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There's no shortage of well-known books set in universities, from Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis to Donna Tartt's The Secret History. And schools are popular settings too - whether you like classics (Charlotte Brontë's Vilette is set in a boarding school) or you're looking for an excuse to re-read the Harry Potter series.

Suggestions:

Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ: Campus days



Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ: Books set in high school
Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ: Popular boarding school books

Optional questions
- What are you reading this week?
- Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
- Are the main characters teachers or students?

I'm planning to read Rush by Lisa Patton. It's set on the University Of Mississippi campus and focuses on a sorority. Sounds like class and will feature.

I want to stay firm on my first choice of Lucky Jim. I don't read a lot of books with humor so this should be a good choice.

I recently read Gaudy Night and think it would be a good pick here for someone who likes classic mysteries.

Currently I have Chemistry on my radar, but I also like high school drama so I will be keeping my eyes open.

I am planning to read Stoner by John Williams, which is on my list of vintage classics I want to read. It seems to get a lot of praise from those who have read it so I'm looking forward to it with anticipation.

Oh I did not realize that Villette is set at a school! I've added that to my list of possibilities.

I enjoy a good fluffy teen high school drama (and I've read most of the first 30 books on that Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ list of books set in high school), so that's what I've been looking for. Books on my short list (along w Villette now!):
Fallen - I really thought I read this one already! I guess I'm confusing it with another.
Demonglass - book 2 in the fun Hex Hall series
Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy - book 2 in the fun spy series
Secret Society Girl - I've loved verything else I've read from Peterfreund (except Rampant which was kind of just ridiculous) but I haven't read this series yet.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before (I've seen the movie but I haven't read the book. Yet.)
The Epic Crush of Genie Lo - I'd never heard of this one but I found it while looking for books for this category, it gets great reviews.

I really enjoyed Fangirl
Positively Izzy and Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson are really cool high school graphic novels with plot twists - I recommend.
I am not going to plan anything for this category - I read a lot of children´s and YA books, and it´s kind of natural that some of those are set in schools.

I was about to say I won't have to try too hard with this one either, but I just scanned through the books I've read so far this year and they have been low on school settings. I have cut back on contemporary YA though, so it'll be nice to have an excuse to pick one up for a reason. Maybe whatever's really buzzy next year.

I love YA, so it won't be too difficult for me to find something that fits this prompt.

That being said, if you don't love YA, I'd highly recommend The Broken Girls for this prompt! Mystery/thriller with some historical flashbacks to a boarding school -- fits the prompt well!

I should read The Secret History, I have been meaning to for so long. But it's so tempting to fit a Harry Potter book here, since I plan to listen to the whole series on audiobook next year.

Emily wrote: "I love YA, so it won't be too difficult for me to find something that fits this prompt.

That being said, if you don't love YA, I'd highly recommend The Broken Girls for this prompt..."

I second the recommendation for The Broken Girls for anyone who likes mysteries and/or thrillers!

I really want to read both of my choices here.
Educated and Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town

I like books set in schools. I highly recommend The Secret History by Donna Tartt. The Broken Girls is really good too, like others have said above. I remember liking A Separate Peace by John Knowles when I read it in high school many years ago.

I'm choosing:
Stoner
Other possibilities:
The Female Persuasion - Meg Wolitzer
The Groves of Academe: A Novele - Mary McCarthy

I still cannot picture Stoner as being the characters name, especially when you all keep using it for the set in a school prompt LMAO.

I really need to check this guy out at some point.

Tracy wrote: "I still cannot picture Stoner as being the characters name, especially when you all keep using it for the set in a school prompt LMAO.

I really need to check this guy out at some point."

Right, that is quite a title, Tracy! Why'd the author choose that name, I wonder??

I'm planning on reading Educated for this.

Proof by David Auburn. I just saw the play tonight!

Another non YA possibility - by Juliet Dark is set at a university and the protagonist is a folklore professor.

Came here looking for inspiration, saw Stoner and went 'oh I own that one. Fair enough.'

This one might be subject to change, though, depending on what else I read.

It's about time I continue on with the vampire academy series. I loved book 1. So I"m going with the 2nd book Frost Bite Hope it's as good as first book. I hate series!

