Amidst the chaos of first-semester grades and college applications, in autumn crunchtime, students need a push of motivation: a deliberate, strategic self-manipulation tactic to get themselves ambitious for academic success in the form of a less-than-500-page book. Reading about the class genius or the clever wallflower outcast can even make you more eager to finish that two-page essay due tomorrow or study for that pesky reading check. Here are some of your options.
- “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt (1992)
Broody, bittersweet and faintly incestuous, “The Secret History” follows a group of privileged New England university undergraduates and their slow descent into madness and murder. We follow the internal monologue of Richard Papen, a lost, broke Californian, who happens to take the same classics course as the inseparable five: Henry, Bunny, Charles, Camilla and Francis.
But on top of translating copious amounts of Latin papers in a teacher-mandated fountain pen, the friends have to deal with the consequences of killing one of their own, the recent black sheep of the friend group.
“The Secret History” is a thrilling mystery of a murder at the core of adolescent friendship. With chapters filled with Plato quotes and Hellenic references, it’s the perfect book for Greek philosophy lovers and those who crave some easy dramatic fiction.
My favorite quote: “It’s a very Greek idea, and a very profound one. Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.”
You can borrow one of the four copies of “The Secret History” at the Chapel Hill Public Library, or buy it for $8.99 at thriftbooks.com.
- “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky (1999)
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” was popularized by its movie adaptation of the same name, which was released in theaters 13 years after the book’s debut and directed by Chbosky himself. You may have seen its clichéd 2012 movie trailer and recognized Logan Lerman from “Percy Jackson” and Emma Watson from “Harry Potter.” Nevertheless, the movie misses key parts of the novel that seem too significant to just watch-the-movie-and-not-read-the-book it.
Through a series of letters to an unknown “friend,” protagonist Charlie writes diary-like entries on his experiences throughout his freshman year of high school. His youthful run-on ramblings and unfiltered thoughts uncover his discoveries of first love, The Smiths, the basis for friendship, magnetic poetry, and the beauty of a perfectly-executed Secret Santa, among other things.
As the rest of his friends apply to faraway colleges and worry about scholarships and last-minute SATs, Charlie willingly chooses to suffer the lengths of studying for standardized testing; so whether you’re a senior or an underclassman, all the struggles of high school are in this tiny 200-page book. Undeniably authentic, Charlie’s story of classic early-2000s adolescence paints a nostalgic light on life before social media and commercialized fast trends. It’s a world of burning CDs instead of today’s collaborative Spotify playlists and rediscovering “‘Heroes’” by David Bowie decades after its release.
My favorite quote: “There’s nothing like deep breaths after laughing that hard. Nothing in the world like a sore stomach for the right reasons.”
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” can be bought for $4.79 on thriftbooks.com or other resale bookstores or borrowed at practically any public library.
- “The Idiot” by Elif Batuman (2017)
A 2018 Pulitzer finalist for fiction, “The Idiot” is the first of a two-part story about Selin, a young, easily influenced Harvard University freshman. She’s the first in her family to go to Harvard and the only one in her family to be born in America. Unlike the stereotypical Ivy League student, Selin has no idea who she is or what she wants to do; she’s just trying to get through the year. As she undergoes the horrors of college in the 1990s and a messy, eye-opening summer abroad, she discovers the chaos of the real world, self-reinvention, growing pains, and how to operate the new “e-mail” to get some romance in her life.
Earlier this year, “Either/Or,” the sequel to “The Idiot,” hit bookshelves and rose up in Critics Choice rank. In Batuman’s sophomore novel, Selin is quite literally a Harvard sophomore. Even in her second year, she lives intensely, her days filled with partying and crazy ex-girlfriends.
My favorite quote: “But the Beatles turned out to be one of the things you couldn’t avoid, like alcohol, or death.”
“The Idiot” can be borrowed at the Chapel Hill Public Library or bought online for $15.62 on, yet again, thriftbooks.com.
- “Schoolgirl” by Osamu Dazai (1939)
“Schoolgirl” follows the day in the life of a teenage girl. For her, today starts and unravels just like any other day: she rides the train to school, sits in classes, and rides the train back home. She’s at the cusp of womanhood as she deals with societal oppression and taboo depression in 1930s Japan. Her senses are muted as she lives in her head, putting up a cold front to anyone who gets in her way. Throughout this single day, we see a glimpse of her learning to cope with her father’s death and mother’s subsequent grief.
Her bleak and incredibly genuine rants on gray mornings and nihilism are shoved into a 100-page novella, short and honest. Unlike the other books on this list, “Schoolgirl” uncovers a culture and outlook on life that’s foreign to typical American high school students.
My favorite quote: “It made me miserable that I was rapidly becoming an adult and that I was unable to do anything about it.”
“Schoolgirl” can be bought minty fresh on amazon.com for $11.75.
Photo by Jane Kim/The ECHO
