Oh Summertime Reading

After reading so much during the fall and spring semesters,I often find myself at a loss as to what to read in the summer time--not this summer however particularly because of a shortage of time. Equally unusually, a lot of what I read was non-fiction. My dad loves books and has a huge collection--there are more bookcases than any other type of furniture in our house and every one of them is filled. Most of the time, I don't bother going to a bookstore or the library--I can pick something new off the shelves--and that is where I found most of this summer's reading.

In June 2005, I read The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. This particular book is the non-fiction report of a Hmong family which, due to turmoil in their own country, suddenly moved to the United States. Their daughter, I think it was the youngest, developed a condition that caused her to have seizures. Due to cultural differences, the doctor's and Lia's parents could not relate or communicate well with each other and as a result, Lia suffered. My dad, a medical director at Carefirst, recommended this book to me because I am applying to graduate school for health communications and researching health discrepancies is my main area of interest. This particular book was fantastic because it wasn't one-sided--Fadiman did not condemn the family nor the doctors for the fate of Lia, but objectively explained how and why it was caused by a (preventable with societal awareness) cultural collision. Reading and writing about health related topics are my passion so I could go on forever about this book, but I won't. :-)

That month I also read (on dad's say-so)The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey and Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice by Donald Asher. The first was a waste of time--all the habits were those which everyone all KNOWS they should do, but just don't due to laziness. The second book gave me some good tips, but not really anything I didn't already know. I'm hoping I can go to my professors for more assistance... Oh, and I read The Runner's Handbook By Bob Glover because I wish I knew how to run. After reading it, I still wish I knew how to run. I decided I should write a how-to book--sell some common sense for the low price of $12.99.

In July, I read the Invisible Man again. My brother was assigned the book for summer reading and the first time I read it back in high school, I finished it a bit confused. As an African American, I found the themes hitting home (often comparing events in the novel to things my parents went through) and because I understood everything that was going on this time around, it was kind of unnerving and a little scary. Glad I re-read it though.

The only other books I read in July, besides Harry Potter and some of my books for this course, were what I call my summer fluff...even though they aren't that fluffy; Abduction by Robin Cooks (I love medical thrillers) and King of Torts by John Grisham. I definitely liked them both.
I worked a lot this summer, so that's about all I had the time to read. If anyone has any good suggestions for fiction books (preferably ones with lots of detail), let me know--I'm running out of material from my favorite authors and need to find some new ones.