Tags
A Separate Peace, Absalom, Absalom, Aristophanes, As I Lay Dying, Barnes& Noble, Book List, Elie Wiesel, Invisible Man, J.D. Salinger, Jason Walker, John Knowles, John Steinbeck, Light in August, Literature, Lord of the Flies, Night, Novel, Of Mice and Men, Ralph Ellison, Randy Pausch, The Catcher in the Rye, The Clouds, The Last Lecture, William Faulkner, William Golding
I’ve tried in these essays to encourage my regular reader to read many books, but on the whole I’ve avoided just providing lists. The reason for this is that I tend to be rather intellectual much like the parody of Socrates in Aristophanes’ play The Clouds where the old man is walking always amidst the clouds of ideas. I realize that this can be a bit galling to readers who are looking for a simpler review, and sometimes you just need somebody to give you a list of books so you can jump into them yourself and decide what you think.
I met the writer of this guest article after taking several online classes with him. It’s an odd moment when you meet somebody that you already knew, but Jason Walker and I became friends and intellectual companions pretty quickly when it was discovered that we had similar interests in literature, education, Queer theory, STAR WARS, and David Sedaris books. He’s expressed interest in writing something for me before and now that he’s managed to vanquish the Beetle King of Xandar-4 and rescue the Robot Princess, Female Processor 0.919, he found time to write up a small essay which should give the reader a reading list for the summer.
Please enjoy:
Barnes & Noble and I Want You to Read This Summer
I don’t make it in to Barnes & Noble much anymore. Mostly because the nearest store is 30 miles from where I live, but also because when I do go I end up depressed because I don’t have the money to buy all of the books I want to buy. Alas, such is the life of a bookie who is poor. Recently, I had to go because I was getting a graduation gift for a friend. As I wandered through the shelves, salivating in want and sobbing in lack, I happened upon a table filled with an impressive collection of titles, most of which I have read and would recommend as a worthwhile use of time this summer. Right then and there I decided that I must take it upon myself to post my recommendations for all the world to see–or, at least all of the people who read blogs about books to see. There were too many titles to feature them all, so I’ve selected the ones I consider top-shelf (pardon the pun).
From the “Books To Make You Think” table at Barnes & Noble, here are a few of the works I think YOU should read this summer. . .I’ve categorized them for no apparent reason. . .
Books I’ve Read Recently
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
First published in 1959, this coming of age tale follows two teenaged boys, Gene and Finny, 
as they navigate the complexities of adolescent relationships. Set at a private boarding school during World War II, the novel explores a number of themes including patriotism, war and peace, identity, friendship, and death. Though it has been labeled by a number of modern critics as not having weathered the test of time well, I found the book to be relevant and easily adaptable to the struggles faced by, not only 21st Century adolescents, but to those faced by most of us regardless of age or social status. It is a “slow” read in that Knowles does not write rapid-fire transitions from one scene to the next like many contemporary writers. Rather, he lingers in the moment, thoroughly plumbing the depths of his characters and situations. A Separate Peace is a charming throwback to a simpler time and well worth the trip. It averages 3.5 out of 5 stars on bn.com.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Until compelled to do so when one of my 9th grade Pre-AP English students turned in a surprisingly insightful response to literature paper, I had never read Ellison’s most famous work. To say I found it moving and thought-provoking would be an 
understatement. The novel was first published in 1952. It chronicles the life of an unnamed narrator as he discovers the harsh realities of growing up a black male during what is a particularly turbulent time in America. At first I found the fact that Ellison doesn’t name the narrator a drawback. I kept going back and rereading thinking I’d simply missed it. As the story proceeded, however, I realized the brilliance of his choice. The narrator is an everyman who soon draws the reader into the story in such a way as to become an active participant rather than a mere observer. Whether it is the isolation of the Southern black community where he spent his childhood, the disappointment of being expelled from a black college, or the violence surrounding his life with “the Brotherhood” in New York, readers come away with, if not an understandiing of, then an appreciation for his description of himself as invisible in a world which refuses to see him. Invisible Man will tug at your humanity in the very best way. It averages 4 out of 5 stars on bn.com.
