<p>This summer, S1 read Drop City, Three Cups of Tea, The Fountainhead, and is reading The Agony and the Ecstasy right now. He reportedly likes them all.</p>
<p>Fahrenheit 451 is my favorite book, hands down. It's the one I wrote about for my college essays actually, lol. And Ender's Game! It's sitting on my tabletop right now, waiting to be read, based on my friend's strong recommendation (it's mixed with a little bit of guilt-tripping that I haven't read it already).</p>
<p>Is The Fountainhead somewhat accessible? Okay, okay, that's probably a ridiculous question but...</p>
<p>Oh read Ender's Game *- it's a really enjoyable as well as thought provoking read. And for more fun read *Ender's Shadow that tells the same story from a different point of view. Even more fun. </p>
<p>Personally, I'm not crazy about Ayn Rand and her philosophy, but The Fountainhead is very accessible.</p>
<p>Glad to see there are other Bill Bryson fans here. What if he wrote a book about visiting colleges with his teens? Laughing already.</p>
<p>Fountainhead accessible? You can get it at any decent bookstore or cheaper online. Its........interesting and worth the read.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ugh. I don't get the love for Charlotte Simmons. There are some good passages in it, but on the whole it's poorly written, poorly plotted and developed, and so full of crap there has to be an EPA violation in there somewhere. Unless you were homeschooled on Mars, I can't believe it meaningfully advances your preparation for actual college life.
[/quote]
Unlike many books in this thread this one would actually be relevant to modern American college life. Therefore, it might be considered a "good book to read before college".</p>
<p>oh haha by accessible i don't mean "readily available from major sources," i meant more like "easy to understand/follow/enjoy" (the far more embarrassing meaning, lol)</p>
<p>Well.........I wouldn't call it an "easy read take to the beach " book.....but yes, you can follow it. As for enjoy, thats entirely up to you. Personally I didn't like it but my D loved it. I was surprised when "literary type" friends of mine were impressed that I had read it.......some had, some hadn't but it raised eyebrows. I guess there is a cliquey thing to Ayn Rand.</p>
<p>The Fountainhead was pushed at me in HS by my architect father and I really did enjoy it. I think having read it made Atlas Shrugged a little bit easier to get through. Loved that book too, but reading it was definitely work.</p>
<p>Here is a suggestion for outdoorsey people on their way to Southern California: Jerry Schad has a series of books entitled "Afoot & Afield in...San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, maybe others. He lists and discusses hiking trails in the area.</p>
<p>My son is a senior and I wanted hi to read books that I felt his high schoool thus far had missed so I left a stack of titles for him while we went on vacation that were in his field of interest - psychology.
Child Called It - Dave Pelzer (he ended up reading them all)
In to the Wild; Into Thin Air - Krakauer
Kite Runner; Thousand Splendid Suns - Hosseini
House of Sand & Fog - Dubus
Secret History - Tart</p>
<p>I love some of your suggestions - going to steal them for my book club. But I think I will look for cds for my S and I to listen to on our college visits next week.</p>
<p>So, reading "War and Peace" is on my list of "things to do before I turn 21" (along with getting behind the wheel of a Ferrari, but alas, those aren't available for check-out from my local library) Is that a pretty interesting novel, despite the hundreds of characters?</p>
<p>Also I really, really liked The Kite Runner. Is A Thousand Splendid Suns a sequel or just another novel by the author?</p>
<p>I love reading War and Peace. I read it for pleasure not for a class when I was in high school. I think we'd all seen the Russian version of the movie that came out in the early 70s. A bunch of us read it at the same time.
*
A Thousand Splendid Suns* is not a sequel. I haven't read it yet, but nearly everyone I've talked to about it liked it even better than the author's first novel.</p>