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Andrew Bishop is pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the University of Virginia. You can follow him on Twitter @xiongandi.
One of the first things I do at the beginning of each year is set a Goodreads reading goal. With this goal, I commit to reading a certain number of books by the end of the year. I enjoy reading for pleasure and find that tracking the books I’ve read adds an additional layer of fun to the experience. It also allows me to see if I am keeping pace with my intended goal for the year.
When I was working, I was able to reach my annual goal fairly regularly. My shelves also had a nice balance of fiction and non-fiction. In addition to reading some of the latest best-sellers, I was also able to delve into some of the classics. Reading widely allowed me to step out of my day-to-day work life and reflect on the broader world around me. I could contextualize my own lived experience by reading through different lenses that authors use. This process helped me gain greater compassion, empathy, and understanding while also giving me an opportunity to relax.
Since coming to grad school, I’ve found that completing my annual reading goal has become much more difficult. Time is, unfortunately, at a premium. While I am constantly reading articles and other assigned readings for class, the purpose of this reading is different from that which I pursue during my own leisure time. My personal reading time is an opportunity to catch up with the world around me and something that I miss doing when the semester becomes busy.
However, summer is upon us. Summer is an opportunity to make room for many of the hobbies that fall by the wayside during the school year. It also comes at a good point during the calendar year to take stock of the things that you still wish to read and accomplish. As we approach summer, I wanted to provide you with a reading list that will allow you to catch up on some of the things you may have missed.
In order to come up with this list, I asked a number of my grad school colleagues to share books that they have read this year that other grad students may find interesting and insightful. Some are old and some are new, yet they all carry importance to those who recommend them.
Catching Up with What’s Happening Around Us
If you look at my Goodreads shelf, you’ll see that I lean heavily toward reading non-fiction books. I really enjoy memoirs and reading up on topics of interest. The list below provides a nice mix of books for those looking to gain a little insight into what’s happening outside of your academic field.
- Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo
- Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson
- Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
- Translating Happiness: A Cross-Cultural Lexicon of Well-Being by Tim Lomas
- Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? by Michael Sandel
- The Color of the Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
- Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming edited by Paul Hawken
Catching Up with Fiction and Fantasy
You can never go wrong with a good novel. I personally am a huge fan of Star Wars novels (yes, even the new canon) and enjoy taking the time to enter a galaxy far, far away. The list below will transport you to worlds both near and far and provide you with a nice summer escape.
- Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
- Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
- The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros
- Normal People by Sally Rooney
- Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Catching Up with Family
When I was an English language arts teacher, I spent a lot of time reading literature designed for kids and young adults. Although these titles may be a little easier to digest than your average academic article, there are many lessons you can learn through exploring in the genre. Books on this list would also serve as great conversation starters that you can share with your own kids.
- The Track Series by Jason Reynolds
- The Hate U Give and On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
- The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
In addition to this list, a number of other GradHackers have created reading lists that you might want to check out.
What will you be reading this summer to catch up with the world? Please feel free to share in the comments below.
[Image taken and submitted by the author.]
