Summer Reading Times!

I've got about two more weeks of teaching until summer vacation.  In my struggle to stay motivated to provide my students with meaningful end-of-year instruction, my mind has wandered to all of the free time I'll have to do some hardcore reading.  So, for the enjoyment of the blogosphere, here are ten books that I'd like to read over the summer.

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: I read this in high school, and I've seen both the Keira Knightley and Colin Firth film adaptations.  I'd like to re-read it for work, because I've picked up an AP Lit class, and this is going to be their summer reading assignment.  I figured it would be a good idea to brush up on my Austen.

2. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky: This is another one I read back in high school, and since it was my go-to text for both of my AP tests, I feel like it's a useful book for students to break into.  If I finish my list early, I'd like to check out Paranoid Park because it's supposedly a contemporary re-telling of Dostoyevsky's study in Slavic angst.

3. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak: I loved The Book Thief to a ridiculous degree, so I decided to expand my Markus Zusak repertoire.  The premise sounds interesting--a New York cab driver is led around the city by face cards bearing mysterious riddles, though he doesn't know who or what is behind these strange missions. 

4. Dune by Frank Herbert: I started Dune awhile ago and just couldn't dig deep enough to keep going.  But this summer, I'm giving the old boy a serious chance.  And them I'm going to watch the extended director's cut of David Lynch's film adaptation, which for some reason is on very late every Saturday night on BBC America.

5. Sabriel by Garth Nix: I keep hearing good things about this book.  All I really know is that it fits into the fantasy genre, and I like the cover--it hints at some mystery that I'd like to solve.  I'm hoping to use this book to help expand my knowledge of fantasy books, because I'm a nerd.

6. The Revisionists by Thomas Mullen: Occasionally, I think to myself, "You know what, Alex? Most of the books that you read are pretty easy to figure out.  Maybe you should read a book that ties your brain up into knots just for the hell of it." I decided to take my own advice and read this book, which is about a time traveler who bounces throughout history making sure terrible things don't happen in order to protect a Utopian future.  Sounds like a mindfudge.

7. Swamplandia! by Karen Russell: A few months ago, I read an interesting article on NPR about books that were snubbed for this year's Pulitzer Prize, and this book was on their list.  It sounds awesome.  Alligator wrestlers, dark forces, and swamp folk--all things that I find fascinating.

8. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov: I minored in Russian literature, so it's safe to say that I have a special place in my heart for it.  I read about this book (also on NPR, I think) and it sounded both fascinating and Russian.  Oh, and the main character owns a penguin.  Which would be cool.

9. Jennifer Government by Max Barry: I've started this book twice now, but the timing just hasn't been right.  It's an awesome premise--in a dystopian, corporatized world, people's last names are dictated by who they work for, and mega-corporations engineer mass murders in order to promote new sneakers.  Like Dune I'm going to punch this one in the face by reading it.  Hard.

10. The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism From Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by Corey Robin: I thought it would be a good idea to include some nonfiction on my list, so here's the one I went for.  I figure with a presidential election coming up, it wouldn't hurt to brush up on my political thinking.

There it is.  Now let's see if I can pull it off without getting distracted by sitting and doing nothing.