Thematic Cluster Reading for the Humanities

Shakespeare Reimagined

Read:

• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, a fictionalized account that reimagines the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet.
• By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult, which explores the theory that a woman may have authored some of Shakespeare’s works.

Visit the Globe Theatre in London or explore its history online. You can also watch videos from live performances on the Shakespeare’s Globe YouTube.

Watch & Juliet, a musical imagining Juliet’s fate had she lived, and listen to this podcast about the making of the musical.

• D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire.
• Circe by Madeline Miller, which focuses on the life of the Greek goddess.
• The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, a retelling of Homer’s Iliad.

See the musical Hadestown.

Mythology: Then and Now

Epic Journeys

• Read The Odyssey by Homer and Gilgamesh by Anonymous.

Modern odysseys:

• Read Enrique’s Journey: The Story of a Boy’s Dangerous Odyssey to Reunite with His Mother by Sonia Nazario, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger.

Memoir/journey pairings:

• Read The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto Che Guevara, A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins, and On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

Sci-fi/fantasy:

• Read The Martian by Andy Weir (pair with the movie Interstellar) and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tales of time travel:

• Read Kindred by Octavia E. Butler, 11/22/63 by Stephen King, and the short story The Langoliers also by Stephen King. Watch the Netflix series, Dark.

• Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed.
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer and watch the film based on the book.
• The Unlikely Thru-Hiker: An Appalachian Trail Journey by Derick Lugo.
• Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail by Ben Montgomery and listen to the National Park After Dark podcast episode about Grandma Gatewood.
• A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson and watch the movie based on the book.
• Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis. Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Exploring Nature

Magical Realism Across Time and Cultures

• The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende.
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
• The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman.
• North Woods by Daniel Mason.
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters.
• The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
• Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune.
• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. Afterward, research Giulia Tofana — a woman responsible for poisoning hundreds of men in 17th century Italy.
• We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer and I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid.
• The poetry of Federico García Lorca.
• The short stories of Jorge Luis Borges.
• Novels by Italo Calvino.

• Emily Dickinson’s poetry.
• These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson by Martha Ackmann.
• Open Me Carefully: Emily Dickinson’s Intimate Letters to Susan Huntington Dickinson, edited by Ellen Louise Hart and Martha Nell Smith.
• Essays in The Marginalian about her intimate relationship with Susan Huntington Dickinson.

Watch Dickinson on Apple TV, a fantastically creative mix of modern and traditional.

Explore the Dickinson Collection and Room at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Check out the digital version of her Herbarium.

Visit her home in Amherst, MA.

The World of Emily Dickinson

Mysteries

• Agatha Christie’s classics.
• The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
• Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series  and watch Three Pines, the Amazon Prime series based on the books.
• Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s historical thrillers and mysteries.

Watch:

• The 80s movie Clue or see the current Clue musical. Compare with Christie’s book And Then There Were None.
• Only Murders in the Building on Hulu, a TV series written by Steve Martin and others.

• The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel.
• The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin and explore the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the unresolved heist that happened there.
• The Stolen Queen by Fiona Buckley.

Art Heists and History

The Gilded Age: Power, Wealth, and Women

• Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict.
• The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, which focuses on J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene. Then visit the Morgan Library & Museum in NYC.
• Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty and Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune by Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe.
• The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and visit The Mount, her home in Lenox, MA.
• The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.

Tour The Breakers or other mansions in Newport, RI

• Seabiscuit: An American Legend and Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, both by Laura Hillenbrand. Watch the movies based on these books.
• The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson.
• Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall by Helena Merriman.
• Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick.

History that Reads Like Fiction

Historical Fiction

• The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki and The Lioness of Boston (mentioned above).
• Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts along with the Wicked book series by Gregory Maguire and the movie or the Broadway show, Wicked.
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr along with The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman.
• The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd along with the feminist works mentioned below.
• The Women by Kristin Hannah along with Unbroken (mentioned above).
• Horse by Geraldine Brooks along with Seabiscuit (mentioned above).
• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd along with The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels.
• James by Percival Everett along with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.
• My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. Also watch Hamilton the musical and read Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton, which inspired the musical. Expand this theme by learning more about Lin Manuel Miranda, the writer of the musical.
• The Bohemians by Jasmin Darznik, and check out Dorothea Lange’s work.

Read:

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.
• Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell.

Modern takes:

Read:

• The Power by Naomi Alderman.
• Bewilderment by Richard Powers.
• The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera.
• Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy.
• A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, which notable for its invented language.
• Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.

Dystopian Worlds

Adversity

• Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah.
• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.
• Educated by Tara Westover.
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.
• The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin.

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.
• In Love: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Amy Bloom along with The Problem of Alzheimer’s: How Science, Culture, and Politics Turned a Rare Disease into a Crisis and What We Can Do About It by Jason Karlawish.
• Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann.

Medical/Disability Advocacy

Sports

• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight.
• Running with Sherman: The Donkey with the Heart of a Hero by Christopher McDougall.
• Good for a Girl: A Women Running in a Man’s World by Lauren Fleshman.

• My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud’Homme, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell (and watch the movie based on the book), and Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten.

Watch Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown series.

Listen to the podcast The Splendid Table.

Food

Leadership, Habits, and Self-Discovery

• I’m No Hero: A POW Story as Told to Glen DeWerff by Charlie Plumb.
• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. and Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience by Brené Brown.
• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear.
• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun by Gretchen Rubin.
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.
• Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam Grant.

Subscribe to the 1% Better and Curiosity Chronicles newsletters.

Watch Frances Frei’s TED Talk: How to build (and rebuild) trust and listen to her podcast Fixable.

• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson and watch the film.
• Cuz: The Life and Times of Michael A. by Danielle Allen.
• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander.
• Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson.
• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee.
• Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi.
• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein.
• Solito by Javier Zamora.
• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins.
• The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende.
• The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich, watch the New York Times video: A Conversation with Native Americans on Race, and read The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History by Ned Blackhawk.
• In a Different Key: The Story of Autism by John Donvan and Caren Zucker, watch the documentary by the same name about autism as well as the Netflix documentary, Crip Camp.

Social Justice and Systems of Power

Feminist Voices and Perspectives

• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
• The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
• The Awakening by Kate Chopin.
• The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.
• Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit.
• The writings of bell hooks and Audre Lorde.

Listen to Julia Louis Dreyfus’ podcast Wiser Than Me.

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
• Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and watch the film based on the book.
• Brick Lane by Monica Ali.
• Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden and watch the film based on the book.
• Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan.
• The “Beartown” series by Fredrik Backman.

Around the World Through Literature

Octopuses (Because Why Not?)

• The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery.
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Watch the Netflix documentary, My Octopus Teacher.

Expand on this topic by reading books on ecology, such as Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring or other works by author Sy Montgomery.