<p>Well, seeing as Swarthmore is renound for attracting the quirky intellectual types I thought it might be fun to exchange reading lists. I'm always looking for a really good book. (not necessarily fiction but books you're reading of your own accord)</p>
<p>Anyway, here's mine:</p>
<p>Catch-22, Farenheit-451, If this is a man(a school book but loved it so much), Multivariable Calculus 6e, Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics, Genius (no, not me unfortunately :(.. a book about richard feynman), and trying to find time to start Atlas Shrugged</p>
<p>Ahh I read Genius... good book : ) I just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and it was amazing... by all means, pick it up. I'm reading The God of Small Things now, which I'm liking a lot. From Beirut to Jerusalem is a little information-dense, but nonetheless brilliant (even though I'm not liking his columns recently). Others... In the Time of the Butterflies, Nectar in a Seive, Savage Inequalities, Sleeping with the Devil (about oil), Beloved, Medea, Everything is Illuminated, Interpreter of Maladies. I reallllly want to read Jhumpa Lahiri's new book... ahh, so much to read, so little time...</p>
<p>Lets see....as a Swat freshman...
A Feast of Crows (George RR Martin), Reconstruction in Philosophy (Dewey), Lexus and the Olive Tree (Friedman), the Elements of Typographic Style (Bringhurst), and Lonely Planets (Grinspoon.)</p>
<p>I just finished Pride and Prejudice for school, but it wasn't really my thing.</p>
<p>Currently I'm reading: In Love with Norma Loquendi (William Safire), The Collected Stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Blood Meridian (Cormac McCarthy) which I just got today on the suggestion of my creative writing teacher, and whatever I can find of the poetries of Pablo Neruda, Federica Garcia Lorca and Yehuda Amichai.</p>
<p>If you have any patience for writers who take liberties with grammatical convention, try Blindness (by Jose Saramago). I loved it.</p>
<p>Ayn Rand is (well, was) the devil for sure. Jhumpa Lahiri as well. I'm currently reading Middlesex for one of my clubs, Tales of Ordinary Madess by Bukowski, Slow Learner by Pynchon, and Beloved for my Lit class. Yeah, I'm one of those wackjobs who gets bored by reading one thing at a time.</p>
<p>atlas shrugged is probably my favorite book, but yeah it takes a while to read. one of the chapters near the end is quite intense. I also just started reading blindness, kind of hard to read cause of the format...</p>
<p>Wow, impressive lists. Ladylazarus, I agree about Genius, I'm really enjoying it thus far. I also agree about 'too much to read not enough time'. I keep trying to find a bit of time just to read, without success. Seems there's a lot of dispute about Ayn Rand huh :P. I havent managed to get very far yet but so far I'm enjoying it. I'll keep you reprised of the situation. Arador, I don't think I've heard of any of those books. Are they good? Seems like everyone likes Middlesex, I'll have to read it. Maybe during Christmas break I'll get some more time. How many liberties does Saramago take in Blindness? I'm reading The Color Purple for class and while I like it I am thrown by the writing and grammar.</p>
<p>This summer I decided to be ridiculous and challenge myself by reading a bunch of magical realism in Spanish. I was in a French-speaking place, so it definitely served to muddle my already sketchy linguistic capacities. Anyway. I found Borges particularly amazing in the original Spanish, definitely better than any translation. I love Lorca too (though not exactly a magical realist) and wrote my SAT essay on him. That was a laugh. I have a major crush on Marquez. I'll shut up now, I'm sort of making myself nauseous (sp?) at my own degrees of dorkiness.</p>
<p>I'm impressed. I have had the French translation of the fifth Harry Potter book but haven't had the strength to approach it... yet anyway. I think many of the people applying to Swarthmore probably have their own little dorky things. For me its teaching myself math and computer programming. It's not a bad thing, it just makes us unique. (well except those people who read books in Spanish, damn them! :P)</p>
<p>[edit - Just on this note I would say that anyone who is really interested in Physics and/or Math, enjoys learning on their own, and wants to begin a rediculously challenging endevour should pick up Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics by Frederick W. Byron Jr. and Robert W. Fuller. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever read. I've been pushing forward since the end of 9th grade and am finally finishing the second chapter. It prompted me to learn calculus, multivariable calculus, and bits and peices of tensor calculus. It's been a hugely enjoyable experience though.]</p>
<p>You imply that those groups are mutually exclusive, something with which I think most Swarthmore students and hopefuls might take offense. Also, maybe I'm being overly defensive, but I'd like think that there's a slight difference between being well-read and pretentious.</p>
<p>Personally I have read precisely two books for pleasure in three semesters at Swat. If you take reading intensive courses, like most of the Humanities and Social Sciences, then you wont have time for much else, at least in my experience.</p>
<p>I somewhat agree with 08. I find I don't read as much not because I don't have time as much as when I <em>do</em> have time, I want to be doing something other than reading. :P</p>
<p>Some assigned books are a lot of fun to read, others, not so much. Arador is right you do have "free" time, but if you've been reading all day, you really do want to do something else.</p>
<p>Atlas Shrugged changed the life of one 19 year old airman sweating it out in the Philippines 35 years ago for the better (me). However, with the "benefit" of age, I would agree that Rand (a brilliant woman wearing blinders) does indeed in the final analysis suck. Nonetheless, someone having not read her would undeniably be looking at a significant gap in their education/perspective.</p>