An Aid Against “Library Terror”: Recommended Readings from CBU Professors
Joshua Collica
“Library Terror”
It was nearing midnight in the library when I stumbled across an article that managed to completely unravel my current hypothesis for that semester’s final research paper. With five days left before the paper was due, a blanket of dread and hopelessness fell upon me. How was I supposed to read every research article and scholarly text on Edgar Allen Poe in the confines of a single semester? How can I “say something new,” if I’ll never be able to read everything that came before? It was as if I was drowning in an unending sea of words; betrayed by the very thing that caused me to pursue this profession in the first place.
Owen Barfield, author and member of the Inklings, describes this sensation as “…library terror – that feeling of being hopelessly overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of available books…” (12). Unfortunately, there is no magical solution to cure these “library terrors”. Even within the narrowest facet of study, there will always be more texts that one could read to further their understanding. Most, if not all, scholars will have encountered this phenomenon throughout their careers. However, this universality can cause terror to be replaced by hope. Since, if the most renowned academics have endured these struggles, then there must be a way to succeed despite this haunting presence.
In 1983, the English Professors at Harvard gathered to create a guide for their students to navigate the staggering mass of Western literary texts and criticism. Collectively they produced the Bibliography for English Undergraduate Concentrators, a compilation of hundreds of recommended readings from Virgil’s Aeneid to T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. While a step towards reducing an undergraduate scholar’s “library terror” and an undeniably useful guide for navigating the Western Literary Canon, one problem remains. This bibliography contains over three hundred texts, which is still an incredibly daunting amount of literature. Now, 41 years later, we must ask ourselves…
How can professors at California Baptist University help undergraduate scholars fight against their “library terror”?
CBU Professors’ Recommended Readings for Undergraduates
Unlike Harvard’s 1983 Bibliography, this list is not designed to take you on an expansive (and lengthy) journey through the Literary Canon. The professors of CBU’s Modern Language and Literature Department have each generously provided a handful of recommendations for emerging scholars to read. These selections are not just a list of texts that you’ll encounter throughout your courses, although some you undoubtedly will. Some of these texts are a professor’s favorite novel, a poem they have always wanted to teach, a textbook they find uniquely impactful, or even simply a book they think students will enjoy. These selections are designed to help broaden your worldview and narrow the near infinite scope of literature that can paralyze you when walking into a library. *
The Holy Bible (Translation: ESV)
Recommended by Professor David Issacs & Dr. Toni Kirk
Annie Gabriel Call Number: BS195 .E64 2008
“I would recommend that every undergraduate, regardless of religious belief, read the entire Holy Bible in a good translation. Not separate books or selections as usual in survey courses, but the entire thing!” (Isaacs).
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century) translated by James Wilhelm or J.R.R. Tolkien
Recommended by Dr. Joshua Fullman
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR2065.G31 T6
“Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 14th century alliterative poem. SGGK tells the story of Sir Gawain, who, after playing a beheading game at Christmas with a mystical giant, must meet the giant a year later to be beheaded himself. The text addresses issues of sin and temptation, lying and honor, courage, and faith. It is useful for teaching literature, literary parallelism, character development, symbolism, and the role of Christianity in an era far removed from our own. Beyond these uses, it’s just plain fun” (Fullman).
Regarding which translation to use, Dr. Fullman added, “I don’t prefer a specific translation. I often use James Wilhelm’s because it is frequently anthologized, but it doesn’t quite possess the beauty of Tolkien’s” (Fullman)
Works by William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
Recommended by Dr. Toni Kirk & Dr. Jennifer Newton
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR2828.A2 C69 1997, PR2819.A2 L3 1969, PR2807.A2 M46 2019
Dr. Toni Kirk recommends, at the very least, one text from each of Shakespeare’s categories: History, Comedy, Tragedy, and Sonnet. Two of her personal favorites are Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear. Dr. Jennifer Newton recommends Shakespeare’s Hamlet for its unique ability to “enrich all who read it”.
Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) by John Bunyan
Recommended by Dr. Daniel Blair
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR3330 .A1 1981
“The power of Pilgrim’s Progress is that Bunyan infuses God’s word into the characters’ lives and plot so creatively that I cannot help but delight in God’s word when I read it. Christian and his faithful friends cling to God’s precious promises through every trial until they pass into the land where faith becomes sight” (Kell).
