Emer C.M. Vaughn:

“Indecision” by Benjamin Kunkel ’97

The novel “Indecision” (Random House) by Benjamin Kunkel ’97 taps into the vague terror that hits many Harvard upperclassmen after the bright-eyed optimism of freshman year begins to fade. In the person of Dwight Wilmerding, Kunkel spars with the “What should I do with my life?” question, indulging in semi-tongue-in-cheek references to German philosophers (in German), extended drug-induced hallucinations in South America, and an excess of anthropologists eager to offer social insight. “Indecision” is appropriate both for procrastination and for meditation on the general state of the world. Kunkel is also the founding editor of the new literary magazine, n+1.

Scoop A. Wasserstein:

“Henry and June” by Anais Nin

The film version of this collection of Anais Nin’s diaries was the first movie to receive a NC-17 rating. But that was the sex without the pathos and the writing. In 1931, Nin meets exuberant masculinist writer Henry Miller (“Tropic of Cancer”) and his bisexual spitfire of a wife June, and Nin immediately falls for her beauty and his writing. June soon leaves, allowing the married Nin to begin an affair with Henry, which leads to her complete sexual awakening. It is an emotional and captivating true narrative matched perfectly by Nin’s prose, which has a Hemmingwayian sparseness and raw force, but is directed within to her own emotional life. A must read for boys and girls of all ages, particularly during the perpetually confusing college years.