i finished my MA about eight weeks ago and have snuck some personal reading into my mix of things (this list is from the last five months, NOT the last eight weeks!). It seems having an academic institution push you to read makes things go a lot faster. here goes:

*A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland by Samuel Johnson
*Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides by James Boswell
*Maps by Nuruddin Farrah
*Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
*Texao by Patrick Chamoseiu
*King Solomon’s Mines by H. Rider Haggard
*Cuzcatlan by Manlio Argueta
*Animal Farm by George Orwell
*A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
*Saturday by Ian McEwan
*Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
*Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
*The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
*Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
*Stone Cold by Robert Swindells
*Skelling by David Almond
*Under the Tuscan Sun by France Mayes
*Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
*Man and Wife by Tony Parsons
*Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
*On the Way Down by Nick Hornby
*Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson
*Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman
*Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood
*A Year in the Merde by Steven Clark
*The Kite Runner by Khaled Hoisenni
*Life of Pi by Yann Martel

some were better, way better, than others. i’d highly recommend Under the Tuscan Sun, A Fine Balance and Never Let Me Go. i’m thinking i should find a book club too…