We asked Columbia freshmen what their favorite book is
Do they even have time to read?
Literature humanities, the horrendous bane of every freshman’s existence. We’ve all had enough, frankly, of Achilles and his daddy issues, God running around creating the world one too many times, Aeneas and his epic fail at romance. Somehow, after emerging the survivors of these gruelling pains, Columbia students still retain a love for reading. We went to the coffee shops on campus to ask Columbia kids what they like to read, and whether your taste changes depending on your major or academic interests.
Stephanie Chen, Comp. Sci, 2019
“Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It’s well-written, emotionally thoughtful, and it increased my knowledge of life in Afghanistan”
Min Huang, Civil Engineering, 2019
“The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. It’s a relatable story about a second-generation immigrant girl having two identities, rejecting her Chinese identity for a long time until realising that she needs to mix Chinese heritage into the equation.”
Janice Chung, Biomedical Engineering, 2019
“East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s sincere and easy to visualize, and it provides interesting wisdom pieces of wisdom that you realize are true.”
Lauren Arnett, Music, 2019
“Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. I like that it’s a collection of blog style essays about feminism and portrayals of women in media.”
Abhi Kodumagulla, Math and Physics, 2019
“Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. I love it because it describes the difficulty of staying alive when the whole world wants you dead.
“It’s about living while pretending to be a Nazi and inspiring countless crimes. It’s an interesting psychological read on how guilt breeds depression.”
Ana Kioko, Poli-Sci, 2019
“The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Toni Morrison is Diaz’s favorite author but I didn’t enjoy Morrison’s books.
“Diaz, however, drew a lot of different things from her work, and I saw Morrison in the book and thought it was cool. It’s a well-written story by a witty writer.”
Ian McLean, Anthropology and Creative Writing, 2019
“Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. It explores the question of how mature of a problem a young kid can handle through adversity, and it gets more interesting as you reread it.”
Devin Barricklow, Neuroscience, 2019
“All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews. It’s relatively new, but I like how the dialogue is incorporated into story. The plot deals with mood disorders and mental health.”
Andrew Shaver, Poli-Sci, 2019
“Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Just a super big Jane Austen fan.”
Jordan Cline, Psychology, 2019
“The Picture of Dorian Gray. It’s really cool to see how influence can play a role in people’s lives.”
Sofia Gouin,Urban Studies and Education, 2019
“The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. It has promise in a really exhilarating way and demonstrates how important tiny things are. I also grew up in Neighbor where the author wrote the book.”
Maria Javier, Biomedical Engineering, 2019
“Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Every time I read it, I get a new perspective, and I see it differently in college than I did when I first read it four years ago.”
Merlyn Tejada, Environemental Science, 2019
“Love in the Time of Cholera by Garbiel Garcia Marquez. It’s a great love story.”
Abigail Munoz, English and Gender Studies, 2019
“Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. It’s emotionally impactful.”
Ben Regas, Poli-Sci, 2019
“La Vida Loca by Luis J. Rodriguez. The writing is really good, it’s enthralling and a pleasure to read. It showcases a minority group that’s not portrayed in the media a lot, and the success story feels nice.”
So do reading habits at all reflect one’s major or vice versa? Maybe. Psych students, for instance, seemed to gravitate towards more psychological reads about mood disorders and mental health. PoliSci kids read about race and culture, but SEAS kids seem to want to read about things which aren’t to do with their major. Physics students aren’t always lugging around heavy quantum textbooks and dreaming of Brian Greene. Ultimately your major doesn’t mean you read more, or less. Reading for pleasure is our escape from midnight studying, our excuse to put class aside, if only for a sentence, page, chapter, novel.