Summer Reading

as I child I read nonstop. the usual pre-teen series of Babysitter's Club, Anne of Green Gables, Judy Blume, etc.

upon entering high school that abruptly changed...the instigator: Summer Reading.

NO

I remember avoiding the task all summer.



til a week before the start of school when I went to Barnes and Noble and picked the 3 books on the list with the fewest pages. a few days later I got the Cliffs Notes. finally the day before school started I tried to find the movie versions of the books i.e. Field of Dreams...

a story that I would probably would have loved under other circumstances but couldn't even sit through and still have never watched (or read) all the way through.

I've never had a problem with authority or an attention deficiancy but for some reason I couldn't make myself read a book, poem, short story or anything I was told to. but when the course was over, I wouldn't mind reading The Crying of Lot 49.


I didn't complete any of the assigned reading in high school or college.
(apparently you can graduate with honors from BU and Medway High School without doing your reading.)

in hindsight I wish I had read and kept all those books instead of selling them back to BU for $1 at the end of the semester. my bookshelves would have a lot more books and less chotchkes.

the same applies to my brain.

I recently enjoyed Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby and am currently reading Murder on the Orient Express...all books I was supposed to read at one time or another. upon realizing my love for high school literature I realized you don't really appreciate anything about your youth til your older....a summer of nothing to do but read a few books sounds pretty excellent.