My town’s high school has a recommended reading list for the 2009 summer. Does yours? I’m curious how many titles I’ve read and how many I might want to read… soon? or someday!
I’ve read the RED titles and I want to read the GREEN titles. If the title is shown in black, I’ll likely skip or I don’t know enough to make a decision. Care to convince me to try one or more?
Grade 9
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon- King - never heard of this.
Search of the Moon King’s Daughter- Holeman – nor this.
Into the Wild- Krakauer
The House on Mango Street- Cisneros
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Angelou - too much hype, too much spotlight.
Grade 10
Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale- Spiegelman – maybe, is this a graphic novel?
Peace Like a River- Enger – never heard of this.
Black Like Me- Griffin
My Sister’s Keeper- Picoult
Go Ask Alice- Anonymous
Grade 11
The Secret Life of Bees- Kidd
Snow Falling on Cedars- Guterson
Band of Brothers- Ambrose – actually, I would be willing to try this.
Girl With a Pearl Earring- Chevalier
The Last of the Mohicans- Cooper - I tried this once and couldn’t get past page 10.
Nineteen Minutes- Picoult – not interested.
Grade 12
Three Cups of Tea- Mortenson – I’m not keen on this, either.
The Lovely Bones- Sebold
The Shipping News- Proulx
Notes from the Underground- Dostoyevsky – maybe, is it… hard? political?
A Thousand Splendid Suns – Hosseini – I have this IN HOUSE! 
The Sun Also Rises- Hemmingway – I’ve read The Old Man and the Sea twice. Ugh.
I read Lovely Bones by Anne Sebold in June. It is a very imaginative book told from the point of view of a 14 year old girl in heaven as she watches life go on without her.
Notes from the Underground by Dostoyevsky is not really that hard to read. It is, of course, a brilliant book about disenchanted young man. It does contain some philosophical rants but you can deal with them-not 30 ones like in his big books.
Yes, Maus is a comic, and you should read it because it’s brilliant! I loved it, Debi loved it, Trish loved it, and it was one of Dewey’s favourites too. Trish reviewed it recently, actually, so I’ll leave you the link to help convince you: http://trishsbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/complete-maus-art-spiegelman.html
Yep, I totally second Nymeth! Read Maus! But read I and II…I honestly can’t imagine only reading the first, as they just really go together. My husband is actually reading it right now. His very first graphic novel, and he is loving it!
I’d like to read Band of Brothers one of these days, too. I loved the mini series they made of it! Though I’ve only seen it once, not 68 times like my husband.
Actually, I’d like to read to read quite a few of those.
We moved to our current location after our son was through with high school, so I really don’t know what they do. When he was in high school, he had a required reading list. I always looked it over and found books that I wanted to read.
I’ll give a shout out for Peace Like a River–it’s been a few years since I read it but I remember it as a beautiful book that left me with a nice glowy feeling. Can’t tell you anything else about it, though, besides what’s in the description on Amazon, which reminded me of plot details but not why the glowy feeling.
Oh, and Go Ask Alice, if you didn’t read it before age 17, is probably one to skip at this point. Maybe I’m wrong. I think it’s overrated, though.
Did. not. like. Snow Falling on Cedars. And I had to slog my way through Last of the Mohicans. But I did enjoy Three Cups of Tea and learned so much about the region from it.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings is hyped for a reason and really shouldn’t be missed. Seriously, I think all high school students should have to read it.
Nineteen Minutes, on the other hand, is totally overrated, and you’re right to skip it.
I’ve read a bunch of the others, but those are the two I really felt deserved some kind of comment.
That, and I’m lazy on Sundays
I’m kind of surprised The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is on the list. I liked it a lot, it’s just interesting that it made it. It’s been a long time since I read it, but I guess I read it about that age, and I totally recommend it. Three Cups of Tea is good for the information, but the writing was pretty horrible. I hated!!! Into the Wild, watch the movie. I’m also quite surprised The Shipping News is on there… I wonder why. I didn’t like that one either!
Maus is really lovely, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is, too. But they’re both very sad – not just sad, but grim. Many many bad things happen in both of them. Very worth reading, if you’re up for lots of sad things.
