<p>FWIW, Dartmouth and CWRU's required summer reading for incoming freshman this year is:</p>
<p>"Mountains Beyond Mountains : The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World" by TRACY KIDDER.</p>
<p>highly rated:</p>
<p>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out this summer, that should make for a fun read!</p>
<p>Beat, yup! Already have mine on order from Amazon. Can't wait!</p>
<p>My kids have one ordered for each. So I have to wait for one of them to finish it...</p>
<p>Our Harry Potter is also on order. We'll fight over who reads it first!</p>
<p>I ordered my own copy.</p>
<p>It is a tradition in our house to go to Walmarts and buy our 2 copies. When the real Harry Potter frenzy hit (maybe the third book) we had not pre-ordered, Dad and daughter went to every book store in town looking for it, but finally found a big stack at Walmarts, and so a tradition is born. We'll be at the beach this year, it's about a 30 mile round trip to Walmarts!</p>
<p>Wicked by Gregory Maguire - Wizard of Oz story told from the point of view of the Wicked Witch!</p>
<p>I ordered my copy of Harry Potter like 3 months ago and reread book #5... I can't wait for book #6.</p>
<p>isn't anybody going to say Harry potter is overrated?
I have fond thoughts of it because when my D was in 3rd grade and didn't know letter sounds at beginning of year- it inspired her enough that she could read it by the end of the year. But IMO the author has lost interest in the characters.</p>
<p>Re: Wicked D- loved that on Broadway last year anxious mom
the production is coming to Seattle- but at this point you have to buy the whole series to get a ticket. :(</p>
<p>"The Perks of Being a Wallflower" was pretty good and a quick read...I finished it the same day I checked it out from the library. When I get bored in the summer, I always like just to go to the library and see what books are new that look interesting, or what classics they have that I haven't gotten around to reading yet. (yes, I'm a nerd!)</p>
<p>Harry Potter's always a good suggestion, too. It's on my to-do list to preorder (or I suppose I could always make a midnight Walmart run - that's where I got Book 5!)</p>
<p>The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk is awesome. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. On the Road by Jack Kerouac.</p>
<p>my list:
Required
Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad)</p>
<p>Recommended
The Eaters of the Dead (Michael Crichton)
Author Unknown (Don Foster)
Pompeii (Robert Harris)
The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
The Red Tent (Anita Diament)
The Dante Club (Matthew Pearl)
Will in the World (Stephen Greenblatt)
The Clerkenwell Tales (Peter Akroyd)</p>
<p>Others
Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
The Fountain Head (Ayn Rand)
The Know It All (J.B. Astor)
The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)</p>
<p>Classics
Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky)
The Jungle (Upton Sinclair)
The Inferno (Dante)
Paradise Lost (John Milton)</p>
<p>I am trying to decide whether to spring for Elizabeth George's latest (With No One as Witness). I wish our library would speed up their acquisition process.</p>
<p>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - what a great book. I read that ... growing up in Brooklyn many years ago. I should read it again even if my son does not.</p>
<p>pattyk I just read it ( borrowed from a friend) along with the "shocking" plot development, I didn' think it was as compelling as some of her earlier books
If you like the British writers you might also try Ian Rankin or Reginald Hill. ( I also like Minette Walters)
I am trying to weed out some of my books and not buy so many, I really don't have room for any more bookshelves- but I have still been buying used books, either online through Powells or Amazon or at local bookshops- it is a hard habit to break.
While I am waiting for our next book group book ( From Beirut to Jerusalem- ) I am rereading Outlander- a romance/time travel /action adventure historical series. sounds odd, but author is very good at fleshing out characters with believable dialogue and storyline.
I am waiting for Ghost Wars from our library- definitely not a beach read but hopefully I will get it in time for fall</p>
<p>A non fiction by James Carville and Paul Begala - "BUCK UP, SUCK UP and come back when you foul up"</p>
<p>or 12 winning secrets from the war room - is a good book about putting together a successful plan. It isn't all about politics but it contains some interesting anecdotes. I am recommending it to my daughter before she heads off to school next fall.</p>
<p>For nonfiction: "Collapse" by Jared Diamond (bestseller, fascinating, about the collapse of various societies who made stupid choices--and a bit of a wakeup call for us)</p>
<p>For fiction: Berkeley is recommending "Robinson Crusoe" (unedited version, a little harder to find) by Daniel Defoe. Escapism combined with some inadvertently keen social commentary. </p>
<p>For a contemplative, philosophical read: "The Dream of Scipio" by Iain pears. Three stories--one during the fall of Rome, one during the Black Plague, and one during WWII-- all take place in Provence, all dealing with a protagonist who has a difficult choice to make. Friendship, loss, love, violence, twisted religious values, evil villains and tormented heroes--what else could you want? </p>
<p>For fun: read "Radical Chic and other essays" by Tom Wolfe. Combined with "Mau-mauing the Flak Catchers", it is one of my favorite all-time social comments.</p>
<p>
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Come on people, the kid said fun - how about The Three Musketeers, or The Once and Future King. Hitchhikers' Guide, if you haven't read it, and anything by Dave Barry or Bill Bryson (for sheer laughs). Just lighthearted, throw in the trash reading - the Shopaholics books, and the Diane Mott Davidson murder mysteries (especially the earlier ones), and the entire Amelia Peabody series (by Elizabeth Peters, one of my favorite female heroines).
Note: This list is based on fun, not improve your mind, their have been some other reading threads that covered "improve your mind"
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</p>
<p>Never heard of any of those other than Three Musketeers. Anyway, I think some of my list is fun. But that's just me.</p>
<p>I tried looking for Harry Potter here but apparently someone checked out the whole series until August. :/ They actually have a kids section (Spanish and English) at the univ. library. Weird...</p>
<p>I just finished this weird book called "I am the cheese." I just read it because I wasn't sure what it was about and never heard of it. I'm still not sure what was going on exactly. If anyone else has read this book, can you explain the ending to me? I know what "I am the cheese" meant and that the kid was in a car wreck with his parents and he was having mental issues because of it, but the ending with the doctor giving him his childhood pig toy was strange. And I thought he was going to see his father in the hospital. What exactly was going on??</p>
<p>Hey bluealien, did you get the summer job you were looking for? Just curious...</p>