I am using this post to herein transcribe and share my summer reading list because:
a. I typically like keeping my nose stuck in books of all genres, lengths, and shapes, and so why not post them, and don’t books deserve a post, too?
b. After two weeks of brain-break, two weeks of being graduated and reading nothing too substantial, I am beginning to go stir crazy; already I miss the perpetual page-turning.
c. I’ve realized during these past few years as an undergrad. that if I am not given(or if I myself don’t write) a reading schedule, the books do not read themselves, and I don’t typically read them either. So in a sense, this list can be seen as my pseudo-attempt to organize my summer by book, although I can’t say that I’ve even decided in which order I’ll read the books, let alone taken the time to write them in order for this post. I think I’ll probably just throw them in a bag and once a week with my eyes closed pick one from the bag and act surprised at what I choose.
d. Did I mention that I’m bored? And with my soon-to-be-mailed-to-me degree, now an official member of the internationally accredited English Nerdery (Not to be confused with the English Nunnery?)
e. I need additional time to further procrastinate on posting something real.
f. All of the above.
To potentially save anyone from doing the math, I’ve listed /fifteen/ books I intend to read this summer, three more books than there are weeks left in this designated summer session. Unless we are counting the first two weeks of September as part of “summer,” in which case, my list boils down to about a book a week; Either way, in theory it shouldn’t prove to be too hefty a reading load for someone who spent three years becoming accustomed to expectations requiring the mental consuming and analyzing of seventy+ pages a night.
And besides, I assembled my summer reading list. I did. Me. Making these all books I actually want to read. Which is more than I can say for some of the texts assigned during my collegiate experience. And probably I’ll add more, or subtract a few, depending on their ability to keep my attention, and depending on my ability to read them without distracting myself.
In addition to the novels, there be seventeen short stories herein listed, mate. Some no more than five pages in length. I am reading those, too, but I really listed them because they arrgghh! good, and anyone who is looking for a bit of light (as in short) and interesting reading this summer should try a few of them. They come highly recommended by the aforementioned English Nerdery. (Yeah, I don’t really get why the pirate voice either. But it’s fun. You should try it. Try the pirate voice. I know you want to.)
Le Novels/Textbooks/Manuals/Other:
Babbitt -Sinclair Lewis
Practical Eco-Criticism -Glen A. Love
The Picture of Dorian Gray -Oscar Wilde
The Problem of Pain -C.S. Lewis
Modding MAC OSX -Dr. Erica Sadun
Birthday Letters -Ted Hughes
The Confidence-Man -Herman Melville
Small Pieces Loosely Joined -David Weinberger
Across the River and Into the Trees -E. Hemingway
Signing Everday Phrases -Mickey Flodin
The Things They Carried -Tim O’Brien
A Short History of Nearly Everything -Bill Bryson
In the Heart of the Sea -Nathanial Philbrick
This Side of Paradise -F. Scott Fitzgerald
A View of 20th Century British & American Theatre -Richard Eyre & Nicholas Wright
Le Short Stories:
“The Turn of The Screw” -Henry James
“Hills Like White Elephants” -E. Hemingway
“A Circle in the Fire”
“Everything that Rises Must Converge” -Flannery O’Conner
“A View of the Woods”
“The Lady with the Dog”
“Gusev” -Anton Chekhov
“The Secret Sharer” -Joseph Conrad
“Where are you going, Where have you been?” -Joyce Carol Oates
“The Magic Barrel”
“Idiots First” -Bernard Malamud
“My First Goose” -Isaac Babel
“The Chrysanthemums” -John Steinbeck
“The Madman” -Chinua Achebe
“What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” -Raymond Carver
“Roshoman” -Ryunosuke Akutagawa
“The Bucket Rider” -Franz Kafka
Poets Whose Lines I Also Intend To Randomly Peruse When I Choose:
Percy Shelley
Felicia Hemans
Keats
Anna Barbauld
Coleridge
Plath
WB Yeats
Anyone else reading anything in particular this summer? Fill a sister in. And, while you’re bookstorming, you should try the pirate voice. Come on, I know you want to.
This week I have been:
Writing, editing, and organizing grant proposals, and preparing gargantuan-sized grant budgets feverishly, to meet deadlines both old and new.
Snuggling with my pug and enjoying any downtime I have been able to muster.
Writing! I’m so excited about three different stories I have in the works, and thanks to a recent prompt by Danny, I’ve been sitting down daily to translate my excitement into actual words on a page. (Not unlike snakes on a plane. Only → Read more...
This post inspired by my friend and partner in movie quote crime, Home Sweet Sarah.
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Some of the most memorable places I have stood, in no particular order:
On The Great Wall of China. Next to my sister as she took her wedding vows. In front of the Kremlin in Moscow. Next to my favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Priest Lake. Specifically, my family’s Priest Lake dock spot. On Mt. Seorak, South Korea. Poolside for countless summers with friends, and cousins, and awesome(ly ridiculous) bikinis. At the base → Read more...
Full disclosure: I initially considered titling this post !!!!!!!!! but Wordpress started laughing at me, and threatened to throw spam.
At this point to say I cannot contain my already typically excessive exclaiming is to understate. HOW am I going to refrain from blurting out, “Hawaii! I’m going there!” from now until I leave at the beginning of September? Better yet, Maui! + getting to see my sister in TWO WEEKS = how am I going to sleep tonight? And the → Read more...
Originally aired: January 19, 2007. Watched by Kerri Anne: August 1, 2010. Courtesy of: Netflix Instant Watch. Because: a) I was in the mood for a lighthearted, kid-centric story; b) Netflix told me I would four stars enjoy it and saw fit to leave out crucial somber-tone-revealing plot points in their synopsis; c) Netflix is a lying liar face; d) ALL OF THE ABOVE.
Starring: A slew of great Spanish actors you’ve probably never heard of, most notably Ivana Baquero and Maribel Verdú. Protagonist’s → Read more...