Legal Commentary

Thomas Baker?s post A Summer Reading List on Teaching got me thinking about summer reading lists in general.  Every year I make a list of books to read during the summer months. Some of the books are purely for pleasure.  Other books on the list are books that I figure I ought to read.  Then there are books I?ve tried reading before, but couldn?t quite bring myself to finish, but which probably deserve another stab.  There?s even a subcategory of books that I feel as if I?ve already read, but actually haven?t, and that now is the time.  I also have carry-overs from the prior summer?s list. And I have a subcategory of recent add-ons I?ve gotten from reading Prawfsblawg these past few weeks: Stuart Buck?s Acting White and Ken Bain?s What the Best College Teachers Do.  Of course, I rarely get to more than half the books on my list, especially since I'm easily distracted by other books.  Still, it?s nice to have a list. I?m always looking for recommendations.  And I?m always curious to know what books other professors have on their summer reading list.

So below (in no particular order) is my list. Am I missing any ?must reads??  And what?s on your list?

1.  Alafair Burke's 212. (For sheer fun; her thrillers are good!)

2.  Janet Halley's Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break From Feminism. (I still can't believe I haven't read this yet.)

3.  Paul Butler's Let Get Free: A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice.  (Again, another book I should have read already.)

4. Joanna Grossman & Linda McClain's Gender Equality: Dimensions of Women's Equal Citizenship

5. David Alan Sklansky's Democracy and the Police.

6. Stuart Buck's Acting White

7. Melville's Moby Dick. (Time for another stab at this behemoth.)

8. Ken Bain's What the Best College Teachers Do.  (I'll at least skim it.)

9. Jonathan Franzen's Freedom.  (His novel The Corrections is one of my favorite novels from the last few decades.  His new novel Freedom is due out in August.  If it's anything like the excerpt in The New Yorker, it's going to be good!)

10. Nikhil Pal Singh's Black is a Country: Race and the Unfinished Struggle for Democracy.  (I think a friend recommended this.)

So again, am I missing any "must reads"?  And what's on your list?