Yeah, I definitely read All The Books. It was kinda ridiculous. I won all the summer reading contests. I earned all the reading incentive prizes. And mostly I was just happy because they brought me truckloads of moar books.

which book would you recommend? I haven't read any of them, but I was leaning toward telling him Herietta Lacks.

My friend just finished this and says it is the best non-fiction book she's ever read. She's a reader though. ALTHOUGH in high school she NEVER read the required summer reading but would get the Cliff notes and ace the tests on the books because they were always about the specific details. Something she had (and has) a great memory for.

I always read the summer reading but would never do as well on the tests because I couldn't remember details in the same way. It drove me nuts!!!

I always read the summer reading but would never do as well on the tests because I couldn't remember details in the same way. It drove me nuts!!!

We didn't have summer reading, but this would happen to me all the time on regular reading quizzes. I still haven't really forgiven the teacher who asked, in the quiz that was supposed to tell if you did the reading "How many pairs of eyes where watching Marlow as he got off the boat?" and to get the answer you not only had to remember the passage, but actually divide the number of eyes by 2 to get "pairs of eyes". I think my answer of "a lot" was right!

huh ... my school never had any summer reading lists (really - it was a bad school), but I read every chance I got anyway. Everything I could lay my hands on.

"How many pairs of eyes where watching Marlow as he got off the boat?" and to get the answer you not only had to remember the passage, but actually divide the number of eyes by 2 to get "pairs of eyes". I think my answer of "a lot" was right!

RIGHT! I wouldn't be able to remember how many pairs of eyes (and wouldn't figure out to do the math anyway) but I could tell you what it all symbolized and what not.

(And, not that it was a competition, but I did score higher than she did on the SAT and AP English tests...and now we have basically the exact same job. So there you go! And we are still best friends after almost 30 years despite our differences testing-wise.)

in the quiz that was supposed to tell if you did the reading "How many pairs of eyes where watching Marlow as he got off the boat?" and to get the answer you not only had to remember the passage, but actually divide the number of eyes by 2 to get "pairs of eyes".

That's a totally ridiculous question - how is that level of detail even remotely relevant to whether or not you read and understood the book??

huh ... my school never had any summer reading lists (really - it was a bad school), but I read every chance I got anyway. Everything I could lay my hands on.

Mine was one of the better schools in the district, and we didn't have summer reading lists either. I still haunted the library, though.

That's a totally ridiculous question - how is that level of detail even remotely relevant to whether or not you read and understood the book??

This is a sensible question. Do you expect a sensible answer?

I read Brave New World for high school sophomore English, and Clockwork Orange for pleasure no later than freshman year of college.

Of the two, I'd pick BNW. BNW is a good choice. On one hand, it's accessible to an intelligent reader, and on another, it explores very legitimate issues of mechanization and individuality.

CO isn't a bad choice. It explores issues of the individual and society. However, it's less accessible, and I'm very, very glad I had a copy with a glossary in the back. But constant referring to the glossary breaks up the story. (sj, I'm assuming your cousin doesn't speak any Russian. The slang owes a fair amount to the Russian language, and a little background reduces the need for a glossary.)

But I haven't read the others, and any of those may be very good choices, too.

I suspect most of us in this thread were That Kid who read ALL the summer reading books...or never got around to them because we were so busy reading other things.

My cousin is not that kid, his older brother was but him nsm.

CO isn't a bad choice. It explores issues of the individual and society. However, it's less accessible, and I'm very, very glad I had a copy with a glossary in the back. But constant referring to the glossary breaks up the story. (sj, I'm assuming your cousin doesn't speak any Russian. The slang owes a fair amount to the Russian language, and a little background reduces the need for a glossary.)

I am fairly confident he doesn't know any Russian.

Thanks, everyone for the advice!