The study year has come (at least for most students) to an end - and it's finally time for a well-deserved vacation. All this extra time needs to be filled with something. And what better way to enjoy the holidays than with a good book? Professors and students share their must reads.

When walking into philosopher and psychologist Pim Haselager’s (62) office in the Maria Montessori building one is greeted with a mountain of books. The one bookcase that is allocated for every office is stacked full and the rest of the books are piled into several stacks in a manner of organised chaos.

The professor of societal impact of AI visibly loves reading. ‘I don’t remember not being able to read, it was always there. Books take you out to a different time, away from the daily life hassles. If I don’t read for a week, I feel uneasy,’ explains Haselager.

PhD candidate in the department of political history Solange Ploeg (29) reminisces in a similar manner: ‘I found myself reading at a very young age and it has been my main hobby since I was a kid.’

Detach

Professor of criminal law and procedure law Piet Hein Van Kempen (53) also cannot recall how he learned to read, but he can definitely say why he has stuck with it: ‘Literature offers you the ability to look into another world and into the lives of other people as well as enjoy the beauty and power of language.’

‘I thought reading was kind of boring’

But literature can also be enjoyed by people who are not born book lovers. Computing Science student Lorenzo Lo (19, English/Italian) was not an avid reader for quite a long time: ‘I thought reading was kind of boring and I did not like doing it.’ However, after starting his university career, the 19-year-old felt the need to read again. ‘I got to the point where there was so much stress and I realized I was studying every day. So now when I want to completely detach myself and relax, I remove myself from my working environment and go to, for example, a park and just read.’

Insects

Not all people approach reading in the same way either. Lo Brutto likes to focus on one book at a time: ‘I don’t like a lot of books, but when I do like one, I try to make the most of it and read it very slowly.’ Ploeg also prefers to put most of her focus into one book – and always finish it. The PhD student, however, has another interesting approach: ‘Sometimes I save specific books for specific moments – which book I decide to read is tied to my moods and my level of stress.’

Professors Haselager and Van Kempen, on the other hand, prefer to enjoy several books at the same time. Haselager even in the extremes – around forty books at the same time. While that might seem excessive to outside observers, professor Haselager does it in a very organised manner. ‘I read temporarily – I am currently reading books from the late 19^th century – and I have a list to keep track of everything. It can increase your understanding of an era a lot, but it must be done in a systematic way.’ While Van Kempen reads fewer books at the same time, usually at least five, he also recommends having a system for it. His approach is to mix and match: ‘I never read two spy novels or two biographies at the same time. I always have different types of books to not get them mixed up.’

Clearly, every person has their own unique taste in books, largely influenced by their interest outside of reading. But what were the books that have had an unforgettable impression on our readers? ‘I had to read Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis for my high school German class,’ laughs professor Haselager. ‘I did not understand the German word for insect, but I thought I could figure it out along the way, which I did not, and the story became very confusing. I learned that sometimes it is good to check for words you do not know.’

Stupid people

Computing Science student highlights John Green’s Paper Towns: ‘It was not such a high-quality book, but it was the first time I was more open to a serious level of reading, and it made me see the creative potential that books can have.’ PhD Ploeg was moved by books written by the Georgian author Nino Haratischwili, especially The Eighth Life (for Brilka): ‘Haratischwili’s books are so exceptional. She writes about Eastern European history and uses different perspectives. She has the skill to make you feel for every single character and bring a heavy historical topic down to a very personal level.

As Van Kempen demonstrates, some books can have a very deep impact on people. He has always been fascinated by Russian culture and literature and his first strong memory is of Leo Tolstoy’s Resurrection.’

‘I have about 40 different editions of Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment’

However, there is another Russian literary classic that has left an impact: ‘I really like Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky and I decided that I should start collecting it.’ The thought came to the 53-year-old Professor of criminal and procedural law when he was walking around in a Swedish bookstore where everything was in Swedish. Today he has a sizeable collection of the classic: ‘I have about 40 different editions in about 36 different languages. I have, for example, the original Russian, Estonian, classic, and new Chinese, and several in German, one of which is in Gothic print.’

All of us also have a book that we have disliked and for Professor Haselager it is a popular and classic Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. He found it very difficult to relate to: ‘It is about stupid people living stupid lives, being so brutally bad against everyone and so completely unhappy. I am sure it is of extreme literary quality, but that was a hard read.’ The 29-year-old Ploeg similarly critiques a Dutch classic The Evenings by Gerard Reve: ‘I get why it was an important book, but it was boring, and I disliked the main character.’ Professor Van Kempen did not enjoy Roberto Saviano’s Gomorrah: ‘It is a really interesting topic on organized crime, but the structure and writing are so bad.’

Inspiring

Even the biggest readers sometimes go through the struggle of trying to find new books to read, but what is the best way to do so? Professor Haselager reads temporarily, focusing on books written around the same time. As such, he lets the period pick the books he reads for him. Lo Brutto also lets the books find him: ‘I read slowly, so usually the next book presents itself somehow.’

Ploeg and Van Kempen have a more proactive approach – they are both part of two book clubs and recommend everyone to join one. Ploeg is involved in more traditional ones where the group picks a book that everyone will read together.

Van Kempen finds himself a member of more creative book clubs. One he shares with his colleagues in the Faculty of Law. ‘We meet for dinner and just talk about the books we have read since we last saw each other. That way we can all find new recommendations and learn about books that are not worth reading.’

The second book club is called De Lezers and features prominent members of Radboud University, former dean Professor Margot van Mulken, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Paul Van Tongeren, and rector Professor Han Van Krieken. ‘We meet three times a year in the bookstore Roelants and discuss three books in public for about an hour and a half,’ explains Van Kempen. ‘The discussion between ourselves and the public is very inspiring.’