I have been in an intense graduate program and haven’t made time to read the last several years. Books I loved in the past include 1984, the hobbit, the old man and the sea, and then I went on a self help kick for years but want to stay away from that genre. I like classics and literature but also am interested in other options. Give me suggestions please!
by NoPossession2120
7 Comments
Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy is a classic and a nice distraction from grad school
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
For Whom the Bell Tolls … one of the best ever .
After I finished grad school in psychology, I didn’t read another psychology book for a year. Instead I read long novels, starting with The Once and Future King. You might like it, since you liked The Hobbit. It’s a 20th century novel based on Le Mort D’Arthur, the classic story of King Arthur and his knights. After that, I read War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and a bunch of Tolstoy and Chekhov short stories…
But I would also recommend Lord of the Rings if you haven’t read it already, and you could certainly read more Hemingway (The Sun Also Rises is pretty short, and For Whom The Bell Tolls is my favorite). Brave New World is a good companion to 1984 and arguably even more relevant today. Also, for some reason I think you might appreciate Zorba the Greek. Cheers.
I was the same after law school, but I couldn’t read anything heavy for a couple of years. I still remember starting 1776 by David McCullough right before law school, but didn’t get around to finishing it until 2 or 3 years after I had finished school.
I’d recommend cozy mystery series. The main characters have plot armor, so you don’t have to worry that anything too awful will happen to them. The plot is pretty formulaic. The mystery is always solved. Try the Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn
John Krakauer’s Into the Wild. It’s nonfiction but it has kind of the same feel as The Old Man and the Sea. It’s a little dark though. Animal Farm would also be good, or Watership Down since you liked 1984. Or the Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn if you want something heavy. Maybe start with Animal Farm, then Into the Wild, Watership Down, and then Gulag Archipelago if you want something with more weight.
The Count of Monte Cristo or Bleakhouse. Both are great!
Or for a quick classic, try The Scarlet Pimpernel