Tuesday 5 June 2012

My 'Books To Read Over Summer' List - Part 1





I've had to split this post into two parts as I have quite a few books on my 'to read' pile next to my bed. It's getting ridiculous actually, I have put myself on a book-buying ban as otherwise I'll never get through them all - my friends keep saying to me 'why don't you read the books you have first' - makes sense I suppose. I highly doubt I'll read all the books I want to over summer as it is!


Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson
This is the book I'm reading at the minute. I haven't seen the film, and all I knew about it was that it's  semi-autobiographical and contains a lot of drugs. It's boggling my mind , very good though.

Game of Thrones
 - George R. R. Martin

There has been loads of hype surround this series, and after watching the first television series (need to catch up with the second) I definitely want to give it a go. I read a couple of chapters a few months ago but haven't picked it up again since.


The Hobbit
- J R. R. Tolkein
This i s technically a re-read. I haven't read The Hobbit since I was about ten years old, and with the film coming out in the latter part of the year I definitely want to rediscover the story. I also want to try and read the Lord of the Rings trilogy as I haven't yet (shocking I know). I adore the films so I can only imagine that the books will be amazing. 

Love in the Time of Cholera
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is one of those books that I picked up, read most of it, and then put it back down without finishing it. It is a love story set, where a man tries to reconnect with his first love, about 50 years after they first met, after her husband dies. From what I remember it is beautifully written. I'm excited to read it, and hopefully finish it.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
 - Oscar Wilde
I feel almost ashamed to admit that I have never read any Oscar Wilde. I have attempted to read Dorian Gray many times when I was younger but never managed more than about ten pages. I think it is definitely time to try again, now I have time to kill.

The Virgin Suicides
- Jeffrey Eugenides
Yet another 'I've seen the film so I want to read the book' scenario. I got this in HMV alongside Fear and Loathing (2 for £10). I bought it partially for the cover, but  after reading  The Marriage Plot (review) I definitely want to read more Eugenides.


Blindness
- Jose Saramago
This is a novel I bought after Meg showed it in a haul video on Youtube. It is about a town where blindness isn't a disease per se, but spreads as an epidemic. After doing a module on disability and representation last year in Uni, I think it will be an interesting read and offer a different perspective.


1984
- George Orwell
This is another first time read. This particular edition has the creepiest cover, it freaks me out slightly. I want to read it to review for Aesthetic Magazine. I'm pretty excited to read it, all I really know about it is that it brought about the idea of a 'Big Brother' society. Definitely interesting and intriguing.


Daddy Long Legs
 - Jean Webster
I know very little about this book. I think I saw it in a Youtube book review/haul video of some sort. It sounds to me like an Annie-type situation - a girl is given a benefactor who pays for her schooling upon the condition that she writes to him. Sounds like a sweet, quick and easy read, but who knows!


Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
- Jonathan Safran Foer
I think you'll have had to have been living under a rock to not have heard about this book recently. I think it has been made/is being made into a film, so before I see that I want to read the book. Saying that, I don't know too much about the plot other than it is written post 9/11 from the view point of a young boy who has lost his father. I'm almost putting off reading this one as I know it's going to cut me up into bits and I'll be a crying mess for weeks.


Moby Dick
 - Herman Melville
I have a love/hate relationship with this novel. I chose to write an essay on it (and got pretty good marks!) but I never actually got more than halfway through. Writing on books makes me fall out of love with them slightly, so I'm going to attempt to read it at my own pace this time, instead of cramming it into my brain. It's very long and quite dense so this one may take a long time. 


That turned out to be slightly longer than intended! I am going to write reviews on each of these once I have finished them.
Have you read any of these? Which would you recommend?


Part Two will be coming soon!


Thanks for reading x


(p.s. I noticed yesterday that I reached 40 followers on GFC, thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy my little space of the internet! Much love xxx)

4 comments:

  1. I've got quite a few of these on my Amazon/ mental wishlist! I've tried to read 1984 before but gave up in the middle, I want to try again because I liked what I did read. Same with Dorian Gray!

    Laila x

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    1. I do it all the time! It's getting silly, need to actually finish books before I start another! xx

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  2. I have such a huge pile of books to read over this summer. I may have to do some of these posts myself! :) xo

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    1. Do! I'd love to read it, I love finding out what everyone else is reading :)! xx

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