Summer Reading, English Department, 2009

The English Department’s list is in alphabetical order by author’s last name and is open to everyone in grades 9-12. Students are required to read at least one book from the list (or other books by the listed authors) and at least two books if they are not reading a book for a history course. We encourage students to read more than the required number of books. Seniors should note that one of the required books must be that listed for the senior elective.

The Reading List for English

Angelou, Maya: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (The first volume in the autobiography of the poet, set in the small, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas. It pays tribute to the frank, resourceful grandmother who raised her from a timid child beset by the stresses of her parents' abandonment and the poverty and racism of her community to a confident, creative young woman.)

Alexie, Sherman: Reservation Blues (Through the story of a Spokane garage band, this novel reveals the humor and frustrations of Native American life on and off the reservation.)

Anam, Tahmima : A Golden Age (A novel about a widow and her family and her small but remarkable role in the Bangaladeshi war for independence in the 1970’s.)

Atwood, Margaret: Cat’s Eye (A young woman returns to the landscape of her childhood. Her return triggers memories of the tricky, often cruel dynamics of friendships among girls and the lasting effects of those relationships.)

Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey (A wry portrait of a young woman with an active imagination and an eagerness for romantic adventure. Northanger Abbey strikes her as just the mysterious locale where her fantasies might be realized.)

Baldwin, James: Go Tell It on the Mountain (A young boy follows in his father's footsteps and becomes a preacher. An autobiographical novel, set in Harlem in the 1930's.)

Bradley, Marion Z.: The Mists of Avalon (The legendary saga of King Arthur and his companions at Camelot is retold from the perspectives of the women involved. Viviane is "The Lady of the Lake," the priestess of the Isle of Avalon, a mystical, mist-shrouded island. Her quest is to find a king who will ally himself with both Avalon and a fledgling religion: Christianity.)

Breem, Wallace: Eagle in the Snow (The year is 406. The Roman Empire is in tatters, hanging together only through force of habit and the will of a few strong generals. One of these, Maximus, is ordered to guard the Rhine frontier against the increasingly aggressive Germanic tribes. But Maximus only has a single legion…)

Brown, Rosellen: Before and After (Brown raises questions about the nature of justice, the limits of family love, and the ways in which our knowledge of even those closest to us is determined by our own characters as she depicts the effects of Jacob Reiser’s violent crime on his family. BB&N readers will find many qualities of the Reiser family familiar and will even find themselves, for a brief time, in the familiar precincts of Harvard Square.)

Burgess, Anthony: Clockwork Orange (A classic antiauthoritarian novel (in the tradition of Brave New World and 1984), Clockwork Orange features a violent adolescent narrator who speaks his own strange slang. Fast-paced and filled with action, this novel is also a reflection on the nature and significance of free will.)

Carey, Peter: Jack Maggs (A sequel to Dickens’ Great Expectations from the viewpoint of Abel Magwitch)

Casey, John: Spartina (Winner of the National Book Award, this novel delves into the fiery, somewhat quirky character of a Rhode Island fisherman building a 50-foot boat in his backyard as he confronts forces of nature, including the human variety.)

Cather, Willa: The Song of the Lark (A gifted young woman from an isolated Colorado town yearns to escape the confines of her poor, repressive childhood and become an opera singer. Although Cather was not a musician, key aspects of the novel are autobiographical, especially in depicting the artist’s struggles and triumphs as she single-mindedly pursues her dream.)

Coetzee, J.M.: The Life and Times of Michael K. (After the death of his mother, a young man struggles to make sense of his life in a country ripped apart by strife, racism and hatred.)

Collins, Wilkie: The Moonstone (Everyone is a suspect in this, the first detective story ever, set in Victorian England. Who stole the precious moonstone from the country house by the sea?)

Conroy, Pat: The Great Santini (A teenage son tries to grow up in a difficult family under a domineering father who is “all Marine.”)

Dai, Sijie: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (Two teen-aged doctors' sons are sent for "re-education" into China's countryside, where they discover a suitcase full of forbidden French novels and meet an enchanting seamstress's daughter. Her secret re-education under their influence surprises everyone.)

Diamant, Anita: The Red Tent (Well-known Old Testament stories come alive with the researched and imagined experiences of Jacob's wives and only daughter, Dinah. Dinah narrates the family history from the red tent, where the women give birth and spend part of each month, before the group migrates from Mesopotamia to Canaan and Dinah ends her journey alone, as a midwife in Egypt.)

Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield (Like Great Expectations, this is a bildungsroman, or novel of growing up, that explores the role of the heart and the place of relationships with others in achieving maturity. Dickens once said that of all his fictional “children” David Copperfield was his favorite.)

DuMaurier, Daphne: Rebecca (A young woman, haunted by the spirit of her first husband's wife, discovers the shocking secret of his earlier marriage.)

Duncan, David James: The River Why (In this funny, thoughtful novel, a young man from a family obsessed with fishing sets out on a journey to pursue what he believes is the ideal life: days filled nothing but with fishing. Gus’s journey to the Oregon Coast leads him to a new understanding of himself and the larger world.)

