Food for the mind

[franceslievens]

I'm planning on having all my grading done this weekend, which means not much work for the rest of the schoolyear. So I need input, preferably in the form of books. I'm going to the library tomorrow afternoon. What should I take home? There's 21 people on my friends list and a couple of anonymous readers follow my LJ frequently. With all that combined knowledge and wisdom I'll probably end up with a reading list that'll last me all through the summer. Go ahead and comment. You know you want to. ;-)

Comments

Thanks

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Read all the Harry Potters last summer in one go. Haven't read anything of the others...

[simonf.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed the new Mao biography. Well worth reading.

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Really? And by whom is this piece of interesting literature?

[simonf.livejournal.com]

The woman who wrote Wild Swans and her husband. Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. The book's full title is Mao : The Unknown Story.

[comava.livejournal.com]

You've probably read it already but Im Westen Nichts Neues. It's amazing. And um... books by Robert Fulchum, if they're available. They're fun and thoughtful and entertaining. I also like reading old childhood favorites, like the Little Woman series or Anne of Green Gables or Charlotte's Web.

Please let my tags work this time...

[chrissie-linnit.livejournal.com]

Edit Note: Reposted, WITHOUT, sloppy tag-missage

Bill Bryson's 'Notes From a Small Island'. It is very funny and, informative. He's primarily a travel writer but he combines this with great observervations of human behaviour. This book is his American-married-to-a-Brit-and-living-in-the-UK perspective on the geography, culture and eccentricities that make Britain interesting as he travels, literally, around the country.

When Bryson returned to the US, he decided to find a companion foolish enough to go with him and he walked the Appalacian Trail. The book he wrote on that exploit is called, 'A Walk in the Woods,' and I've read and re-read it at least a half dozen times. Very funny but extremely educational and again, he is an unfailingly honest observer of human behaviour.

Also, a book Chani reccomended to me a couple of years ago and I've kept it because it's so beautifully written, 'Till We Have Faces,' by C.S. Lewis. It's a retelling of the Cupid/Psyche myth. Truly the best thin Lewis ever wrote (and I loved the Narnia Chronicles).

[thephilfire.livejournal.com]

well i'd recommend 'lie down in darkness' by william styron, very well written, quite a tough and deep read but i'm glad i read it.

plus if you're reading bill bryson then you might as well check out pete mcCarthy he's very funny too. 'road to mcCarthy' and 'mcCarthy's bar' are the ones i've read, i can't remember which is funnier but you won't go far wrong reading either or both :)

[frances-lievens.livejournal.com]

Thank you all. I didn't come round to thanking every one of you in person, but I've made a list and I'm hoping my library actually has these books.

Am reading John Irving now. The Cidre House Rules. Great one. Go read it. ;-)