I feel like we've been through this before . . .
Below is a repost from last week's thread on this topic, which was promptly ignored by a bunch of gunners-to-be who have commented on this thread. And yes, being a gunner is BAD thing for the simple reason that no one will like you. This is bad because if no one likes you, none of them will be willing to help you out when you need a job or want to network through them. I just helped a buddy of mine get a job because he's a great guy who's smart and not annoying. A guy who was #8 in my class asked me to help him get a job at my firm; I lied and said we weren't hiring because he's a gunner-pain-in-the-a$$ and is highly annoying. ANYWAY:
I completely agree that you need to CHILL and enjoy your summer. I will go a step further and suggest that you should not bother with legal reading because you may do more damage than good. First, as was stated before, every professor will teach different things, will put his/her own spin on how the law developed, and put emphasis on different areas of the law - if you fill your head with stuff you read in some book on that subject, you will spend part of your semester "unlearning" that information when you really should be concentrating on what YOUR professor will test you on.
Second, YOU'RE GOING TO BURN OUT before you even get to law school - you will find out just how dry some of this stuff is, and your excitement will wear off (and you desperately need that to push through the frustration of your first semester!) You have to trust that you will learn everything you need to know in your courses and course reading.
NOW, I do have three books that I suggest you read, none of which are substantive law. First, read Law School Confidential - it is a handbook that will prepare you for what to expect during all three years of law school and what you can do to get an edge both scholastically and in the competitive job market. Second, read The Federalist Papers - get a sense of the history behind our Constitution and government and the ideological struggle our young country went through in negotiating our government. Third, read Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville - he was a French man who travelled extensively throughout America in the early 1800s, and this book was a product of his observations and thoughts on how democracy works (remember, at that time America was an experiment that world was watching closely!)
That should be plenty of reading for you to tackle for the summer. And I wouldn't do any more than that unless it is brainless fun reading (which you won't be able to do until you graduate!)
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