Eire, Carlos Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy (A memoir of a boyhood just before, during, and after Fidel Castro’s revolution in Cuba. His parents send Carlos and his brother Tony out of Cuba to a very different life in the United States.)

Fitzgerald, F. Scott: Tender is the Night (Brilliant young psychiatrist Dick Diver ruins his marriage by pursuing a tragic relationship with a beautiful young patient. Set on the French Riviera during the 1920s, this novel was Fitzgerald’s next work after completing The Great Gatsby.)

Forster, E.M.: A Room With A View (Following a trip to Italy, Lucy Honeychurch realizes that she must choose between her conventional fiancé and the entirely unconventional George Emerson.)

Gardner, John: Grendel (If you would like to see into the mind of Grendel, the terrifying creature of the night from Beowulf, then you will want to read this short but thrilling novel. In this version of the classic epic, the story of Beowulf is looked at through the eyes of the monster.)

Goodman, Allegra: Intuition (Set in Cambridge, this literary thriller revolves around a group of lab researchers, one of whom is about to be fired when he suddenly discovers an important cancer medication—or does he?)

Greenberg, Joanne: I Never Promised You A Rose Garden (With the help of an understanding doctor, a teenage girl struggles to overcome schizophrenia. A realistic look at the world of split personality and the courage of an indomitable spirit.)

Hardy, Thomas: The Mayor of Casterbridge (Drunk and exasperated by bad luck, Michael Henchard sells his wife at a country fair. His deed returns to haunt him eighteen years later.)

Hemingway, Ernest: A Farewell to Arms (Lt. Frederick Henry discovers the fragility of love and friendship during the Italian campaign of World War I. Considered by many to be the author's most wrenchingly beautiful work.)

Herbert, Frank: Dune (Classic science fiction novel about a land of deserts and of the long-awaited Messiah.)

Hesse, Herman: Siddhartha (Herman Hesse’s novel tells the story of a young man’s search for enlightenment. Reverberating with echoes of Buddhism and Hinduism, Siddhartha delivers the reader into a journey that is at once exotic and familiar. This short novel has long been a favorite of college and high school students interested in the call of the inner life.)

Hosseini, Khaled: The Kite Runner (A novel about Amir, the son of a wealthy Afghani businessman, and Hassan, the son of Amir’s father’s servant, starting with their childhood games in Kabul, through a harrowing event that changes their relationship, and to the events in their adult lives that bond them once again.)

Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World (One of the great classics of science fiction, this is a thought-provoking and fascinating look at how the future may turn out.)

Irving, John: The World According to Garp (By turns dark, outrageous, and funny, this novel charts the eventful life of T.S. Garp. Despite some sad and shocking incidents, it is a page-turner. If you liked A Prayer for Owen Meaney, try this: it’s the book that made Irving famous.)

Kingsolver, Barbara: Animal Dreams (A young woman, having returned to her Arizona home town, deals with an aging father, a sister working for a cause in Nicaragua, an ex-boyfriend, and pollution of the town’s river.)

Lessing, Doris: Ben, In the World (In this sequel to The Fifth Child, the adult Ben Lovatt, a genetic "throwback" to Neanderthal, is on his own in a world of hard-heartedness, crime, and exploitation. The final section, set in Brazil and then Argentina, is one of this great writer's most dazzling achievements.)

Marshall, Paule: Brown Girl, Brownstones (An autobiographical account of a young Barbadian girl, who moves with her family to Brooklyn, New York in the 1930's.)

Matar, Hisham: In the Country of Men (A novel set in 1979 Libya in which a nine-year-old boy struggles to make sense of events both familial and political.)

Maxwell, William: So Long, See You Tomorrow (A farmer's murder dissolves the friendship between two boys; years later, one revisits his childhood pain to make sense of troubling memories.)

McCullers, Carson: The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (The characters of this haunting novel include an enigmatic mute, a disillusioned radical, and a lonely teenage girl; their individual struggles, though set in a small southern town, are universal.)

McCullers, Carson: The Member of the Wedding (Fed up with her life in a Mississippi town, Frankie Adams changes her name and plans her escape to the world at large.)

Merullo, Roland: Revere Beach Boulevard (This page-turning story of the mob in Revere, Massachusetts experiments with multiple points-of-view and explores our optimistic yearning for the "mystery of love.")

Mishima, Yukio: The Sound of Waves (In an isolated Japanese fishing village, two teenagers from different social classes fall in love and deal with traditional ideas about honor, family, and community. A timeless, beautifully told coming-of-age story.)

Mistry, Rohinton: A Fine Balance (Four strangers, a student, a widow, and two tailors, are forced to live together in a small apartment in India. As political pressure and government intervention mounts, the four are forced to choose between their dreams and each other.)

Mitchell, David: Black Swan Green (Don’t be deterred by the slang of these small-village British teenagers or by the protagonist’s stammer; you’ll soon get the hang of both in this rich coming-of-age story set in 1982–1983. Despite the foreign background, you’ll recognize the bullying, the longing to be accepted, undercurrents of familial tensions, and the thrill of youthful adventures.)

