Summer Reading

[The Meme]

My summer reading books this summer are Lovely Bones and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. What were you assigned, if anything? Also, I figured out very quickly that a book I'm reading is boring to me unless I chose to read it.

 

[departuresong]

Had to pick one from a list of one hundred books for AP Lit. Chose Wuthering Heights. Regretting it completely.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Ohohoho.

• Vanity Fair - Thackery
• Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
• Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence
• Jude the Obscure - Hardy
• The Miller's Tale - Chaucer

That's the current list and I'm sure our teachers will add more to it.

In addition, I've also chosen to read E.H. Carr's What is History? and A.J.P. Taylor's The Origins of the Second World War. And that's only the stuff I'm reading for school...

 

[Phoenixsong]

The Miller's Tale is actually pretty entertaining for Chaucer. Heck of a lot less mind-numbingly boring than, say, the Knight's Tale, if nothing else.

I don't have summer reading anymore (then again, I hardly have a summer break anymore); sometimes I'll read books from my brother's list for the hell of it, though. Last summer one of the books was Slaughterhouse-Five, for example, and I knew I'd enjoy that one because I already know I like Kurt Vonnegut. This year they're reading a bunch of math- and science-related stuff. Mostly biographies and the like. They're supposed to read Flatland, though, and that might be sort of interesting. Might check it out.

 

[Ruby]

• Vanity Fair - Thackery
• Our Mutual Friend - Dickens
• Sons and Lovers - D.H. Lawrence
• Jude the Obscure - Hardy
• The Miller's Tale - Chaucer

What. What is this for? A-level English? But I know people who study that and, as far as I can tell, they are asked to read much, much less. That is an awful lot of pages.

 

[goldenquagsire]

The Miller's Tale is actually pretty entertaining for Chaucer. Heck of a lot less mind-numbingly boring than, say, the Knight's Tale, if nothing else.

I thought Chaucer was supposed to be great. After all, his stuff is still on syllabuses after ~7 centuries. :o

What. What is this for? A-level English? But I know people who study that and, as far as I can tell, they are asked to read far less. That is an awful lot of pages.

Well firstly I don't think it's that bad. The longest novels on that list are seven hundred pages, which is easily a week's work even if I have other stuff to do. And summer is a long time. :P

Also, it's Oxbridge preparation classes so they're probably giving us more books than usual.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Tom Sawyer (haha I read that years ago) and one of a few other books. I'll probably read The Lovely Bones since my friend has it. P:

 

[Ruby]

Well firstly I don't think it's that bad. The longest novels on that list are seven hundred pages, which is easily a week's work even if I have other stuff to do. And summer is a long time. :P

...You people who study English are show-offs. Is the Chaucer translated or just heavy with margin notes?

 

[Phoenixsong]

I didn't quite word that properly, sorry. I meant to say that I enjoyed the Miller's Tale but didn't enjoy the Knight's; I haven't read all of the Tales, but those were the two that stood out as being particularly good/dull. Literature isn't really added to lists so much for its enjoyability as it is for other factors, though; at least, I'd hope teachers would realize how subjective that is. My understanding is that Chaucer's there more for history, particularly the history of English and how it developed, than it is for the entertainment value of the story itself. "Great" is subjective, and maybe you'll like the Knight's Tale more than I did (if you choose to read it... it's also a lot longer than the Miller's), who knows? But influential? Definitely.

 

[goldenquagsire]

...You people who study English are show-offs.

We're just compensating for our total lack of social lives. :(

Is the Chaucer translated or just heavy with margin notes?

I've only had a brief look and it's almost impenetrable.

I didn't quite word that properly, sorry. I meant to say that I enjoyed the Miller's Tale but didn't enjoy the Knight's; I haven't read all of the Tales, but those were the two that stood out as being particularly good/dull.

Ah, I understand now.

 

[Tailsy]

I had to read The Return of the Native and Tess of the D'Urbervilles last year for Advanced Higher, but other than that I'd never had to read books for the summer for anything e__e I do work... like... during the school year.

Also hahahah good luck with Jude the Obscure! I hate Hardy. So much.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Also hahahah good luck with Jude the Obscure! I hate Hardy. So much.

Thanks, but I'm more afraid of the thousand-page Dickens. :(

 

[Tailsy]

Thanks, but I'm more afraid of the thousand-page Dickens. :(

Well, I don't have any experience with him. But good luck, man. *salute*

 

[Erif]

My summer reading books this summer are Lovely Bones and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. What were you assigned, if anything? Also, I figured out very quickly that a book I'm reading is boring to me unless I chose to read it.

Lovely Bones is an lovely book, I don't think you should be disappointed. If push comes to shove, you could just see the movie. =P

I have a rather large selection of books to chose from, all of which are very good novels. A few I've been thinking about are The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Les Mis, Life of Pi, The Stranger, and possibly a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

 

[The Meme]

Lovely Bones is an lovely book, I don't think you should be disappointed. If push comes to shove, you could just see the movie. =P

Okay, I just might. The book itself is okay, it just isn't my thing.

I have a rather large selection of books to chose from, all of which are very good novels. A few I've been thinking about are The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Les Mis, Life of Pi, The Stranger, and possibly a book called The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime.

The Hitchhiker's Guide and its many sequels are great,*skip a few* and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime is very good.

 

[Sage Noctowl]

Hmm, well, the Life of Pi is pretty good especially if you like animal psychology, human psychology and religion, or even survival stories.
I have to read The Scarlet Letter, Blindness, Benjamin Franklin (For AP U.S. History), and a non-fiction book of my choosing.

 

[ultraviolet]

Life of Pi is pretty good especially if you like animal psychology

uh what

Life of Pi is pretty good (one of my favourites) and yeah there's lots about animals in it but I wouldn't go as far to say Animal Psychology.

 

[Barubu]

I have to read any one book of the Series of Unfortunate Events (Which I already did), or any one Diary of A Wimpy Kid books.

 

[Thanks for All the Fish]

Small Steps by Louis Sachar. It isn't too bad, but we also have a project besides reading it; something about a business. Didn't get the book/project yet.

 

[goldenquagsire]

Small Steps by Louis Sachar. It isn't too bad, but we also have a project besides reading it; something about a business. Didn't get the book/project yet.

am I right in thinking that they're making you read Small Steps before Holes? that's kinda silly, since Small Steps is a sequel and Holes is superior, imo.