2009-2010 Summer Reading List: Upper School
Each grade level has an assigned summer reading text:
Grade 8 Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Grade 9 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Grade 10 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Grade 11 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Grade 12: The Comic Muse Emma by Jane Austen
Grade 12: The Use of Force Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl
Grade 12: Women in Literature A Border Passage by Leila Ahmed
In addition to your assigned text, you should read at least five (5) books from the list below (or any summer texts assigned for specific courses). You may also choose any other books by any authors on the list below.
The books in the General list have a recommended grade level; these recommendations are made based on content, level of difficulty, and appropriateness to next year's courses. These are only suggested reading levels; you should feel free to choose texts that match your own interests and abilities.
GENERAL
Adiga, Aravind The White Tiger (2008) all
Alexie, Sherman The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) 8, 9
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits (1985) all
Daughter of Fortune (2000) 10, 11, 12
Alvarez, Julia How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) 8, 9, 10
Anderson, Sherwood Winesburg, Ohio (1919) 10, 11, 12
Austen, Jane Sense and Sensibility (1811) all
Pride and Prejudice (1813) all
Baldwin, James Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953) 10, 11, 12
Beah, Ishmael A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) all
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre (1847) all
Brooks, Geraldine March (2005) all
Brown, Claude Manchild in a Promised Land (1965) all
Camus, Albert The Stranger (1942) all
Capote, Truman Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) all
Cather, Willa Death Comes to the Archhbishop (1927) 10, 11, 12
My Antonia (1918) 10, 11, 12
Cervantes, Miguel de Don Quixote (1615) 11, 12
Chabon, Michael The Yiddish Policeman's Union (2007) 11, 12
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (2000) 11, 12
Chevalier, Tracy Girl with a Pearl Earring (1999) 10, 11, 12
Cisneros, Sandra Woman Hollering Creek (1991) 8, 9, 10
Clinch, Jon Finn (2007) 11, 12
Coetzee, J.M. Disgrace (1999) 11, 12
Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness (1902) 11, 12
Cunningham, Michael The Hours (1998) 11, 12
Dandicat, Edwidge Brother, I’m Dying (2007) all
DeLillo, Don Underworld (1997) 11, 12
White Noise
(1985) 10, 11, 12
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss (2005) 10, 11, 12
Diaz, Junot The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) 10, 11, 12
Dickens, Charles David Copperfield (1850) all
Great Expectations
(1861) all
Eggers, Dave A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (2000) 10, 11, 12
Ehrenrech, Barbara Nickel and Dimed (2001) all
Erdrich, Louise The Plague of Doves (2008) 10, 11, 12
Esquivel, Laura Like Water for Chocolate (1989) all
Eugenides, Jeffrey Middlesex (2002) 10, 11, 12
Faulkner, William The Sound and the Fury (1929) 11, 12
Light in August
(1932) 11, 12
Fitch, Janet White Oleander (1999) 10, 11, 12
Fitzgerald, F. Scott This Side of Paradise (1920) 10, 11, 12
Flaubert, Gustav Madame Bovary (1856) 11, 12
Ford, Ford Maddox The Good Soldier (1915) 11, 12
Forster, E.M. A Passage to India (1924) 10, 11, 12
Frazier, Charles Cold Mountain(1997) 11, 12
Gaarter, Jostein Sophie's World (1991) 10, 11, 12
Gaiman, Neil The Graveyard Book (2008) 8, 9
Gladwell, Malcolm Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking (2007) all
Graves
, Robert I, Claudius (1934) all
Greene, Graham The Quiet American (1955) 10, 11, 12
Griffin
, Paul Ten Mile River (2008) all
Guterson, Robert Snow Falling on Cedars (1995) 11, 12
Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003) all
Haley, Alex Roots (1976) all
The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) all
Hansberry, Daniel A Raisin in the Sun (1959) all
Hardy, Thomas The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) 10, 11, 12
Hawthorne, Nathaniel The House of Seven Gables (1851) 10, 11, 12
Heller, Joseph Catch 22 (1961) 10, 11, 12
Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell to Arms (1929) 10, 11, 12
The Old Man and the Sea
(1952) 10, 11, 12
Hersey, John Hiroshima(1946) all
Homer The Iliad 9, 10
Hosseini, Khaled The Kite Runner (2003) all
