Two student writers, Awa Badiane and Isabella Mariani, have joined the Communications staff and will begin writing a series of stories — 2 Minutes With … — to introduce us to the passions and interests of Lawrentians on and off campus. To get it started, we asked Awa to write about Isabella and Isabella to write about Awa.
From very young and for reasons she cannot quite pinpoint, Isabella Mariani ’21 has been a bibliophile.
“Always when I was kid, I was reading,” she says. “I would bring a book everywhere I went.”
Fast forward to today, and chances are good you’ll find the Lawrence University sophomore English major with her nose in a book, even on a Saturday night.
“(Reading is an) escape,” Isabella says. “Not really from anything in particular that I consciously acknowledge, but it’s relaxing. For one thing, I am generally pretty busy and stressed out, so to have reading as a time to just relax and forget everything else is sorta the idea.”
Did you know?
Isabella describes her dorm room as “looking like a library,” with books on the shelves, desk and floor. “Books are stacked everywhere,” she says.
But — quick fun fact — despite frequently studying in the library, Isabella has never actually checked out a book. Ever. She prefers buying her books, mostly from thrift stores, as she builds her own personal library.
As she pursues an English major at Lawrence, Isabella is able explore and have discussions about new reads in everything from the works of Jane Austen to Vladimir Mayakovsky. It’s a good fit, one she’s been eyeing since childhood.
“After learning to read, I remember doing short children’s stories for my younger brothers, which I also illustrated,” she says. “Creative writing time was my favorite in school and reading and writing never felt like homework to me. I’ve been journaling for years, and that’s where I’m at now.”
Isabella, who credits her mother with instilling a love of books early on, says she became a prolific reader while bringing a book along to her brother’s hockey games while growing up in Sun Prairie. Turns out, it was time well spent.
A shared passion
On that note, we asked Isabella for some book recommendations. You’re welcome.
Five books she’d recommend to a friend: The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson; Ulysses, by James Joyce; To the Lighthouse, by Virginia Woolf; Invitation to a Beheading, by Vladimir Nabokov; The Crying of Lot 49, by Thomas Pynchon
Book she’s most looking forward to reading: The Master in Margarita, by Mikhail Bulgakov. “Other people I know have talked about it and I really want to read it. And pretty much all the Jane Austen books.”
Book she thought would not be great but surprised her: Wuthering Heights, by Emily Brontë
Book she’s reread more than any other: Holes, by Louis Sachar
Isabella Mariani
Class Year: 2021
Major: English
Hometown: Sun Prairie, Wis.
Activities: Creative Writing