Lord of the Flies by Sir William Golding
I’ve actually read this book three times, most recently with my 9th graders back in 
February as a class novel. While their reviews of the book were mixed (boys loved it, girls hated it), Lord of the Flies earns its way into the canon of modern classic literature in spades. First published in 1954 (are you getting a sense of the era I most enjoy), Lord of the Flies is the story of a group of boys from a well-to-do private school who are stranded on an island after the plane they were traveling in, fleeing war-ravaged Britain, is shot down over a deserted island. At first, there is actually a sense of relief amongst some of the boys to be away from the restrictions of their lives back at school. They exalt in their newfound freedom. Danger lurks nearby, however. Despite their realization that to survive they must establish order on the island, they soon give in to the animal instincts which lie just beneath the human surface–survival at all costs; kill or be killed. Golding’s raw allegory was the inspiration for director JJ Abrams’s hit television series “Lost” and is a sophisticated ancestor to The Hunger Games series. . .but, do yourself a favor and read Lord of the Flies before you watch “Lost” or read The Hunger Games. It averages 4 out of 5 stars on bn.com.
What Do You MEAN You Haven’t Read These?…Go Now!
The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
What is left to write about JD Salinger’s only published novel that has not already been written? Not much, but I’m going to write a bit more anyway. It was first published in 1951 (see…what did I tell you?) and is, arguably, the quintessential American novel. From his
bed in a mental hospital, young Holden Caulfield tells the story of his trek through the streets of New York City on his way home from the second boarding school from which he has been expelled. More than simply telling the story, however, Caulfield engages the reader in a conversation about his life, which could easily be the life of just about any angst-ridden teen. The book is Holden’s ironic commentary on the phoniness of American society, and his search for authenticity, not so much in others but in himself. Many critics have surmized that The Catcher in the Rye is autobiographical in nature, a conclusion which Salinger would, given the little we know about the man, dismiss. This is a book which has delighted, inspired (often dubiously), and infuriated audiences for over 60 years and should be required reading for, well, everyone…in my not-so-humble opinion. It inexplicably only averages 4 of 5 stars on bn.com. (I guess no book is perfect.)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, Steinbeck’s 1937 novel about two friends who are migrant workers trying to survive. George and Lennie make their way to a ranch in 
California where they find more than just work. Lennie is simple-minded and almost completely reliant on George for his well-being. George, often frustrated at Lennie’s habit of accidentally finding trouble wherever they go, is nevertheless committed to their friendship. He frequently tells Lennie the story of how they will one day have a piece of land to call their own and will build a better life for themselves. Steinbeck weaves the tale brilliantly, endearing his surprisingly complex characters to readers through the poignant innocense of their friendship. By the story’s tear-jerking conclusion, readers are left wishing they knew Lennie and George, or Steinbeck himself just to know what happens after the men walk away. No spoilers here…you’ll just have to go read it. Of Mice and Men averages 4 or 5 stars on bn.com.
Books That Changed Me
Night by Elie Wiesel
This book remains the only book I have ever read in one sitting. I bought it and began reading it while on my lunch break from work one day. I was so hooked from the beginning that I actually called my boss and told him that I’d gotten sick while eating and would not 
be back in that day. I sat at B&N for three or four hours reading until I’d finished. Night is the autobiographical account of Nobel Lauriet and humanitarian Wiesel’s interrment in Nazi death camps during World War II. It is a brutally honest recounting of the unfathomably monsterous acts committed upon innocent men, women, and children by Adolf Hitler’s SS. Wiesel does not spare the reader details of what happened inside the barbed wire fences and gas chambers. Instead he confronts our notions of humanity, morality, death, life, and even of God himself. Night is a clarion call for the entire human race to never forget what can happen if we allow hatred to prevail. This book changed not only my understanding of the Holocaust, but also my understanding of the needs of those who remain oppressed even today. Night averages 4 of 5 stars on bn.com.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
I have a confession–I watched the video before I read the book. But, it wasn’t my fault because I didn’t know the book existed until after I’d already seen the video, so cut me 
some slack…I still read it. Dr. Randy Pausch was a popular Computer Science professor at Carnegie Melon University. In 2008, after being diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer and announcing his departure from the university, he was asked to participate in the university’s lecture series in which professors were asked to give the lecture they would give if they knew it was their last. For Dr. Pausch, it was literal. The lecture he gave was titled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” However, it was about far more than becoming an astronaut or a pro ball player. Pausch’s lecture was about finding ways around the difficulties of life and also about encouraging others to do the same. The Last Lecture is funny, poignant, and inspiring on a soul level. It was after reading this book that I decided to put my past failures behind me and go back to school to finish the degree I had started nearly 20 years earlier. I guarantee this book will jump start whatever stalled out dream you are carrying around. The Last Lecture averages 4 of 5 stars on bn.com.
