Joel's Recommended Books:

, by Joyce Carol Oates. I think Oates deserves the Nobel Prize in Literature for her stunning and varied literary production over the past thirty years -- this is one of her most successful forays into fiction, the compelling story of a family changed forever by one event in a daughter's life. , edited by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. A wonderful collection of essays for not only the cultural critic but also the lover of literature. These pieces provide us, as the title suggests, with new ways of looking at the writing that sustains our imaginations and that is close to our hearts. , by Cathleen Schine. This comic love story is about a May-December romance that -- forgive this pathetic pun -- heats up in the middle of summer. Rarely do books make me laugh, but I chuckled out loud while reading this novel. Schine has a smart and fun sense of both humor and the slapstick nature of love. , by bell hooks. While I often take issue with both what hooks has to say and her style of saying it, this is an honest and engaging essay collection, accessibly written by an intellectual concerned with the crucial questions of race and representation in contemporary culture. , by James Baldwin. This is one of the most amazing novels I've ever read in my young life -- definitely required reading if you have not ever picked it up. Absorbing, hard-to-put-down, beautifully written, profound, and moving. Baldwin's world is one worth delving into!

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