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Summer Reading

Now that school's been out for awhile, I can finally catch up on reading something I'm actually interested in. I started reading Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, by Patricia Cornwall, in September, but had to put it down for crappy textbooks. I've started reading it again though, and I'm just about finished. As you can probably tell, it's about Jack the Ripper. The author reveals who he was, and discusses evidence proving her case. I find it quite interesting, however the one thing I don't like is that she jumps around with her information a lot, and goes off on tangents. All in all, it's a good book though.
After this, even though I have many new books I would like to read, I think I may read Helter Skelter again. It is my favorite book. My friends think I'm crazy...and they're probably right, but I have this crazy obsession with Charles Manson and The Family. Not that I want to join them or anything, I just think the whole story is interesting.

So my question to you is, are you reading anything over the summer? If so, what's it called, what's it about, and would you recommend it?

This summer I have to do a lot of reading because I am trying to get my grade 12 University English credit so I can graduate! But, I am currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (it's pretty good and I recommend it), Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and during the summer I will be reading a couple Shakespeare books, and possibly the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.

Katie

quote:

Originally posted by k@tie This summer I have to do a lot of reading because I am trying to get my grade 12 University English credit so I can graduate! But, I am currently reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (it's pretty good and I recommend it), Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, and during the summer I will be reading a couple Shakespeare books, and possibly the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Katie

hehe, im doing that 4U english crap too read several good pieces, Crime and Punnishment, MacBeth, some Kafka stuff, and the Great Gatsby.

I must say they are all truly masterpieces, but i wouldnt really recomend them for relaxing reading (i would never have read them if i didnt have too, but i guess if you like books you might do it). The great gatsby i would actually recomend tho, great book, and easy to read!

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew hehe, im doing that 4U english crap too read several good pieces, Crime and Punnishment, MacBeth, some Kafka stuff, and the Great Gatsby. I must say they are all truly masterpieces, but i wouldnt really recomend them for relaxing reading (i would never have read them if i didnt have too, but i guess if you like books you might do it). The great gatsby i would actually recomend tho, great book, and easy to read!

aah i remember reading MacBeth. I was thinking of reading the Great Gatsby, you're not the only one who has told me its a good book ......hey since you're doing 4U as well, maybe you would like to make a copy of all your work for me????? lol

Katie

Ah... nice to see some people actually attempt to keep their minds sharp by reading throughout the summer!

I just finished "Sahara" by Clive Cussler. Great book, haven't seen the movie though.

My next book is going to be "The English Assassin" by Daniel Silva.

His books are GREAT spy thrillers that contain political intrigue, secret organizations, spy vs spy deception and all the goodies that have kept me reading his books non-stop!

"Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" by L.Gen. Rom�o Dallaire.

This book has touched me more than any other in a long time. Well worth the read. More gruesom and enthralling than any fiction you can imagine...

http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...9594388-8789626

quote:

Originally posted by k@tie aah i remember reading MacBeth. I was thinking of reading the Great Gatsby, you're not the only one who has told me its a good book ......hey since you're doing 4U as well, maybe you would like to make a copy of all your work for me????? lol Katie

hehe, what do you need?

I have a paper on surrealism, a comparative essay on the themes in Macbeth and Crime and punnishment, quotes in macbeth. Might have something more but those were the major ones... if you need any of those, just tell me.. hehehe

oh, and you dont happen to have something about Scott Fitzgerald? =) btw, are you doing that really stupid language power book too?

and amb, that seems like a cool book

on topic, i heard that "Requiem for a Dream" should ge really good, havent read it yet tho...

I do a lot of reading all the time, about 3-4 books a week hehe.

