Vacation

Its over!!

I'm currently basking in the relief of finally ending my dreaded anatomy/physiology class. Just knowing I wont have to return for another 4 weeks is pure bliss!

I'm determined to do NOTHING for4 whole weeks straight....

Ok well maybe not exactly... I will be working after all. But to be relieved of the burden of studying feels like utter freedom to me at the moment.

And to celebrate such an event, I've decided a trip to the book store is in order.

I plan on taking these next 4 weeks to do nothing but submerge myself in a world of literature.

Over the past few weeks I've compiled a running list of novels I've been dying to read. Its a rather long and rambling list, but here are some of the titles to get an idea:

At Heaven's Gate - Robert Penn Warren

The Pursuit of Love (book 1)/ Love in a Cold Climate (book 2)/ Madame de Pompadour - Nancy Mitford

The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

Doomed Love - Virgil

1984 - George Orwell

Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut (and a few of his short stories as well!)

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

The Awakening - Kate Chopin

The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter - Katherine Anne Porter

The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

Go Ask Alice - Anonymous

Jane Eyre - Emily Bronte

Catcher in the Rye (re-read it)- JD Salinger

The Stranger - Albert Campus

The Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

I plan on reading at least 2-3 of these books over break, and of course I'll keep you posted on which ones I choose.

Until then, for those of you looking for a book recommendation- I HIGHLY suggest you read the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It has quickly become one of my favorite books of all time. Steinbeck himself called his final novel "the big book", and was quoted as saying -

"It has everything in it I have ever been able to learn about my craft or profession all these years. I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this."

This epic novel of good and evil is well worth exploring.