Great Books to read for the College-Bound

Great Authors & Books for the College-Bound An * means that I have this book in my classroom. A + means that there’s a copy in the school library. Fiction Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1958. Okonkwo, a proud village leader is driven to murder by European changes to his traditional Ibo society. * + Adams, Richard. Watership Down. 1972. A heroic fantasy about a group of rabbits. Agee, James. A Death in the Family. 1957. The enchanted childhood summer of 1915 suddenly becomes a baffling experience for Rufus Follet when his young father dies. Alvarez, Julia. In the Time of Butterflies. 1994. Dede, the only survivor of the four Mirabel sisters, code named Mariposas or butterflies, reveals their role in the liberation of the Dominican Republic from the dictator Trujillo. Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. 1972. Ultima, a wise old mystic, helps a young Hispanic boy resolve personal dilemmas caused by the differing backgrounds and aspirations of his parents and society. Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 1986. In Gilead, a Christian fundamentalist dystopia, fertile lower-class women serve as birth-mothers for the upper class. * + Austin, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1813. Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters try to find husbands and love in their formal and proper English society. Other titles by this author – Emma; * Persuasion; Sense and Sensibility; + Mansfield Park + Baldwin, James. Go Tell It On The Mountain. 1953. Semi-autobiographical novel about a 14-year-old black youth's religious conversion. Other titles by this author – Notes to a Native Son; + If Beale Street Could Talk Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward: 2000-1887. 1887 A young man travels in time to a utopian year 2000, where economic security and a healthy moral environment have reduced crime. Bellow, Saul. Seize the Day. 1956 A son grapples with his love and hate for an unworthy father. Other titles by this author – The Adventures of Augie March * + Burns, Olive Ann. Cold Sassy Tree. 1984. In the fictional town of Cold Sassy, we follow the life of Will Tweedy. Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993. Lauren Olamina, who suffers from a hereditary trait called "hyperempathy" that causes her to feel others' pain physically, journeys north along the dangerous highways of twentieth-first century California. Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451. 1953. Reading is a crime and firemen burn books in this futuristic society. + Bronte, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. 1847. An intelligent and passionate governess falls in love with a strange, moody man tormented by dark secrets. * + Bronte, Emily. Wuthering Heights. 1847. The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them. + Camus, Albert. The Stranger. 1942. A man who is virtually unknown to both himself and others commits a pointless murder for which he has no explanation. * Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. 1985. In a world decimated by alien attacks, the government trains young geniuses like Ender Wiggin in military strategy with increasingly complex computer games. * + Cather, Willa. My Antonia. 1918 Immigrant pioneers strive to adapt to the Nebraska prairies. Other titles by this author – + Death Comes for the Archbishop; + Neighbor Rosicky; + Sapphira + de Cervantes, Miguel. Don Quixote. 1605 An eccentric old gentleman sets out as a knight “tilting at windmills” to right the wrongs of the world. + Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. 1899. Edna Pontellier, an unhappy wife and mother, discovers new qualities in herself when she visits Grand Isle, a resort for the Creole elite of New Orleans. Cisneros, Sandra. The House On Mango Street. 1991. In short, poetic stories, Esperanza describes life in a low-income, predominantly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. + Clark, Walter Van Tilburg. The Ox-Bow Incident. 1940. When a group of citizens discovers one of their members has been murdered by cattle rustlers, they form an illegal posse, pursue the murderers, and lynch them. * + Clemens, Samuel (AKA Twain, Mark). The Price and the Pauper. 1881. Tells of two boys who accidentally meet and are surprised that they are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper, and Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII of England. Other titles by this author - + A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court * Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1902. The novel’s narrator journeys into the Congo where he discovers the extent to which greed can corrupt a good man. Other titles by this author – * The Sharer; + Lord Jim; * The Outcast of the Island; + Youth * + Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. 1826. Tells of the adventures of Hawkeye and Uncas (the last surviving member of the Mohican tribe) during the French and Indian War. Other titles by this author - * + The Pioneers; * The Deerslayer; + Afloat & Ashore; + Horn & the Forest; + The Spy; +The Prairie; + The Pilot; +The Pathfinder; + Leathershockings * + Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. 1719. The adventures of a man who spends 24 years on an isolated island. Other titles by this author - * Roxana; + Molly Flanders * + Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. 