Growing up, I have always been an avid reader. Constantly devouring any book I could get my hands on, I’ve found myself fascinated by the different worlds and profound meanings that lie within the pages of a book. Because of this, it was no surprise to anyone when I declared my major in English at Fairfield University.
Through this major, I now find myself reading more books than I ever have before. Typically reading one book a week, the English curriculum has exposed me to a wide variety of texts during my two and a half years at Fairfield so far. While this timeline is tricky to keep up with at times, I am very grateful to be reading such versatile literature at a young age. Based on the courses I’ve taken at Fairfield so far, here are my top three favorite books that I have read as an English major.
“The House of Mirth” by Edith Wharton
When thinking of the best books I have read for class, “The House of Mirth” is the first to come to mind. I read this book during the second semester of my sophomore year while enrolled in Professor Emily Orlando’s, Ph.D., class “Edith Wharton and Her Circle”. This book follows Lily Bart, a wealthy, single woman living among New York City’s elite as she searches for a husband to appease societal standards. Set in the late 1800s, Lily deals with the pressure of keeping her social status while she falls from wealth.
Not only is this book a genuinely entertaining read, but all of the themes are still very relevant to present-day life. Just like us in 2023, Lily deals with relationships, social status, cliques, money and beauty standards. One of the coolest things about this book for me was that it inspired the CW’s hit television series “Gossip Girl”. As a “Gossip Girl” fan, I was fascinated to make connections between Lily Bart’s world, and the lives of main characters Serena and Blair. While “The House of Mirth” unfortunately does not have an uplifting ending, it left me with an immense appreciation for quality literature and reminded me why I became an English major in the first place!
“The Seed Keeper” by Diane Wilson
Taught in my “Native American Literature” class by Professor Peter Beyers, Ph.D., this novel was unlike anything I had read up until this point. As the title of the course suggests, this class focused on texts about Native American culture. We learned about Native American traditions, values and family life and the trauma they faced when white settlers colonized their land. “The Seed Keeper” is a novel about Rosalie, a Dakhóta woman trying to reconnect with her long-lost Native American culture. Rosalie strives to preserve the Dakhóta way of life in modern society and decolonize her own life in order to regain her cultural identity.
While this book is pretty lengthy at 392 pages, I was flying through every page, eager to read more of Rosalie’s story. This novel was entertaining and easy to understand while also revealing critical aspects of Native American culture that I had never known before. “The Seed Keeper” opened my eyes to a culture completely different from my own, and exposed the brutal realities of Native American colonization that some American history classes don’t discuss. I would recommend this book to any reader; not only for the intense plot, but also to educate oneself on Native American culture and history.
“Speak” by Laurie Halse Anderson
This is a novel that I read a couple of weeks ago in my “Young Adult Literature” class taught by Professor Bryan Crandall, Ph.D., and I have not stopped thinking about it since. In true Young Adult literature form, this novel follows Melinda, a high school outcast who keeps to herself and is rejected by her former friend group. Melinda experiences trauma and social anxiety, and it is later revealed that this is because she is dealing with the aftermath of being raped.
While the majority of this novel is very sad, it follows Melinda as she learns to find her voice and eventually speak up about what she went through. She then inspires other assault survivors to come forward and feels supported by other girls at her school. This novel left me feeling so empowered—I stared at the last page for a solid five minutes just wrapping my head around what a phenomenal book I had just read.
“Speak” is actually one of the most banned books in schools due to its touchy subject material, but I think that every high school student should read this book at least once. It sheds light on such an important and relevant topic that not many people discuss. This book has been the reason that many assault survivors are able to speak up and find their voice, which is why I label “Speak” as a must-read for everyone.
While this only scratches the surface of literature in the English curriculum, these three books stand out in my memory as the best novels I have read through classes at Fairfield. You don’t even have to be an English major to enjoy the stories that these books have to offer! I think that anyone—English major or not—would appreciate the important messages and themes within these three books.
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