Back to School for Grown-Ups - Novels with an Academic Setting

In other parts of the country, the days and nights are cooler, the air smells of fall. Students on campus are breaking out their long-sleeved shirts and sweaters.  Soon, the leaves will be turning and the days will be getting shorter.  While we're not there quite yet weather-wise here in Florida, we can still get a little of that fall feeling by revisiting school days in book form.  Here are some novels with an academic theme to help you recreate that feeling.

Murder 101 Mysteries series by Maggie Barbieri
An Invisible Sign of My Own by Aimee Bender
Evening Class by Maeve Binchy
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell & Dustin Thomason
The Kingdom of Childhood by Rebecca Coleman
The Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy
The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
One Breath Away by Heather Gudenkauf
The Headmaster's Wife by Jane Haddam
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Schooled by Anisha Lakhani
Obedience by Will Lavender
My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman
To the Power of Three by Laura Lippman
The Notre Dame Mysteries series by Ralph M. McInerny
The Technologists by Matthew Pearl
Joe College by Tom Perrotta
The Crazy School by Cornelia Read
Straight Man by Richard Russo
Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan
I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
Old School by Tobias Wolff

Tournament of Books

It's almost time for The Morning News 2008 Tournament of Books. The Tournament of Books, now in it's fourth year, is a March-Madness style contest where books go head to head in a fight for one of the strangest literary prizes ever--a live chicken.

Here are the contenders for this year's prize:

Run by Ann Patchett
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Petropolis by Anya Ulinich
Ovenman by Jeff Parker
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
You Don't Love Me Yet by Jonathan Lethem
New England White by Stephen L. Carter
Remainder by Tom McCarthy
The Shadow Catcher by Marianne Wiggins
The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name by Vendela Vida
Shining at the Bottom of the Sea by Stephen Marche
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England by Brock Clarke


You can view the list of judges here.

This literary prize with a sense of humor kicks off Friday, March 7.

(Image courtesy of themorningnews.org)