The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut – Jeremy Zelken, Contributor

If you are anything like me, you probably read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five about three times in high school. While I had always insisted it was his best work, I have to admit—I was humbly mistaken. The Sirens of Titan, a book I couldn’t put down this break, completely eclipsed it.

Written in Vonnegut’s signature deadpan humour and cosmic cynicism, the book follows Malachi Constant, Earth’s richest and most corrupt man, as he is swept into a wild interplanetary journey with the eccentric and unwilling Beatrice Rumfoord. Along the way, they encounter extraterrestrial beings, a Martian army, and bizarre religions, all culminating in a story that questions the purpose of it all. Each moment of absurdity and anomaly is delivered with equal sincerity and pensiveness. Even at its most surreal, the emotional undertone is surprisingly human—more so than in any of his other novels. Vonnegut somehow finds meaning in the meaningless.

It’s always a pleasure to read something that makes you feel every emotion at once. If you enjoy laughing at misfortune, questioning your existence, and finding comfort in confusion, this book is for you.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue – Anna Roberts, Contributor 

Caroline O’Donoghue’s charming coming-of-age, The Rachel Incident is addictive. After fervently reading this across long train rides and at every spare moment of my break, I can easily say it is one of the most electric books I’ve read in months. Set in Cork, Ireland in the 2010s, during the economic recession and tension over abortion laws, the novel explores the messy life of a girl in her early twenties as she makes a series of many questionable decisions. 

After settling in London, Rachel hears that her old college professor is in a coma, spurring her to reflect back on her final year of university in Cork. In this flashback, she meets her soon-to-be best friend and flatmate, James, who encourages her to pursue an illicit relationship with her older, married professor. When this attempted affair fails in an unexpected way, Rachel launches into an unsteady relationship with another man while overburned with duties at an internship under her professor’s wife. During this period, she is forced to grapple with the culture in Ireland at the time, her intense relationships, and her desperate desire for a career in publishing. 

The novel is deeply tender, yet witty; O’Donoghue masterfully moves between humour and seriousness, weaving together plotlines and creating complex relationships. The heart of the novel is the platonic love between Rachel and James; while they fall in and out of love with other men, their bond remains at the centre of their story.

Cult Classic by Sloane Crosley – Dylan Hing, Contributor

Imagine if, one day, all your exes started appearing out of nowhere, and your cult-like friends became obsessed with what comes next. It’s everyone’s dream, isn’t it? Cult Classic, comedy writer Sloane Crosley’s second novel, inquires whether our choices are really our own and what it means to decide to love.

Lola, an editor at a New York City magazine, finally gets engaged—but then begins running into her exes. Under these circumstances, she’s roped up in a conspiracy that questions the very idea of free will—are we making our own choices, or are we subject to the subliminal effects of the world around us? Through these constant appearances of exes, both Lola and the reader are left to wonder whether she is really happy with her fiancé, or whether she simply settled for lack of a better option.

Despite the unsettling actions of some of the characters, Crosley manages to endear the reader to the strange but mostly unremarkable cast of her novel. Her background in nonfiction humour strengthens her writing; the comedy is mainly descriptive, because this novel is meant to reflect questions of reality. So, if you’re interested, give it a try. I’m sure it’ll be a cult classic.