Right now though i'm reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. So far it's pretty interesting. Set in Russia, it's about a woman (Anna) who is married and has a son but falls in love with another man called Count Alexei Vronsky. She then throws everything aside to be with him with pretty disastrous consequences (but keep in mind the story is not just about her, there are loads of characters in the books whose futures are all intertwined). So yah... like i said it's pretty good so far, i'm only on the second part so it's only just starting to get really interesting. Hopefully i should have it finished by Thursday

This is one of the summaries i found on Google about it:

quote:

Anna Karenina is widely regarded to be an even greater achievement of tragedy and of the novel form than War and Peace had been the decade before. Tolstoy began it in 1873 and concluded it in 1877. It is the story of a fashionable married woman, Anna Karenina, who arrives in St Petersberg to meet Stepan Arkadyevitch but meets with him another man. This man, Count Vronsky, is strangely attracted to Anna from the outset and she begins to feel for him too. Anna recalls her cold-blooded and cynical husband who is twenty years her senior. He never shows her any affection and considers her to be a trophy. The Count contrives to meet Anna again through his friendship with Stepan, with whom Anna is residing. The novel then follows this liaison as it begin and then ends horribly as Anna�s husband Karenin finds out about the affair. Anna is brought down by others� passions and power over her and she is driven, after many twists and turns in her fortunes and those of her lovers, to throw herself under the wheels of a train. It is one of the most famous suicides in literary history but to know of its inevitability only makes the tragedy of Anna�s life more cathartic and sad.

What is this crazy thing you call reading?

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew hehe, what do you need? I have a paper on surrealism, a comparative essay on the themes in Macbeth and Crime and punnishment, quotes in macbeth. Might have something more but those were the major ones... if you need any of those, just tell me.. hehehe oh, and you dont happen to have something about Scott Fitzgerald ? =) btw, are you doing that really stupid language power book too? and amb, that seems like a cool book on topic, i heard that "Requiem for a Dream" should ge really good, havent read it yet tho...

awwww you're too sweet!! to be honest, I don't know everything I will need, because I have to do it through correspondence it's so much harder because I have to teach myself everything, and can't ask an english teacher for help. And what do you need to know about Scott Fitzgerald? I just may be able to help you! ^_^
I'm not doing that language book YET, but I'm sure I will have to do it at some point during my course. UGH I hate correspondence!! If anyone wants to do my English credit for me, I will give you $20!!!

p.s. Requiem for a Dream is supposed to be amazing. I hope to read that one too sometime

Re: Summer Reading

quote:

Originally posted by *~LiSa-LoO~* Now that school's been out for awhile, I can finally catch up on reading something I'm actually interested in. I started reading Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed, by Patricia Cornwall, in September, but had to put it down for crappy textbooks. I've started reading it again though, and I'm just about finished. As you can probably tell, it's about Jack the Ripper. The author reveals who he was, and discusses evidence proving her case. I find it quite interesting, however the one thing I don't like is that she jumps around with her information a lot, and goes off on tangents. All in all, it's a good book though. After this, even though I have many new books I would like to read, I think I may read Helter Skelter again. It is my favorite book. My friends think I'm crazy...and they're probably right, but I have this crazy obsession with Charles Manson and The Family. Not that I want to join them or anything, I just think the whole story is interesting. So my question to you is, are you reading anything over the summer? If so, what's it called, what's it about, and would you recommend it?

Fully read your post just now, i LOVE reading the exact same types of book you read!! Never heard of Helter Skelter though but it sounds amazing! Definitely the next one on my list.

I read a few of Patricia Cornwall's books, they're pretty good. My parents got me hooked on them I'm waiting to get Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper Case Closed right now from them... looking forward to reading that!!!

quote:

Originally posted by k@tie awwww you're too sweet!! to be honest, I don't know everything I will need, because I have to do it through correspondence it's so much harder because I have to teach myself everything, and can't ask an english teacher for help. And what do you need to know about Scott Fitzgerald? I just may be able to help you! ^_^ I'm not doing that language book YET, but I'm sure I will have to do it at some point during my course. UGH I hate correspondence!! If anyone wants to do my English credit for me, I will give you $20!!! p.s. Requiem for a Dream is supposed to be amazing. I hope to read that one too sometime

oh, that sounds hard!!! i would hate to do that, i think its pretty damn hard even with a teacher! but hopefully you get to do at least some of those topics i did! english is not my first langauge so you would obviously need to do some revising, but i usually get around 3+,4- on my stuff so after you edit it you could probably get a good grade i will be more or less without internet from the beginning of july to the 22nd tho, so if you need anything, tell me before that i guess

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew i will be more or less without internet from the beginning of july to the 22nd tho, so if you need anything, tell me before that i guess

yeah when I'm in Montreal from June 22-July 22 I will not have the internet at the apartment.....ima add you to my msn list

Oh man, I've reading a shitload already this early summer....

