DC Public Library discussion

Hello and I hope everyone had a great labor day!

Now that summer is unofficially over, and the school year is beginning, let's talk about back to school novels, or campus novels.

Why is it that so many great (and not so great) and popular novels take place on campuses, especially boarding schools? Is it because many writers are academics, or because they felt most at home in places of knowledge? Let's discuss it, and the enduring popularity of the campus novel.

Here are some suggestions for reading:

Mystery / Thriller
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell

Humor
Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis
Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov
Moo by Jane Smiley
Straight Man by Richard Russo

Other
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

What campus novels do you love? Hate? Why do you think so many writers are drawn to this setting, and so many readers as well? Choose one of the above books to read, or pick a title from our Campus Novels bookshelf.

Stoner by John Williams is a fantastic book and a great campus novel. Dirt poor farm kid goes off to college discovers literature, becomes professor. An amazing read.

The Small Room by the amazing novelist, poet, and diarist May Sarton is a mid-century look at relationships, psychology, and academic integrity at an all women college in New England.

For funny I love David Lodge's books like Changing Places, Small World, and Nice Work. Especially if you want an Anglo look at campus life.

And how could I forge Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner?

I have to say, I'm not at all a fan of fiction set in higher ed. That's why even though I absolutely adore Jeffrey Eugenides's The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, I haven't picked up his most recent book The Marriage Plot. Don't get me wrong, two of my oldest and closest friends are tenured academics, as are our lovely neighbors. But there's something about college that repels me as a setting.

What about community colleges? Any good fiction set there? And am I right in assuming the focus is on higher ed? If not, I submit Election as a brilliantly funny book set at a school (good movie too). And of course, let's not forget the most popular boarding school in the history of literature, as featured in: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I was just coming on to suggest The Secret History, so that's high in my book. Gaudy Night was slow getting started, but I really liked it in the end. Wasn't a huge fan of Rule of Four (The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman has a similar story line, and I think, did it better). Can you tell I read a lot of mysteries?! The Likeness by Tana French was also a good mystery in an academic setting.

As for general fiction, I liked Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon and really loved The Professor's House by Willa Cather.