THE SUMMER READING LIST

ISO May 2009 E–Newsletter

Now that the Spring semester is over, many of you can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to spending a relaxing summer. While some international students may be taking summer classes and as such may be quite occupied with heavy reading and other intellectual pursuits, for others the summer is a time when warm and lazy days go together with a lack of activity in the brain.

Ideally, summer should be a time of relaxation but when the Fall semester comes around, you will once again need to rely on the knowledge stored in your brain and its processing ability. While there are many games and exercises that claim to improve brain function and make you smarter, who wants to think about such focused work during their summer vacation?

The solution to all of this is simple: a summer reading list.

The summer reading list is a staple in many schools, especially those in the US. In some cases, teachers even offer rewards to students who finish reading all the books on the list. Unfortunately, universities/colleges do not offer such rewards as part of their teaching structure so why should you bother with the challenge of compiling a list of books and then actually reading them yourself?

will argue that there really is no reason to pass up summer reading.

First, summer reading does not have to be serious or stressful. There are many books out there which are “laugh out loud” funny and require very little introspection or analyzing. The point of a summer reading list is not to torture yourself but to gain pleasure from a simple and relaxing activity. Even summer classics can be enjoyable and many times re-reading books can be a refreshing blast from the past.

Second, summer reading is free. All you need is a library card to gain access to countless books of every variety. There are also a number of websites online that host books in their entirety, for those of you who have abandoned paper altogether

Reading in the summer, while offering an escape from the stresses of daily life, also has the side-effect of keeping your brain active and your imagination fresh. In addition, it is true what they say - the more you read, the more you know. Far from being a cliché, that statement actually points to the fact that knowledge gleaned from books can make you a more interesting and well rounded individual.

So, take up this challenge and compile your own summer reading list. Then, actually read those books! You can find many summer reading lists online by going to www.google.com and typing in “summer reading lists for college students”.