College is a busy time. In the whirlwind of joining a sorority, meeting new people, and exploring my classes, reading for pleasure seemed to escape me this year. I usually love to read, and once I realized what I missed, I was anxious to get back on my grind this summer. Here's what I read and what I have lined up to read, all of which I highly recommend.
1. "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen.
This is one of the books that I have already read this summer. Jane Austen is my favorite author of all time. If you are a fine of expertly crafted sentences and can appreciate a little sarcastic wordplay, then Jane is your gal. This book is about a poor girl names Fanny Price who goes to live with her rich aunt and uncle, the Bertrams, at Mansfield Park. Fanny is very quiet and extremely selfless, to the point where she's a total pushover and unworthy of the same elegances of the family members because she comes from poor beginnings. The only person who really understands her is her cousin Edmund, with whom she has a very close relationship with. The book follows her life at Mansfield and how the people she meets changes her, as well as commenting on society of the period, as Austen often does with her novels. As a fellow pushover, I felt like I could somewhat relate to Fanny's character, although she represents an antiquated extreme. While some chapters may seem a little monotonous, the time spent to get to the juicy details is worth it, and soon you find yourself not being able to put the book down.
2. "The Huntress" by Kate Quinn.
After reading a calm, nineteenth-century book by Jane Austen, this action-packed novel placed in the years following World War II was a breath of fresh air. The book follows three storylines that are weaved together for a somewhat predictable but nevertheless exciting ending. Ian Graham, a journalist turned war criminal hunter, has been searching the world for Die Jägerin, or the Huntress, who murdered his brother while he was fighting the Nazis in Poland. Nina, a wild fighter pilot from Siberia, joins Ian on his journey while running from her mother nation and has as much to gain from the huntress's demise. Jordan, a teen from Boston, lives with her father and helps run an antique shop when he marries a German widow from the recent war. She seems like the perfect fit for their family, but Jordan can't help having a bad feeling about her. Quinn has obviously done her research on the area and period that this story occurs, and is very good at constructing complex characters that will have you hooked for hours.
3. "The Kind Worth Killing" by Peter Swanson.
This book is next on my list while I am at the beach this week. According to the summary, Ted Severson is a man unhappy in his marriage, and Lily Kintner seems to relate. After confiding to her about the darkness behind their marriage, they begin a little game that soon turns deadly. Suddenly, Ted has to start watching his back for his confidant who may turn out to be the key to his demise. This book just seems super exciting and the perfect book for relaxing on the beach with. It's about 300 pages and has been coaxing me towards its pages since I picked it off of the shelf.
4. "Dune" by Frank Herbert.
This book was calling my name. A classic science fiction novel, it details the adventures of Paul Atreides, whose family is the caretaker of the desolate planet Arrakis. From there are 800 iconic pages of interstellar adventures. I cannot wait to delve into this book and learn more. I am a huge fan of Star Wars, so I am hoping that its characters are just as colorful. It has one movie adaptation produced in 1984, but according to my research is being remade in 2020! Start reading it now to be ahead of the curve.
It has been so long since I have been peeled from Netflix long enough to be excited about a book. I highly recommend any of these reads to anyone who is looking for a sign to start reading. If anyone needed a sign, here it is: get reading y'all!!