Mosher, Howard Frank: A Stranger in the Kingdom (Set in 1950s northern Vermont, this novel may remind you of To Kill a Mockingbird in part, but it's also a murder mystery and a chronicle of a family deeply rooted in a place as told by the younger brother whose innocent eyes are opened by the events unfolding around him.)

Okada, John: No-No Boy (In post-WWII Seattle, a young Japanese-American man, who was a conscientious objector and imprisoned as a result, struggles with his choice, with his family, and with his dual heritage.)

Orwell, George: 1984 (The classic portrayal of a horrifying future in which the government knows and controls all.)

Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News (The quirky, funny, and poignant story of how Quoyle regains control of his life by moving his family to a bleak Newfoundland maritime town.)

Quinn, Daniel: Ishmael (With no plot to speak of, this novel is unlike any other: a bizarre philosophical conversation between a wise, telepathic gorilla and a disgruntled young man interested in saving the world. Ishmael, the gorilla, divides the planet into Leavers and Takers as he explains his theories about what has gone wrong with human civilization.)

Salzman, Mark: Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia (The author of Iron and Silk recounts his hapless adolescent experiences with Zen Buddhism, karate, the cello, and summer employment, in 1970s Connecticut.)

Stegner, Wallace: Crossing to Safety (A semi-autobiographical novel tracing the simultaneously strong and strained friendship between two couples who meet in graduate school and then reunite later in life.)

Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath (The Joads, a family of Oklahoma farmers, set out in a dilapidated car for California, which they believe is a land of plenty and opportunity, but where they are bullied by sheriffs and labor contractors. A classic of social-activist fiction, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1940.)

Tan, Amy: The Joy Luck Club (The bestseller about the conflicts and affections between four women who were born in China and their California-raised daughters. A moving and imaginative account of the modern Asian woman's search for identity.)

Theroux, Paul: The Mosquito Coast (A hilarious and then harrowing portrait of an American inventor who, abominating the decline of his country in the first two decades after World War II, takes his family to the Honduran jungle to begin civilization again.

Thoreau's Walden in the middle of nowhere, 130 years later.)

Tolkien, J.R.R.: The Lord Of The Rings, Volume I, II or III. (The great epic of Middle Earth.)

Towler, Katherine: Snow Island (As she learns about a summer visitor's mysterious past, 16 year-old Alice Dagget comes of age on a secluded island off the coast of Rhode Island during World War Two.)

Trevor, William: Felicia’s Journey (A psychological thriller: a young Irish woman runs away from home to search for her boyfriend in England where she encounters a gentle middle-aged man who is searching for a new friend to join others in his Memory Lane.)

Unsworth. Barry: Sacred Hunger (This carefully researched novel follows the crew of the slave ship Liverpool Merchant as they finish construction, recruit sailors, purchase slaves in Africa and voyage across the Atlantic; meanwhile, the British ship owner's son stays home to woo his beloved and perform a version of The Tempest.)

Vonnegut, Kurt: Slaughterhouse Five (The protagonist, Billy Pilgrim, becomes “unstuck in time," and travels among points in his life, including the bombing of Dresden, Germany in World War II and the planet Tralfamadore, whose inhabitants offer another perspective on gender, death, and time.)

Wiesel, Elie: Night (The account of a 15-year-old boy who survived the horrors of two Nazi concentration camps.)

Wolff, Tobias: Old School (Based on the author's own experiences and set after the events told in his memoir This Boy's Life, this nostalgic novel vividly describes life at a 1960's boys' boarding school. It highlights the visits of famous writers while also delving into the narrator's own struggles as a budding writer and maturing young man.)

Woolf, Virginia: Mrs. Dalloway (A stream-of-consciousness account of a day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway as she walks through post World War I London, prepares for and hosts a party, and reflects on her life and times. Woolf's story is the basis for Michael Cunningham's novel (and film), The Hours.)

Wright, Richard: Native Son (Set in Chicago, this first major novel by the author of Black Boy tells of a young man’s victimization by and inevitable lashing out at racism.)

Yezierska, Anzia: Bread Givers (A Jewish immigrant girl asserts her independence to get an education and makes choices about assimilation.)

Senior Elective Books

ALIENS (Ms. Krauss): Disgrace, J. M. Coetzee

CREATIVE WRITING (Mr. Staveley: The Art of Fiction, John Gardner

LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE (Mr. Hudson) The House of the Spirits, Isabel Allende

MONSTROUS DUALITIES (Ms. Klingler): The Life of Pi, Yann Martel

PILGRIM SOULS: JOURNEYS OF SELF-DISCOVERY (Mr. Leith): A Month in the Country, James Lloyd Carr

REDEEMING THE PAST (Ms. McNamara): Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier

SHAKESPEARE (Ms. Hamilton): The Merchant of Venice (Pelican edition)

SIBLING BONDS AND RIVALRIES (Ms. Cranston): Goodbye, Columbus, Philip Roth

TRUE STORIES AND THE PERSONAL ESSAY (Ms. Kornet): Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt