Revenge of the Nerds
What’s more fun than talking about politics at a party? Talking about books! No, not your economics textbook or that World-History-in-400-pages book, but books you read because you want to. To prove we Backdrop nerds aren’t the only ones who do this, we asked around campus to see what everyone else is reading. Using my infinite wisdom and Google, I’ve paired each previously-read book with a similar story to keep you sharp for your next kegline convo.
Name: Carla Maragano
Year, Major: Senior, Political Science
Hometown: Cleveland
Last Read: The Dirty Girls Social Club (2003), Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
Maria Suggests: Yo! (1997), Julia Alvarez
Social Club tells the stories of six unique Latina women in their late twenties. After graduating from college together, the girls meet throughout to year to keep each other up to date. Yo! offers readers a similar style; casual but tongue in-cheek, a light read that tackles heavy topics like prejudice, sexism and racial divides. Yo! depicts heroine Yolanda Garcia on her homecoming to the Dominican Republic, from which she emigrated to the U.S. at an early age. The novel develops her character through the voices of her sisters as she learns to reconcile with both her American culture and her Dominican heritage.
Name: Meghan Tinker
Year, Major: Freshman, Journalism
Hometown: Edgerton, OH
Last Read: Extras (2007 ), Scott Westerfeld
Maria Suggests: Feed (2004), M.T. Anderson
Extras is the fourth book in the teen science fiction series Uglies. The book imagines a future in which social classes are based entirely on beauty and popularity. Feed is of a similar genre, though with less glam. In this futuristic sci-fi work, computers attach to every baby’s brain, replacing genuine intellect. Whereas Extras questions today’s superficial obsessions, Feed satirizes our relentless consumerism.
Name: Ryan Paradise
Year, Major: Junior, Environmental Biology
Hometown: Cleveland
Last Read: The Alchemist (1988), Paulo Coelho
Maria Suggests: The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey (2003),
Ernesto “Che” Guevara
Alchemist follows a Spanish shepherd along his quest for treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. Rather than material wealth, however, he finds along the way spiritual enlightenment and understanding. The Motorcycle Diaries offers an autobiographical alternative. The book is a collection of journals from Guevara’s 1950s road trip across South America. Deeply moved by the oppression and poverty he saw, his trip became a journey of self-discovery, shaping his earliest revolutionary ideals.
Name: John Crandall
Year, Major: Senior, Creative Writing
Hometown: Columbus
Last Read: The Man Who Loved Children (1940), Christina Stead
Maria Suggests: The Mill on the Floss (1860), George Eliot
Children is known as one of best portraits of a destructive family. In the book, the eldest of the six Pollit children, Louisa, gradually begins to oppose her father’s misogyny and defy her stepmother’s malicious disposition. The Mill on the Floss revisits the oppressive power of patriarchy through character Maggie Tulliver. This heroine struggles to define herself as an individual while still maintaining the gender roles imposed by her community and her complicated family.
Name: Samantha Flores
Year, Major: Senior, English
Hometown: Loraine, OH
Last Read: Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? (1994), Lorrie Moore
Maria Suggests: Wittgenstein’s Nephew (1988), Thomas Bernhard
Frog Hospital alternates between scenes of a middle-aged woman’s bleak marriage in Paris and her memories of a teenage friendship, one that faded as the women matured. Wittgenstein’s Nephew takes a darker, more existentialist approach. Part fiction and part autobiography, the book analyzes the friendship of Bernhard and friend Paul Wittgenstein through specific moments in their shared history. Bernhard ultimately skips his friend’s funeral, adding shades of loss and regret to this multifaceted reflection.
Direct link: http://backdropmag.com/this-and-that/revenge-of-the-nerds/