Bleak House (1852) by Charles Dickens
Recommended by Dr. Erika Travis
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR4556 .A1 1953
“Bleak House is remarkable in many ways. It is the first of Dickens’s “dark novels,” though it was composed during a time of widespread confidence in Britain’s scientific progress and material prosperity. Bleak House is also Dickens’s most experimental novel, featuring two narrators speaking at different times and characters from across the social spectrum, including the first police detective in British fiction, a chameleon-like inspector named Bucket. Page by page, Dickens deftly weaves multiple mysteries, romances, and genres to create his most sustained critique of Victorian society and its institutions” (Benford).
North & South (1855) by Elizabeth Gaskell
Recommended by Dr. Erika Travis
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR4710 .N6 2008
“The title hints that this novel’s theme is movement from one physical place to another, places which represent the attitudes and values of those who choose them and those who experience them…In North and South, moving to and within the industrial city called Milton, Margaret Hale acquires a breadth of understanding and competence that contradicts our own century’s stereotype of the sheltered Victorian female. As she travels the public spaces of streets and railroads, she advances in her private educational progress towards understanding both herself and her world, in order to better serve her family and her society.” (Kuhlman 14)
Silas Marner (1861) by George Eliot
Recommended by Dr. Erika Travis
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR4670 .A1 1981
“Silas Marner is a great novel to demonstrate, rather concisely, Eliot’s main themes, beliefs, and concerns as a writer in the 1800s. She focuses on human relationships above all else and explores rather non-religious conceptions of morals. Her works focus on rural life in England and they often have a timeless quality about them. The opening of Silas Marner begins almost as a fairy tale. Raveloe, the main village and place of the novel, is set in a timeless and border-less space. She invites the reader to join her on a journey into this strange rural void and try to make sense of the relationships between the different villagers” (Lee).
Middlemarch (1871) by George Eliot
Recommended by Dr. Erika Travis
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR4662.A2 H67 2000
“Many academics and lovers of literature insist that Middlemarch is as urgent and illuminating as it was when it was first released 150 years ago. How the novel shines a light on our need to better understand each other, showing the dangers of ego and ambition. Lydgate, for example, dreams of identifying the “primitive tissue”, an imagined essential building block of life; Rosamond marries for the purposes of elevating her status in society – but weds herself to something she does not expect. Eliot shows us that greed limits our capacity to make change, and limits our capacity to empathise. Ideas that are pertinent now” (Keane).
The Time Machine (1895) H.G Wells
Recommended by Dr. Erika Travis
Annie Gabriel Call Number: eBook
“H. G. Wells categorized his classic science fiction text The Time Machine as a “scientific romance” – an “exercise in imagination” that uses elements of fantasy and invention to communicate human sympathy. While the story of the Time Traveler’s journey to the future reveals the degradation of mankind, the 1895 novella ends in a message of hope that the human race still possesses qualities of gratitude and tenderness” (Pavey iii).
The House of Mirth (1905) by Edith Wharton
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PS3545.H16 H68 2018
“Edith Wharton, a member of Gilded Age upper-crust society, used her pen to skewer the mores and strict social conventions of her increasingly shallow and avaricious class. Her heartrending main character, Lily Bart, manages to fall afoul of the rigid rules that prescribed the behavior of a woman of her standing. A small misstep makes her a pariah—and dooms her to a tragic fate. Though set in the late nineteenth century, the novel’s characters are so richly drawn that the book feels as if it could have been written today” (Lucey).
The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings (1937, 1954, 1954, 1955) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR6039.O32 H6 1988, PR6039.O32 L6 PT. 1 2002, PR6039.O32 L6 PT. 2 2002 , PR6039.O32 L6 PT. 3 2002
“As a language professor, I was always impressed with [Tolkien’s] ability to create the various languages of Middle Earth. In addition, the characters he created were so endearing (or repulsive) based on his creative and thoughtful character development. His attention to detail with the description of the environment made it easy to visualize and draw one into a whole new world of adventure. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to match the rich background you have gained in understanding Tolkien’s intentions and background with these books, but they will forever be my favorites, but I also think that the depth and complexity of these series are academically worthy for any serious literary student to read, enjoy and explore!” (Liu).