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World (1932) all
Ibsen, Henrik A Doll's House (1879) all
Irving, John A Prayer for Owen Meany (1989) all
Ishiguro, Kazuo Never Let Me Go (2005) 10, 11, 12
James, Henry Turn of the Screw (1898) all
Jin, Ha Waiting (1999) 10, 11, 12
John Kennedy Toole A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) all
Johnson, Denis Jesus' Son (1992) 11, 12
Tree of Smoke
(2007) 11, 12
Jones, Edward P. The Known World (2003) all
Joyce, James Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) 10, 11, 12
Kafka, Franz Metemorphosis (1915) 10, 11, 12
Kazantzakis, Niko The Last Temptation of Christ (1951) all
Keneally, Thomas Schindler's List (1982) all
Kerouac, Jack Dharma Bums (1957) all
On the Road (1957) all
Kingsolver, Barbara The Bean Trees (1988) all
The Poisonwood Bible
(1998) 10, 11, 12
Kingston
, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior (1975) all
Krauss, Nicole The History of Love (2005) all
Lahiri, Jhumpa The Namesake (2003) 10, 11, 12
Unaccustomed Earth
(2008) 10, 11, 12
Le
, Nam The Boat (2008) 10, 11, 12
Lessing, Doris The Golden Notebook (1962) 10, 11, 12
Lethem, Jonathan The Fortress of Solitude (2003) 10, 11, 12
Levitt, Steven Freakonomics (2005) all
London
, Jack The Call of the Wild (1903) 8, 9
Malamud, Bernard The Natural (1952) all
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia Love in the Time of Cholera (1985) 10, 11, 12
One Hundred Years of Solitude
(1967) 11, 12
Martel, Yann Life of Pi (2001) all
Matthiessen, Peter The Snow Leopard (1979) all
McCarthy, Cormac All the Pretty Horses (1992) 10, 11, 12
The Road
(2006) 10, 11, 12
McCarthy, Mary Memories of a Catholic Girlhood (1957) all
McCourt, Frank Angela's Ashes (1996) all
McCullers, Carson Member of the Wedding (1946) all
Miller, Arthuer The Crucible (1953) all
Melville, Herman Moby Dick (1851) 10, 11, 12
Mistry, Rohinton Fine Balance (1995) 11, 12
Mitchel, David Black Swan Green (2006) all
Cloud Atlas
(2004) 10, 11, 12
Mortenson, Greg Three Cups Of Tea (2006) all
Morrison, Toni Beloved (1987) all
The Bluest Eye
(1970) all
Murakami, Haruki The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1997) 11, 12
Naylor, Gloria The Women of Brewster Place (1982) all
O'Brien, Tim The Things They Carried (1990) 10, 11, 12
O'Connor, Flannery Wise Blood (1952) 10, 11, 12
O’Neill, Joseph Netherland (2008) 11, 12
Orwell, George 1984 (1949) all
Animal Farm
(1945) all
Pamuk, Orhan My Name is Red (2000) 10, 11, 12
Paton, Alan Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) all
Percy, Walker The Moviegoer (1961) 10, 11, 12
Picoult, Jodi Handle with Care (2009) all
Plascencia, Salvador The People of Paper (2005) 11, 12
Plath, Sylvia The Bell Jar (1963) all
Pollan, Micheal The Omnivore's Dilemma (2006) all
Proulx, E. Annie The Shipping News (1993) 10, 11, 12
Pullman, Phillip The Golden Compass (1995) all
Quinonez, Ernesto Bodega Dreams (2000) all
Robinson, Marilynne Gilead (2004) 10, 11, 12
Housekeeping
(1980) 10, 11, 12
Roth, Philip Goodbye, Columbus (1959) all
The Plot Against America
(2004) 10, 11, 12
Roy, Arundhati The God of Small Things (1997) 11, 12
Rushdie, Salman Midnight's Children (1981) 11, 12
Russo, Richard Empire Falls (2001) 10, 11, 12
Safran Foer, Jonathan Everything is Illuminated (2002) 11, 12
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
(2005) 10, 11, 12
Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) all
Saramago, Jose Blindness (1995) all
Schlosser, Eric Fast Food Nation (2001) all
Sedaris, David Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000) 10, 11, 12
Shakespeare, William Hamlet 10, 11, 12
The Merchant of Venice
all
The Tempest
all
Simon, Neil Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983) all
Smith, Zadie White Teeth (2000) 10, 11, 12
Spiegelman, Art Maus (1977) all
Steinbeck, John East of Eden (1952) 10, 11, 12
The Grapes of Wrath
(1939) 10, 11, 12
Strout, Elizabeth Olive Kitteridge: Fiction (2008) 10, 11, 12
Styron, William The Confessions of Nat Turner (1967) 10, 11, 12
Thompson, Craig Blankets (2003) all
Thoreau, Henry David Walden (1854) 10, 11, 12
Tolstroy, Leo Anna Karenina (1877) 11, 12
Toomer, Jean Cane (1923) all
Virgil The Aeneid all
Voltaire Candide (1759) 10, 11, 12
Vonnegut, Kurt Cat's Cradle (1963) all
Walker, Alice The Complete Stories (2005) all
Waugh, Evelyn Brideshead Revisited (1945) 10, 11, 12
Welty, Eudora The Optimist's Daughter (1972) all
Wharton, Edith The House of Mirth (1905) 10, 11, 12
