Summertime reading list?

Question

I am about to graduate from high school and head off to college in the fall, and I'd like to know from you bookworms: what are some of the books that you read at that time in your life, or wished you had read at that stage?

I don't read often, and I am now really starting to pick it up as a hobby. When I read books for school, I did it in somewhat of a "half-assed" way. I'd really like to sit down and read a great book without a pending assignment for class.

Currently, I am reading "The Virgin Suicides" which I basically just picked up in my house. I am considering also reading "Mrs. Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf and "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.

SO: Any suggestions?

Thank you!! :)

Answer 1

I've become a real fan of Sonya Hartnett's work. She's usually classified as a YA author, but I've found that label to be too restrictive. Her books can be enjoyed by adults too. I like that her books don't have the usual "happy ever after" endings. Her stories are very realistic and the characters stay with you long after you've finished the book. Some of her books:

Sleeping Dogs
Wilful Blue
What the Birds See
Thursday's Child
Surrender

All of the above are great but my fave is Sleeping Dogs. It's about a family (mother, father, five children) who run a caravan (trailer) park in rural Australia. An artist comes to stay at their park and finds the family interesting and mysterious. He sets out to discover their secret and does so, to a devastating conclusion. I highly recommend it.

Good luck and happy reading! :-)

Answer 2

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Nineteen Eighty-Four - George Orwell
Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
The Final Journey - Gudrun Pausewang

Sorry there aren't many... I can't really remember what I've read, and haven't read so many lately as non-fiction books are a rare pleasure in 3rd year of college!

But also if you're into short stories or poetry, I'd recommend the short story "The Day of the Sheep" by Janet Frame (found in her book 'The lagoon and other stories') and any other short stories by Katherine Mansfield or Michael Henderson or poetry by Ruth Dallas. And some books aimed at a younger audience which I've also enjoyed are:
Tomorrow When the War Began - Series by John Marsden
All my dangerous friends - Sonya Hartnett
Agnes the Sheep series - William Taylor, they were pretty funny

Hope there may be some amongst there which you enjoy, even though it's a rather short and varied list!

Answer 3

Depends on what your interests are. I graduated from college with a Bachelor's Degree in English and have read from many genres.
History: Books by Homer, like The Odyssey, Illiad
Feminist: The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, Breath Eyes Memory by Edwidge Danticat, Woman Warrior by Maxine Kingston Hong...or if you want non-fiction, Susan Faludi's Back Lash...on the opposite spectrum, Nick Hornby's About a Boy (made into a movie starring Hugh Grant)
African American: The Invisible Man by Ellison, Black Skin, White Masks by Fanon, anything by Toni Morrison or Gloria Naylor,
If you like books made into movies, Where the Heart is by Billie Letts, Bridget Jones Diary by helen fielding, Divine secrets of the ya ya sisterhood by Rebecca Wells...
classics like Wuthering Heights, or Jane Eyre...and if you enjoy Jane Eyre another book called Wide Sargasso Sea...
i love anything by shakespeare, oh, the Handmaid's Tale by m. Atwood was great, little disturbing...
okay, getting a little long. hope this lists inspires you!

Answer 4

Christy by Marshall
A Room of My Own by Tatlock
To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Of Mice and Men
The Acorn People
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Girl of the Limberlost
The Hobbit
Treasure Island
The Blue Bottle Club by Stokes
The Locket by Evans
Julie by Marshall
Emily Ever After by Dayton

Answer 5

Here are some books I read lately-
Treasure island by Stevenson
Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle
Lost world and other stories by "
Uncle Tom's cabin by Harriet Beecher Stone
Secret Garden by Frances Burnett
All these are good books and I bet you'll love the Harry Potter series!

Answer 6

The Harry Potter Books,
The Lord of the Rings books,
The Lovely Bones,
The CSI series books,
Alphabet Weekends: Love on the Road from A-Z (a novel)
The Kite Runner
Anything by Mary Higgins Clark,
Anything by J.R.R Tolkein
The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot

Answer 7

get the first of the series of Carlos Casteneda's books, it is called " The teachings of Don Juan"
As yu turn each page you hope that the writing is true and that the next page doesn't give away that it is possibly fiction.
It is the teaching of actual life magic by a old man in Mexico who
can do amazing things and is a sorceror.
You can never tell if it is fiction or really true it is written so well.

Answer 8

You must, MUST read (If you haven't already) Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Its so well written that even fans who hate the genre in general, LOVE it. Its one of those books you can't put down, and never want to end. I recommended it to all my friends, (Ok I forced, bribed, even blackmailed them to read it :D ) who NEVER read and they loved it too.

Around that time I just read classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the flies, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre,The Iliad, etc.

I think you might like The Uglies Trilogy by Scott Westerfeld, Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, Venus as a Boy by Luke Sutherland, A Certain Age by Rebecca Ray and so on.

Answer 9

Are you reading for pleasure or to develop a joy of reading or to broaden your horizons?

Pleasure: Anita Blake Vampire novels by Laura Hamilton
Magician series by Raymond feist
Sword dancer series by Roberson

Essential Reading: Moby dick, Treasure Island, all of H.G wells, and all Twain etc. so many to choose from.

Answer 10

Anything, rather everything by Hermann Hesse.
The Liar's Club by Mary Carr
Dune by Frank Herbert
start there