Nice list I must say. I have I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in my TBR but somehow I’m not motivated enough to read it.
Do read A Thousand Splendid Suns. I loved it.
Two Picoult books? Really? I enjoy them now and then but its purely for their formulaic fluffball writing.
On the other hand, Band of Brothers is a terrific read.
I’ll give a nod to both Peace Like a River – although it’s been long enough since I’ve read this that I remember none of the details, I remember really liking the story and loving the writing.
I also loved Snow Falling on Cedars, although I’ve had bad luck with the rest of Guterson’s work.
Jumping on Maus I & II bandwangon. It is such an incredible story for so many reasons. Besides the emotional gut wrenching, it’s sort considered a forerunner in the personalized graphic novel and because it’s a story telling a story really removes it’s self from the navel-gazing a lot of graphic novels in the genre have.
From a story stand-point it also an amazing detailed social commentary rather than just a description of the atrocities of the holocost. The juxtiposition of the artwork and text is beautifully done and so subtle yet powerful. Definitely worth reading.
Thank you! Maus I&II are now GREEN and on my tbr.
Oh, and The Sun Also Rises – brilliant – it is NOTHING like Old Man and the Sea which is the worst book in the world next to Moby Dick in terms of being boring.
ha! Only because Moby Dick is on my tbr. I wonder, really, if I’ll ever get to it…
I’ve only read four of them, and you’ve read them all except Nineteen Minutes, which while good was not one of my favorites.
Thanks for post this, it was fun to read. Into the Wild is awesome, you should definitely read it. I might be as big of a fangirl for Jon Krakauer as I am for Joyce Carol Oates
Kim, both of these authors will be new to me – both are on my tbr.
Interesting lists! I’ve read quite a few (a rarity on these types of books). Glad to see them branching out into more contemporary stuff. Lots of good discussion on the ones I’ve read … hopefully it will get the kids excited about reading!
Where did you find your list? At the library?
I wonder what our high school students’ list looks like … I know what incoming 8th graders are reading (my daughter, et al), and I’m impressed with their choices.
A fun way to add to (or at least consider) the TBR.
Dawn, I had heard abt it from my book club which has most of its members from the HS teaching ranks. but I found the list on our school website. It’s likely the library had it, too.
Thanks everyone! for commenting and recommending books. One of the most fun of blogging for me is just swapping titles back and forth, “Have you read _____!? oh ya just got to!” etc.
I did “Snow Falling on Cedars” on audio, and I was riveted. Though the narrator mispronounced enough things that I found it distracting – I wish I’d sat down and read it myself. I read “The Other” and I liked that, too.
I also thought “Into Thin Air” was a total page-turner.
I read “So Brave, Young, and Handsome” by Enger and I loved it. I think “Peace Like a River” is still his classic.
I will never ever read Three Cups of Tea in my life – it was mentioned on Oprahs’ show and the next day at work I had a gazillion calls asking if we had any copies. That wasn’t so bad right? But the thing that totally pissed me off was that not a single person could tell me the authors name, the genre or what it was about!! Just that Oprah said it was good. I hate how this woman could sell anything, only by mentioning it. *grrr*
GRRRRR right with ya!
Two Picoult books made the list? That seems odd!
I would like to convince you to read A Thousand Splendid Suns, as long as you haven’t read too much Afghani-lit already. If you’ve recently read The Kite Runner by the same author, maybe put it off for a while.
Like you I’ve read 7 titles on that list, but only 3 of the same ones as you!
Great list of books! I want to convince you to read I Know Why the Caged Bird sings. Forget the hype . . .sometimes books get too much and it turns people off. I think any hype for this book is well earned. The book made me laugh, cringe, and cry. It is an amazing true story. It’s hard to believe at times that someone could have such a life. The writing style is unique and engaging. I love this book.
I’ve read nine of the books on the list and others I’ve been meaning to read.
I didn’t care for The Sun Also Rises. I thought it was rather sexist. I much prefer “A Moveable Feast” or Hemingway’s short stories.