Wilsey, Sean Oh the Glory of It All (2005) all
Wilson, August Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988) all
Fences (1987) all
Wiesel, Elie Dawn (1961) all
Day (1962) all
Wolfe, Tom I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004) 11, 12
Wolff, Tobias Old School (2003) all
This Boy's Life
(1989) all
Wood, James How Fiction Works (2008) all
Woodson, Jacqueline After Tupac and D Foster (2008) 8, 9
Woolf, Virginia Mrs. Dalloway (1925) 11, 12
To the Lighthouse (1927) 11, 12
Wright, Richard Native Son (1940) 11, 12
Wroblewski, David The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008) all
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
BOOKS IN SPANISH
Aldecoa, Josefina Mujeres de Negro
Alberti, Rafael Marinero en Tierra Poetry (Generación 27)
Borges, J.L "El Aleph" (and other short stories)
Cela, Camilo José La Colmena
Cisneros, Sandra La Casa de la Calle Mango
Cortázar, Julio Final de juego. Todos los fuegos el fuego
Darío, Rubén Cuentos
Ibarbourou, Juana de Chico Carlo
Isaacs, Jorge María
Lorca, Federico García Yerma, La Casa de Bernarda Alba
Márquez, Gabriel García Los Funerales de la Mamá Grande
Matute, Ana María Historias de la Artámila (and other short stories)
Quiroga, Horacio Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte
Rulfo, Juan Pedro Páramo. El llano en llamas
Unamuno, Miguel de San Manuel Bueno, Mártir
BOOKS IN FRENCH
Beginner Level
Sempé, Goscinny Le petit Nicolas
Oyono, Ferdinand Le Vieil homme et la médaille
Driss, Chraïbi La civilisation, ma mère
Duras, Marguerite Moderato cantabile
Intermediate Level
Asterix
Collection
Siménon, Georges la série de l’Inspecteur Maigret
Condé, Maryse Moi, Tituba sorcière
Mérimée, Prosper Colomba
Dumas, Alexandre Le Comte de Monte-Cristo
Sarraute, Nathalie Enfance
Sagan, Françoise Bonjour tristesse
Colette La maison de Claudine
Ernaux, Annie Une femme
Duras, Marguerite Hiroshima mon Amour
Anouilh, Jean Antigone
Sartre, Jean-Paul Huis clos
Giraudoux, Jean Intermezzo
La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu
Intermediate/Advanced
Balzac, Honoré de Le lys dans la vallée
Beauvoir, Simone de Mémoire d’une jeune fille rangée
Camus, Albert La peste
Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary
Fournier, Alain Le grand Meaulnes
Makine, Andrëi Testament français
Prevost, Abbé Manon Lescaut
Stendhal Le rouge et le noir
SCIENCE
Aczel, Amir Entanglement: The Greatest Mystery in Physics
Barnett, Jo Ellen
Time’s Pendulum: From Sundials to Atomic Clocks, the Fascinating History of
Timekeeping and How Our Discoveries Changed the World
Beston, Henry The Outermost
House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod
Bodanis, David E=mc2: A Biography of the World’s Most Famous Equation
Electric Universe: The Shocking True Story of Electricity
Browne, Janet Charles Darwin: Voyaging (Volume.1)
Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (Volume 2)
Carson, Rachel Silent Spring
Diamond, Jared Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
Goldsmith, Barbara Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie
Gould, Stephen Jay Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
Greene, Brian
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the
Ultimate Theory
The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality
Herbert, Frank Dune
Johnson, George
Mrs. Leavitt’s Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to
Measure the Universe
Kaku, Michio
Einstein’s Cosmos: How Albert Einstein’s Vision Transformed Our
Understanding of Space and Time
Kurlansky, Mark Salt: A World History
Lightman, A. The Discoveries: Great Breakthroughs in 20th-Century Science, Including the
Original Papers
Martin, Russell Beethoven’s Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific
Mystery Solved
McClafferty, Carla Something Out of Nothing: Marie Curie and Radium
McPhee, John The Control of Nature
Quinn, Daniel Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit
Rigden, John Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness
Segre, Gino A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals About the Past and Future of
Our Species, Planet, and Universe
Sibley, David Allen The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
Singh, Simon Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe
Sobel, Dava Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest
Scientific Problem of his Time
Tyson, Neil de Grasse Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution