I thought I’d refresh this and see if anyone had any good gift ideas for their college students. Something not too heavy, as they get that enough at school.
Loved “Middlesex”, “Devil in the White City”, “Mayflower”, etc…
Right I’m reading one I just cannot put down, “New England White”, by Stephen L. Carter, law professor at Yale. It’s a juicy murder mystery set in a college town. Great book…very interesting angles…
Synopsis from Barnes and Noble:
“The eagerly awaited, electrifying new novel from the author of The Emperor of Ocean Park.”
"When The Emperor of Ocean Park was published, Time Out declared: “Carter does for members of the contemporary black upper class what Henry James did for Washington Square society, taking us into their drawing rooms and laying their motives bare.” Now, with the same powers of observation, and the same richness of plot and character, Stephen L. Carter returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor, where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town’s past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of African-American political influence.
At the center: Lemaster Carlyle, the university president, and his wife, Julia Carlyle, a deputy dean at the divinity school—African Americans living in “the heart of whiteness.” Lemaster is an old friend of the president of the United States. Julia was the murdered man’s lover years ago. The meeting point of these connections forms the core of a mystery that deepens even as Julia closes in on the politically earth-shattering motive behind the murder.
Relentlessly suspenseful, galvanizing in its exploration of the profound difference between allegiance to ideas and to people, New England White is a resounding confirmation of Stephen Carter’s gifts as a writer of fiction."
My college student (male) so far this fall has read and gives an enthusiastic thumbs up to A Million Little Pieces (Frey), Pillars of the Earth (Follett), and Four Hour Work Week (Ferriss). He is reading Atlas Shrugged now, but finds it a little slow.
A couple of books he read previously that he really liked includes The Game-- Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (Strauss) (the 16-year old nonreader liked that one too.) In fact, the Game would be his number one pick and he says every guy he has recommended it to adores this book. I found it to be only mildly interesting, so not recommending for girls. He also liked and highly recommends Getting Stoned with Savages (Troost), which is travel memoir I also liked a lot and Endurance (Lansing) about the Shackleton Voyage.
Orson Scott Card has a new book to add to the Ender series. I’ll definitely get that for S (& me) for holidays.
Bookworm, I’m glad to hear that your S likes Card. I bought Ender’s Game (Card), Soul of the New Machine (Kidder), and Hacker Cracker (Nuwere) for S for Christmas but didn’t want to recommend yet because I have only read Soul of the New Machine and S hasn’t read any of course, so not yet kid tested in our house.
However, each of these books is on the list of prior years’ recommended summer common reading experience for the UVA engineering students. They reportedly try to pick fun, easily readable books. This year’s book was Endurance, which our whole family enjoyed, so I have decided to try more of their recommendations.
Speaking of books for college students and Tracy Kidder, I know several college-age folks who found Mountains Beyond Mountains, his book on Dr. Paul Farmer, the Harvard-based doctor who founded Partners in Health ([Partners</a> In Health (PIH), Health Care for the Poor](<a href=“http://pih.org/home.html]Partners”>http://pih.org/home.html)), and his work providing health care to the poor in Haiti, really fascinating and inspiring (as did I).
[Amazon.com:</a> Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World: Books: Tracy Kidder](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Beyond-Quest-Farmer-Would/dp/0812973011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195817900&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Mountains-Beyond-Quest-Farmer-Would/dp/0812973011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1195817900&sr=1-1)
The Analyst,
I really appreciate the recommendations. Books are a fav gift.
Funny u mention A Rand. I had T-day with 2 of son’s best friends from HS, and one brought up how they use to debate Rand’s philosophy. One can hate the message and still enter the writing contest, by the way.
“Abundance” by Sena Jeter Naslund. The story of Marie Antoinette told in the first person. Beautifully written - you feel immersed in her world. The friend who recommended this to me, also recommended “Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert”, so I look forward to reading that next.
epistrophy, I’ll gladly second your recommendation of Mountains Beyond Mountains. It was recommended here on CC a few years ago on a similar book thread and I bought it for one of my Ds for Christmas that year. She loved it, and the book quickly made its way through our entire family and beyond. Coincidentally, one of my Ds subsequently had some readings from that, and a book by Farmer, in one of her college classes. This year, she will be getting two of Farmer’s books for Christmas! Paul Farmer is an amazing man and the work he does is admirable. PIH has become one of the charities which our family supports. I think that most college kids (and adults!) would enjoy reading Mountains Beyond Mountains, particularly those who are interested in public health, AIDS, international relations, human rights, etc.