I gather that On Beauty is a campus novel, set in a uni called Wellington in New England...not sure if that's a real place or not. I read Swing Time, and while I liked it I didn't really get the Zadie Smith hype. I want to love her work, as she is cool AF in interviews, so I'm hoping this will be a bit more impressive.

I probably don't need to plan anything here. I don't read as much YA as I used to, but still enough that I'm sure something will work, but I might go ahead and read The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place. I've owned it for a couple years and it sounds different, but also quick and easy.

If I decide to challenge myself I'll probably go with The Secret History. I read The Goldfinch last year and loved some things about it, but hated others.

What are you reading this week?
Stoner by John Williams

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
It's set at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. It's a real university

Are the main characters teachers or students?
Both. William Stoner begins as a student, then becomes a professor.

What are you reading this week?
I am reading Brave. I am one of the teacher advisers for the Battle of the Books team at school and this is one of the books.

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one? This is set in a fictional middle school, it is the second book in a trilogy (so far...more books may be coming).

Are the main characters teachers or students?
The main characters are students.

- What are you reading this week?
Redesigned by Denise Grover Swank

- Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
It is set in a fictional university

- Are the main characters teachers or students?
They are students

I just finished The Shakespeare Requirement for this category and greatly enjoyed it. Though if you have not read Dear Committee Members I would recommend that one first (as The Shakespeare Requirement is a followup novel to Dear Committee Members)

I just finished P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han for this topic. Many pieces of the novel took place in the high school that Laura Jean and Peter attend. It was a cutesy novel -- great for a snow day or beach day!

My pick for School setting is Harry Potter and the Psychic Serpent.

I couldn't find a school or university book that truly interested me, so I fell back on Harry Potter, but I didn't feel like reading the canon, thus I have chosen a FanFiction!

I've heard truly stunning reviews of this one and considering it was written during the lag between Goblet of Fire and Order of the Pheonix, it should prove a truly unique experience.

Although, I am a little concerned that some sites have it rated as R, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.

What are you reading this week?
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
fictional school i believe

Are the main characters teachers or students?
students

What are you reading this week?
I read The Interrupted Tale by Maryrose Wood
Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
Definitely fictional. The Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females. Who can resist that name?
Are the main characters teachers or students?
The series itself is around a former student who is now out in the working world but retains a strong relationship with her mentor, the headmistress of the academy and a few of the teachers. In this entry to the series, a few of the teachers play a prominent role as well. The action in this one actually takes place within the school.

For this topic I read Trust Exercise by Susan Choi, which is set in a performing arts school in the 80s. I found the first part, about the characters when they are students, rather boring (and the extreme focus on s*x a little off-putting). The author twists things in the second half of the book so that the reader begins to question everything they've already read and that part was clever and well-done. Overall, it was a good 3 Star novel for me. (I received an ARC from the publisher. The book is scheduled for publication in April.)

I'm reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with my two youngest kiddos. That definitely fits this prompt, but it is a reread for me. I almost never reread books, and when I do, it is almost always books that I am reading with my kids. I don't normally count rereads for any kind of challenge, but we'll see. I had only committed to 40 books of this challenge, but the more I do it, the more I want to complete all 52 - plus I have my book club books, so..... I don't know - maybe I'll count it.

I will most likely read Vita Nostra, I've been stumbling on it every now and then, and recently I scrolled through reviews and after reading "This book is like Harry Potter, but if it was written by Kafka." I kinda couldn't resist adding it to TBR list. And it fits prompt much better than the book I had previously there (Battle Royale, it was quite stretch on my part to put it there)

Entropia wrote: "I will most likely read Vita Nostra, I've been stumbling on it every now and then, and recently I scrolled through reviews and after reading "This book is like Harry Potter, but if i..."

I loved Battle Royale. It totally fits the theme. I'll have to check out Vita Nostra.

@Tammy, I don't know how the book is (obviously), but I've watched BR movie and read manga adaptation, and only a small portion took place at school. How is it in the book?

Chrissy wrote: "I recently read Gaudy Night and think it would be a good pick here for someone who likes classic mysteries.
I read Sayers' Gaudy Night for this topic. It's superb, although hard to classify; nominally a mystery but so, so much more: part love story; (large) part exploration of the value of scholarship and intellectual pursuit generally; and part discussion of the place of women. Written in 1935, there's much in it that's very much of its time, however.

