{"id":12605,"date":"2026-09-30T04:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T04:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/?page_id=12605"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:10:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T14:10:07","slug":"senior-book-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/home-2\/the-words-september-26\/senior-book-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Book Recommendations!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Laurence Jacobian &#8217;28 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, four seniors were invited by Next Chapter Books to write summary blurbs to be displayed next to a copy of their chosen novel! Additionally, starting this academic year, some ENCW senior majors will be asked for book recommendations. Each of the recommended titles were available as prizes during the \u201cBingo for Books\u201d Coffee House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here is a brief preview of the chosen novels, harnessing the blurbs found within the Next Chapter Books store.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:auto 40%\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Sarah Tachau;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A Tale for the Time Being<\/em> &#8211; Ruth Ozeki<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have a fiction-aversion problem but I plowed through all 400 pages of this novel and am desperate to discuss it. Ozeki intricately characterizes a 16 year old, a 104 year old Buddhist nun, a WWII fighter pilot, and a middle aged author with such rawness it feels like a collective memoir.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12611 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-1024x768.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-300x225.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-768x576.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-1536x1152.jpg 1536w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-12-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\" style=\"grid-template-columns:40% auto\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12615 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-1024x768.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-300x225.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-768x576.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-1536x1152.jpg 1536w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-13-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Paul Wallace<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Satantango<\/em> &#8211; L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Krasznahorkai<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis book can seem like a dreary and inevitable trudge toward tragedy rendered in meandering sentences without a single paragraph break. However, Krasznahorkai&#8217;s attention to mood, character, and structure kept me hooked. I read this book at the height of summer, closing the blinds and allowing myself to be transported to rural Hungary, inundated with wind, rain, and mud.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text has-media-on-the-right is-stacked-on-mobile\"><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Peyton Williamson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Writers &amp; Lovers<\/em> &#8211; Lily King<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve been in a pretty bad reading slump the last few months but I devoured this book! If you&#8217;re a fan of Elif Batuman&#8217;s <em>The Idiot<\/em> or enjoy very stream-of-consciousness, coming-of-age type books, this one lingered in my mind quite a while after I finished it!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12617 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-1024x768.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-300x225.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-768x576.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-1536x1152.jpg 1536w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-14-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12619 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-1024x768.jpg 1024w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-300x225.jpg 300w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-768x576.jpg 768w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-1536x1152.jpg 1536w,  https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/603\/2026\/09\/Untitled-Project-15-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<p>Lucy Flack<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Emily Wilde&#8217;s Encyclopaedia of Faeries<\/em>&nbsp;&#8211; Heather Fawcett<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf Cambridge had the option to major in the studies of the world of Faerie and all its delightfully weird creatures, would you take it? This is my favorite series of the summer, and it follows curmudgeonly and curious scholar, Cambridge professor, and researcher Emily Wilde (and her less curmudgeonly but equally loveable colleague, Wendell) as she arrives in a small town to investigate the secrets of the Hidden Ones\u2014the most elusive of all faeries. Enjoy the weird and wonderful faeries, a cozy twist on academia, and a sprinkle of romance :)\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Laurence Jacobian &#8217;28 Recently, four seniors were invited by Next Chapter Books to write summary blurbs to be displayed next to a copy of their chosen novel! Additionally, starting this academic year, some ENCW senior majors will be asked for book recommendations. Each of the recommended titles were available as prizes during the \u201cBingo [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2697,"featured_media":0,"parent":12477,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-12605","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2697"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12605"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12641,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12605\/revisions\/12641"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}