summer boot camp: get in literary shape!

[Phedre]

Hey all,

I'm doing two reading lists this summer (French canon classics, for you comparatists out there) and LGBTQ classics. I was thinking this could be a thread where people could share their reading lists and their thoughts on summer getting into "literary shape"-- how much are you reading, what types of books, any theory? etc. I'm trying to go for at least two books per week, and then 3 articles for "fun research" (think JSTOR safari). Any thoughts?

If anyone would like to do my reading list game plan WITH me, that would be great too! PM me and I'll get an email group started. I was thinking of having people write short responses/questions per book per week to the list, maybe posting them on google docs or emailing to the group. Are there any more tech savvy people who can think of better ways to facilitate online reading groups?

Talk soon! J

[wantaphd]

Great idea! I'm also trying to do a literary boot camp. I've not been that sucessful though; I keep getting distracted by the nice weather!

I'm doing a little theory, and trying to catch up on LGBTQ classics as well. I would love to do your list with you; I need some motivation. At the rate I'm going I won't finish anything!

I'll pm you my email address.

[kfed2020]

What queer classics are you both planning to read this summer?

I have a stack of about 40 books next to my bed for 'summer reading,' haha. Won't happen. Most of them are books that I simply really wanted to read before grad school took over my life -- 'Housekeeping' by Marilynne Robinson, 'Invisible Man' by Ralph Ellison, things like that. (I'm a contemporary Americanist.)

I can say that it was a mistake to read Cormac McCarthy's 'The Road' so early in the summer. That book has put me into an irrecoverable shock.

[jasper.milvain]

I'm in the book or two a week camp, as well. I have about 30 books to go through that are actually in my dresser because I ran out of bookshelf space. I'm reading a mix of Victorian canon and late 19th-early 20th C adventure/romance fiction. Sounds like I'm out of step with the rest of you. Good luck, all.

[Phedre]

Kfed-- totally! I was so engrossed in The Road that I actually read it driving (gasp!)

UCLA actually has pretty great reading lists, for any genre/field. http://www.english.ucla.edu/academics/g ... _lists.asp

I am still firming up the list, so any suggestions would be most helpful. Basically, this is the list of books that I ought to have read, but didn't :0

The Price of Salt-- Patricia Highsmith

Well of Loneliness--Radclyffe Hall

Giovanni's Room--James Baldwin

Orlando--Virginia Woolf

At Swim: Two Boys-- Jamie O'Neill

Nightwood -- Djuna Barnes

[kfed2020]

The road is killer, yes.

It's fun to compare lists. I've actually started compiling a 'queer fiction/poetry' list because I think I'll want to do an independent course on it. So some of the stuff below is from my own summer reading list, some I've read, and some I know of and recognize as important contributions to the genre but haven't yet read them. In no particular order:

Giovanni

[katanianQ]

Kfed-- totally! I was so engrossed in The Road that I actually read it driving (gasp!)

wow i hope we dont live in the same state.

[JustAnotherModernGuy]

It's fun to compare lists.

Kfed2020,

What a great list! I took a literature and sexuality (focus on 20th cent British fiction) class a while back and am trying to recall fiction we read that isn't on your list. Here's what I found on my bookshelf that you don't have listed:

(Queer Literature)

Orlando V. Woolf

Well of Loneliness R. Hall

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit J. Winterson

The Thief's Journal J. Genet

The Naked Civil Servant Q. Crisp

[Michelley262003]

I am so out of my discipline here... but I came across this post and felt like I had something to add. (Gender studies minor as an undergrad)

- Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Fienberg

-Drag Queen Dreams by Leslie Fienberg

-How I learned to Snap by Kirk Reed

-Me Talk Pretty one Day by David Sedakis

-Handmaid's Tale By Margret Atwood

-Dawn and the Xneogenesis series by Octavia Butler

-Anything by Jenett Winterson (her short stories are pretty good)

-Persepolis by Marjan Satrapi (also a really good movie)

- Just thought I would give my two cents.

[JustAnotherModernGuy]

Just finished this one last night--highly recommended for contemporary queer novels:

Worth Fighting With by Vincent Quinn (at Sussex University)

It's rather new (2007) and might be slightly hard to find, but well worth the inconvenience!

[BrandNewName]

At Swim, Two Boys is one of the best books I've ever read. Well worth the effort it takes.