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek(1974) by Annie Dillard
Annie Gabriel Call Number: QH81 .D56 1999
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek is describing [Dillard’s] explorations in the Virginia valley where she lived…She comes across as audacious, inquisitive, and hilarious, chasing wood ducks and sleeping alone without a tent under a moonless sky. The book raises questions about the horrors and beauties of nature, and the power of the present moment in a world that’s constantly being created. It’s also a chronicle of solitude” (Saverin).
Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison
Recommended by Dr. Laura Veltman
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PS3563.O8749 B4 2004
“Beloved is based on the true story of an ex-slave named Margaret Garner, who attempted to kill her children to prevent them from returning to slavery. Taking this event as the germ for her story, Morrison weaves it into a story about refugees from slavery, caught between remembering and forgetting what they have been through. She also uses the novel to explore the intensity of a mother’s relationship with children, particularly under slavery” (Bell 2).
The Remains of the Day (1988) by Kazuo Ishiguro
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PR6059.S5 R46 1993
“The Remains of the Day does that most wonderful thing a work of literature can do: it makes you feel you hold a human life in your hands. When you reach the end, it really does seem as if you’ve lost a friend – a laughably pompous, party-hat-refusing, stick-in-the-mud friend, but a good friend nonetheless” (French).
Denise Levertov’s (1923-1997) Collected Poems
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: Some poems found in PN6071.F17 S43 2013
“Dignity, reverence, and strength are words that come to mind as one gropes to characterize … one of America’s most respected poets…[Levertov] possesses a clear uncluttered voice—a voice committed to acute observation and engagement with the earthly, in all its attendant beauty, mystery and pain” (Gerstler).
Gilead (2004) by Marilynne Robinson
Recommended by Dr. Laura Veltman
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PS3568.O3125 G55 2004
“Gilead is an epistolary novel: a single, episodic letter from the Reverend John Ames to his seven-year-old son. Ames, a Congregationalist minister in tiny Gilead, Iowa, is dying of a heart condition, and he is documenting his life for the son he will not see to reach adulthood” (PBS).
The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: PS3563.C337 R63 2006
The Road isn’t about the apocalypse. It’s about love. It’s about having the courage to be decent in indecent times.It may seem that compassion is an outdated practice yet The Road argues compassion is as primal as cruelty. That compassion, not cruelty, will restore order to the fallen world” (Armstrong).
Galway Kinnell’s (1927-2014) Collected Poems
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: Some poems found in PN6071.F17 S43 2013
Galway Kinnell was an award-winning poet best known for poetry that connects the experiences of daily life to much larger poetic, spiritual, and cultural forces. Often focusing on the claims of nature and society on the individual, Kinnell’s poems explore psychological states in precise and sonorous free verse” (Campion).
Brian Doyle’s (1956-2017) Collected Poems
Recommended by Dr. Berniece Alspach
Annie Gabriel Call Number: N/A
“[Doyle’s] work was a mystical project born of both joy and desperation.… The whirling adjectives, aphorisms, metaphors and paradoxes were his method of using every tool he could to excavate the rich seams of the examined life. He wanted more than to stare God in the eye. He wanted to tell God a few things, and listen too. I picture him as a songwriter-king dancing before his Lord, pouring out words, intermingling praise, grief, fury and laughter. The audacity makes me cringe. Then it draws me in” (Hiskes).
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies (2021) by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre
Recommended by Dr. Laura Veltman
Annie Gabriel Call Number: BV4647.T7 M34 2009(1st ed.), BV4647 .T7 M34 2021(2nd ed.)
[Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies] invites us to reflect on the wayds that we use and abuse language, what it means to care for words, and why it matters, both for ourselves and for our society…[McEntyre] both encourages and models a delight in words and argues that caring for language is a moral issue, one that is inseparable from caring for each other” (Harder).
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2021) by David Epstein
Recommended by Dr. Laura Veltman
Annie Gabriel Call Number: N/A
“Provocative, rigorous, and engrossing, Range makes a compelling case for actively cultivating inefficiency. Failing a test is the best way to learn. Frequent quitters end up with the most fulfilling careers. The most impactful inventors cross domains rather than deepening their knowledge in a single area. As experts silo themselves further while computers master more of the skills once reserved for highly focused humans, people who think broadly and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives will increasingly thrive (“About the Book”).
I hope this list serves you well in combating your own “library terror”. Good luck and happy reading!
