May 9, 2002
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My husband tried an interesting writing exercise last night. He's been working long hours and then bringing work home with him a lot lately, so he hasn't been on Xanga much. But, this blog is such fun that I'm hoping you'll go over and try a paragraph or two in his comment section.
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Not only are we Xangans obsessive chroniclers of life, we are also readers. Almost every Site I Read contains mention of the books in progress or favorite books that we've read. I'm compiling my summer reading list now, and I got wondering if you guys would be interested in joining me as I make up the list and work my way through it. So far I only have a few books penciled in to the list so if there is something in particular that you'd like to add, that can be done.
So far it is:
Fiction -
Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Anne McCaffrey, Dragonriders of Pern (Original Three books)
??? - Need at least three more
Non-fiction
Philosophy/Theology
George Santanaya, The Life of Reason
Thomas a' Kempis, Imitation of Christ
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man
Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ
History
???
Science
???
I have a pitifully small library available to me, so I'm limited to volumes I can order from BarnesandNoble.com and on the advice of my budget I'd prefer not to exceed $15 for any one item.
Once the list is completed, I'll post a schedule so if you want to read any of these with me you'll know when I'll open discussion on them.
Comments (33)
In that philosophy section, why don't you add Camille Paglia's Sexual Personae. A good read. Friend of mine recommended a novel to me that I liked, it's memoir but reads like fiction by Mary Karr Cherry. Science and history? They make books about stuff like that?
VERY cool!
I am not a reader--I think I'm ADD; very visual, extremely distractable! LOL! Here is my reading list (don't worry, it's short!)
The Sacred Romance and Wild at Heart. Both are written by John Eldredge. The title of the first is pretty self-explanatory, but WAH is about understanding men and how their role has been changed by our culture.
Hey, you know you can go to that pitifully small library and request that they order books you want to read! You are the taxpayer person, ya know?! I'd either speak personally to the person who orders books or build a rapport with a worker there. It encourages them in their job and makes life more frugal and interesting for you!
The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris.
The Three Christs of Ypsilanti by Milton Rokeach
The Eight by Katherine Neville
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind by Julian Jaynes
Questioning the Millennium: A Rationalist's Guide to a Precisely Arbitrary Countdown by Stephen Jay Gould
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Letters To A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
I Ain't Got Time To Bleed: Reworking the Body Politic from the Bottom Up by Jesse Ventura
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco
And if you end up with not enough, poke me, I'll mention more.
I loved the Poisonwood Bible. Have you read it?
That is really neat. Looking forward to you posting the list when it's done.
hmm interested in human sexuality for science?? Fascinating read...Evolution Of Desire, I'm so not getting up to get the author if you want to know who it is let me know THEN I'll get up!
It's not REALLY history but some of Irving Stones books do a damn good job of recreating history. I found his book on Darwin to be darn close to the money. I should know more for history ummm.......its early why are you doing this to me???????????? LOL
Immanuel Velikovsky Reconsidered..... He took the timelines of all historical data and compared them with the history written in the bible. Explains the mana and wandering in the desert.
Also 'Who wrote the Bible' is an interesting read.
Science fiction: Stephen R Donaldson series... Mirror of her Dreams & A man rides through. also the Thomans Covenant series (6 books)
These are my favorites.
Good Idea. I used to buy tons of books for the summer. But having kids sort of nipped that for me. I think I am going to try again though.
I can fill your History section in
I have fiction and non fiction on Ancient Rome 
Sounds good. It seems I read in fits and stops. One month I'll read a book, like it, and find all other books by the author that I can in Libraries or used book stores, then read them as well. Other months I don't really read anything at all except for Xanga and other online digests.
Order from half.com, you can get them really cheap most of the time. My wife filled in her Asimov collection that way and some of them were only a quarter.
God Bless - Dale
We need to organize a Xanga book swap. I've been fortunate to trade books with writermom and others.
I've got Revenge ready to go when I have a moment to indulge. I'll let you know whether it's a must read or not after I finish.
Fiction> Kindred by Octavia Butler. Short, fast read, cheap, great book. Read it in several of my college literature classes and fell head over heels for it.
Sorry for the general howdy but I wanted everyone to know that I have not forgotten anyone. I still read your sites but am unable to comment sometimes because I just don't have enough hours in the day for what I want to say or do.
Peachy
Fiction:
The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery
A Study In Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Timeline by Michael Crichton
Happy reading, I can't wait to see your list.
Ruth
I just buy the books with the pictures. I can't follow along without them. I suppose that means I won't be much hope.
Hope? Help. Hhmmm. I wonder what kind of subconscious mistake that was.
LOL at notasoul
Post a pic of your hair color before you get it fixed and I'll give you a huge list of books 
Science - Where Does the Weirdness Go? by David Lindley.
I don't seem to have a lot of spare time on my hands to really sink my teeth into a good book. It'll probably take me all summer to finish The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon. I've only been trying to get into it for three months now.
Well I'll recommend any of the fictional books in my list of favourite books. Have your read the homeschooling book by David Guterson?? Just curious to know what it is like??
you'll need to have something by john irving (world according to garp, cider house rules, prayer for owen meany). for science, try anything by richard feyman. this one is enjoyable. and also books by steven pinker. i really think george r r martin's "fire and ice" series is one of the better sci-fi series to come out in a long while. i enjoyed "the hours" by michael cunningham. oh boy i'll stop now.
hmmmm....no chance of re-reading the classics? how about on the road by jack kerouac?
Something else you might consider - in the Non Fiction categor - is a book on the Enneagram. I thought Riso was quite good.
How about "Calvin and Hobbes"??!!!
Happy Mother's Day!
HAppy Day to All ! @-}-}----
Sci-Fi:
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson is my all-time favorite. Interesting on several levels.
Anything by Spider Robinson, although the Callahan's series are his master-works in my opinion.
The Ender series, by Orson Scott Card is quite good.
Science:
Why Elephants Have Big Ears, by Chris Lavers. I thoroughly enjoyed this book on Anthropology for the layman. So interesting, I devoured it in an afternoon.
Exploring the Earth & The Cosmos, by Isaac Asimov. A great overview of the extremes that mankind has explored, from the big to the small, fast to slow, hot to cold. Alot of science/history, which I always enjoy.
Any book written by Alison Weir is great for British History.. the woman is a genius. And for fiction, I recommend The House of the Spirits, by Isabel Allende.
yeah, we need to get back to that, don't we?
I have started a couple more books, so I still have about five going...
at the rate I am going, NONE of them will get read.
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