Summer Reading
Readings in English
Third Form
The Red Tent, Anita Diamant — This novel tells the story of Dinah, the daughter of Leah and Jacob, and her journey to womanhood. Through the telling of her story, the Jewish Bible comes alive in a new and exciting way as we learn about and understand the lives of the women of antiquity.
The Once and Future King, T. H. White — A classic novel about the court of King Arthur, this epic fantasy is filled with talking beasts, flying men, knights, magic, war, and passion.
My Antonia, Willa Cather — The story of a Bohemian girl who returns to the land of her heritage – the prairies of Nebraska – after a trying interval in the city.
Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. — A satirical commentary on modern man and his madness, this apocalyptic tale of the planet’s ultimate fate features a cast of unlikely heroes.
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou — The lyrical autobiography of the black writer’s early years in the segregated South.
Fourth Form
A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving — A comic story of a rebellious high school student – his friendships, his loves, his politics.
In Country, Bobbie Ann Mason — Set in Kentucky in the summer of 1984, a teenage girl confronts the legacy of the Vietnam War in which her father died before she was born.
This Boy’s Life, Tobias Wolff — An amusing memoir of the author’s experiences growing up in a troubled family in the 1950s.
Ella Minnow Pea, Mark Dunn — A dark comedy in which a young girl living on an island off the coast of South Carolina finds herself fighting for the freedom of expression as the island’s town council attempts to ban the use of certain letters of the alphabet.
Barabbas, Par Lagerkvist — A fictional exploration of the life of the prisoner who was released by Pontius Pilate at the time of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.
Fifth Form
All The King’s Men, Robert Penn Warren — Politics, power, moral dilemmas – these are themes of Robert Penn Warren’s novel. Set in the 1930s, the novel traces the rise and fall of demagogue Willie Stark, a fictional character resembling the radical populist governor, Huey Long of Louisiana, assassinated in 1935. Beginning his political career as a champion of the people, Stark becomes corrupted by success, caught between a desire to serve the poor and a lust to achieve power.
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien — A collection of linked short stories – about both the war–torn jungles of Vietnam and the moral confusion back home in America – that captures the heart as well as the horror of the American experience in Vietnam.
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan — A series of interrelated stories that explore the tensions between Chinese immigrants and their first generation American children.
The Risk Pool, Richard Russo — Set in Upper State New York, this novel looks at a demographic on the edge: people whose lives have been impacted, over generations, by tough economics and limited employment options and their own chosen behaviors for coping with their down-and-out lives. The novel traces the relationship between a young boy coming into his adolescence and young manhood and his irresponsible father and abandoned mother.
Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc — Though it reads like a novel, this book is in fact a nonfiction work stemming from 10 years of research on one extended family in the Bronx. Human at every turn, the characters navigate teen pregnancy, drug culture, public housing, emergency rooms, prisons, and courtrooms. LeBlanc’s close listening allows the subjects’ points of view to come through and show how demanding poverty is. In plain prose, the story provides an unvarnished and unsentimental portrait of people living in deep urban poverty, beyond the statistics, hip-hop glamour, and stereotypes.
Sixth Form
Journeys and Quests:
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
— Joseph Heller’s satirical look at war, heroism, and America. Set during
the end of World War II, the novel added its title to the English
language, signifying how bureaucracy thwarts individual initiative and
how all journeys turn into labyrinths.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce — In this semi-autobiographical novel, James Joyce explores the development of a young artist, Stephen Dedalus, as he comes of age in late 19th century Ireland. Through vivid memory, stream of consciousness, contemplation and epiphany, Joyce maps the internal, intellectual journey Stephen experiences as he grows from a young boy in a traditional Catholic family to an independent, free-thinking writer. The novel investigates religion, faith, nationalism, education, art and the creation of an authentic identity.
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison — The classic portrayal of a young, unidentified black man’s journey from the rural south to the urban north as he searches for fulfillment and meaning in his life.
World Literature:
A Star Called Henry, Roddy Doyle
— A gripping adventure story about a young man who gets caught up in
the Irish Rebellion only to learn that politicians on both sides of the
issue are liars who use people for their own ends.
Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson — A retired Norwegian, recently widowed as well as relocated to a remote rural village, tries to make peace with various traumas of his past: an estranged daughter, a boyhood peer haunted by a fatal accident, the Norwegian Resistance versus Nazi Germany during WWII, a father who abandoned him – all in an effort to define, or re-define himself, and the modern world as well, in his golden years.
Inés of My Soul, Isabel Allende — A work of historical fiction, Allende’s novel recounts the life of Inés Suárez, a daring Spanish conquistadora who toiled to build the nation of Chile. Inés flees her stifling homeland and seeks adventure – plenty of which she finds in both a passionate love affair and war – after her shiftless husband disappears to the New World. Inés and her lover’s horrific struggle with the indigenous Chileans changes them forever, taking them toward their separate destinies.
Year of Wonders, Geraldine Brooks — Inspired by the true story of Eyam (a village in the rugged hill country of England) during the fateful plague year of 1666, this novel is a richly detailed rendering of a singular moment in history. Geraldine Brooks introduces “an inspiring heroine” (The Wall Street Journal), Anna Frith, through whose eyes we follow the villagers’ confronting of the spread of disease and superstition. Brooks blends love and learning, loss and renewal in this very compelling work of historical fiction.
British Literature:
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, D.H. Lawrence
— The great English novelist’s critique of middle-class society, values, and
ideas of sexual morality in the early 20th century.
The Collector, John Fowles — The story of the abduction and imprisonment of the beautiful and artistic Miranda Grey by Frederick Clegg, a thwarted and self-deluded clerk who suddenly wins the lottery and buys himself a secluded estate with a secret room deep in its cellar. Though by turns psychologically gruesome and exhilarating, this is no Silence of the Lambs. The story is about two people challenged to struggle toward a fuller life. Fowles manages a compelling plot even as he gives us two very human characters trapped by external and internal barriers. Success and failure are turned upside down, along with just about everything else.
Saturday, Ian McEwan — An upper-middle class, liberal London surgeon finds himself and his family threatened by terrorists and thugs in the wake of 9/11.
Birth of Venus, Sarah Dunant — This novel tells a fascinating story – set in Florence during the Renaissance – of love, art, religion, and power through the voice of Alessandra Cecchi who is not quite 15 when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s palazzo. With her own talent for drawing, Alessandra is enthralled by the painter’s abilities. Their relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Alessandra’s life plays out against the turbulent backdrop of a city caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and art, and the rising power of Savonarola, a fundamentalist monk, and his followers. Alessandra emerges a heroine whose spirit matches that of her beloved city.
Classical Tradition:
Mythology, Edith Hamilton
— A classic retelling of the myths of ancient Greece and Rome.
The Golden Ass, Apuleius — This ancient work chronicles the travels of Lucius, a wealthy young man eager for adventure and lusty encounters.
Tales from Ovid, Ted Hughes — Ovid, a Roman poet, retells many Greek myths in his Metamorphoses, a series of poems about the passions and adventures of notable men, women, and gods. In his telling of the ancient tales, Hughes translates a selection of the more disturbing stories. Achilles in Vietnam, Jonathan Shay A psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of Vietnam veterans, relates the experiences of war vets to those of Achilles in Homer’s The Iliad.