Choose TWO books to read for the 2018 Summer Reading Program.
Please note:
●Please read the full program instructions before choosing your summer reading books.
●New students for whom English is not their first language read only Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. See special summer reading instructions.
●Returning students enrolled in Tom Hungerford’s “War and Peace” class read only Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
●You may email Giselle at with any questions
Asterisked Titles*
All other new and returning students: you must choose at least one of these asterisked titles to read as one of your 2 books. The General Title list follows.
(All blurbs are from Amazon.com unless otherwise noted.)
*al-Koni, Ibrahim, The Bleeding of the Stone
"The moufflon, a wild sheep prized for its meat, continues to survive in the remote mountain desert of southern Libya. Only Asouf, a lone bedouin who cherishes the desert and identifies with its creatures, knows exactly where it is to be found. Now he and the moufflon together come under threat from hunters who have already slaughtered the once numerous desert gazelles. The novel combines pertinent ecological issues with a moving portrayal of traditional desert life and of the power of the human spirit to resist."
*Baldwin, James, Go Tell It on the Mountain
"Baldwin chronicles a fourteen-year-old boy's discovery of the terms of his identity as the stepson of the minister of a storefront Pentecostal church in Harlem one Saturday in March of 1935. Baldwin's rendering of his protagonist's spiritual, sexual, and moral struggle of self-invention opened new possibilities in the American language and in the way Americans understand themselves."
*Basho, Matsuo, The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches
Travelogue: "When he composed The Narrow Road to the Deep North, [Basho] was an ardent student of Zen Buddhism, setting off on a series of travels designed to strip away the trappings of the material world and bring spiritual enlightenment. He wrote of the seasons changing, of the smells of the rain, the brightness of the moon, and beauty of the waterfall, through which he sensed mysteries of the universe. These seventeenth-century travel writings not only chronicle Basho's perilous journeys through Japan, but they also capture his vision of eternity in the transient world around him."
*Bradbury, Ray, Fahrenheit 451
"Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden."
*Bronte, Anne, Agnes Grey
"Concerned for her family’s financial welfare and eager to expand her own horizons, Agnes Grey takes up the position of governess, the only respectable employment for an unmarried woman in the nineteenth century. Unfortunately, Agnes cannot anticipate the hardship, humiliation, and loneliness that await her in the brutish Bloomfield and haughty Murray households. Drawn from Anne Brontë’s own experiences, Agnes Grey depicts the harsh conditions and class snobbery that governesses were often forced to endure."
*Eliot, George, Silas Marner
"Wrongly accused of theft and exiled from a religious community many years before, the embittered weaver Silas Marner lives alone in Raveloe, living only for work and his precious hoard of money. But when his money is stolen and an orphaned child finds her way into his house, Silas is given the chance to transform his life."
*Erdrich, Louise, Tracks
"Set in North Dakota at a time in the past century when Indian tribes were struggling to keep what little remained of their lands, Tracks is a tale of passion and deep unrest. Over the course of ten crucial years, as tribal land and trust between people erode ceaselessly, men and women are pushed to the brink of their endurance—yet their pride and humor prohibit surrender."
*Garcia Marquez, Gabriel, One Hundred Years of Solitude
"One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendía family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad, and alive with unforgettable men and women -- brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul -- this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction."
*Gardam, Jane, Faith Fox
"The story of a motherless girl named Faith and her family and close friends, all of whom are determined to see her live a happy life….The concerned parties include Faith's uncle, who runs a commune in northern England; the Tibetan refugees who have moved in with him; and the splendidly bickering paternal grandparents. What ensues is a brilliant comedy of manners set equally amidst high society and low.
*Gaskell, Elizabeth, Cranford
"Cranford is a witty portrait of small town life in early-Victorian England. The story unfolds through the eyes of Mary Smith, a young woman who observes the comedic struggles of two middle aged sisters in their efforts to maintain a level of refined dignity amid poverty."
*Heller, Joseph, Catch 22
"Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him....if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22..."
*LeGuin, Ursula K., The Left Hand of Darkness
"A lone human ambassador is sent to Winter, an alien world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants can change their gender whenever they choose. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters..."
*Mann, Thomas, The Magic Mountain
"In this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Mann uses a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps--a community devoted exclusively to sickness--as a microcosm for Europe, which in the years before 1914 was already exhibiting the first symptoms of its own terminal irrationality. The Magic Mountain is a monumental work of erudition and irony, sexual tension and intellectual ferment, a book that pulses with life in the midst of death."
*McCullers, Carson, The Member of the Wedding
"Here is the story of the inimitable twelve-year-old Frankie, who is utterly, hopelessly bored with life until she hears about her older brother’s wedding. Bolstered by lively conversations with her house servant, Berenice, and her six-year-old male cousin — not to mention her own unbridled imagination — Frankie takes on an overly active role in the wedding, hoping even to go, uninvited, on the honeymoon, so deep is her desire to be the member of something larger, more accepting than herself."
*McEwan, Ian, Atonement
"On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’ s incomplete grasp of adult motives–together with her precocious literary gifts–brings about a crime that will change all their lives."
*Orwell, George, Nineteen Eighty-Four
"Winston Smith, a member of the outer Party, spends his days rewriting history to fit the narrative that his government wants citizens to believe. But as the gap between the propaganda he writes and the reality he lives proves too much for Winston to swallow, he begins to seek some form of escape."
*Robinson, Marilynne, Home
Home..."is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith." -- Goodreads
*Salih, Tayeb, Season of Migration to the North
This "is an engaging and complicated novel, by turns combative and wistful, about two men who leave Sudan to study in England and afterward belong in neither place."
