Summer Reading:
Tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
Required: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Simply put, this list may not be the most impressive AP English summer reading resume that one has ever seen, but to be completely honest, that is simply due to the fact that reading has never been my number-one leisure activity. I do enjoy learning new things, discovering new perspectives on life's challenges, and investigating random inquiries that pop into my head, and I am completely committed to any reading assigned in school no matter what subject. Yet, it is the act of spending hours wedged into a sofa and being immersed into a jungle of paper and ink that really does not appeal to me and my active, outdoorsy interests. Yet, every once in a while, I come across a book that just happens to spark my leisurely interests enough to keep me wedged in that couch enough times over a month or so to make the journey to the end. This summer, that book just happened to be Tuesday's with Morrie by Mitch Albom.
A true story documenting the last few months the book's author spent with his long-time friend and old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz, who was terminally ill with Lou Gehrig's Disease when work on the book began, Tuesday's with Morrie is the narration of a series of Tuesdays before Schwartz's death in which Albom tape-recorded his dying professor's observations on life and his thoughts what it means to live, love, die, and find happiness. Beginning with the reconnection and reunion of the two thirty or so years since Albom graduated Bowdoin and after his learning of Schwartz's disease through the popular television show Nightline, the book follows their journey of life lessons and, in turn, forces the reader to make an introspective look at his or her own reasons for living and perspectives on life.
By discussing such deep and meaningful subjects as relationships, friendships, death, birth (children), and material wealth verses spiritual wealth, I was deeply fascinated with the thoughts presented and quite overwhelmed with the immense amount of "food for thought" in the novel. Throughout the text, Schwartz's lesson's showed me that no matter how deep the subject matter, even the most complex and difficult problems in life are so simple to solve and usually come down to a black-and-white decision that is often easy to make. For example, in one instance, Morrie talks of road rage as a way to explain the impact and significance of everyday kindness. He notes how, back when he could drive, whenever someone would cut him off in traffic, he would often times raise up his fist as if to give the finger, then, at the last moment, turn his fist around, wave, and begin to smile. The vast majority of the time, he found a spontaneous smile or laugh as the response to his action, thereby showing us that kindness is so easily contagious and is one simple way to make yourself and others happy. Thus, the simple decision to not display an act of anger and aggression had a much more positive outcome than the converse. These kinds of simple lessons are packed throughout the novel, thus giving the reader a notion of simplicity in life, even when his or her problems may seem disastrous and unsolvable.
All in all, I found this book very refreshing and a great way to provoke my mind with philosophic ideas, while keeping me engaged with the modern, true-to-life story. In a heartbeat, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, easy, yet insightful read...or anyone just stuck wedged in a couch.
