Academic

Summer Reading

By Jacqueline Lipton

Supposing that some of us are actually going to attempt to read some books for fun over the summer [not, of course, implying that reading law review articles and recent judgments isn't fun], I thought it might be worth getting a thread going about what people recommend.  So I'll put myself on the line with "What I'm Reading" and see if I can generate any other suggestions from anyone else.

Here's some books I've been reading while eagerly awaiting my student exams to grade:

1. I did read Christopher Moore's "Fool" which I mentioned in a previous post.  I wasn't so keen on it as it read to me like an Americanized attempt to do Monty Python and it didn't really work for me.  However, I did read Moore's "You Suck" and "A Dirty Job" which are worth reading together as the stories are independent, but they intertwine, and both are certainly chucklesome.  And I enjoyed Moore's "Lamb" which creates a new gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood friend.  Warm and cute and not at all offensive to Judaism or Christianity, at least in my humble opinion.

2.  I really enjoyed Erik Larson's "The Devil in the White City" - historical fiction combining a story about the Chicago Worlds' Fair and one of America's early serial killers who committed many of his crimes in Chicago at the time of the fair.

3. Jeannette Wall's "The Glass Castle" - an amazing memoir.  An easy read, and very touching.

4. Nancy Horan's "Loving Frank" about Frank Lloyd-Wright's ongoing affair with one of his client's wives.  The story is a little overblown, but an engaging first work of historical fiction by the author and offers interesting insights into Lloyd-Wright's life.  Makes me want to read "The Women" by T.C. Boyle which is another historical fictional look at Wright's life, but this one includes all his key relationships with women.

5. And I finally read David Brin's "The Postman" which I really enjoyed, but can't say it has inspired me to go and see the movie.  I don't really want an image of Kevin Costner to ruin the image I currently have of the character in the book.  And I'm told that the movie is needlessly long and misses a lot of the intricacies of the book.

I'd welcome any other recommendations - have a few long flights coming up in June and find these good opportunites to at least try to catch up on some summer reading.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on April 26, 2009 (boomark / email).