*Note: This list is organized chronologically by date of publication (except for the three collected works of poetry; these selections are sorted by the year of the author’s death). The library call numbers are hyperlinked to the CBU Webcat page for each available text. Also, all the titles are hyperlinked to the cheapest listing on Amazon I could find. However, I highly recommend braving a library or shopping from a local bookseller!
Works Cited
“About the Book.” David Epstein, https://davidepstein.com/the-range/.
Anglen, Kevin P., and Harvard University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Tutorial Board, Harvard University. Department of English and American Literature and Language. Bibliography for English Undergraduate Concentrators. 4 ed., Harvard University, 1983.
Armstrong, Jay. “Compassion vs. Cruelty: Why You Should Read “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.” Student Voices, 27 July 2017, https://mystudentvoices.com/compassion-vs-cruelty-why-you-should-read-the-road-by-cormac-mccarthy-e57ec099f4f2.
Barfield, Owen. Night Operation. Barfield Press, 2009.
Bell, Sophie. “This is Not a Story to Pass On”: Teaching Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, vol. 1, no. 3, 1999, pp. 1-17, https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/files/99.01.03.pdf.
Benford, Crisilla. “Charles Dickens’s Masterpiece: Bleak House.” Stanford Continuing Studies, 17 April 2022, https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/courses/liberal-arts-and-sciences/charles-dickens-s-masterpiece-bleak-house/20233_LIT-45.
Campion, Peter. “Galway Kinnell.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/galway-kinnell.
French, Tania. “The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro – a subtle masterpiece about what is not said.” The Guardian, 7 January 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/jan/07/the-remains-of-the-day-by-kazuo-ishiguro-book-to-share.
Fullman, Joshua. Re:Request for Literature Recommendations for The Dazed Starling Blog. Received by Joshua Collica. 22 Feb. 2024.
Gerstler, Amy. “The Awe of Seeing : EVENING TRAIN, By Denise Levertov.” LA Times, LA Times, 27 Dec. 1992, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-12-27-bk-4859-story.html.
Harder, Cherie. “Online Conversation | Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, with Marilyn McEntyre.” The Trinity Forum, 17 July 2020, https://www.ttf.org/portfolios/online-conversation-caring-for-words-marilyn-mcentyre/.
Hiskes, Jonathan. “Brian Doyle’s ferocious attention.” The Christian Century, 5 July 2017, https://www.christiancentury.org/article/critical-essay/brian-doyle-s-ferocious-attention.
Isaacs, David. Re:Request for Literature Recommendations for The Dazed Starling Blog. Received by Joshua Collica. 22 Fed. 2024.
Keane, Toby. “Why read Middlemarch?” Exploring Eliot, 29 July 2022, https://exploringeliot.org/2022/07/29/why-read-middlemarch/.
Kell, Garrett. “The Pastor’s Progress: Why I Keep Reading John Bunyan.” Desiring God, 3 January 2023, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-pastors-progress.
Kuhlman, Mary H. “EDUCATION THROUGH EXPERIENCE IN ‘NORTH AND SOUTH.” The Gaskell Society Journal, vol. 10, 1996, pp. 14-26.
Lee, Hope. “The Fantastic Story of “Silas Marner” by George Eliot.” bound2books, 9 November 2015, https://bound2books.co/2015/11/09/the-fantastic-story-of-silas-marner-by-george-eliot/.
Liu, Carla. Re:Request for Literature Recommendation for The Dazed Starling Blog. Received by Joshua Collica. 24 Feb. 2024.
Lucey, Donna M. “The best books about women who broke the rules—or new ground.” Shepherd, 3 June 2009, https://shepherd.com/best-books/women-who-broke-the-rulesor-new-ground.
Pavey, Sarah Jane. H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine: A Reexamination of a “Scientific Romance”. Thesis. 1 April 2020, pp. i-23. Research Online: University of St. Thomas, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, https://researchonline.stthomas.edu/esploro/outputs/991015132265403691#files_and_links_(1).
PBS. “Gilead | The Great American Read.” WTTW, 2019, https://interactive.wttw.com/great-american-read/books/gilead.
Saverin, Diana. “The Thoreau of the Suburbs.” The Atlantic, 5 February 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2015/02/the-thoreau-of-the-suburbs/385128/.
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