You're taking a class called Thought Control in Contemporary Society?! That sounds amazing! 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

35 minutes ago, IoneMacaroni said:

You're taking a class called Thought Control in Contemporary Society?! That sounds amazing! 

Yep! It's a favorite among students in the department and is taught by the department chair. It also relates to the work I'm doing, so I thought it would be a good choice.  

 

[spectastic]

i recommend drive by daniel pink

talent is overrated (gladwell?)

now reading so good they can't ignore you (cal newport)

good shit

[CaffeineCardigan]

1984 and the other famous dystopian novels are really big right now, as others have mentioned. You could always read Utopia by Thomas More if you want a classic in that direction. I recently read The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert which I definitely recommend if you are interested in in-depth discussions on life, love, and botany in the late 18th/early 19th century. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is another more recent novel that's very engaging and gives you a lot to chew on if you want a story about art forgery and drugs. Those have been my recommendations in the last few months. I also recommend The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell if you like magical-realism and Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin if you like feminism and linguistics with your Sci-Fi. These are the books I've read in the last year that I felt were really set apart from the rest and got me thinking. 

I've been on a Fantasy kick so far in 2017, but I also just read Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale which is cool if you want to read one of his lesser-known plays. It's also the play famous for the stage direction "Exuent pursued by a bear" so that's something. If you want just like some interesting information presented in a humorous way check out What If: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe. 

[Charlsa]

On 12/31/2016 at 7:47 PM, kekology4 said:

Orientalism by Edward Said

My copy is literally arriving any day now! @feelthebern16 recommended it to me.

I've been meaning to read books about "the other side" of the US political divide, but the books I checked out continue to gather dust. Also I am determined to finish ReNew Marxist Art History and Aesthetics & Politics before I get into graduate school (IF I get into graduate school.....). 

Do any of you have goodreads accounts that you wouldn't mind sharing? Here is mine, if anyone wants to be friends. Sometimes I think my "To-Read" list is where good books go to die unread.

[CrunchyMamademic]

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is a must read, especially now that there will be a mini-series coming out! I'm so excited, and it lines up nicely with when my students will be reading the novel.

@Charlsa I will add you as a friend on Goodreads! I just started one.

[NewMentality]

Trevor Noah's Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood is a must! One of the best autobiographies I've ever read. Even better as an audiobook since he reads it himself.

[HiFiWiFi]

Ha @GreenEyedTrombonist, with all the "fake news" and "alternative facts" I read 1984 for the first time a few weeks ago, and when I finished I went immediately to Brave New World. Guess it's a normal progression!

Next on my list is probably going to be How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie because fuck I need it in my life right now. Then probably Animal Farm, I really liked 1984.

[RurikNjalsson]

To combat the boredom and anxiety waiting for acceptances, as well as trying to fill my time while unemployed and fully studenting (I really shouldn't have free time, but somehow I do) I established a book list for the year. They aren't incredibly long, and I've limited them to one book a month, but hey that's 12 more books than I would have read last year outside of class and research. 

1) The Infernal City - (any Elder Scrolls fans here? They made BOOKS)
2) Lord of Souls (sequel to TIC)
3) Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin 
4) Anarchism by Guiren 
5) Life of an Anarchist: Alexander Berkman Reader
6) Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rocker
7) The Edge of the World by Pye (for fun and research)
8) Canticle for Leibowitz (seems apt for a medievalist under a Trump presidency)
9) A Wizard of Earthsea (revisiting some old fantasy from when I was growing up)
10) The Tombs of Atuan
11) The Farthest Shore 
12) Tehanu 

And that's it for this year. Next year I will be continuing with the Earthsea cycle and attempting to find more apocalyptic and anarchist books. My interest is primarily due to the polarization of the political sphere in the US and abroad, and have wanted to learn more about politics from a philosophical level. 

[NoirFemme]

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston

The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James

 

 

[marynoland]

Cool threat.

I am an online book reader so my book's name will be different and may be weird.

1. Death but not buried

2. The boy I admire from Afar

3. Dark

This is the books I am currently reading

[rheya19]

On 1/7/2017 at 11:55 AM, GreenEyedTrombonist said:

I read 106 books last year because the goodread challenge.  Right now I'm working on 1984. Have you read Gilgamesh? Can't get more classic than that.

Penguin has a "novel" version on Gilgamesh by N.K. Sandars (published by Penguin) is a great read. Very accessible and still poetic. In my opinion, Gilgamesh is one of the most devastatingly human epics I've ever read. 

[OptimiscallyAnxious]

Not a classic but I just purchased the book, Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich by Norman Ohler. I think the interest in the book fits in with my undergraduate majors psychology and criminology. I can't wait to get it and start reading.