Summer Reading Lists

As my time in Oxford draws to an end, I turn my attention toward summer and one of my favorite summer traditions: the summer reading list. I've been exchanging recommendations with friends, and I keep saying, "I'll add it to my list," but my list as such has been a shadowy idea in the back of my mind. In this post, I will attempt to solidify it. It includes a lot of science fiction, so I may decide halfway through the summer that I want a change.

On Writing by Stephen King
In May I'll be graduating with a BA in writing, and this summer I plan to follow King's schedule of writing 1000 words a day and reading for three hours. I'm a painfully slow reader, so my list may be a bit optimistic.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
This is the book I hope will be the first we discuss in depth on this blog. I've recommended it to several people (a few of whom expressed interest).

A Wrinkle in Time
A Wind in the Door
A Swiftly Tilting Planet
Many Waters by Madeline L'Engle
I received the first book of this trilogy as a Christmas gift from my 3rd grade teacher, who died of cancer a few years ago. This has been one of my favorite series for a long time, and I reread them my sophomore year. Recently Racie and I have been discussing them, and I want to go back to them. If I still love them as much as I'm sure I will, I'd like to read L'Engle's O'Keefe novels.

The Penultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The first novel was the only extra-curricular reading I did this term (until Moon distracted me from studying for my exam), and I loved it. I'm looking forward to the movie release at the end of the month.

The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
I read the trilogy for the first time last summer (appalling, I know). I listened to them on tape while cleaning an elementary school from top to bottom. I still maintain that the first half of Fellowship is the most boring stuff in print, and I can't stand Tom Bombadil, but after spending some time in Oxford, I feel I have a better grasp of Tolkien's vision (better than Peter Jackson anyway). I haven't read The Hobbit yet, so I'll probably start there.

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller
Many people have recommended this book to me, and I am intrigued, so I hope to get around to it this summer.

A New Kind of Christian: A Tale of Two Friends on a Spiritual Journey by Brian McClaren
Evan recommended this book to me, and I told him I'd read it if he read Bearing Fresh Olive Leaves by Calvin Seerveld.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
I have to have a graphic novel on my list, and with what looks to be the first really good Batman movie coming out in July, what better than Frank Miller's classic revitalization of the Batman mythos?

That's my list as it stands so far. I've probably forgotten something, and it will surely evolve as the summer progresses. For those of you composing your own reading lists, I've listed several resources below.

Online Reading Lists
Introduction to Horror Fiction
This is my Amazon.com Listmania! List. I made it a couple of years ago, but I still recommend everything on it. I might add a few now, including Stephen King's Desperation and almost anything by Arthur Machen.

Horror Writers Association
Recommended horror classics, no R.L. Stine.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Features two lists, one for Sci Fi/Fantasy fans and one for less experienced readers. Pick your level.

The Forbidden Library
A list of books that have been banned or challenged in the past. From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to Zen Buddhism: Selected Writings, this site has something for everyone who wants to celebrate the first amendment.

The Victorian Reading List
From California State University, the reading list required for a Victorian literature exam.

Twentieth and Twenty-First Century
Another CSU list of more contemporary works.

Online Books
The Online Books Page
This site contains links to many public domain texts. If you're planning to read novels, short stories, or poems from the 1800s or earlier, this is a very helpful resource. If you like what you read, by the book!

Please leave your reading lists and any recommendations in the comments section.

Greetings fellow bibliophiles!

I have considered creating this type of blog ever since I started blogging. I have a couple other blogs, and one thing that unites me with most of my readers is a love of books. Although "Read any good books lately?" has become a small-talk chestnut, I find that if I can talk at length with someone about books, I have discovered a kindred spirit. Most of my conversations with close friends and family include recommendations of good and/or enjoyable books.

For that reason, I have created this blog where we can all come together to talk about what we're reading. My plan is to have a few threads of recommendations from several people, with a main thread discussing one particular book each week. I realize that that means that readers will need to pay attention to more than just the topmost post, so I may be overestimating the blogger community, but I still have high hopes.

To start things off, just for fun, take this Literature Geek Purity Test to find out how much of a literature nerd you are. My result was 37.1% lit-geek pure (62.9% lit-geek corrupt), meaning I am more lit-geek than not. You won't be judged based on your results; it's just for fun.

I've recently begun reading Science Fiction again. I read a lot of it in Middle School and then got away from it in High School. In college I started reading a lot of Horror Fiction. I really started getting into it again when I read Stephen Kings The Tommyknockers in which one of the characters mentions Robert A. Heinlein. I'm always intrigued by literary references within texts. I looked him up and saw that he wrote the novel Starship Troopers. This past summer I worked in housekeeping at a school, and I spent the time at work listening to books on tape. I tried to find Starship Troopers, but my library didn't have it. They did, however, have a another novel of his with the strangely intriguing title, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. It's the story of how the residents of Luna, a Terran penal colony, declare and defend their independence. I was fascinated, especially by the way Heinlein incorporates elements from histprical revolutions as well as different social theories. After reading Moon, I read Troopers, which was pretty good, and Stranger in a Strange Land, which I enjoy reading, but didn't like as much as the other two. I am currently rereading Moon, and am looking forward to discussing it. It's out of print in the US in paperback, but it is available at many libraries. Feel free to follow the discussion even if you are unable to read the book. We may just convince you.

And in conclusion, I promise to never refer to book-lovers who read my blogs on a regular basis as my "large literary following," no matter how appropriate the signifier may be.