Entropia wrote: "@Tammy, I don't know how the book is (obviously), but I've watched BR movie and read manga adaptation, and only a small portion took place at school. How is it in the book?"
They are on a school trip, they are classmates and they are being instructed ( to kill each other). Plus, there are many flashbacks that are from their time at school.

I read 500 Words or Less, which is about a high school senior who is asked to write her classmates' college admissions essays for them.

I did This Is Where It Ends. For once I seem to have liked it more than some of the other reviewers and not found it to be quite so judgemental of Ty. They did give some of his history rather than just painting him as evil, I thought he was just really lost and had no coping strategies.
It is told from the perspective of school students during a school shooting (fictional luckily).

Lauren wrote: "Another non YA possibility - by Juliet Dark is set at a university and the protagonist is a folklore professor."

Ooh, this is definitely going on my TBR, whether or not it ends up being my pick for this category. Thanks for the rec, Lauren!

A couple of possible re-reads, both set in small town community colleges:

Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib
The Far Time Incident (Based in the time travel studies department of a community college. Yes, you read that correctly.)

- What are you reading this week?
The Penguin Lessons
- Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
At a real boarding school in Argentina, this is non-fiction.
- Are the main characters teachers or students?
A teacher.

I loved The Penguin Lessons, Milena! I didn't count it for this prompt however.

I read My Oxford Year (in Dutch). It is set at a real school/uni, namely Oxford ;). One of the main characters is a student, the other a teacher.

Carmen wrote: "I loved The Penguin Lessons, Milena! I didn't count it for this prompt however.

I read My Oxford Year (in Dutch). It is set at a real school/uni, namely Oxford ;). One of the main ..."

Of course, where do you think I got the idea from? It was adorable, just what I needed.

Milena wrote: "Of course, where do you think I got the idea from? It was adorable, just what I needed."

:D :D :D :D

- What are you reading this week?
*I chose to read UNMARRIAGEABLE by Soniah Kamal. The book cover noted that it's "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE in Pakistan" - and it definitely is! Finished it yesterday and loved it! Rated 5stars here on GR, as well as creating a review (which I hope some of you will read!).

- Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
*Setting is in Pakistan, beginning in (& often returning to) a fictional school for girls (high school) called the British School of Dilipabad. Alys is a teacher there, as is one of her other 4 sisters.

- Are the main characters teachers or students?
*Main characters are Alysba Binet and Valentine Darsee. Alys has been teaching for 10 years at that school, often reprimanded by the school Principal because the girls' mothers call to complain about her modern views on what and how she should be teaching. Especially her ideas re a woman's educational and marriage goals (on the former: she urges as much education as possible; on the latter: she maintains women do not have to get married, although if the man thinks she is equal to him then it might work out). Darsee is a very rich, seemingly quite self-centered, handsome, well-educated guy she meets at a wedding. They do not hit it off...

What are you reading this week?
I read The Good Teacher by P.J. Kelly.

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
It's not all set in a school, but it starts in a school. The school is in a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. I imagine it is a fictional school, because I think if the author had set this in an actual school there, the school might have been very upset!

Are the main characters teachers or students?
The main character is a teacher, but there are 2 other almost main characters and they were her students.

I really loved this and gave it 4.5�, however I did think there were some errors and the parts of the final section were a bit unrealistic. But it was a really engaging read!

Thinking of Forget Me Not. This is about a girl with Tourettes who often has to move schools. Or The Broken Girls because it has been recommended a few times on here. If you like children's fiction, I HIGHLY suggest Front Desk. This story is about a Chinese immigrant 5th grader who wants to write well but struggles with writing in English. The book addresses poverty, immigration, racism, and other heavy topics! I read it to my 4th graders and we loved it.

Lauren wrote: "Another non YA possibility - by Juliet Dark is set at a university and the protagonist is a folklore professor."

What are you reading this week?
Thank to Lauren's rec, I read The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark for this prompt!

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one?
Set in a fictional university

Are the main characters teachers or students?
The main character is a univeresity professor.

What are you reading this week?
OLD SCHOOL by Tobias Wolff

Where is it set, and is it a real school/university or a fictional one? The story is set in an elite Prep School in the US in the 1960’s. The school is likely based on a real school.

Are the main characters teachers or students?
Both professors and students, but narrated by a boy in the school.