<p>You had to read it for AP English? Lucky! </p>
<p>I only wish that were my required reading!</p>
<p>Although the book cover is “girly,” I recommend you try reading Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – and the other two of his Millenium series novels. Well, I am actually, reading it right now and about to be finished. It is a thumbs up.</p>
<p>The Prophet – Kahlik Gibran
The Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
Lolita
Haruki Murakami
Life of Pi
Richard Bach’s
The Last Lecture
48 Laws of Power
Paolo Coehlo’s</p>
<p>and I like the Idiot’s Guide to and blah-blahs-for DUMMIES books.</p>
<p>For mindless fun, Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” is unbeatable - think of combining Monty Python with Star Trek. It is NOTHING like the movie. I agree with another comment, Michael Crichton is amazingly detailed, and seriously under-represented by his Jurassic Park books.</p>
<p>I second The Things They Carried. That book, although the writer can get a little annoying at times in my opinion, is really captivating and a strong testament to how f’d up the Vietnam War was. o.O</p>
<p>Oh and The Bourne Identity (robert ludlum). Its a pageturner, if you haven’t read it.</p>
<p>Ooh and Going After Cacciato is written by the author of The Things They Carried, and I read it for a english class junior year and loved it.</p>
<p>Also, I’m personally a fan of Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and anything Jane Austen, if you’re looking for more “classic” books.</p>
<p>Ayn Rand is awful. Absolutely vile stuff.</p>
<p>Also, today is Bloomsday. I think stately, plump Buck Mulligan would be coming from the stairhead just about now.</p>
<p>Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation.</p>
<p>The great trilogy by Issac Asimov. The original and the best.</p>
<p>
I agree, he kept confusing me when he was like “that didn’t happen” or like saying that he killed the man who Kiowa killed. I was like WHAT?! Just tell me who killed that guy haha.</p>
<p>
Yeah, we also had to read 20 columns from a columnist and write 5 rhetorical essays on them… Also, we had to write an essay on communism, socialism, capitialism, and communism in Russia, it was hell… This year for AP Lit I have to read The Things They Carried, The Road, and the Joy Luck Club, write 11 pages of reading logs about the symbols, significance, summary, and reactions. I also have to write an essay about Vietnam, 2 character analysis of the Joy Luck Club, and draw a landscape of the Road… This is torture :(. Not including my AP Cal summer assignments!! Luckily my AP Gov’t was nice enough to not create any summer assignments, same with AP Physics.</p>
<p>Assuming you want the equivalent of beach reading:
Frans Gunnar Bengtsson’s The Long Ships (just re-released);
or, Bryson’s books (any of them, but especially A Short History…);
or, Terry Pratchett, all of them;
or, Sherlock Holmes;
or–I just read it, and it’s a lot of fun, Trent’s Last Case, by EC Bentley.
I’d like to plug Librivox.org: many of the books mentioned in this thread are available, for free, read out loud by volunteers (so the quality is sometimes a little varied), but you can download onto your computer or iphone, etc., and listen as you go about your business (they’re all relatively elderly books, because they have to be out of copyright).
But they have everything from Homer to, in fact, Trent’s Last Case, and it’s fun to check out the catalog.</p>
<p>Have you ever tried I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell? It’s really quite an amusing read.</p>
<p>Oh dear god to the Sarah Palin post.</p>
<p>“The Great Gatsby” by Fitzgerald has to be the best book ever written. I’ve read it way too many times.</p>
<p>“The Catcher in the Rye” by Salinger is wonderful</p>
<p>If you aren’t looking for something that you will probably read in high school- anything by David Sedaris is hilarious</p>
<p>I’m looking for summer reads too! </p>
<p>My favorite book by far is The Giver by Lois Lowry. It’s short, but so compelling. And like someone else had said, the Harry Potter series is amazing. I think I may read all 7 again!</p>
<p>Catcher in the Rye definitely…but everyone is missing out if they haven’t read LOLITA yet!! It’s a classic for a reason, and an amazing book all around:D</p>
<p>I can recommend Tinkers by Paul Harding. It won the 2009 Pulitzer. It is a beautifully crafted novel. I almost never re-read books, with just a few exceptions, but I had to read this one again as soon as I finished it. Google the author – the back story about how this book even got published is amazing, and very encouraging for all those out there writing their first novel!</p>
<p>looking for the next harry potter? “Name of the Wind”</p>
<p>Candide by Voltaire. Iunno, I found it funny when I read it :v. Still a masterpiece for a reason.</p>
<p>The Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth
Catch-22 by Joesph Heller
From Russia With Love by Ian Flemming</p>