Alex Says You Should Read These
After reading my post about books, my brother sent me a message with his recommendations…
“So for the goal thing you’re doing you talked about reading books. I thought of a good goal, read some real books, namely The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. It might help you become a real person. Don’t get your hopes up too much, but it might help.”
READ ME!!
Following a heated discussion with Liz regarding books, she suggested I make a formal recommendation of the books that I insisted she read. I’d be happy to expand on any specifics if requested. Happy reading and please post your recommendations in the comments!
First, my top three. In this order:
1. Midwives by Chris Bohjalian
2. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Other recommendations, in no order:
1. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodie Picoult (and anything else by her)
2. Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster
3. Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
4. Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbodsky
5. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
6. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
7. Trans-Sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian (and anything else by him)
My Intellectual Development Goals
For Intellectual Development
1. Take the GREs
2. Apply to Grad School
3. Re-Read Moby Dick
4. Read 2 non-fiction history books
5. Walk the freedom trail
6. Read 5 books recommended by others (0/5)
7. Visit a museum I’ve never been to
8. Read 15 books previously unread from the BBC top 100 list (0/15)
9. See “Schindler’s List”
10. Finish a book in a day
1. My company offers tuition reimbursement. There is no reason why I shouldn’t take advantage of this benefit. In order to do that, I first have to take the GREs
2. Adding to no. 1, it has been my mother’s new obsession to tell me how lucky I am that I can still recieve tuition reimbursement as many companies have cut it from their benefits. I want to at least have figured out what program I want and applied to grad schools by the end of 1001 days.
3. Junior year of high school, I had the WORST English (Language Arts?) teacher ever. She would come in and sit at her desk and do nothing. We would be assigned books to read but not really. There is no real consequence for not completing the task. As long as you could answer general questions that were found in any well written cliff’s note, you were ok. The one I avoided most vehemently is Moby Dick. I think I owe it to Herman Melville to give his book another chance
4. Ben loves history. I want to read these non-fiction history books for him. I hope he appreciates that.
5. I live in Boston and have for my whole life. I know there is a lot of history and I really appreciate it and I think the freedom trail would be a good way to explore it that I have never experienced before. (Plus Ben really wants to 
)
6. The best books I have read are the ones that someone else has recommended to me.
7. I love museums.
8. I have already read 24 of these books. 15 more is a reasonable number. Who knows, maybe I’ll finish more!
9. I need to watch“Schindler’s List”. I have been to the Holocaust museum in DC and Israel (twice) and I have never seen this movie. I’m a bad Jew.
10. This goal also has to do with relaxation. Taking the time to read is important. If I am able to finish a whole book in a day, it means that I was able to take large chunk of consecutive time for myself.
samanthajess
