Summer Reading List

Here's my summer reading list. I'm sure it'll get expanded as the summer goes on. For the first time in 3 years, I have no summer assignments, so I'm going to read what I want to and reread some of my favorite literature as well! So in no particular order...

1. Dirty, Sexy, Politics by Megan McCain
2. Decision Points by President George W. Bush
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Reread)
4. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (Reread)
5. Mind Gym by Mark Casstenvens
6. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Reread)
7. Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong (Reread)
8. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (Reread)
9. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Reread)
10. Developing the Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell
11. The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
12. Evolve or Die by Robin Crow
13. It's Not about the Bike by Lance Armstrong (Reread)
14. Stand for Something by Governor John Kasich
15. Courage and Consequence by Karl Rove
16. Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle
17. Wooden by John Wooden
18. A Simple Government by Mike Huckabee

I feel that there's a good mix in here; 8 new books and 7 rereads. 10 nonfiction and 5 fiction. I'm sure the list will expand to 20 and beyond as the summer draws on but this is a good starting place. I probably won't read every book, and I look forward to not having to. It's going to be a great summer to just read for pleasure! I'm excited.

Last Revised: 5/30/11

Class of 2011

This may seem like a weird post coming from a Republican, but this is an idea that all Americans can rally behind:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the change we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." -President Barack Obama

Class of 2011, this is my challenge to you; to constantly be the change that our nation so desperately needs. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, I hope, I pray, that we can all rally around this notion and make the changes to fix our country, to make the changes to fix our world.

A Continuing Commentary on Absurdism

I do not claim to know why things work in the world. I am extremely inquisitive and try hard to not accept the status quo without first questioning it. Life is so grand and so complex that I believe there has to be some divine being that is making everything work together to sustain our lives as we know it. I refuse to believe that life is meaningless. Perhaps I still have the naiveté of a twelve year old, but I believe that our lives are neither insignificant nor unimportant. That there is a distinction between being morally right and morally wrong. I believe that we all can leave our mark in the world by exploring, discovering, loving, and caring. Like I said, maybe I’m naïve but life is too beautiful for me to think that it’s essentially meaningless.

The Absurdity of Life

The theory of absurdity has recently been introduced in my AP Literature class. This theory has made me think and truly expand my mind. According to this theory there are only three types of people in the world; ones who see life as pointless, ones who put all their eggs into a single basket and choose to believe in God, and ones who view life pointless and we are just all moving in random ways without any sense of direction. On top of that there exist different types of absurd people such as the Don Juan, the artist, the conqueror and the actor. In my opinion this is a terribly depressing way to view life. To characterize people into one of three categories, and then into further sub-categories is ridiculous. I also fail to understand how it is possible that Camus could believe that we can wander through life without being influenced in our ways. We are influenced by all of our actions. I am sitting outside because it is a nice night. We have some reason and some influence for all of our actions. I also believe that life is tremendously complex. In fact, our life is so complex that we simply cannot fathom every miniscule thing that takes place in our lives. The theory of evolution is backed by science, yet it is still a theory. There has to be a Supreme Being who controls what takes place on earth. For me, that Supreme Being is God. I believe that He gives me free will, but I also believe that he has a master plan for each and every person. I am a very Type A person and I am the son of a lawyer. I am inquisitive by nature. But life is so grand and so complex that even my control freak personality can accept the fact that all the wonders of this life, that the sun reflecting off the honeysuckle in my backyard, the smell of the grill and my life in general are all controlled by an all-knowing God.

The Lost Generation

I have a deep fascination with the lost generation. Two of my favorite books from high school are written by lost generation authors; The Sun Also Rises, by Hemmingway and The Great Gatsby, by Fitzgerald. I find it enthralling that there was an entire generation which was so adversely affected by World War I. This generation possessed such great potential yet WWI left a whole in the generation causing them to lose hope, to lose their drive, and to lose themselves. This sentiment was captured by Fitzgerald in the closing lines of The Great Gatsby, “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning — So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” This demonstrates the potential of the lost generation, how they tried to reach for the green light but could not obtain it. But it also demonstrates their confidence that they will once again, “run faster” and “stretch out (their) arms further .”