By the Book: Sorrel Ricou, '28
Sorrel (they/them) is Pennsylvania born and raised, and is studying history and environmental studies. They can often be found photosynthesizing in the woods, eating soup and cheese in good company, or in the library conversing vehemently about their most recent read or freshly concocted "theory." They are passionate about the necessary interactions between community organizing and art, and are an ardent fan of horseshoe crabs.
What are you reading these days? I've been meandering my way through Figuring by Maria Popova (beautiful prose) and alternating it with Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. Despite being very different genres, the parallels between them are fascinating to notice: of world-making and examining the lines between circumstance and self-directed choice.
Describe your favorite place to read on campus. A picnic blanket in the amphitheater on an autumn afternoon is equal parts delightful distraction (colorful leaves and frantic squirrels) and inspiration to focus on endless page-turning.
Is there a book you've read multiple times? I have a tradition of reading Virginia Woolf's essay On Being Ill whenever I'm sick and the placebo effect of its healing power is being eternally reinforced.
What is the latest book you could not finish even though you thought you should? I planned to read Anna Karenina over the summer but rarely got through more than 50 pages before starting a different book and setting it aside. Eventually, I decided it wasn't the right time to read it and gratefully dropped it in the library return box.
What literary character would you most like to be friends with? Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables was my dream friend when I was younger, and someone I would still be happy to have in my corner. Her balance of sensibility and whimsy seem like a fitting way to move through life.
What book do you recommend most often? Any poetry collection by Ada Limon, and any poetry collection by Naomi Shihab Nye.
What book made an early impact on you, and why? After I first read Persepolis in school, I re-read it on loop on and off for a year. The style of the book itself initiated my love of storytelling through graphics, and the story itself opened a keener awareness to the histories I was studying in school and the worlds I was watching unfold in real time.