A Book I Have Not Yet Read By an Author I’m Determined to Love
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
I have a love-hate realtionship with William Faulkner. I absolutely love his short stories. I’ve been in love with “A Rose for Emily” since I was a senior in high school and have 
studied it with both middle school and high school students in my classes. They all love it, too, and many of them still talk about it. Faulkner’s short stories make me feel like I’m reading about people I know. They make me feel at home. His novels, however, at least the two I’ve read so far, Absalom! Absalom! and A Light in August…not so much. It’s not so much the stories I don’t like–actually, it’s not the stories at all. It’s the way Faulkner wrote them. I read both books as assignments in graduate school and struggled mightily get around Faulkner’s train-of-thought style which is often laden with description and nearly absent any simblance of proper punctuation. But, because I love his short stories so much, I am determined to love his novels, too. So, this summer, I will be reading As I Lay Dying, of which Faulkner himself wrote, “I set out deliberately to write a tour-de-force. Before I ever put pen to paper and set down the first word I knew what the last word would be and almost where the last period would fall.” I don’t know what the story is because I stay away from summaries of books before I read them, but I’ve been assured by one professor and one well-read former student, that As I Lay Dying is, in fact, the tour-de-force Faulkner aimed for. It averages 3.5 of 5 stars on bn.com
Other Books I Recommend But Don’t Have the Space to Write About
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
Travels With Charlie by John Steinbeck
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Animal Farm by George Orwell
1984 by George Orwell
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
This is, by no means, a complete list (it’s not even close) of books I would recommend to you. These are the books I saw on the “Books to Make You Think” table at B&N, all of which will do just that–make you think. Whether you read any of these books or not, just read something. Reading and writing are noble pursuits, both of which are, sadly, becoming less and less pursued. Don’t miss out on something great. Go pick up and book and give yourself time to let it take you wherever it will.
About the Author:
Jason Walker is a graduate student finishing his Master of Arts in English Rhetoric and Composition at the University of Texas at Tyler. He also teaches 9th Grade Pre-AP Literature and Creative Writing. A life-long resident of East Texas, Jason recently decided to leave his teaching position in order to pursue his true passion–writing. He works as a freelance writer and blogger, publishing pieces for various outlets and covering many topics. Jason is also a classically trained singer and pianist, history buff, and foodie. You can read more of his work on his blog called MEtopia: A Guy Who Writes About Things and Stuff.
URL for the blog:
the “One-Big-Ass-Mistake-America” stickers as well as the “NO” that used the cloudy “O” from President Obama’s first campaign. Living in Texas you get used to such rhetoric because Obama is a Democrat and democrats, like communists and liberals, are ghoulish creatures that emerge from the black pit of Washington D.C. to come and devour our children, freedom, health-care, businesses, and, if we’re especially unlucky, our guns too. I wasn’t bothered by the partisan bullshit because every asshole believes expressing his individuality through a bumper-sticker makes him part of the discourse.
the fact the last book was Absalom, Absalom I was nervous as fucking hell. I only in the last few weeks have completed the exhausted physical and psychological recovery of such a long painful affair that left me stimulated and devastated intellectually. Light in August however was actually an amazing read, and true to Faulknerian style, the book was ultimately demonstrating the atmosphere of the post-Civil War south as a scene of internal corruption mixed with the complicated nature of race embodied in the character of Joe Christmas. Faulkner and nigger tend to go hand in hand (he was a white man writing in Mississippi, it was gonna happen) and the first real recognition of the word struck me. Christmas is an orphan who steals into the orphanage’s dietician’s office to grab some toothpaste when he is interrupted. The dietician, a 26 year old woman, begins to have sex with a man until she hears Christmas coughing and when she finds him she says:
university where most of the students and faculty are white I was curious about Nigger.
