I ask fellow literature majors for reading recommendations all the time, and usually I get responses like you have to read Middlemarch! you have to read The Faerie Queene! you have to read War and Peace! and I love long books, but here are some of my recs for things I am 100% sure you'll have time to finish over a three-week period amongst other holiday activities :) personal absolute favorites bolded.
poetry
- DU FU: A Life in Poetry, Translated by David Young (ISBN 978-0-375-71160-2)
- Dearest Creature by Amy Gerstler (ISBN 978-0143116356)
- The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck (ISBN 978-0880013345)
- School of the Arts by Mark Doty (ISBN 978-0060752460)
- On the Other Side, Blue by Collier Nogues (ISBN 978-1935536079)
- Small Porcelain Head by Allison Benis White (ISBN 978-1935536277)
- Room Service by Ron Carlson (ISBN 978-1597092333)
- Dreams and Dust by Don Marquis (this one is difficult to find because he's largely out of print right now, but my copy's ISBN is 978-1409917991)
- Fragile Acts by Allan Peterson (ISBN 978-1936365807)
- The Light the World Appears in by James Kimble (this one is also difficult to find, my uni library had a copy! ISBN 978-0941179058)
- The Light Around the Body by Robert Bly (ISBN 978-0060907860)
- Self-Portrait with Crayon by Allison Benis White (ISBN 978-1880834831)
- Odas a las cosas / Odes to Common Things by Pablo Neruda (highly encourage you to read these in Spanish if you can!! ISBN 978-0821220801)
- Cien sonetos de amor por Pablo Neruda (you actually need to read these in Spanish: translations often miss the mark. ISBN 978-9875803008)
- The Collected Poems of Dylan Thomas (you might not have time to finish this one, but I can't ever recommend poetry without including this poet's work. He's incredible, beautiful. ISBN 978-0811218818)
short fiction (i.e. "short stories" / compilations of short fiction)
- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Dylan Thomas (ISBN 978-0811202077)
- Widow by Michelle Latiolais (ISBN 978-1934137307)
- "Milk" & "Blood" by Ron Carlson (+link to "Milk" & "Blood" is in The News of the World ISBN 978-0393331783)
- Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger (ISBN 9780316767729)
- "Dog Run Moon" by Callan Wink (in New Yorker, September 26, 2011, p.104-)
- "The Liar" by Tobias Wolff (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "Weekend" by Ann Beatie (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "The Lover of Horses" by Tess Gallagher (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "A Poetics for Bullies" by Stanley Elkin (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "Akhnilo" by James Salter (in American Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 978-0440204237)
- "Winter Dreams" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (in Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 044037864)
- "The Open Window" by "Saki" (H.H. Munro) (in Short Story Masterpieces ISBN 044037864)
- In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway (ISBN 978-0684822761)
- St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell (ISBN 978-0307276674)
fiction
- All Quiet on the Western Front by E.M. Remarque (ISBN 0899662927 preferred but any translation is fine)
- We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (ISBN 978-0143039976)
- Tinkers by Paul Harding (ISBN 978-1934137123)
- Too Many Cooks by Rex Stout (ISBN 978-0553763065)
non-fiction / essay
- A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis (ISBN 978-0802724700)
- Willa Cather on Writing: Critical Studies on Writing as an Art (ISBN 0803263325)
- Quite Early One Morning by Dylan Thomas (I HAVEN'T READ THIS ONE YET BUT IT'S DYLAN THOMAS COME ON ISBN 9780811202084)
- Proofs and Theories by Louise Gluck (ISBN 9780880014427)
- Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke (ISBN 978-0393310399)
non-fiction / autobiography
- The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka (ISBN 978-1555974268)
- Final Exam by Pauline W. Chen (ISBN 978-0307275370)
