My Summer Reading List

Written on 11:31 AM by Jack B.

As school has let out for the summer and I have a little time on my hands for the next two months or so, this is the stuff I've decided to read over that period (or try to). Keep in mind that I tend not to read one thing right after the other but a bunch of stuff all at once, reading one thing or another thing at various times of the day given my mood at the time. Perhaps if I get the chance (i.e. I'm not bogged down with other stuff), I'll blog on some of these books as I'm in the process of reading them. Kind of like a running commentary.

1. Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford - Yes, I know I've been reading this thing for the past several months. But it's 800 pages! And I've had classes! And I like to make excuses! I mean to finish it this month or else!

2. Disney War by James B. Stewart - On name brand alone, the Walt Disney Company should be the greatest conglomerate in the world, so why under Michael Eisner does it keep sinking deeper and deeper into the toilet? Inquiring minds want to know...and I love this behind the scenes Hollywood stuff.

3. Mr. Blue by Myles Connelly - Edited by St. Blog's own Amy Welborn, I thought I'd get in a "Catholic" novel in over the Summer by an author I'd never heard of. I'm not sure what to expect, hopefully I'll like it.

4. Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits by Alan Greer - Not a hagiography like most biographies of my home state saint, Blessed Kateri, this is a more academic work by Oxford University Press that deals with Kateri's background and her life as chronicled by the Jesuits who knew her and how their own life experiences shaped how they saw/wrote about her.

5. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostovesky - I've read Crime and Punishment and I'm going to start The Brothers Karamzov in the Fall so I'd thought I'd get a head start and read this work in between.

6. Esperanto by John Cresswell and John Hartley - I did a term paper on Esperanto last semester and found myself becoming more and more interested in the language. This is a beginner's introduction to learning how to speak and read the language. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the knowledge. When I mentioned this was going to be my Summer project at work someone asked "who was I going to speak it with?" Good question. There's not exactly a lot of Esperanto speakers out there - which may be why I want to learn it. I'm just a contrarian by nature.