Autumn Reads for Autumn Break

After a long thirty-eight days of school (almost eight whole weeks, excluding the September national holiday and Parent-Teacher Conference day), OYIS will at last rest for one week during the autumn break, which is held from October 23 to 27. While the unquestionable priority for this break is to give ourselves a small pause from the go-go-go of school, I wanted to give a few recommendations for books that you can read while you have the time to do so.

Fiction

The Secret History

Donna Tartt

This is a book that I will never get tired of recommending, especially now that it’s getting into the colder seasons. The Secret History follows a group of college students in an exclusive class, all of whom have distinctly odd individualities, and the build-up to, then fall-out after, their murder of a classmate. It is a satire that combines intellectual elitism, the inextricably intertwined beauty and horror of humanity, and criticisms on classicism and privilege through beautiful, thrilling writing—a signature of Tartt’s novels.

I would recommend The Secret History to people who are interested in psychological thrillers and social commentary, and enjoy classical literature as well as Greek mythology.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

….I think pretty much everyone knows this book, so I’ll spare you the summary.

I would recommend Frankenstein to people who are in the mood for a spooky sci-fi prelude to the upcoming Halloween season, as well as people interested in familial responsibility and the discussion of free will, and/or rage and revenge.

The Vegetarian

Han Kang

This book is, for lack of a better descriptor, absolutely insane. Grade 12 students had a choice to read either this book or Kang’s other novel Human Acts for our ‘Novel Studies’ unit in English A, and I chose the former. It follows the main character Yeong-hye through the perspectives of three other characters as they observe her gradual descent into madness following a conversion to vegetarianism. Personally, I enjoyed The Vegetarian and found its themes to be very insightful, such as the violence and brutality of human nature, fraught family relationships, agency and autonomy, and isolation and madness. Kang’s blunt yet poetic writing style only intensifies the tension in some of the more thrilling scenes, and additionally serves to provide glimpses into characters’ minds, desires, and subconscious longings.

I would recommend The Vegetarian to people who are interested in social commentary, violence as a part of humanity, familial responsibility, and loss of sanity. Also to the grade 12 English A students who chose this as their novel—final IOs are just next month, and we also need a wealth of information and analytical mental notes to be prepared for Paper 2!

Non-fiction

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine

Rashid Khalidi

News has begun to pick up again regarding the war between Israel and Palestine, and people all over the world—both official outlets and casual social media-goers—have spoken up about this situation. As disinformation and propaganda runs rampant, it is extremely important to appropriately inform ourselves on both historical and current events for to affairs such as this one. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine covers the Zionist claim to Palestinian land through six chapters each focusing on what the author describes as a “declaration of war”.

This book is very informative and would be a good start to educating oneself about the so-called Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There are of course other resources from which to obtain information, such as other books, documentaries, journals and articles, etc. Just remember to be careful that you’re not absorbing and regurgitating misinformation.