Jason's Summer Reading List

I'm a bad reader.

Actually, that's not really true. I'm a really good reader. My problem is that I'm also a pretty good consumer, so I buy way more books than I should. My hypothesis is that I spend so much time being guilty about my flagrant consumerism and dump SO much energy into choosing new books that I want to READ that it virtually becomes impossible for me to focus any energy into the books that I already have and wanted to read in the first place.

And so, in response to that, I'm making a commitment here to read the following books this summer:

• The Devil You Know by Mike Carey - already reading this one now. I'm about 1/3 of the way done and it's uber-cool so far.
• The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leanord Mlodinow - this is a bookloan from Barnes & Noble so I'll need to read it pretty quickly. It's non-fiction, obviously, but sounds pretty cool.
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid - This has been on my shelf for awhile now and I'd like to read it. It's just a small fiction.
• The Last of the Mohicans by J. Fennimore Cooper - I've always wanted to read this one. It's a classic obviously but I never had to read it in my undergraduate classes. Since it's pretty much the first major American novel, it always seemed like a good one to read
• Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow - I think in the mythology of American history, Alexander Hamilton is one of those guys where the legend and mystery has grown up to all but eclipse the real person, maybe moreso than any other persona. I like colonial biographies and this one was too good a deal to pass up. Chernow's AH was really a big hit a couple of years back.
• First Blood by David Morrell - I've been telling my friend Ryan for years now that I'd read something by Morrell and this was only $.50 at the Book Rack, so I couldn't pass it up. Yes, it was the basis for the Stallone movie that kicked off the Rambo series, but supposedly its a really great book.
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe - A couple of reasons why I'm reading this. First of all, I've never read Tom Wolfe before and always sort of thought I should've by now. Second, this book basically kicked off the school of New Journalism as well as is a fundamental introduction the Hippie / drug movement.
• Crime and Punishment by Feodor Dostoyevsky - This is another one that I always figured I would have to read for a class but never did. I've owned it for years but never bothered reading it and it always sounded really interesting and accessible. This is the summer I'll read it.
• Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchen - This has been getting GREAT reviews so far and sounds REALLY up my alley. I've got it coming in at Barnes for my NEXT bookloan, so we'll see how it goes.

And so there you have it, my friends. Those are the next 9 books I'll be reading this summer. I'm thinking that I should be able to finish them all. It's a pretty big load, but there are some easy reads peppered in with heavier stuff.

Now all I need to do is read them.

In other news, I found out yesterday that I have officially been accepted into the MA program at NKU. I go for my first advising appointment this week sometime. Woot!