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"Deepak Chopra's teachings of synchronicity succinctly deconstructs linear time, binary oppositions and separation. The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire asks "is there a part of ourselves that is connected to everything that exists?" I read this book the summer between my second and third year of college. It taught me to recognize small, seemingly insignificant events and coincidences as divine guidance."
- Allie Eykholt, WGSS major
"Akutagawa positions art as a way for the artist to feel both community with and isolation from others. It's arguably creative nonfiction, told through numbered fragments. The fragmented form literally isolates the narrative into separate chunks, but also invites the reader to connect across these sections and enter a kind of emotional dialogue with the author. It’s modular form is something I aspire to in my own writing."
- Lindsay Friday, English major and Creative Writing minor
Essential Akutagawa: Rashomon, Hell Screen, Cogwheels, A Fool's Life and other Short Fiction by "It's a short play, and is influential to me because it introduced me to a different way of presenting characters and using dialogue to tell a story."
- Eleanor Hinkle, English major and Creative Writing minor
No Exit and Three Other Plays by
4 plays about an existential portrayal of Hell, the reworking of the Electra-Orestes story, the conflict of a young intellectual torn between theory and conflict and an arresting attack on American racism.
"It was one of the first books I remember reading where history was told unlike anything I'd ever been taught in school."
- Lena Morrow, English major and Theatre Arts minor
Farewell to Manzanar : A True Story of Japanese American Experience During and After the World War II Internment by "I like to think that there is more things in the world than we are aware of. I love the adventure and the determination that is so evident throughout the novel. Also it's the Odyssey for rabbits."
- Charlie Page, senior Art History major and English and Museum Studies minor
Watership Down by
In this fantasy a group of male rabbits set out to find a new home.
"One of my favorite series growing up was His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. It encouraged me to think critically about systems I otherwise took for granted, and they were the first books to break my heart. I read Paradise Lost in my Intro to Lit class as a freshman, and I realized that His Dark Materials is a rewriting of Paradise Lost. I also loved the challenge and reward of reading Paradise Lost, and I think that the lyrics are beautiful. The connection between these two sets of works introduced me to my love of reading intertextually and seeking connections between texts."
- Alisha Puckett, senior English major and Creative Writing minor
The Golden Compass by
"The most magnificent fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings." --The Oregonian Lyra is rushing to the cold, far North, where witch clans and armored bears rule. North, where the Gobblers take the children they steal--including her friend Roger. North, where her fearsome uncle Asriel is trying to build a bridge to a parallel world. Can one small girl make a difference in such great and terrible endeavors? This is Lyra: a savage, a schemer, a liar, and as fierce and true a champion as Roger or Asriel could want. But what Lyra doesn't know is that to help one of them will be to betray the other. . . . A New York Times Bestseller A Newsweek Top 100 Book of All Time An Entertainment Weekly All-Time Greatest Novel Winner of the Guardian Prize for Children's Fiction "Very grand indeed." --The New York Times "Superb . . . all-stops-out thrilling." --The Washington Post "A shattering tale that begins with a promise and delivers an entire universe." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred "The Golden Compass is one of the best fantasy / adventure stories that I have read. This is a book no one should miss." --Terry Brooks
"I first read Lord of the Rings in middle school and I was fascinated by Tolkien's languages. He created more than 10 complete con-languages and much of his writing is based on filling in the history for the fictional cultures who spoke his languages. The Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien's other works, gave me a lasting passion for languages and linguistics leading me to the CLL major at Earlham. Having multiple languages at my disposal for academic research, for travel, and for communicating with people in general, has had a lasting impact on my life. I still read The Lord of the Rings once a year, and Tolkien's words and languages continue to inspire me."
- Hope Safford, senior Music and CLL major
"It is important to me because it had a major impact on changing how I read books, and its style is influential to me as a reader and as a writer."
- Nate Taylor, senior English major and Creative Writing and Film minor
The Metamorphosis by
The Metamorphosis begins almost comically. A man wakes up to find he has turned into an insect. But the claustrophobic, dirty room and the increasingly distressed narrator soon turn this into a tale of slow horror. Most horrifying of all is his family's reaction to his metamorphosis and their final solution to the problem.
"In real life, we constantly think we should care nothing and live as freely as possible in our twenties. However, the author explained how important it is for people in their twenties to build a good foundation in order to live well in their coming thirties. In the book, the author showed us how work, relationship, identity, social networks, personality and even brain can change, if we use time wisely. I strongly recommend this book, The defining decade."
- Youxi Zhou, Japanese Studies and International Studies major
The Defining Decade: Why your Twenties Matter and How to Make the Most of Them Now by Earlham College • 801 National Road West • Richmond, Indiana 47374-4095
