koolherc Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Im extremely confused by the idea that you guys wouldn't wanna read your field material "for fun." Why are you even going into academia if you don't like it?? reading: Dao De Jing (trans. Roger Ames & Davis Hall) and Anarchist Voices (Paul Avrich) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildviolet Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Im extremely confused by the idea that you guys wouldn't wanna read your field material "for fun." Why are you even going into academia if you don't like it?? reading: Dao De Jing (trans. Roger Ames & Davis Hall) and Anarchist Voices (Paul Avrich) Hmmm... you're kidding, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koolherc Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 No? <--Confused? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildviolet Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 No? <--Confused? LOL! I really do enjoy reading academic stuff--I even wrote about it in my SOP, and I was accepted! I started this thread to try and get some ideas for what to read for fun when I don't want to read the academic stuff (rather than just checking the bestseller lists, which aren't always my cup of tea). It's good that you're so into your field. Sometimes I just need a break (like, right after completing my thesis). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koolherc Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 LOL! I really do enjoy reading academic stuff--I even wrote about it in my SOP, and I was accepted! I started this thread to try and get some ideas for what to read for fun when I don't want to read the academic stuff (rather than just checking the bestseller lists, which aren't always my cup of tea). It's good that you're so into your field. Sometimes I just need a break (like, right after completing my thesis). Oohhhhhh. Well, my friend, that's what playing videogames and baseball is for. StefanS and wildviolet 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildviolet Posted February 19, 2012 Author Share Posted February 19, 2012 Oohhhhhh. Well, my friend, that's what playing videogames and baseball is for. Ha ha, too bad I have no talent for baseball (or any other sport for that matter) and the only video game I play is The Sims, which I haven't touched in a few years. I'm also trying to stretch myself and get out of my comfort zone, like trying some science fiction or contemporary fiction. Usually, I only like dead writers. (These emoticons are so much fun! Ha ha, that must mean it's time to get off GradCafe and go to bed.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco_env Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I actually thought the first ~300 pages could be slow at times (although I couldn't put it down either, I finished it in like two days) but the last 20 pages were excellent. I want to go back & re-read it, but I'm waiting a while before trying that. Isn't that 6 pages too many? burgundykitten 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco_env Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Im extremely confused by the idea that you guys wouldn't wanna read your field material "for fun." Why are you even going into academia if you don't like it?? reading: Dao De Jing (trans. Roger Ames & Davis Hall) and Anarchist Voices (Paul Avrich) once it becomes a job it's not so fun anymore. I save the journals I get in the mail and browse through them for fun, but when it comes to assigned reading, or more focused research reading, the same material isn't . it's kind of sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koolherc Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 once it becomes a job it's not so fun anymore. I save the journals I get in the mail and browse through them for fun, but when it comes to assigned reading, or more focused research reading, the same material isn't . it's kind of sad. i guess homeless, library-frequenting bum is the way to go. makes sense, actually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarlieE Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Well, I just treated myself to a kindle. I am ALL about reading - anything and everything now. I had a nook color and it killed my eyes so I never read off of it but my bf LOVES his kindle so I traded my nook in for a kindle keyboard and promptly downloaded all those articles off jstor I have been saving for "time to read". Then we went sat in b&n yesterday and spent the entire day reading. Academic reading just became really, really, really fun again. Although, I admit, I interspersed anthro theory reading with a few O. Henry stories. There are a huge number of books that are completely free for kindle that I never thought would be free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msafiri Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I just finished getting caught up on the Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett (had to read Wintersmith and I Shall Wear Midnight) and have now begun reading Anne McCaffrey's Pegasus in Flight for probably the 10th time, though the first time in about a decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_kita Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 I'm reading The Other Boleyn GIrl and Applied Clinical Neuropsychology... now the second one is just to get back in the swing of studying again. Kinda. I've been out of school since Spring 2009 and seriously miss studying :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annieca Posted February 21, 2012 Share Posted February 21, 2012 I'm reading (albeit slowly) The Three Musketeer and also a book about the history of cartography. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthan Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War, and the Conquest of the American Continent. I'll probably read American Lion (a biography of Andrew Jackson) next. Out of order I know, but still the same general time period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazygirl2012 Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I hate to admit it, but I am reading the Twilight series on plane rides to and from interviews. If you want a non-TV distraction from all the grad school application madness, I highly recommend it. I had a nice conversation with a sixth grader about it on a plane last week. burgundykitten 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philosogator Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 For "academic fun" I'm reading Scott Soames' Philosophy of Language, David Lewis' On the Plurality of Worlds and Kit Fine's Semantic Relationism. For "actual fun" I'm reading From Russia With Love. Love me some James Bond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco_env Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I hate to admit it, but I am reading the Twilight series on plane rides to and from interviews. If you want a non-TV distraction from all the grad school application madness, I highly recommend it. I had a nice conversation with a sixth grader about it on a plane last week. I read papers of the people I'll interview with. surefire and coonskee 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
once Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I've been reading "The Sex of Architecture" (ed. Diana Agrest), "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemmingway, "Fall of Giants" by Ken Follett, "Rome" by Robert Hughes and "American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld. Yes, I'm aware that I have a problem... wildviolet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abc123xtc Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 "Global Sex Workers: Rights, Resistance, and Redefinition" by Kamala Kempadoo and Jo Doezema It fits in my line of research, and I'm trying to keep myself educated. Mandalpaca 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amywhoisawesome Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I've got a huge stack of books that I shouldn't be reading but in the midst of schoolwork and the waiting game, I decided I deserve to read for fun at least a little, right? I just picked Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, and I've also made a small dent in The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. I also recently read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The nice thing about YA lit is that it usually takes less than a day to get through a book. (The bad part? That's a day I usually should have spent, um, studying... whatever.) wildviolet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TropicalCharlie Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Most recently, the Hunger Games series. Relatively recent, the Wild Trees by Richard Preston. He makes non-fiction read like a fiction. psychgurl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coonskee Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Just finished Microbe Hunters by de Kruif (it's from 1926 so there's, um, a hefty amount of racism in the book, but it's a really well-written history of the start of microbiology as a study), and I'm currently starting The Poisoner's Handbook (can't remember the author), which is about the dawn of forensic toxicology in NY in the 1920s. Both awesome reads! I'm also partway through Polio: An American History, which is great, but I keep getting distracted by other books. I'm also partway through the 4th book of A Song of Ice and Fire, but I've gotten bored by his writing style (or lack thereof) so I'm taking a short break. I'm probably going to start the first book of the Hunger Games series soon. Aaaaaaaaand I think that's it so far. Yes, I have reading ADD. wildviolet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenePony Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 Just started two more: Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King. He keeps making allusions to central Texas and it makes me smile- and laugh. There's certainly something in the Waco water (everyone has filters for a reason). Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally - never read it but feel I should Oh- and the instructions for a new pair of 30's trousers. I feel I'll get through this first Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazygirl2012 Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 I read papers of the people I'll interview with. For me, it worked best to read papers before I left so I could relax on the plane and not think about the interview. To each his/her own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eco_env Posted March 1, 2012 Share Posted March 1, 2012 For me, it worked best to read papers before I left so I could relax on the plane and not think about the interview. To each his/her own! Yeah, that's what I would have wanted to do, except that I always got my list of interviewrs last minute. I read papers by prospective advisors much earlier, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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