Too many summers ago, within earshot of waves crashing on a Wisconsin beach, a fifteen-year-old sat down and unhappily opened a book to these words:

"Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously."

I don't recall whether Charles Dickens' favorite novel, David Copperfield, was completely up to the task of making that teenager forget that he was being forced to read an 896-page novel over his so-called summer vacation. But I'll give Dickens this much: it's the only thing I remember about that summer.

Mandatory summer reading lists, like Coca Cola out of 10-ounce bottles, are hard to find these days. But for students or parents hungry for a few titles, here's the Florida Department of Education's list of recommendations for elementary, middle and high school readers.

It's a decidedly eclectic mix. To be sure, there are a few classics, like Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo and Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. But they're bumping shoulders on the high school list with Flush, Carl Hiassen's ode to gambling, or something.

Give us your Tolstoy or Vonnegut memories from those summer reading lists of yore. The Gradebook wants to know. 

-- Tom Marshall, Times staff writer