<p>Now, as far as I'm aware, there's no "required" reading for incoming students - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Current students, I was wondering what books you'd wished you read before going to the University of Chicago? Admitted students and hopefuls alike, any suggestions?</p>
<p>I for one say don’t read! Give you brain a rest before we get hammered in the fall :)</p>
<p>You’ll get the Orientation Reader with three essays to read (which are technically required), and I think included in that is a lengthy list of books related to Chicago the city and school you can read if you’d like. I tried going to our Orientation Site but for some reason it isn’t letting me expand the lists of these readings - but you can try it : [Summer</a> Reading | The College Orientation](<a href=“http://orientation.uchicago.edu/orientation-2010/getting-ready/summer-reading]Summer”>http://orientation.uchicago.edu/orientation-2010/getting-ready/summer-reading)</p>
<p>You could try:</p>
<p>Stuart Dybek, The Coast of Chicago
Erik Larson, The Devil In The White City</p>
<p>– those two books everyone around Chicago seems to have read</p>
<p>and maybe</p>
<p>Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent (Turow may have later, better Chicago-based books, but this one is pretty good)
Thomas Pynchon, Against The Day
Saul Bellow, Ravelstein (which is a roman a clef about the University of Chicago, largely)
Any of Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawsky books
David Auburn, Proof (or better yet, watch the movie, which has lots of University of Chicago location shots, even if the main house set doesn’t look much like Hyde Park)</p>