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In English majors, you are going to read lots of books assigned by the professors. You may like them and sometimes dislike them. But, in this blog, I am going to recommend books that every student in an English major should read.
The first book is “The Canterbury Tales” by Geoffrey Chaucer. According to the Goodreads website, this is one of the recommended books for the English major to read. The story follows a group of pilgrims who are traveling from London to Canterbury Cathedral. As a journey goes, one of the hosts suggests that during this long journey, each pilgrim should tell a story to pass this journey time. As a result of these stories, the best storyteller will be rewarded. In the story, Chaucer introduces different characters; such as a carpenter, a nun, a knight, a clerk, a merchant, etc. These characters come from a 14th-century society. Through their stories, Chaucer speaks on many different issues that were happening at the time in a county. I would recommend this book because it addresses the history of the 14th century and also adds fun elements to it by including naughty, knowledgeable, humorous, moral, and saucy stories in it.
The second book I would recommend is “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley. The story revolves around a scientist named Victor Frankenstein, who was god gifted. From his scientific theory, he created a creature. However, when the creature became real, this was not the creature that Victor had imagined. The creature was hideous looking, who looked like a monster. After seeing him, not only Victor but the society as well rejected the creature. The creature then decided to take revenge by murder and dread. The novel demonstrates that good and bad behavior of people comes from the environment and people's interaction with one another. For example, when a person is given respect, love, and compassion from others and its surroundings, that person will show others the same respect, love, and compassion that he/she has got. However, if the person is treated as hated, disrespectful, and as a rejection from society or other people, he will give the same attitude back to them.
Last but not least, the book that I would suggest is “The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. The book is a compilation of stories of soldiers who went to fight in the Vietnam War. Although the stories in the book are fiction, they are relatable to the author's real life experiences. The book is narrated by a third person who shows the reader the thoughts and actions of Jimmy Cross, who is one of the soldiers in Vietnam. I like the story as it speaks about soldiers inside feelings when going and being in war. In life, we see soldiers as tough people; who don't have feelings and are tough on the inside as well as the outside. However, from this book, you will realize that soldiers are just like any other person, who go through so much stress, anxiety, and depression. They have emotional feelings such as love, fear, guilt, etc. which are hidden inside them and they can't openly show or talk about it because of the label of "being tough" we have put on them. I would recommend this book because it shows the journey of soldiers and how their lives are being impacted when they are in a war. Nowadays we don’t see many such books based on soldiers and their lives. This book will be great for you to take you to the journey of the soldiers and show the struggle and emotions of them in a war field.
These are some of the books that I mentioned. There are so many other books that students should read in English majors. Books inspired us in so many ways. It teaches us new perspectives on the things which we don’t recognize in our life. Books are a helping line of our lives which teaches you new things about yourself and the world around us. It is a great way to reduce your anxiety and stress, which I will further talk about in my upcoming blogs. Tell me your favorite books which you like to recommend to students in the English major to read?
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