By Ava West
With summer well underway and students having more free time, it is important to spend this time well. It is easy to pick up the phone and scroll for hours and hours or to binge watch a TV show in one sitting. What is not so easy is reading. It takes more brain power and takes longer to complete a book than a movie. So how does one read, when other alternatives are much easier? The answer: pick great books.
GRCC student Mia Earnest, of Sparta, said that a must summer read for her is “‘I Fell in Love with Hope,” by Lancali.
She described the book, which she’s reading for the second time, as “just really good. I don’t know if other people will be able to relate to this, but it makes me feel the way poetry makes me feel. It’s just beautiful, really. The words are comforting, but sad.”
Earnest’s favorite book, though, is “A Little Life,” by Hanya Yanagihara. She said that it is her favorite book because “it’s just really, really pretty, but tragic.”
In general, Earnest sticks to fiction books. Mike Klawitter, who has worked in the GRCC Library for 27 years as a professor and liaison for various different departments, appreciates a different kind of book— biographies.
Klawitter said, “I like biographies, so I’m kind of strange that way. I read a lot of biographies on musicians and other folks.”
He said that his favorite biography he has read is on Jaco Pastorius, an American jazz bass player. Pastorius was a member of “Weather Report” and tragically died at only 35.
Dr. Triezenberg, GRCC’s interim president, stated in an email to the Collegiate that “The only way I can put those words [must summer read for college students] together in a sentence is to say that college students must read in the summer — ANY book, or better yet MANY books!”
It’s not so much about the book to Dr. Triezenberg, but more about making an effort to read.He did, however, highlight a couple books he’s enjoyed.
“I read ‘Angle of Repose’ by Wallace Stegner more than 25 years ago, and that was on the top of my list for a long time,” he said. “More recently, ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ by Anthony Doerr made a deep impression. Both are substantial novels, not quick reads, but so skillfully constructed and so beautifully written.”
GRCC library faculty and liaison for various subjects, Sophia Brewer, also appreciates well constructed books. She has worked at GRCC for 15 years and has been working in libraries for 38 years.
“My favorite book is ‘The Bluest Eye’ by Toni Morrison. That was one of the books I had to read in college and when I was in college I did not appreciate it for its literary value, but I didn’t appreciate it, either, for its moral and personal value… But, in hindsight, I totally understand it, and I appreciate it so much more,” Brewer said.
She talked of the importance of the plot— a young Black woman who wished for blue eyes, or rather, to be white.
“It was a hard life, and we all have things we wish we could change about ourselves. And that book shows, one, it can drive you crazy, and, two, it doesn’t change anything. In the sense that you have to love who you are, the way you are, and appreciate that, or you will never be satisfied in life,” she said.
When asked about what all college students should read, Brewer said, “I would say that college students should read any books that build on their life skills, their humanity. So, things like ‘Choosing Civility’ (by P. M. Forni), where it preps you to be civil in all situations. So, things like that, I think, will take you much farther than book learning.”
Merrilie Benthin, a tutor at the GRCC Language Arts Tutorial Lab, jokes that she has been working at GRCC for “a hundred million years.”
Benthin also talked of the importance of books growing up. She said, “The other book, which had a great influence on me when I was young, I haven’t read it since I was young, was ‘The Golden Notebook,’ by Doris Lessing. Which I read because I was taking a class, British Authors, and I had never heard of her— this was so long ago. But, you know, I was so glad I discovered her, because then I read her early works that she wrote when she was still living in Rhodesia. And, I loved those, almost even more, because there was a four set series of historical, almost, memorial fiction. You know, they were wonderful, wonderful books.”
Benthin did note, “I have like 10 favorite books, one is ‘La Peste,’ by Albert Camus, which I reread every ten years.”
She also said, “I love Virginia Wolfe, who’s so strange. Her styles are so different, you know, for her books.”
Benthin is not the only one who appreciates classical authors, Megan Coakley, English professor and head of the English department at GRCC, does as well.
She stated in an email to The Collegiate that her favorite book “At the moment (and this will be a very cliche English teacher thing to say), (is) ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (by Jane Austen), but not for the reasons you might think. I’m currently loving it because my family has gotten interested in it. My husband and I were listening to it on Audible while painting the kitchen. One day I heard him shout from the basement, ‘Lydia is the WORST!’ Then one of my daughters was asking about why Elizabeth changed her mind about Mr. Darcy. Getting to witness people engaging with a book I’ve loved for over 20 years has been really special.”
Coakley additionally suggested that, “If time and your schedule permits,” every student should “read something fun and relaxing. Give yourself permission to try something new. Often, for students of almost any age or grade, reading becomes a ‘have to.’ It’s a chore to get done because it was assigned, and there might be a test. If students can create space in their lives to make reading a ‘get to,’ then there is more of a chance they’ll be lifelong readers.”
Many organizations and libraries agree with sentiment, constantly making lists of books to read. For example, the Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) puts out lists of books consistently— one of the most recent is the Summer Reading Challenge: Staff Picks Over 350 Pages. This list gives 100 books to read this summer that are 350 pages or longer. What is nice about this list, and every GRPL list, is that when scrolling through them, the list say whether or not the books are available at GRPL library locations.
Kent District Library also puts out lists with this feature— one of which is Murder at the Beach, a list of 15 mystery books that take place at or near the beach, perfect for summer.
It seems that whoever is asked what college students should be reading is anything and everything. Anything that entertains, encourages, devastates, confuses, engages, or distracts is a good book to read.
Those looking for a condensed list of the books mentioned in this article can find it below:
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- “I Fell in Love with Hope,” by Lancali
- “A Little Life,” by Hanya Yanagihara
- “JACO: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius,” by Bill Milkowski
- “Angle of Repose,” by Wallace Stegner
- “Cloud Cuckoo Land,” by Anthony Doerr
- “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
- “Choosing Civility,” by P. M. Forni
- “The Golden Notebook,” by Doris Lessing
- “La Peste,” by Albert Camus
- “Pride and Prejudice,” by Jane Austen
