English Summer Reading 2008
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PLEASE NOTE: As with previous years, summer reading for the English Department is optional. The list below represents a "teachers' favorites" list of books, similar to what you see at the video store when the clerks have a shelf to display their favorite movies. It is meant to pique your interest; you do not have to read the books selected by your 2008-09 English teacher, or those selected by any teacher, for that matter. In fact, you do not have to read anything at all this summer for English, although we hope that you don't select that option. Regardless of what you read, you may complete one or more of the writing options for extra credit to be turned in the first day of class in the fall.
Below, you will find some of the English Department's favorite books, as selected by each teacher in the department. Perhaps a book's description sounds intriguing, or maybe you liked all of the books you read for a certain teacher and trust her or his judgment. Either way, we would love it if you selected one of the books from this list and read it over the summer as part of your suggested summer reading.
Ms. Judith Christian
Eggers, Dave. What Is the What? (Biographical Fiction)
A fictional account of the life story of Valentine Ong, one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan. Much like Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Eggers’ What Is the What? chronicles the story of growing up in a slave-holding society (Darfur and The Sudan). This novel of adolescence reveals the horrors, injustices and the humor encountered by the main character as he escapes from his village in southern Sudan, to temporary shelter in Ethiopia, to a vast refugee camp in Kenya, and finally to Atlanta, GA.
Mortenson, Greg and David Relin. Three Cups of Tea. (Non-Fiction/Memoir)
Don’t be fooled by the title. The author of this memoir is an American mountain climber who, after a failed attempt at climbing K2, is rescued and nursed back to help by the people of Korphe, a remote village in Pakistan. On his return trip to the US, he decides to open a school in Pakistan, a school devoted to peace. He was challenged, financially, politically and personally, yet one school turned into a network of 50 schools across Afghanistan and Pakistan and an organization, The Central Asian Institute.
Ms. Susan Cook
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game
Michael Lewis
Moneyball author Michael Lewis writes another tour de force in this hard-hitting novel that traces the development of Michael Oher, a now-junior at Ole Miss, from his vagrant youth on the streets of North Memphis to his glory days as an All-American left tackle for Ole Miss. Lewis' novel contains stories within stories, one more riveting than the next. Not only does Lewis biographically tackle Oher, whom many scouts consider the N.F.L.'s Next Great Left Tackle, the greatest weapon against the league's Lawrence Taylors. Even more, the author gives a history of the left tackle position itself--the position that protects against the quarterback's blind side--and its emergence as the most important, and lucrative, position in the gridiron. That's not all. Throw in coverage of Bill's Walsh's West Coast Offense, the history of the sack, Tennessee football culture, and the socioeconomic and racial injustices of America, and you, football fan or not, have got a game on your hands.
Angela's Ashes
Frank McCourt
Follow Frankie McCourt from his early days in New York to the streets of Limerick, where his family moves when he is four. When you land back in New York with Frank at the end of the novel, you will never take food or family for granted again. You will also understand, through the wise and witty eyes of the child, the Irish way, this old country's vernacular, this culture's beautiful and damned relation to its past. The protagonist's sequence of age-appropriate epiphanies are sweet, sad and silly, a testament to the endurance of the human spirit.
Mr. Joseph Coyle
How Soccer Explains The World
Franklin Foer
If you have an interest in sociology, world events, sports, or just like a good read then this is the book for you. Foer spent the better part of two years traveling the world to locales where soccer is more than a sport; it is a representation of the social, political, economic, and even religious make up of a community. From Tehran, Iran to Donetsk, Ukraine the reader is taken on a global ride to see first hand how soccer explains the community around the soccer pitch. Foer shows us Catholic-Protestant hatred in the Celtic-Rangers twice yearly derby in Glasgow, Scotland and then jets across Europe to show the reader how opposing political parties support opposing soccer (football) teams in the city of Kiev. It is an amazing read that leaves you wanting to find out more about how soccer around the globe is a passion and an obsession that involves much more than just what happens during the 90 minutes of the actual game.
If soccer is your passion then I also recommend:
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduardo Galeano
The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt
Mr. Joseph Griffin
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolpho Anaya
This is the story of a boy, Antonio, and his dreams. It is also the story of La Grande, Ultima, the curandera. She is an old woman who has special power derived from the herbs of the earth and a special knowledge of life. Ultima enters Antonio’s life while the boy is quite young. It is she who realizes the value of his dreams, however beautiful or frightening. It is she who provides him with the strength to cope with the interminable conflict between the divisions within the human spirit. Through his relationship with Ultima, Antonio, receives the power to grow, to dream, to survive in a world of good and evil, faith and superstition, life and death.