Just a note, I went looking for the summer common reading list and found this site: [One</a> Book, One College](<a href=“http://homepages.gac.edu/~fister/onebook.html]One”>One Book, One College)
ldmom,
Thanks for your suggestion. I loved The Emperor of Ocean Park and didn’t realize that Stephen Carter had come out with a new book. I’ll give New England White a try!
Treetopleaf, what a great find! I have bookmarked that list. I like the fact that it is a long, current list of books targeted to young college students.
Quite a while back, someone recommended Anne Enright’s novel The Gathering, which recently won the Booker Prize (which, if you’re not familiar with it, is Britain’s leading annual fiction award).
I’m now about two-thirds of the way through it, and am finding it really compelling. But, as with a kind of food that I may crave but that I know many (most?) abhor, I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone (unlike, say, last year’s Booker Prize winner, The Inheritance of Loss, which I did more-or-less recommend to everyone a while ago). If you like your fiction more sweet than bitter, more cozy than haunting, this is not the book for you. On the other hand, if you like the intimacy of really getting inside a character’s head and heart in ways that you never get to in “real” life - even if it’s a bit creepy in there at times - then this may be just the book for you.
Some fiction is driven by plot; some by character; some by a sense of time and place; some by voice. This novel is propelled by the voice, which is that of an Irish woman who lives a seemingly comfortable and unremarkable life with her husband and two young daughters, but whose life is much more complex - emotionally, psychologically, domestically, etc. - than it would appear to be on the surface. Hers is the voice that we hear throughout. Here’s a sampling; if this sort of thing gets under your skin (as it does mine), well, you just might want to spend some time with this voice:
And here’s another sampling, this one even shorter:
[Amazon.com:</a> The Gathering (Man Booker Prize): Books: Anne Enright](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Man-Booker-Prize/dp/0802170390]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Man-Booker-Prize/dp/0802170390)
Just read a lovely book, a first novel, called The Madonnas of Leningrad.
A woman with Alzheimers is remembering her youth, when she worked at The Hermitage during the seige of Leningrad. It is beautifully written; it slips back and forth in time in a way that makes you get inside the Alzheimers. And the historical detail is fascinating.
These list and suggestions are quite interesting. Mountains Beyond Mountains is one of the more memorable books I’ve read in a long while. Should re read it with my D in Peru, as he touches on Peru as well as Haiti. Eat, Pray, Love, I found lots of fun, esp if possessed of any background in S or E Asian spirituality, though I know is offputting to some. I was really looking forward to Inheritance of Loss, but somehow it fell flat for me, and couldn’t help comparing to Jhmpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake. Both beautifully written stories of Indian life in N. America, the first a collection of short stories.
Thanks for the website lead, treetopleaf. I have read many of those books, and purchased “Ghost Map” for Christmas for my brother, an urban planner who doesn’t read much.
My daughter has been looking for books that might increase her vocabulary for the upcoming GRE test. In the process, she is discovering that reading can be great fim. She is reading “Atonement” now and enjoying it. I told her British books are often more vocabulary-rich than American ones, at least that’s my impression. Any more recommendations, anyone?
Another Naslund book, Ahab’s wife, is also good tho it could have used some more editing.
Amy Bloom’s book, Away.
Nancy Horan’s Loving Frank (dumb title but the story of Frank Lloyd Wright’s affair and marriage to an unusual woman, Maman Bostwick.)
Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s book Shadow of the Wind.
My favorite: Poinsonwood Bible by Kingsolver.
I just bought the new Ender book. Its $13 for the slimmest of books!!!
[A</a> Tree Grows in Brooklyn](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Grows-Brooklyn-P-S/dp/0061120073/]A”>http://www.amazon.com/Tree-Grows-Brooklyn-P-S/dp/0061120073/) – it was very good, i recommend checking it out.
[The</a> Great Influenza](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/great-influenza-deadliest-pandemic-history/dp/0143036491]The”>http://www.amazon.com/great-influenza-deadliest-pandemic-history/dp/0143036491) – this was a great non-fiction book. very interesting.
Thanks, Epistrophy! Mountains Beyond Mountains sounds like something my d. would love. I can’t wait to go the bookstore (which I love to do). I just read Last Town on Earth by Thomas Miller. It’s a suspense novel set in pacific northwest during WWI. Influenza is sweeping the nation (true fact) and this small town decides to barricade itself in. I found it quite interesting. Has anyone read The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney? I keep getting drawn to it.