YAY! My first year of law school is almost finished!
Now I’ve read nothing but law, law, law for the past year and I am so sick of it. So this summer I’m going on a reading bender! I want to read non-fiction books, nothing about law! So if you can help out with a few suggestions, I would be much obliged…
Give us a general area. History? Biographies? Sociology? Light reading? Heavy?
Hmmm… Medium reading… history, sociology and biographies! Anything but books about the law!!!
What part of Philly twickster? My boyfriend lives in Willow Grove.
Hunh, my bf is a little north of him, up near Doylestown. I live in East Falls (Manayunk, Germantown area).
Something really fun – check out Bill Bryson’s “Walk in the Woods,” about hiking the Appalachian trail. Extremely funny.
Or check out his book “Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States.” also funny, and very interesting – some social-history stuff mixed in.
Do you like Plato?
I would suggest reading the Apology, or the Symposium.
Do not read Plato’s Laws. 
I am going to start heideger this summer(basic writings).
you should too if you like philosophy
Anyone else have any suggestions?
I suggest the best book I ever had to read for school Siddhartha by Hesse. It’s a quick and easy read but it’s deep. It’s about a brahmin on a quest for enlightenment. It’s wonderfully enlightening.
There’s a really good new biography of Rudolph Valentino out . . .
I just read an actual bio of the Borgia family back to back with Puzo’s novel The Family. Interesting and surreal juxtoposition, but I think I’ll only recommend the actual history.
If you want utter brain popcorn, how about Dean Koontz? My beach book one year was his novel Lightning - I’m always up for a time travel story.
Oh yeah, Dean Koontz is big time brain popcorn!
If you’re looking for something light, I would definitely suggest Parke Goodwin’s “Waiting for the Galactic Bus” and “The Snake Oil Wars (Or: Scheherezade Ginsberg Strikes Again)”
Although; if you are at all religious, they WILL offend.
I read this last summer. 'sgood.
Try ‘The Devil In The White City’ by Eric Larson.
A fascinating non-fiction account about a VERY disturbing serial killer who stalked the Chicago World’s Fair in 1890 (I think that’s the year).
This book is currently a popular best-seller…and generating a LOT of interest from Hollywood. I’ve heard that Tom Cruise and Leo DiCaprio are both trying to obtain the rights…
Anything by Kurt Konnegut.
I’m from Philadelphia, too–I’m finishing my third year of law school and studying for the bar soon. Believe me: let your brain diffuse for the next three months.
Hey, ResIpsa, I have my torts final on Friday. I am sure your name will be coming up…
The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown is a fun little mystery novel, and should make perfect summer reading. (As will most of his other novels, for that matter.)
Heavier than Heaven, by Charles Cross, is an incredibly detailed account of the life of Kurt Cobain. Really gives you insight to what Cobain was thinking, what the band was like, and a different side of Courtney Love than what you usually see in the media. If you’re even more interested in Cobain, Journals(copies of Cobain’s journals, printed to resemble his actual journal) looks interesting, although I haven’t checked it out yet.
I’ve just finished reading When Time Shall be no More, by Paul Boyer. It’s an amusing look at radical religious groups that have believed in an impending apocalypse, and the history of their activities in the United States. You can read all about how the number 666 is lurking inside the codes for electric scanners.
If you like Hollywood biographies, * Marlene Dietrich * by her daughter, Maria Riva, is a lot of fun. The story in which glamorous Marlene uses Elizabeth Arden facial oil to try to help her pet cow give birth calf which she thought was “stuck” priceless.
Marvin Harris’ * Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches * as well as his book * Our Kind * are sociology “lite” but entertaining books, nevertheless and would be good beach reads. If you’d like more sociology suggestions, say so. I have hundreds of these books.
I’ve always liked histories of everyday objects, such as * Bogs, Baths, and Basins * by David J. Eveleigh, which is a history of sanitation. (You’ll never think of your toilet quite the same.) * Devices and Desires * by Andrea Tone is an ** excellent ** book on birth control and Comstock Laws. * Kids’ Stuff *
by Gary Cross is an interesting book on the social development of toys. * Uncommon Grounds * by Mark Pendergrast is a history of coffee, which is a lot more interesting than you might think.
I could also provide a lot of suggestions in media criticism, popular culture studies, and history, if you’d like. Just let me know.