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt
His name was Black Elk, warrior and medicine man of the Oglala Sioux. From the Battle of Little Big Horn, which he witnessed as a boy of 13, to the last terrible massacre of the Indians at Wounded Knee, Black Elk lived the life of a Plains Indian and saw the death of his people. In this book he tells, as no man can ever tell it again, his vision of the meaning of life on this planet as it was for the Indian of the western plains, and as it might be for all men. The great story of the Sioux is ended, and the sacred hoop of life is broken, but in this book the spirit of Black Elk’s people lives on.
Mr. Jim O’Brien
Summer reading, ah summer reading! This is not school work; this is fun. If you want something light but engaging and informative, how about some historical fiction like Kenneth Roberts’ saga of the Green Mountain boys in the years leading up to the American revolution, The Northwest Passage, or Michael Crichton’s yarn about a real Victorian holdup, The Great Train Robbery.
If you have read Nordoff and Hall’s Mutiny on the Bounty or have seen the movie, you might want to read Caroline Alexander’s revisionist look at who exactly was the bad guy in that notorious case. If so pick up a copy of The Bounty (The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty).
Finally, I’d recommend a wonderful work of fiction in Yann Martel’s Life Of Pi, a story that gives an overview of Eastern religions while providing a heads-up on what to do in case you ever find yourself stuck at sea with a tiger in your boat.
Have fun. It’s summer time.
Mr. Christian Patragnoni
Double Indemnity by James M. Cain
This compact, streamlined novel takes us into the world of Walter Neff, a small time insurance man who falls in love with Phyllis Nirdlinger, the wife of one of his wealthy clients. Seeing Walter's infatuation, Phyllis incorporates Walter into her plot to kill her husband. In doing so, Cain explores the tortured mind of the contemporary Everyman who has lost his way, the middle-class insurance agent who forsakes his integrity, dignity, and the law in order to get what he wants.
Mr. Christian Rupertus
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
This memoir, published in 2007, chronicles the horrors of life as a child soldier as told by Sierra Leone’s Ishmael Beah. At age 12, he flees attacking rebels, leaving family and his entire village behind. Less than a year later, he is picked up by the government forces and indoctrinated into the life of a soldier, coerced and drugged into committing atrocities he never thought himself capable of. This is gut-wrenching, revealing, and ultimately redemptive tale.
Double Play by Robert Parker
In this fictional narrative, Joseph Burke, a private eye, is assigned by the Brooklyn Dodgers to bodyguard Jackie Robinson during the 1947 season. But Burke falls for Lauren, a former employer with mob connections. Lauren's troubles and the threat of violence surrounding Robinson lead to the central conflict of the novel. Burke is a tough guy, and the narrative not set around baseball fields takes place in the white and black underworlds as Burke plays various gangsters against one another to protect both Lauren and Robinson.
Mrs. Kathleen Sullivan
The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins and Rameck Hunt with Lisa Frazier Page
This is the compelling true story of three African American young men, told in their own voices, of how they managed to rise above the ills of city life (poverty, drugs, and violence) in Newark, New Jersey and become doctors.
While still in high school these three young men made a pact. They decided that they would become doctors and together they would help each other plod through the many, many pitfalls that they encountered along the way.
Their story should be a “must read” for all young men, as it addresses the universal teenage struggles of broken homes, peer pressure, and the academic and social struggles inherent in transitioning from high school to college, and highlights the power of friendship to overcome the odds and attain success.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
In this exceptional novel a ninety year old Jacob Jankowski recounts his days with the Benzini Brothers’ circus during Depression era America. The story is told in flashbacks as a circus is being set up across the street from the nursing home where Jacob is a resident.
Jacob’s story transports us back and forth from the mundane days in a nursing home to a time in the 1930’s when he “ran away with the circus” due to an unfortunate string of events he suffered while in college studying to be a veterinarian.
The delightful imagery, the colorful characters, the foray into a time long gone in America contrasted with Jacob’s present state of mind in a nursing home is deeply poignant, “My real stories are all out of date. So what if I can speak firsthand about the Spanish flu, the advent of the automobile, world wars, cold wars, guerilla wars, and Sputnik? That’s all ancient history now. But what else do I have to offer?” (Page 110) The story compels us to reflect, as a society, on how we might show a better appreciation for our own elderly in America and learn from their life stories. I recommend it for young and old alike. Plus, it has a happy ending.
Mr. Andrew Whelan
prep (sic) by Curtis Sittenfeld
Lee is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old who heads out of Indiana to attend the prestigious Ault High School in Massachusetts. The story of the next four years -- involving complicated relationships with teachers, intense friendships, and an all-consuming preoccupation with a classmate -- make for very interesting reading. It is a great portrayal of the universal pains and thrills of adolescence.
The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham
Larry is a handsome and charismatic American who forsakes the comforts of bourgeois society to live a life dedicated to the pursuit of truth and meaning. But will love and longing and life's inevitable twists and turns distract Larry from his noble path? Read it and find out! It is an unforgettable classic.