"While the story is specific to the Sudan, its theme of foreign knowledge as an estranging force is universal, stretching at least as far back as the ancient tale of the forbidden fruit that shatters the idyll of the Garden of Eden. Both men find, on returning home after a Western education, that they and the country they left are fundamentally incompatible even though the wind rustles through the palm trees in the same familiar, comforting way."--NPR
*Singer, Isaac Bashevis, The Slave
"Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her…”
*Tolkien, J.R.R., The Fellowship of the Ring
"In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose."
*Tolstoy, Leo, War and Peace
Students enrolled in Tom Hungerford’s “War and Peace” class read only this title.
*Wharton, Edith, The Age of Innocence
"Noted for Wharton’s attention to the details of late 19th century America, The Age of Innocence is an incredibly accurate portrayal of how the upper class lived on the East coast during that time. A classic and romantic story, the novel brilliantly depicts the demands of society to maintain outward appearances and the reputation of the family versus the demands of the heart to pursue true love."
*Wolff, Tobias, This Boy’s Life
Memoir: "Separated by divorce from his father and brother, Toby and his mother are constantly on the move, yet they develop an extraordinarily close, almost telepathic relationship. As Toby fights for identity and self-respect against the unrelenting hostility of a new stepfather, his experiences are at once poignant and comical, and Wolff does a masterful job of re-creating the frustrations and cruelties of adolescence."
*Woolf, Virginia, Orlando
"In her most exuberant, most fanciful novel, Woolf has created a character liberated from the restraints of time and sex. Born in the Elizabethan Age to wealth and position, Orlando is a young nobleman at the beginning of the story-and a modern woman three centuries later."
General Titles
You may also choose one of these titles in addition to at least one of the asterisked titles.
You must read at least TWO books unless you are a new student for whom English is not your first language or unless you are enrolled in the “War and Peace” class.
Adams, Douglas, A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"Join Douglas Adams's hapless hero Arthur Dent as he travels the galaxy with his intrepid pal Ford Prefect, getting into horrible messes and generally wreaking hilarious havoc."
Adeyemi, Tomi, Children of Blood and Bone
This book "is influenced by Adeyemi’s West African heritage, and in it she bends religious deities (the Orïsha) and a diverse landscape into a refreshing new take on fantasy....Enriched with themes that resonate in today’s social and political landscape, The Children of Blood and Bone takes on injustice, discrimination, and a struggle for change."
Atkinson, Kate, Behind the Scenes at the Museum
"Ruby Lennox begins narrating her life at the moment of conception, and from there takes us on a whirlwind tour of the twentieth century as seen through the eyes of an English girl determined to learn about her family and its secrets...." It is "a multigenerational tale of a spectacularly dysfunctional Yorkshire family and one of the funniest works of fiction to come out of Britain in years."--The New York Times Book Review.
Bey, Maissa, Above All, Don't Look Back
"In this powerful novel, inspired by a devastating earthquake in northern Algeria in 2003, the acclaimed Algerian writer Maïssa Bey skillfully interweaves descriptions of the earthquake with descriptions of Amina's family, culture, and country and her place within them. She leaves the reader to wonder whether Amina is fleeing the earthquake or something much more complex."
Cline, Ernest, Ready Player One
"In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them."
Daoud, Kamel, The Meursault Investigation
"He was the brother of 'the Arab' killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus’s classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling’s memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name—Musa—and describes the events that led to Musa’s casual murder on a dazzlingly sunny beach."
Fagan, Kate, What Made Maddy Run?
Non-Fiction: "From noted ESPN commentator and journalist Kate Fagan, the heartbreaking and vital story of college athlete Madison Holleran, whose death by suicide rocked the University of Pennsylvania campus and whose life reveals with haunting detail and uncommon understanding the struggle of young people suffering from mental illness today."
Grann, David, Killers of the Flower Moon
Non-Fiction: "In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off."
Haddon, Mark, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
"The fifteen-year-old narrator of this ostensible murder mystery is even more emotionally remote than the typical crime-fiction shamus: he is autistic, prone to fall silent for weeks at a time and unable to imagine the interior lives of others. This might seem a serious handicap for a detective, but when Christopher stumbles on the dead body of his neighbor's poodle, impaled by a pitchfork, he decides to investigate."
Jiles, Paulette, The Color of Lightning
"As the Civil War winds down, freed slave Britt Johnson moves his wife and three children to Young County, TX. He dreams of starting a freight business, and his wife wants to teach school. But when the Comanche and Kiowa come raiding, Britt is not there to defend his family; his oldest son is killed, and the rest of his family and neighbors are taken captive....Riveting suspense builds as Britt journeys north toward Indian country and encounters many Indian captives who do not want to be re-Anglicized. Using as her basis true histories of the Johnson family and others, Jiles...paints a stirring, panoramic tale of the young, troubled state of Texas."
Jiles, Paulette, News of the World
"In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction...that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust."
King, Stephen, 11.22.63
"On November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination....A tribute to a simpler era and a devastating exercise in escalating suspense, 11/22/63 is Stephen King at his epic best."
Lee, Min Jin, Pachinko
"In this gorgeous, page-turning saga, four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family fight to control their destiny in 20th-century Japan, exiled from a home they never knew."
McCarthy, Cormac, Blood Meridian
"An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, Blood Meridian brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the 'wild west.' Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving."
Mundy, Liza, Code Girls
Non-Fiction: "Code Girls is a riveting account of the thousands of young coeds who flooded into Washington to help America win World War II. Liza Mundy has written a thrilling page-turner that illuminates the patriotism, rivalry, and sexism of the code-breakers' world."―Lynn Povich, author of The Good Girls Revolt