precisely when or how niger turned derisively into nigger and attained a pejorative meaning. We do know, however, that by the end of first third of nineteenth century, nigger had already become a familiar and influential insult. (4) 
After this Kennedy addresses a conflict that is about at least a century old at this point: the use of the word nigger in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. There have been entire books written about this subject, and rather than list out every position taken I’d rather just quote Kennedy because he speaks much clearer and with less pathetic attempt at humor. Addressing the argument that Huckleberry Finn proliferates racism by using the word nigger frequently Kennedy contends that:
branding the whites. (109).
Michael Brown was shot, and in that space of time the United States has suffered more and more tragedy and the conversation about black/white relations in America has become a more pressing subject. In our current atmosphere where conservatives are telling jokes about Black Lives Matter groups, and self-hating-self-aggrandizing liberals are bashing cops on twitter hoping they can be “cool” it’s easy to lose track of what the real problem is, and a perfect microcosm of this is Larry Wilmore’s half hour appearance at the White House Correspondent’s dinner.
that using that word really isn’t that bad. Wilmore received criticism from both black and white commentators for a score of reasons, but like many scrambling to alight Twain’s Huckleberry Finn on fire, most of these critics were people who just didn’t get the joke.
If you’re still bitching about the fact that that isn’t fair remember the Grandfather in The Princess Bride who played Colombo for years: “Well who said life is fair? Where is that written?”
core of all final, and let’s be honest, desperate defense my plea often amounts to the sentiment that studying literature is not just about the stories, it’s as much about the craft that goes into the words as their final meaning.
Faulkner worked his entire life exploring themes, attitudes, and the general atmosphere of the Deep South, a territory defined by its physical beauty and marred by the jarred and damaged psyche of the post-Civil War South, and in that time the man managed to accomplish things with prose that can only be imitated today. Twelve years before his death, December 10 1950, he received his Nobel Prize and began his speech accordingly:
from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.
can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.
wielding it were, at times, unpredictable or nightmarishly evil.
category) that are writing and publishing. Faulkner offers up his summation.
endless scenes of cock and balls and dick and pussy haunt my pages as well as the pages of numerous authors even if they don’t use those words. With a few exceptions (McCarthy and Eugenides to name two) there are few contemporary authors that try to use writing to speak to that core space where lessons of destiny and greatness are sealed on the edifice of time…god I sound like a fucking AM radio, but the point stands: writing exists to understand the nature of human beings and dissolve the barriers that exist between peoples.
Mississippi and holy crap I just figured out that’s what the novel was actually about. Faulkner was a Modernist that bordered on Postmodernity, and while the reader may not believe that’s terribly important I assure you it is. It will require a small history lesson though.
the end of the Civil War a period known as Reconstruction took place in America. When the Union armies had swept over the Confederacy they had a tendency to burn everything as they went. Even after the war was done Union soldiers occupied the southern states and Northern generals and commanders occupied positions of power in the local governments until, through the help of guerilla warfare and a fucked-up organization known as the KKK, “them damn Yankees were plum kicked out a the south.” Losing a war is different than winning one and before you say “fucking duh” it’s not for the reason you think. Ask anyone from Texas about the war and the sentiment you reach is generally “We didn’t lose, we just put the war on pause.” The Civil War left a scar on the hearts and minds of Southerners inspiring folk-songs, legends, narratives, terrible bumper stickers, but above all it lingering created pain.
southern town trying to understand their hearts and minds that feel, often, broken. Faulkner’s work was about the South, but far more often it was about sealing on the bones of human consciousness that feeling of isolation and damage.
my tongue as I consider those people that tell me they despise Faulkner. I many ways, and I’m terrified to write this since many of them count as members of my audience, I despise them for it. The criticism of the man’s work is never in fact against his work, it’s never because they believe he has nothing to say as a writer, nor is it ever that they feel that his work is empty of meaning or creative direction. In the end the sentiment is: Faulkner is hard therefore not worth my time.