A Little Light Reading

I just received four exam copies of books that I ordered from a catalog of popular texts for first-year students.  Although the catalog contained many general interest titles, I've realized with a bit of horror that there seems to be a theme, or at least a shared tone to my selections:

1) Final Exam: A Surgeon's Reflections on Mortality

2) The Exception, a thriller about four coworkers who have escaped genocide but fear they are still being hunted, perhaps by one another

3) The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, an autobiography of a man trapped in his own body, able to move only one eyelid

4) Copenhagen, a play about the relationships among scientists who developed nuclear capabilities during the Nazi regime

When I saw the package had arrived, I opened it eagerly to see if there was something I could read before bed tonight.  I may need another plan.