When I was a kid, I used to read a lot. I didn’t really have much else to do. We didn’t have cable TV for much of my childhood, nor Internet access, and I was almost in middle school by the time my family had a computer or a video game system. When I had nothing to do, I read; and as a kid, I had nothing to do a lot.

Unfortunately, as I grew older, I got distracted by things like computers, Nintendo, and the Internet, but I still read to some extent; then college came, and I became busy almost all the time, and my pleasure reading dropped nearly to 0.

I decided recently that it’s time to change that, so I’m making an honest attempt to read more again. This’ll probably be easy, since I’m returning “home” tomorrow (no jokes) and my family once again does not have cable TV or Internet access, so I won’t have much to do besides reading and work—at least not at night, when everyone else is asleep.

So I’ve picked up a few books. I’ve had a reading list since last summer, and although I’ve checked off very few books, I plan on checking off more—hopefully at least three—over break. I’m also thinking of putting up a reading list on this website, to discuss what I’ve read, am reading, and plan to read, so look for that later.

Anyway, right now I am currently reading Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn. Yes, it’s a Star Wars novel. Yes, I’m twenty-one years old. But Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood; what better way to relive the old days than by reading a good Star Wars novel? Who knows—maybe it’ll even put some adventure back into me. I never got around to reading the Thrawn trilogy, so what better time than now? I finished Heir to the Empire last August, and it was pretty good.

Also on the list is Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard. It’s referenced a few times in The Matrix, one of my favorite movies, so I thought I should check it out. While the Wachowski brothers imply that they drew inspiration from Baudrillard, Baudrillard himself claims that none of this ideas are faithfully represented in The Matrix. Guess I’ll have to see for myself.

Finally, my last two selections are programming language guides. The first is Learning Python, an introductory book to the Python programming language. Interesting language, and I want to learn it because I am thinking of rewriting this site in Python, with a SQLite backend (but more on that later). The other is called the C++ Primer. I don’t yet know C++, believe it or not; I need to learn it for this summer, and what better time to start than now?

So that’s my big plan for break: read, read, read. Hopefully it’ll work out. Enjoy your spring breaks, everyone! And look forward to my posting of my reading list soon!