Hooray! The term is finally over for us here. Actually the school terms here in Oxford are eight weeks, whereas the terms at my home university last sixteen weeks. Nonetheless, it feels like it's been a long term.

Our reward: 5 days and 4 nights in the quiet English countryside. Through the study abroad program I'm participating in, we get to take this little retreat as a nice end-of-term break. About a half dozen students and some of the friars from Blackfriars get to stay at this beautiful abbey right outside of Bath. We get to spend a few days taking nice long walks in the countryside and reading all the fun books we didn't have time to pick up during the school term. I love to read and it'll be great picking up a book that's not an assignment.

I have a few ideas of which books I'd like to bring, but I'm only going to take one or two.  

• Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen- This seems to be the perfect book to bring on this trip. I haven't read it yet, but it's about a girl who stays in an abbey near Bath. What could be more fitting?
• The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler- This is one of the books I have to read for next term. It might be good to get a head start.
• The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje- My mom read it and saw the movie a few years ago, when I was younger. She wouldn't let me watch it, but I snuck into the living room and saw about ten minutes of it. It looked really really good and I vowed that I would read it one day when I was older. I bought it at the flea market a few days ago and I just started it last night. I can tell it's going to be good already.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini- Every time I see it at the bookstore, I'm tempted to buy it. It's on table display at every book store for a reason, right?
  
• Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding- What can I say? I've seen the movies so many times and I couldn't help but buy the book when I saw it in the bargain bin. I'm about a quarter of the way through and I can't believe how funny it is. As much as I love the movies, it's really cool getting to hear more of Bridget's voice in the book. I don't know if I should bring it to the reading party though... Would it be too embarassing? Maybe I'll just read it under the covers at night with my flashlight.
  

Hm. Well, those are the ones I was thinking of so far. Any suggestions? I'm desperate for a good read!