Five books that Should Accompany your Diploma

Maybe the library at 2am is just starting to feel like home, and maybe you finally feel comfortable and accomplished in your academic pursuits; but as the bitterly-named “best four years of your life” threaten to coat themselves with the impenetrable sheen of nostalgia, you are forced to consider, “what’s next?” Imminent graduation and those months of limbo that follow it bring new challenges of friendship, love, and existential dread that define the end of adolescence, but these authors weave philosophy and masterful storytelling to show us that even the best minds don’t have to have all the answers and that the anxious struggle against the unknown future is not degrading, it is literary.

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon illuminates the magical and mundane world and

worldview of a gangster’s son immediately following his college graduation. Written in Chabon’s early twenties, the novel speaks with the sarcastic wit and the charming cynicism that accompany the experience of facing an uncertain path with uncertain allies by your side. You may not be able to pick your parents or the life they think they’re planning for you, but you are always entitled to your own opinions, and those judgments may be the best guides for finding your authentic self.

The Secret History, Donna Tartt

When it comes to delectable writing, multidimensional characters, and brilliant storytelling, it’s

hard to find someone who delivers more consistently and convincingly than Tartt in her first novel. It can be reassuring to read about would-be peers dealing with problems much darker than those we face daily (murder, the dangers of excessive wealth); but it is also impossible not to see qualities of yourself and your friends in the exclusive and poisonous collection of language geeks and stylish lit freaks that Tartt curates. The plot is intoxicating but what ultimately shines through are the worries and insecurities of these brilliant, hard-working students who are just trying to survive amid the shadows and smugness of societal expectation and manipulation.

Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney

Buzzing with dark drug highs, obscured midnight aspirations, and hyper-detailed regret, McInerney’s fast paced novel presents the life of a 24 year-old with a promising future and a troubled mind in New York City. Like Tartt’s novel, the problems presented here may be

hyperbolic but they stem from the ever-relatable quandaries of dissatisfaction in the workplace, failed relationships, and the need to achieve success and satisfaction at a young age. McInerney writes about peer-pressure in one of the most famous examples of the second-person point of

view, exemplifying that conforming and breaking the norm surprisingly aren’t always opposing

states.

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In his life Saint-Exupéry was a an aviator and a mail pilot in addition to being an acclaimed journalist, poet, and novelist; an early testament to the professional multi-tasker's philosophy that commitment to one path doesn’t always have to mean sacrifice of others. In this concise yet vastly empathetic fable—originally published in French in 1943— a young boy’s exploration of diverse planets reminds us that things aren’t always as they appear, the adult world is just as scary for adults, and the fear of the foreign is often rooted in one’s own insecurities. Sometimes it takes getting lost in the desert in order to begin finding answers or even the right questions to ask.

The Iliad, Homer

Proving for the past 3000 years that the words of antiquity are not always antiquated, Homer’s

war epic brings to life warriors and gods that are just as prone to mistakes and worrying about what others think as we are today. The mythic qualities and fantastical symbolism that drive the poem do not distract from the overwhelmingly human story of pride, family, expectation, and ultimately forgiveness that pulses with modern day relevance. Homer elevates the “what’s next?” question to the next logical conundrum on every young self-starter’s mind: how will I be remembered?