Just finished reading these novels in the last month:

STATE OF FEAR - by Michael Crichton [Fiction] <<< OMG, AMAZING novel!!! MC is my FAVOURITE author though!!!! <33333333333333

THE ELDER GODS (Book 1 of the Dreamers) - by David & Leigh Eddings [Fantasty] <<< best fantasy writer in incorporating politics into his fantasy worlds

THROUGH THE DARKNESS (Book 3 in the Darkness saga) - by Harry Turtledove [Fantasy] <<< its like almost exactly the Second World War but taking place in this world of Derlavai and with magic back and shit

THE SECOND CHAIR - by John Lescroart [Legal Thriller] <<< better than Grisham's novels, this guy's novels are!



And I'm about to go to Chapters on Sat. and buy a shitload more of novels, as I'm almost through my pile I had building up since late winter.

Next on the list which I already own are:

THE LAST JUROR - by John Grisham [Legal Thriller]

THE TEASURED ONE - by David Eddings [Fantasy] and

RULERS OF THE DARKNESS (Book 4 of The Darkness saga) - by Harry Turtledove [Fantasy] <<< so complicated these novels are with a MILLION key viewpoint characters to be familiar with



And then i plan to buy:

BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF (Book 2 in the Runelords series) - by David Farland <<< wow! Conceptually, the idea they've introduced here for acquiring power is insane! <333333333 it!!

THE JAWS OF DARKNESS (Book 5 of The Darkness saga) - by Harry Turtledove

and a whole SHITLOAD of novels by JOHN CASE that I've fallen behind in reading in the past 2-3 years:

The Syndrome, Trance State, The Eighth Day, The Murder Artist, and Dance of Death [these are all some type of suspenseful and extraordinarily intriguing fiction]



OH!! And plus my buddy STRONLY recommended i pick up and read as soon as possible the fantasy series A GAME OF THRONES (Book 1 of the A Story of Ice and Fire series) - by George R. R. Martin. So I gotta buy that novel too!



I think that's all the shit I plan on reading at this point for the next month or two.


Weeeeeeeeeeeeee, I love reading! Novels pwn me (only softback though!!! I HATE hardbacks.... will ONLY make the exception and read a hardback if a) it's a Michael Crichton novel--and therefore I can't wait the year to read the novel until it comes out in softback... which of course I'll proceed to buy as well--or b) if it's the latest novel in the SWORD OF TRUTH series by Terry Goodkind--my favourite fantasy series ever.... it's better than THE WHEEL OF TIME by Robert Jordan even!!!!)

~Jem~

EDIT:

omg, how could I forget the latest novel in The Sword of Truth series, CHAINFIRE........ id been putting it off since back in feb. when it came out, didnt have the $$$ to buy now, now i totally can tho!!! Mark that one down toO!

quote:

Originally posted by amb_ "Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" by L.Gen. Rom�o Dallaire. This book has touched me more than any other in a long time. Well worth the read. More gruesom and enthralling than any fiction you can imagine... http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/AS...9594388-8789626

I haven't read it, but I've done a lot of reading about it, and about Gen. Dellaire. I've heard many great things about that book.

Right now I'm reading The Wealthy Barber.

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew hehe, im doing that 4U english crap too read several good pieces, Crime and Punnishment, MacBeth, some Kafka stuff, and the Great Gatsby. I must say they are all truly masterpieces, but i wouldnt really recomend them for relaxing reading (i would never have read them if i didnt have too, but i guess if you like books you might do it). The great gatsby i would actually recomend tho, great book, and easy to read!

im in the same group with u guys also. finishing up eng 12u and so far ive read the novel, The Incomparable Atuk by Mordeciai Richler, the play, On The Job by David Fennario, short story, A Doll's House, and now were reading Hamlet. On the Job is a good play to read but The Incomparable Atuk i did not enjoy so much.

