Take a break from school and read

Last year, my spring break was the coldest I’d been all winter: I spent it in Anchorage, Alaska. Since my sister (whom I was visiting) had to work during the day, and it was too cold to walk around for longer than half an hour, I spent most of my time trying to stay warm in coffee shops near my sister’s office. But the trip was a success because (besides getting to see my sister) I got to read. A lot.

Throughout the quarter, it’s nearly impossible to get any non-class reading done. Especially as an English major, when your homework is to finish Thoreau’s “Walden,” you’re going to choose something other than reading to do on your study breaks.

I like to take spring break as an opportunity to read all those books I’ve saved up throughout the quarter. I thought I’d recommend some for this spring break ““ books that you could bring to the beach, or home, or to the freezing slushy streets of Anchorage, Alaska. These suggestions are easy to get caught up in, never a chore, but they will leave you with more thoughts in your head than when you started. So before you head to Rite Aid to pick up some trashy dime novel for your week in Mexico, look a little further with these titles:

For the short attention span:

“The Stories of John Cheever” by John Cheever

Someone lent this to me recently, and it was so captivating that I was even able to read it while walking across campus without losing focus. It’s filled with compelling explorations of family dynamics, raw emotions and dramatic moments in the span of three-page stories, notably in “Reunion,” which depicts the heartbreaking meeting of a son with his long-lost father during an hour-long layover at Grand Central Station.

For the analytical mind:

“Atmospheric Disturbances” by Rivka Galchen

Author Rivka Galchen got a medical degree before turning to fiction, and it shows in the psychological depth of this novel. I’ve never understood what people meant when they talk about their minds exploding ““ until I read this. The analytic mind of Galchen and her protagonist Dr. Leo Liebenstein leave you re-evaluating the world and your perspective of it, as the best books do.

For the socially aware:

“Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer

A blurb on the inside cover of “Eating Animals” says (in so many words) that anyone who reads this book and continues to eat animals must either be an idiot or not have a heart, which may or may not be the case. But at the very least, this is a really readable book about where food comes from ““ made more readable because it’s written by the wonderful storyteller who gave us “Everything is Illuminated” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” I came out of it still somewhat of a heartless idiot but a little less complacent about what’s going on inside the corn dog I had for lunch. And I think that’s a good thing.

For the romantic:

“The End of the Affair” by Graham Greene

This is probably the closest on my list to romance novels you’d find at the drug store in subject matter only, but it has a lot more depth. I bought this book hoping to read it at the beginning of the year, but my roommate saw it lying around and beat me to it. From what I’ve heard, it draws you in with a question about the intricate relationship of love and hatred and gives one of the most honest portrayals of love you can find in literature.

For the brave, or those with a lot of time:

“2666” by Roberto Bolano

Finishing this book was one of the proudest moments of my summer last year. It’s arduous, complex and violent but a masterpiece. Broken up into five loosely related sections, the story is woven together by the search for the elusive German writer Benno von Archimboldi. If you do nothing but read this book over spring break, you’ll feel like you’ve accomplished something.

And if you need any extra motivation to stay inside and read over spring break, I recommend flying to Alaska.

E-mail Bastien at [email protected].