escapist

Several days after a deadline listed in a reminder marked URGENT, I finally filled out the form selecting my book for the Honoring the Faculty program at Madison. The program allows a recently promoted faculty member to select a book that will be shelved in the library with a nameplate commemorating the faculty member's promotion. My choice: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, by Michael Chabon (see posts here and here and here). The brief explanation submitted along with it: "While I am not sure it is best for a faculty member currently on leave to select a book whose principal theme is 'escape,' Chabon's novel is the most beautiful thing I read during my time as an assistant professor at Wisconsin. My reason for choosing a novel is that I am very happy that, when an assistant professor, I did not let all the reading required for my research and teaching stop me from continuing to indulge in the pleasures of fiction."