For Fun

I finished college four months ago. I remember having a conversation with one of my compañeras de clase in my Spanish Translation class about what we were going to do after graduation. Of course, with the lack of jobs available, neither of us were too confident about anything that had the slightest connection with a career. (At the time, I still hadn't heard news from Spain). However, there was one thing we were in complete agreement over: finally being able to read books for fun! After taking what seemed like a zillion literature classes, it was kind of a relief to be able to read what I want instead of what some professor tells me to read. So I decided to read as much as I could this summer -- for FUN!

I just looked at what I have read this summer (yes, I kept a list...) and noticed something... My choices of books to read "for fun" don't look too different from what a professor might have assigned for me to read anyway! Maybe I got so accustomed to reading the more "literary" works that I now find it fun to curl up with a book like Oliver Twist. Yeah, I'm the "life of the party", I know...

Since I know you're just bubbling with curiosity right now, here's what I read:

Cuentos de Eva Luna por Isabel Allende

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

This Is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J. Levitin

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini*

I also read four other books, but I had read them before so that's why they didn't show up on this little list. They were: The Hobbit and the last three Harry Potter books.

So there you have it - the books I read (for fun) this summer! Who knows what sorts of "fun" Spanish books I might read this coming year in Spain! I guess I'll have to keep you posted on that one. =)

*I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It's probably the best book I've read all year! I'm not too good at coming up with book reviews, so you'll just have to trust me when I give you this short review: "It was wonderful!"