by Mdmse. Amelie

Created on: April 14, 2010

When getting ready for your first semester of college you may buy new clothes or get a haircut, but have you thought about what you will read before arriving?  Most students have been forced to study Chaucer and Dickens in high school English, and while such intellectual books do get you ready for the hard stuff, you may need something a little more relatable for summertime.  Here are some fun reads that lend themselves to those who are full of aspirations and ideals, a.k.a. college students, listed from the quickest to read to longest:

THE LAST LECTURE by Randy Pausch is sure to inspire anyone!  Pausch had taught at the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, enjoyed a happy home life with his wife and young children and top of that he was an all-around fun guy to hang out with.  He wrote this book about actualizing your dreams while he was dying of pancreatic cancer so that his children would know him better as they grew up, but the anecdotes speaks to so many people without being Chicken Soup for the Soul wishy-washy.  There are some great one-liners.  Here’s a taste: “Anybody can get chewed out. It's the rare person who says, oh my god, you were right.  When people give you feedback, cherish it and use it." Amen to that!

THE GLASS CASTLE by Jeannette Walls is a coming-of-age story by a woman whose kooky childhood takes you through a part of Americana that many of us never have imagined.  We have her dysfunctional and adventurous parents to thank for some really wild stories.  “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.”  Later, Jeannette finds Mom and asks her what she needs.  Food?  Warm clothes? A shower?  Her answer: “I could use an electrolysis treatment.... I am serious.  If a woman looks good, she feels good.”  No, Mom isn’t crazy.  Neither is Dad.  The book’s title comes from her father’s promise that he would one day settle down long enough to build an architectural wonder where the family would live, but he just can’t make it happen and the closest they ever get is a hole that gets filled with garbage.  While Pausch’s memoir is full morals put forth explicitly, Walls never analyzes her family’s motivations or psychology and just tells the truth, so you have two very different stories.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>