Riveting Reads

Daniela Bailey, one of the new additions to the faculty this year, spoke about the books she is reading (or hoping to read, in the near future) and shared a little about her recent move to DC.

As of now, she is reading Disgrace, written by J. M. Coetzee, who among other achievements won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. The New Yorker reviewed the book and stated, "Disgrace is not a hard or obscure book-it is, among other things, compulsively readable-but what it may well be is an authentically spiritual document, a lament for the soul of a disgraced century." Bailey speaks of the novel in the same vein, in that she found the author has a nice style, readable, yet sophisticated. She chose the book not only because her mother had recommended it to her long ago, but she was looking for something new, an author who is from South Africa and writes about South Africa as well as topics that connect with many people from all different countries because of the possibility of new course offerings at NCS in the social sciences department. She would recommend this book to the juniors and seniors of this school because they would not only appreciate the brevity of his prose, but it is a different subject matter, not Western – highlighting the difficulty in race relations that have paralleled the race relation struggles in the US, in many ways.

In Disgrace, “an uninspired college teacher's affair with a student is discovered, and he seeks solace on his daughter's farm in South Africa. A violent attack launched by three black men alters how he perceives many things including his daughter and the rights of South Africa's aggrieved majority.”

Bailey also just moved to DC, and she has spent some time getting to know the restaurants and monuments, but she has two places she wants to visit for sure: Chef Geoff’s, because of the rave reviews and a refresher visit to the National Gallery that she toured over 10 years ago.

One of the books next on her list to read, though she is struggling to believe that she will have the time in the near future, is Like You’d Understand, Anyway, written by Jim Shepard, a professor she knew of while attending Williams College; it was highly recommended by a friend who was a student of his and a very accomplished writer. The Boston Globe wrote, “Shepard is a terrific mimic, and manages to give each one of his narrators a slightly different voice, wrinkling some stories with subtle irony, leading others the pomp and swagger of a professional boxer.” Sounds like something to pick up!

Another novel on her list is Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. She had previously read Corrections and enjoyed it, so it seemed natural to want to read his next novel, but also she wanted to see what all the hype was about – reviews cover the spectrum, but there is a true vibe of “brilliance” mentioned about Franzen’s writing. On Amazon.com, “Franzen's new novel is both an amusing and tragic story of the breakdown of an American family struggling with their old-fashioned values set against our modern era of the quick fix, hands-off parenting, and globalized greed.”

Her lasting statement, “I hope everyone reads; reading is such a wonderful escape.”