Venue Co-Editors Micah and Robyn’s favourite books!

While we’ve been hard at work getting Venue ready for the new year, we figured it was time for you to get to know the people behind our paper. Seeing as one of us has just finished her English Literature undergrad and the other is entering his final year in American Lit, it seems only appropriate to share some of our favorite books with you.

ROBYN’S TOP 5

5. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
This is a book I have read only very recently, and perhaps to even call it a book is a bit of a stretch, seeing as it is only about thirty pages long. But after reading it, I had so many thoughts that I could probably write an essay three times the length of this short story, it had intrigued me so much. Nowadays, the story is regarded as a feminist masterpiece.

4. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
I am incredibly partial to novels that nestle stories within one another, and weave together to form a unique and vibrant tapestry. The Starless Sea is one such story that at first feels like a collection of fairy tales, before the fairy tales begin to manifest in the real world. This is the kind of novel that makes you believe in magic again.

3. The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg
Okay, so I might be cheating a little by including this book on my list as it is actually a graphic novel. Like The Starless Sea, The One Hundred Nights of Hero features an array of fantastical stories nestling within one another in a uniquely interesting way. The stories are based on myths, folk tales, and fairy tales, which are all areas of literature I adore, and transform them into something exciting and new.

2. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I once heard someone say that having The Bell Jar as a favourite book was a red flag, and, if that really is true, then I’ll wear that colour with pride. This novel is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, and quite relatable portrayal of depression and mental illness more broadly. Despite being written more than half a century ago, to me it feels almost like it could have been written yesterday.

1. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
This is a dangerous book for me, because I know that whenever I start it, I will not be able to put it down until I am finished. For this novel I will remain elusive on what it is about, because it is the kind of story that you will enjoy best if you go in blind. If you like the idea of a book with themes of isolation, surrealism, and fantasy, pick this book up immediately.

MICAH’S TOP 5

5. No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
I read No Exit during year 12 French class and proceeded to make it my entire personality. I could lie and say I love it for its existentialist reflections on the afterlife and the concepts of Good and Evil, but the truth is that I just found the characters to be intriguing. Picture this: three people find themselves in Hell, except Hell is a room that’s uncomfortably warm, and two out of the three believe they don’t deserve to be there. Spoiler alert — they do.

4. Angels in America by Tony Kushner
Angels in America is unlike any other play I’ve ever read. Divided into two parts (Millennium Approaches and Perestroika), this Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores what it means to be a gay man in New York City during the AIDS crisis. However, while Millennium Approaches is largely rooted in realism, Perestroika approaches the topic surreally, as one of the characters is chosen by angels to act as a prophet.

3. Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin
I try to reread this book every summer, and I fall more in love with it every time. It also crushes my heart just as often. Though set in Paris and centred on the relationship between American expat David and Italian bartender Giovanni, I wouldn’t consider Giovanni’s Room to be a romance, but instead it’s about David’s alienation, sexuality, and self-reflection. Plus, if I could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, James Baldwin would be my pick every time.

2. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I’ve been collecting editions of Dorian Gray since I was a teenager. It started off as a coincidence, buying the same edition at two separate thrift stores, but now I intentionally try to pick up every copy I come by, and nearly ten copies sit on my shelf. The story itself is one that I had to reread to fully appreciate — the first time for school, then the uncensored version when getting more into queer literature, then the censored edition once more for good measure. With each reread, I find myself gravitating towards a different character, and that is why I love it.

1. Maurice by E.M. Forster
I can’t quite put into words what I felt when I first read Maurice at the age of 16. I’ve never been the biggest fan of classic Edwardian Oxbridge-set literature, but the tenderness between Maurice and Clive drew me in, and Forster’s insistence on giving his protagonist a happy ending tugs at my heartstrings every time. Four years later, and I’ve read it five times, own four copies, and have a tattoo of it on my forearm. Oh, and also check out the James Ivory adaptation — one of the best movie adaptations out there.