Summer Reading Procrastination

For a long time I looked forward to summer reading. Rarely, in my high school career, have I been assigned a book not worthy of my time (the exceptions being Lance Armstrong's Every Second Counts and the cheese-ball 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens). Though every year, towards the closing days of summer, I begin to realize I still haven't made much progress in my assignments. Summer reading is a very stressful ritual. The intentions, of coarse, are admirable, but the project itself is the source of so much unnecessary worrying. I shouldn't complain because I did sign up for A.P. English 4 knowing that I'd have an easier time in the honors or standard classes, but this is my blog and I say what I want(!), even if my unhappiness is self imposed. If you think that finishing only two books in an entire summer vacation would not be very challenging, you'd be wrong. With mission trips, summer camps, and all the opportunity to spend this newly acquired leisure time to read books you've been meaning to get to for ages (along with the release of the long awaited Harry Potter 7), summer reading becomes very unappealing. With only a day and a half until school starts, I'm still not even close to being through. It's strange that a person who is so addicted to books waited to the last minute to complete her dream homework assignment: reading and journaling about truly amazing literature. Mrs. Sniderman's A.P. English students were instructed to read A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving and write a journal as well as reading How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster and responding to some questions that help us apply what we learned. I'm only half way through A Prayer for Owen Meany, a book that's quickly working it's way up in my favorites list (this list is in my head; I have no actual recorded favorites list). As much as I love the book, I'm having a hard time motivating myself to read. There's hardly any time left before homework takes over my life again so it's difficult to sit down and work on something with such a strong stench of school. It's also an incredibly long book. How to Read Literature Like a Professor was stimulating and even managed to be mildly entertaining. I can tell it'll be a very useful reference in my future English classes, but I could have skipped over half of the book because the questions I've been given only apply to about eight chapters. I know I'd be better off reading the whole book because, in concept, summer reading is not about the grade, it's about the learning. Grades often can get in the way of learning, but that's really not the point I'm trying to make here. I could have done half the work and still completed the questions with the same quality as I will not having skipped chapters. Maybe I'll be lucky and we'll have a pop quiz with the unassigned chapters on it and I'll know exactly how to respond while the kids who skipped those parts will be caught off guard and, therefore, not do as well as their fellow classmates who actually read every page. MWAH HA HA (my interpretation of an evil laugh). We were also assigned to read both Genesis, Exodus, and one of the Gospels in order to pick out symbolism in literature. I'm ashamed to admit I blew this part of my summer reading off completely--well maybe not completely, but for the most part. I feel confident in my knowledge of Exodus having staffed at a camp for elementary students where the Exodus was the week's main focus as well as having been a member of the 'Exodus' unit at Affirm (an ELCA week long camp). Genesis, I've read, but I have to admit it's been a while. As for the Gospels, although I've never read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John in their entirety, I'm fairly certain that I've read or came across all the stories at some point in my life. I'm not one to sit down and read the bible chapter by chapter. I like to skip around a lot--find stories that inspire me. Not to mention, five years of volunteering at Vacation Bible School can teach you a lot.

Summer reading that was fun for me:

1. Siddhartha by Herman Hesse (11th grade Great Books) For this book I just had to write an essay about my personal response to the book. I actually enjoy writing essays so this assignment was a dream: a classic novel and a chance to express my opinion about it creatively.
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (11th grade English) This has been my favorite summer assignment yet. I don't remember doing a project on it. I think we just had a quiz day one at school. I love this book and if it weren't for stupid summer reading it probably would have taken me a lot longer to discover it.
3. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (11th grade English) The second half of our English III summer reading was to read a nonfiction book and keep an analytical journal. This book was slow, but mesmerizing because every word is so articulate. I had a lot of fun picking at the language.
4. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (12th grade English) I love it; too bad I'm only half way through.
5. Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella (10th grade English) Our teacher set up this online discussion board for this book where we could all post our responses to the book while in the process of reading. It reminded me a lot of the Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribean, and Star Wars fandom because it was so similar to the discussion boards that exist for these books/movies. It was a really cool set up because you were interacting with your classmates and it wasn't the typical quiz/essay.
6. Esperanza Rising by (7th grade English) I really don't remember much about my assignment or the book. I think I made a children's alphabet book with words I didn't know in the novel. I enjoy doing artistically demanding projects so this one was fun for me. The book was good too.

Summer reading I hated:

1. Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong (10th grade English) Luckily my English teacher hated this book too so we didn't have to do a project or anything. The book was assigned to all Williamson County students. I'm still not sure why. What a waste. They could have us reading Shakespeare or Dickens or John Irving, instead the school board assigns us a pile of profanities, shameless boasts and some trivial information about the Tour de France. I found myself to think a lot less of Mr. Armstrong after reading Every Second Counts.
2. 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey (9th grade English) This one was assigned by the school board too. It was extremely dull advise: do your homework, don't do drugs, be nice to the dorky kids. We've only heard all that about 65136813132 times before.
3. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli (6th grade English) I hated reading when I was younger. I know it's hard to believe. Reading any book at age 10 or 11 would have been torture for me when I could be playing outside. The book may have been very good--I wouldn't know. Back then all books were boring.
4. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (7th grade English) I never finished this book. It was bad enough to compel me to buy something more less likely to make me fall asleep. The replacement turned out to be Esperanza Rising, which I've mentioned above.

That was a nice little break, but I should probably get back to work now. I don't think it's a coincidence this is significantly longer than my average post. I can't avoid finishing forever. Feel free to express your inevitable frustration with summer reading in the comments. There's no way I'm alone in this.