6.07.2014

I'm Back

Hi!! Sorry I have not updated since December, school has been crazy busy. I just finished my freshman year at Dartmouth College! Wow. I sadly did not have time for any reading, besides my course books. However, some of these books were actually interesting (surprise!) that I would definitely recommend.
Here's one from each term....

Fall: On the Beach by Nevil Shute
(Class: Cold War & American Life)
Published in 1956, this is an apocalyptic novel focused on the fallout of a nuclear war. The epigraph of the novel reads "This is way the world ends/Not with a bang but a whimper" by T.S. Elliot (from his "The Hollow Men" poem). This is "not with a bang but a whimper" is the overarching theme of the novel: how the characters deal with their imminent deaths. On the Beach is a chilling read that touches on the deepest fear of those living during the Cold War era: catastrophic consequences of nuclear war. Rating: ★★★★★

Winter: Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man by U. R. Anatha Murthy
(Class: Patterns of Religious Tradition)
Tells the tale of a village of Brahmins in India. After one dies, the town spirals into chaos because death is viewed as extremely polluting in strict Hinduism. Amazon describes the novel as "examining the caste system, culture, religious rules, and traditions, as well as the ambivalent relationship between handed-down cultural values and the new values of a changing world, Samskara looks at deeper moral and philosophical issues like how to lead a righteous life, the validity of customs, and the concept of brahminism in a contemporary world." It is a religious novel, but it also focuses ons how the old traditions interact with a modernizing world. Rating: ★★★★

Spring: Dubliners by James Joyce
(Class: Short Fiction: Russia & The West)
A collection of 15 short stories about life in Dublin, Ireland. The class where I read this collection was on short stories, and it was taught by the Russian Department. Therefore, we mainly focused on Gogol, Pushkin, Chekov and the like. So when we read Dubliners, I absolutely fell in love. Maybe it was because we had been reading so much Russian fiction, but the stories were so wonderfully crafted and such an intimate look into the lives of these characters. Highly highly recommend. Rating: ★★★★★

Summer reading coming soon...

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