Reading List

When I got home from school in April, I realized I still hadn't read all the fantasy books I got at that estate sale last March (Mom and Dad hid them during the school year and *forgot* to get them out when I graduated).  Furthermore, I realized that I didn't really want to read them.  Since then, I've been reading mostly books that I've read before - the literary version of comfort food.  Seriously, many of these are books I read in 7th or 8th grade!  Not that I didn't read advanced books at that age, but these ones have been pretty fluffy.

I didn't really feel like finding new fantasy books.  Sci-fi just doesn't cast the same spell over me that it used to.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME??  I suspect that it's just a phase, but I'm going to take advantage of it while I can.  If I don't really feel like reading anything in particular, but I still want to read, it's going to be good stuff, dangit!  I can demolish the Honors program requirements for school, catch up on some books I've been meaning to read for a long time, and become more educated overall.  Whew.  So, without further ado, here is my reading list for the summer.  (Note: I will probably not finish all of these... but I'll try!)


1. Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle
2. The Prince, Niccolo Machiavelli
3. Don Quixotes, Cervantes
4. Common Sense, Thomas Paine
5. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon
6. Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe
7. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, John Locke
8. Paradise Lost, John Milton
9. The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith
10. The Federalist Papers, John Adams et. al.
11. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft
12. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
13. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
14. Something by Ralph Waldo Emerson
15. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
16. Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx
17. Something by J.S. Mill
18. Dracula, Bram Stoker
19. Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beacher Stowe
20. Walden, Henry David Thoreau
21. Democracy in America, Tocqueville
21. The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
22. The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway
23. The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis
24. Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela
25. Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
26. All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
27. Something by Virginia Woolf
28. The Poor Christ of Bomba, Mongo Beti* OR Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
29. Art of War, Sun Tzu
30. The Rig Veda, Kalidasa*
31. The Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam
32. Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortensen
33. Jesus the Christ, James E. Talmage
34. Divine Comedy, Dante
35. Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population, Valerie Hudson
36. No Greater Love, Mother Teresa
37. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, Sheryl WuDunn
38. Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World, Carl W. Ernst
39. The Glass Castle: A Memoir, Jeannette Walls
40. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
41. Camel Club, David Baldacci
42. The Eyes of the Dragon, Stephen King


*The county library does not have these books, so I'll read them if I can get my hands on them...


In addition to those listed above, I'm going to finish the Old and New Testaments, read the New York Times online, and read and take notes on my Intro to IR textbook to prepare for my TA job next semester!

In other news, I've finally decided what language I'm going to study to fulfill Honors requirements and possibly major requirements: Spanish!  As Mom says, it's very practical, even if it's not sexy.  I also got wholehearted support from Bishop Richardson (a Spanish minor who served a mission in Chile) and his (cute) younger brother Joel (a Spanish major who served a mission in Ecuador).

Here's my inspiration for the day: it's something that Thomas S. Monson said to describe Gordon B. Hinckley:  "He does not counsel with fear."  I realized today that I need to conform my own life to follow that tidbit of wisdom more closely.  I cannot make decisions based upon how much I fear the consequences.  I will not choose a major, a life, or what I wear in the morning based upon fear.  My career choice will be made based on what I love, and on a healthy dose of logic - not on the fear that I will not be able to find a job in the field I choose.  I am going to make decisions based upon what I want and what the Lord wants, not what I am afraid of.

<3 always,
Eliza

P.S. Sorry it's been so long.  Updates on the Wyoming trip, my jobs, and Father's day are coming.  It's just hard to squeeze long enough consecutive blocks of time to write a blog in, between my jobs, trying to swim daily, and attempting to get a little bit of family time and sleep too!

P.P.S.  In case you hadn't already guessed, I'm hoping that having my reading goals down in writing will make me more likely to achieve them.  I will keep everyone updated on what I've read from the list.