5 Titles, a Disclaimer, a Statistic, a Question, and an Answer.

1) TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD by Harper Lee
2) DESERT SOLITAIRE by Edward Abbey
3) THE FOUR LOVES by CS Lewis
4) CURIOUS GEORGE by Hans Augusto Rey
5) PREACH MY GOSPEL

*Disclaimer* I may or may not be reading LA CASA DE LOS ESPIRITUS instead of THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS. It may or may not take more time than is currently allotted and I may or may not understand everything that I read therefore LET ME KNOW IF I'M DEEP IN LEFT FIELD AND HAVE NO IDEA AS TO WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT! I promise-I won't be offended if you call me out on it and I probably won't even cry myself to sleep over it.

Statistic. I didn't read a book for 2.5 years after I graduated. I'm still undecided as to whether or not that was the best or worst move of my life.

Question. There's a little voice behind my left ear that keeps telling me to apply for grad school. Therefore, I need to produce some writing samples. I'm open for suggestions. Any ideas?

Answer. I'm not so up on the contemporary literature. I guess I haven't learned enough from the past yet, but my aunt gave me a book for my birthday that has just recently come back into print. She said she read it in a book club in the 70s. It's name is PRECIOUS BANE. It's British, so it may be a little more known over there. I'm excited to read it though.

MATT: First off, definitely read LA CASA DE LOS ESPIRITUS ... I'm so intrigued by the concept of having one of the Bibliophiles reading a book in its native (non-English) language.

Second, what made you not read a book for 2.5 years? Incredibly curious ...

Third, writing samples are tough. And a lot of it depends on what kind of program you're applying for. Generally, though, I'd say go for something that highlights your creativity, is rather short (I'm not sure how it works in Grad school, but when I was helping select law clerks for next year, we paid almost no attention to the really long writing samples), and that really shows your penchant for all things awesome and grad school related. Sorry that's not particularly helpful ...

Fourth, thanks for the list ... I've never even really heard much about Desert Solitaire, much less considered putting in on my list. But, after a lovely purusal of Amazon and Wikipedia, it's definitely on there now.