what's your summer reading list looking like? i'm kinda late on this topic.



The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder - Vincent Bugliosi
Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa - Dambisa Moyo
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
Thinking with Type - Ellen Lupton


others that i can't think of at the moment but will add to this later.


cross out what you've read and highlight what you're reading and we'll make this thread a running list kinda thingy.

probably going to read some of the readings i have to do for my cultural anthropology summer class.

i took that last semester and was surprise to find that i really liked reading a lot of the readings for that. they were pretty interesting.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
1984

The Elegant Universe - Brian Greene
Stumbling On Happiness - Dan Gilbert
In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto - Michael Pollan
When You Are Engulfed in Flames - David Sedaris
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins (don't have it yet, but I will soon)

are you far enough on this one to know if you think it's any good yet?

I'm not too far along, but so far it's pretty good, but it helps that I already have an existing interest in the subject matter. He explains all the complicated scientific theories in layman's terms so anyone can understand them (in fact, it's how I studied for my Astronomy course hahaha).

Once I began to learn more about the exact moment of the Big Bang, what makes up quarks, the existence of other dimensions etc, I wondered how I could have ever lived life not even knowing or caring about what comprises the very fibre of our being. It sort of makes everything else pale in comparison, quite profound.

That said, the videos are more entertaining and are less cognitively challenging, but details are compromised. The only reason I picked up his book is to learn more about string theory and related theories and in greater detail.

If you're really interested, you should check out his (really good) TED Talk on YouTube first, or watch his PBS series here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/program.html

yeah string theory is why i asked. i've wanted to read something on that stuff for a long time but find it hard to pick any book. i don't feel like reading something that is going to be completely overwhelming.

i'm gonna check out those videos though

Yeah it's definitely not overwhelming, you wouldn't need to have a prior knowledge to understand (although it's helpful). The TED Talk is a really great short overview of string theory though.

Batman: Year One - Frank Miller & David Mazzucchelli
Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again - Frank Miller & Lynn Varley
Batman: The Killing Joke - Alan Moore & Brian Bolland
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth - Grant Morrison & Dave McKean
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil - Philip Zimbardo


Yeah, I'm going through a bit of a Batman/graphic novels phase.

Thinking about having a James Ellroy summer.

Need to decide between the L.A. Quartet series or American Underworld Trilogy.

All Art is Propaganda - George Orwell

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (finish rereading)
Shame in the Blood by Tetsuo Miura
Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami
South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Yes, I'm a pretty big Murakami fan.

^Haruki Murakami write so beautifully about such simple things. It's amazing.

i don't have a list yet.
any recommendations?

Adding:

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers - Mary Roach
Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach

Any woman who is hailed as the David Sedaris of science writing definitely gets my attention...plus with those titles, who can resist?

I was going to make a topic asking how to stay focused on summer reading... I'm currently on procrastination station.. and the train is just not coming.

I have to read

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
and
Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare (this book looks like it will be horrid.. it's a play )

also, our whole school has to read the same book.. but I don't know if we're even being tested on it (?) so I don't think I'm going to read it.

Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns

^ Set a timeline for when you'd like to finish your book by, then count how many days you have until the deadline. Then divide the book/play into however many pages per day you have to read to make the deadline, and mark it with Post-Its. Then you can visually see how much you have to read a day, and stop once you reach a Post-It.

That's how I got through shitty required readings in high school.

thank you so much! I'm definitely going to do that. I think it will be much easier to dive in once I see a more achievable stopping place. It looks so intimidating with the stopping place being 300 pages away >.<

Dude, that play was awesome! Beatrice and Benedick's relationship is so funny and quite enviable... I love it. I really do hope you read it with an open mind. And you might want to watch the 1993 film adaptation (starring Emma Thompson, Kate Beckinsale, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, etc); it really helped me with understanding the complex dialogue.

ah lifesaver ^_^ Thank you so much.. *scurries off to netflix*

You're welcome. Just remember not to rely on the film tooooo much; they made a couple of big changes.

Daisy Miller
Yellow Raft in Blue Water
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.

=[ Not very interesting. Not excited at all.

summer reading! totallly forgot..
i have to read some stupid book too..
i need to do a whole report on it too..

my school is real weird though.. well, i've never heard of any school that has done it..
but we read a book, watch a movie, listen to a song, and view a piece of artwork
we fill out a basic with basic information, this year on friendship
then we need to prepare a presentation & essay

so lame.

Adding:

The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything - Robert H Frank

This really isn't teaching me anything I didn't learn in Intro to Microeconomics, but it's a nice refresher, and lacks pretension. I really wish I had read this before taking my brutal Econ class. =_= But this book is definitely not better than Freakonomics.

Farenhite 451
1984
Collapse: How Societies Fall
Zero
13 things that don't make sense