Did u guys also do novels/plays written by canadians???

haven't had a chance to read in a bit, but i hope to start up soon.

in the past, i've enjoyed this author: katherine kerr. she writes fantasy. her main series is about celtic myths. her writing drew me into, honestly, this new world. next thing i knew, i was dreaming about sword fighting against a dragon.


sooo kidding

quote:

Originally posted by jrmacca haven't had a chance to read in a bit, but i hope to start up soon. in the past, i've enjoyed this author: katherine kerr. she writes fantasy. her main series is about celtic myths. her writing drew me into, honestly, this new world. next thing i knew, i was dreaming about sword fighting against a dragon. sooo kidding

Best female artist ive ever read for fantasy is JENNIFER FALLON... her series THE HYTHRUM CHRONICLES... first book is MEDALON... and OMG! WOW!!! Just bloody amazing plot and characters! The world is fantastic too!!!

I love how the gods walk oftentimes with the ppl of the land! Her shit is amazing! Strongly recommend it...

Fantasy is my key genre I read... other than that, its only certain renowned authors that I'll read.

-jem-

quote:

Originally posted by smuncky im in the same group with u guys also. finishing up eng 12u and so far ive read the novel, The Incomparable Atuk by Mordeciai Richler, the play, On The Job by David Fennario, short story, A Doll's House, and now were reading Hamlet. On the Job is a good play to read but The Incomparable Atuk i did not enjoy so much. Did u guys also do novels/plays written by canadians???

nope, did you? my school is obsessed with shakespeare (perhaps because we are in stratford? ), so we really spent most of the time reading macbeth... which wasnt bad but it would have been cool to do some other stuff

quote:

Originally posted by The Highroller Right now I'm reading The Wealthy Barber.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

quote:

Originally posted by Jem_hadar Best female artist ive ever read for fantasy is JENNIFER FALLON... her series THE HYTHRUM CHRONICLES... first book is MEDALON... and OMG! WOW!!! Just bloody amazing plot and characters! The world is fantastic too!!! I love how the gods walk oftentimes with the ppl of the land! Her shit is amazing! Strongly recommend it... Fantasy is my key genre I read... other than that, its only certain renowned authors that I'll read. -jem-

awesome..thanks for the suggestion! i will check this out

OMFG I am half English major..this could take a while!

I absolutely LOVE reading! It's hilarious that you mentioned that Jack the Ripper book by Patricia Cornwell because I read it last summer and LOVED it. As far as some good reads go:

Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
All Families are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland
American Psycho (kinda disturbing ) - Brett Easton Ellis
1949 - Morgan Llewelyn
Deterring Democracy - Noam Chomskey (basically ANYTHING by this man is such brain food..haha I'm sucha geek )
The Corporation - Joel Bakan

There's so many more that I would recommend but it's just gonna get tedious from this point

OH! and the new Harry Potter comes out July 16th! ahahahaha you can all make fun of me for that I don't care - those books are so damn entertaining!

quote:

Originally posted by Irishaddict OH! and the new Harry Potter comes out July 16th! ahahahaha you can all make fun of me for that I don't care - those books are so damn entertaining!

Ill give you the "entertainment" factor. they're "fun" reads i suppose , but as far as fantasy novels go, those are so child-fantasy!

-jem-

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew nope, did you? my school is obsessed with shakespeare (perhaps because we are in stratford? ), so we really spent most of the time reading macbeth... which wasnt bad but it would have been cool to do some other stuff

yeh we did, that was the "theme" for this year

btw, in our school, we read a shakespeare play every year

this year its hamlet
last year was macbeth
and before that was romeo and juliet

quote:

Originally posted by k@tie I'm not doing that language book YET, but I'm sure I will have to do it at some point during my course. UGH I hate correspondence!! If anyone wants to do my English credit for me, I will give you $20!!! p.s. Requiem for a Dream is supposed to be amazing. I hope to read that one too sometime

I did an English correspondence course 2 years ago, it's not that it's difficult to teach yourself, it's that you're give a lot of time for a small amount of work and I procrastinated like a mofo. Still, it was an incredibly easy course...Good luck.

As for summer reading, I just finished reading 'The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge' by Carlos Castaneda. It was about an anthropology student's journey into Mescaline, and to become a 'man of knowledge.' I highly reccomend it, but the technical aspects of it are skippable.

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