Read collegeboard.com's 101 Books to Read Before College

I finished Madame Bovary a couple of weeks ago. Not a bad book. As a woman though, I found her extremely annoying and if I ever met her, I’d punch her in the face.

I’ve started reading Madame Bovary, but in the original French. This way not only am I working on this list, but I am also preparing for my language exam that I have to take in September! So far so good though I always make sure to read the summaries on Sparknotes.com after I finish a section to make sure I didn’t miss anything in the translation.

Just finished Slaughter House 5. I can see why it was banned in that town in Footloose. Two thumbs up.

I just finished “Candide” by Voltaire. I have to say I found it disappointing. Onto the next book.

Pride and Prejudice : check

So far this summer I have read several books, including some from this hit list: The Great Gatsby, Dr. Zhivago, The Picture of Dorian Gray and I just started Pride and Prejudice. This is much better than last summer when I couldn’t even get through Moby Dick. Seriously, a whole chapter about ropes? Not a page turner.

Finished The Great Gatsby yesterday, moving on to Doctor Zhivago.

I just checked out The Great Gatsby and started it yesterday. So far so good, I’m an F. Scott Fitzgerald fan (named after Francis Scott Key. just a little tid bit I remember from my presentation on him in high school). I highly recommend Tender is the Night as well.

Here’s what I’ve read so far on the list:
Things Fall Apart – Achebe
Jane Eyre – Brontë
The Red Badge of Courage – Crane (read it in junior high, no way you can make me read it again)
A Tale of Two Cities – Dickens (one of my faves)
Tess of the d’Urbervilles – Hardy
The Scarlet Letter – Hawthorne
A Farewell to Arms – Hemingway (disappointing)
Their Eyes Were Watching God – Hurston
The Woman Warrior – Kingston
To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee
The Call of the Wild – London
Moby Dick – Melville (never again)
Animal Farm – Orwell
The Bell Jar – Plath (awesome)
Swans Way – Proust (well I read the Combray part, in the original French)
Cyrano de Bergerac – Rostand (in French and English)
The Catcher in the Rye – Salinger
Hamlet – Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare (my fave of his)
Romeo & Juliet – Shakespeare
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Twain