| Written by Grace M. |
Hello! We’re a little more than halfway through the summer. If you’re looking for something to do, you could grab a good book, sit outside, and get reading. Also, reading is a way to wind down during the semester. I’ve provided a list below of some “must-read” books if you are not sure what books you should check out. This list is comprises some hidden gems as well as best sellers and popular books that you should take a crack at.
I did not write the following summaries. The links that proceed each book provide the synopses from which I provided summaries and can be looked into for further information.
Lost in Shangri La by Mitchell Zuckoff
Lost in Shangri-La recounts the incredible true-life adventure of 24 officers and enlisted men and women who boarded a transport plane for a sightseeing trip. Their trip became an unforgettable battle for survival when the plane crashed.
https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/2599/lost-in-shangrila
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
The author and narrator, Tim O’Brien, begins by describing an event that occurred in the middle of his experience in Vietnam. “The Things They Carried” catalogs the variety of things O’Brien’s fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company brought on their missions. Several of these things are intangible, including guilt and fear, while others are specific physical objects, including matches, morphine, M-16 rifles, and M&M’s candy. Throughout the collection, the same characters reappear in various stories.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/the-things-they-carried/book-summary
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
In the book, a “catch-22” is a military rule typifying bureaucratic operation and reasoning. The rule is not stated in a general form but the principal example in the book fits the definition. If one is crazy, one does not have to fly missions; and one must be crazy to fly.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/c/catch22/book-summary
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
An epic tale of fathers and sons and of friendship and betrayal that takes us from Afghanistan into the final days of the monarchy and to the atrocities of the present.
https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/the-kite-runner/summary/
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Animal Farm is a novel based on the lives of a society of animals. Animal Farm goes deeper than just talking about animals, though; it symbolizes the corruption of Communist Russia. During the story, most animals are manipulated into believing the exact opposite of what is true.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/a/animal-farm/book-summary
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
This novel is about a white woman named Skeeter Phelan who is planning to write a book that tells the the stories of three black maids in Jackson, Mississippi.
https://www.enotes.com/topics/the-help
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Man’s Search for Meaning is a 1946 book that chronicles Frankl’s experiences as a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. It describes his psychotherapeutic method, which involves identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about and then imagining that outcome.
https://www.enotes.com/topics/mans-search-for-meaning
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishuguro
Never Let Me Go takes place in a dystopian version of late 1990s England, where the lives of ordinary citizens are prolonged through a state-sanctioned program of human cloning. The clones, referred to as students, grow up in special institutions away from the outside world. As young adults, they begin to donate their vital organs.
https://www.shmoop.com/never-let-me-go/summary.html
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart is about the tragic fall of the protagonist, Okonkwo, and the Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a respected and influential leader within the Igbo community of Umuofia in eastern Nigeria. He first earns personal fame and distinction and brings honor to his village when he defeats Amalinze the Cat in a wrestling contest.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/things-fall-apart/book-summary
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Great Expectations is the story of Pip, an orphaned boy adopted by a blacksmith’s family, who has good luck and great expectations who then loses both his luck and expectations. Through this rise and fall, however, Pip learns how to find happiness. He learns the meaning of friendship and the meaning of love and, of course, becomes a better person for it.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/g/great-expectations/book-summary
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man is the story of a young black man from the South who does not fully understand racism in the world. Filled with hope about his future, he goes to college but gets expelled for showing one of the white benefactors the real and seamy side of black existence. He moves to Harlem and becomes an orator for the Communist party, known as the Brotherhood. In his position, he is both threatened and praised, swept up in a world he does not fully understand. As he works for the organization, he encounters many people and situations that slowly force him to face the truth about racism and his own lack of identity. As racial tensions in Harlem continue to build, he gets caught up in a riot that drives him to a manhole. In the darkness and solitude of the manhole, he begins to understand himself—his invisibility and his identity. He decides to write his story (the book) and when he is finished, he vows to enter the world again.
http://thebestnotes.com/booknotes/Invisible_Man_Ellison/Invisible_Man_Study_Guide03.html
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway
The Sun Also Rises, a 1926 novel, portrays American and British expatriates who travel from Paris to the Festival of San Fermín in Pamplona to watch the running of the bulls and the bullfights.
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/s/the-sun-also-rises/book-summary