Featuring CUM LAUDE students!
Brodrick
My favorite book would have to be A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. It's the first book in an elaborate fantasy series in which the author tells the story from multiple points of view. This aspect of the book is intriguing because it blurs the conventional view of who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist, since, for each character, these roles change. Another reason this is my favorite series is because the author is unafraid to kill off main characters, allowing for unconventional twists in the plot.
Jason
One of my favorite book is The Color Purple by Alice Walker for two main reasons. I particularly liked how persistent the author was with her use of graphical language and informal English in her writing which made it very easy to understand all aspects of the story. I also admired how she used these two techniques to effectively demonstrate the themes of transformation and perseverance in the book which I also found to be very inspiring.
Pascale
The Power of One and its sequel Tandia by Bryce Courtenay. This classic novel about South Africa before and during the apartheid is uplifting; the spirit of independence and change that lives in PK, the young, white English boxer and in the ambitious Tandia, makes us believe that 'the power of one' can overcome hatred and injustice. I loved the captivating denouement of the main character's life from a rejected five year old in boarding school to an internationally recognized boxer, to an advocate of justice for the black community under control of the Afrikaner regime that ends in a dramatic but beautiful finale. PK and Tandia become heroes we get attached too. Courtenay write with wit and humor, and brings the troubles South Africa went through to life, making us wish we could go back in time and change the course of history.
Lysander
Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer.
This book is by turns hilarious, heartbreaking, surreal, frustrating,
and ultimately moving. Foer's story is about the Holocaust, but also
about more general themes such as history, family, community, and
religion, and he tells it from several voices, times, and places.
Still, it's remarkably cohesive, and endlessly compelling.
Ji
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte is about love that extends beyond generations. It's about revenge. If you like any of the Bronte Sisters books, you will like this one, too. It's not like any other classical romance books you have read and will ever read. Bronte brings the characters to life with strong details. The plot is intense; there is always something happening in the book. You won't get bored reading it, you will love it too.
