Summer Reading

Wow! It's been quite awhile since I've written anything. I promise that will change soon, because I'm planning on documenting my senior year very well and sharing it with all of you. My goal is to take at least one picture each day, so we'll see how that goes.

However, that is not the reason I am writing today. I thought I would share my summer reading list with all of you. I wouldn't recommend all of these books, but many of them are gems to be sure. Before I begin the list, here's a thought to consider:

"A book is the only place in which you can examine a fragile thought without breaking it, or
or explore an explosive idea without fear it will go off in your face. It is one of the few havens remaining where a man's mind can get both provocation and privacy." Edward P. Morgan
1. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers



I'm sure many of you have heard of this book. It is a retelling of the Book of Hosea, but in the midst of California gold country in 1850-- centering around the life of Angel/Sarah who is a prostitute. There were, of course, several liberties taken with the story but the overall concept remained intact. It was a quick, lovely summer read.

2. Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? by Richard Maybury

See one of my previous posts for book review. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

3. Whatever Happened to Justice? by Richard Maybury

The next book in the Uncle Eric series. In this book, Maybury shows the connections between law and economics, and between economics and political liberty. If you would like a very sound explaination of a libertarian world perspective, look no further. It's a very comprehensive read. I have to be honest, it took me a bit longer to get through this than Penny Candy?, but I still enjoyed it immensely. If you are at all committed to understanding and fixing the problems that face our world today, this is a MUST READ!

4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Required reading for my Adolescent Literature class. Required or not, I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of a gang of boys in the 1950s who live on the "wrong side of the tracks". The amazing thing about this classic is that Hinton wrote it when she was only a junior in highschool. There are definitely some sad parts of the book, but overall it is a great tale about relationships and social classes.

5, 6, 7. The Hunger Games Series: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and The Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games was another book the was required reading for my class this summer. However, it was so entertaining that I read (well, truthfully, listened to...) the other two in the series as well. It about a girl named Katniss Everdeen, who "lives in a post-appocolypic world in the country of Panem where the United States once existed. This is where a powerful government working in a central city called the Capitol holds power. "The Hunger Games" are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each district to fight to the death. The Hunger Games exist to demonstrate that not even children are beyond the reach of the Capitol's jurisdiction."
If you like post-apocolypic literature, this would be an interesting read for you.

8. Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper

Once again, required reading for my class. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone. It was depressing (it's about a group of guys in high school: one dies in a drunk driving accident, and the other committs suicide because he can't handle his friend's death), and was difficult to get through. In my mind, books like this only get young kids thinking about suicide rather than helping them through a grieving process (I'm assuming that was the purpose of the book...)

9. The Skin I'm In by Sharon Flake

Required reading. Wasn't awful, wasn't great.

10. Mississippi Trial 1955 by Chris Crowe

More required reading. This was a historical fiction novel. It tells the true story of Emmitt Till, a 13 year old boy who was brutally murdered, through the eyes of fictional character Hiram Hillburn. If you've never heard of the Case of Emmitt Till, please look it up. It's EXTREMELY sad, but needs to be heard. I had never heard of it until I read this book, so that alone made it worthwhile. Such prejudice and human cruelty is unexceptable.

11. From Sea to Shining Sea by James Alexander Thom

Ok, so I have a confession. I've been reading this book since last summer....and still haven't finished it. It's extremely interesting, but is so jam packed with details and multiple story lines that it takes a bit of time to get through. It's a lovely story though, and it does a wonderful job of expressing all of the charm, terror, and excitement of the lives of the men and women who lived while our country was just beginning. It is the story of the Clark family (you know, William Clark of Lewis and Clark? Yup, that's the one). They were an extrordinary family, from John and Ann Clark who married when they were in their teens, to their ten children who all amazingly lived to see adulthood (something almost unheard of at that time).
If you love history like I do, you'll love this book!

12, 13, 14. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; HP and the Chamber of Secrets; HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban

I cheated a bit with these and listened to them instead of read them, since I was doing a lot of painting this summer and needed something to listen to while doing so. I figured I should know what the big buzz is about, and I also don't like being clueless during the bagillion Harry Potter references I hear every day. I admit, they are very entertaining, well-written books. Remind me a bit of Lord of the Rings/Chronicles of Narnia with all the wizards and strange creatures, but without all of the moral metaphors.

15. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Read this for my OTHER class, Literature in Society. It's intersting, and presents some worthy ideas about what could happen if we let technology get too far.

16. The Law by Frederic Bastiat

I'm still working on this one, but so far so good. Since I'm not finished with it (but will be finishing it very soon), I'll wait until another time to write about it.

Well, now that I sufficiently sound like a nerd.....hahahaha! I hope that you find these little reviews helpful, and that maybe this post inspires you to pick up a book or two. After all:

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting." Henry David Thoreau