1860-1861. The moving story of the rise, fall, and rise again of a humbly-born young orphan. Other titles by this author – + David Copperfield; + Hard Times; +Barnaby Rudge; +Bleak House; +Dombey & Son; +Little Dorrit; +Martin Chuzzlewit; +Nicholas Nickleby; + The Old Curiosity Shop; + Oliver Twist; + Our Mutual Friend + Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. 1866. A sensitive intellectual is driven by poverty to believe himself exempt from moral law. Other titles by this author – The Brothers Karamazov; +The Adolescent; + The Idiot + Dreiser, Theodore. An American Tragedy. 1925. The story of Clyde Griffiths, whose troubles with women and law take him from his religious upbringing in Kansas to New York. + Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers. 1844. Recounts the adventures of d’Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. Other titles by this author - + The Man in the Iron Mask; + 20 Years Later * + Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. 1860. Maggie is miserable because her brother disapproves of her choices of romances. Other titles by this author – Middlemarch; + Silus Marner + Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. 1952. A young African American seeking identity during his high school and college days, and later in New York's Harlem, relates his terrifying experiences. Emecheta, Buchi. Bride Price. 1976. Aku-nna, a very young Ibo girl, and Chike, her teacher, fall in love despite tribal custom forbidding their romance. Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury. 1929. Different points of view from different times tell the story of the Compson family as it falls into ruin. Other titles by this author – As I Lay Dying; The Bear; + Light in August; Absalom, Absalom; + Unvanquished; + Intruder in the Dust + Fielding, Henry. Tom Jones. 1749. Tom is a foundling discovered on the property of Squire Allworthy. As he grows, his uncertain birth causes problems. Other titles by this author – + Joseph Andrews * + Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. 1925. A young man corrupts himself and the American Dream to regain a lost love. Other titles by this author - +Tender is the Night; + This Side of Paradise + Flaubert, Gustave. Madame Bovary. 1856. In her extramarital affairs, a bored young wife seeks unsuccessfully to find the emotional experiences she craves. Ford, Ford Madox. The Good Soldier. 1915. Set just before World War I, this chronicles the tragedies of the lives of two seemingly perfect couples. + Forester, E.M. A Passage to India. 1924. A young English woman in British-ruled India accuses an Indian doctor of sexual assault. Other titles by this author – A Room with a View; Howard’s End + Frazier, Charles. Cold Mountain. 1997. Inman, a wounded Civil War soldier, endures the elements, The Guard, and his own weakness and infirmity to return to his sweetheart, Ada, who is fighting her own battle to survive while farming the mountainous North Carolina terrain. Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993. When Jefferson's attorney states, "I would just as soon put a hog in the electric chair as this," disillusioned teacher Grant Wiggins is sent into the penitentiary to help this slow learner gain a sense of dignity and self-esteem before his execution. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust. Faust makes a pact with the Devil in exchange for knowledge. Gardner, John. Grendel. 1971. In a unique interpretation of the Beowulf legend, the monster Grendel relates his struggle to understand the ugliness in himself and mankind in the brutal world of fourteenth-century Denmark. Gibbons, Kaye. Ellen Foster. 1987. Casting an unflinching yet humorous eye on her situation, eleven-year-old Ellen survives her mother's death, an abusive father, and uncaring relatives to find for herself a loving home and a new mama. + Hardy, Thomas. Tess of the d’Urbervilles. 1891. The happiness of Tess and her husband is destroyed when she confesses a secret. Other titles by this author – * + The Return of the Native; * + The Mayor of Casterbridge; + Far From the Maddening Crowd * Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. 1850. Tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery, refuses to name the father, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Other titles by this author - +Marble Faun Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. 1961. A broad comey about a WWII bombardier based in Italy and his efforts to avoid bombing missions. * Hemingway, Ernest. Farewell to Arms. 1929. World War I is the setting for this love story of an English nurse and a wounded American ambulance officer. Other titles by this author – * + The Sun Also Rises; + To Have and Have Not; + Green Hills of Africa; + From Whom the Bells Toll Hesse, Hermann. Siddhartha. 1951. Emerging from a kaleidoscope of experiences and tasted pleasures, Siddhartha transcends to a state of peace and mystic holiness in this strangely simple story. * + Hugo, Victor. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 1831. Tells the story of a poor Gypsy (Esmeralda) and a misshapen bell-ringer (Quasimodo). Other titles by this author - * + Les Miserables James, Henry. The Portrait of a Lady. 1881. It is the story of a spirited young American woman, Isabel Archer, who "affronts her destiny" and finds it overwhelming. She inherits a large amount of money and subsequently becomes the victim of Machiavellian scheming by two American expatriates. Other titles by this author – + The Turn of the Screw Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. 1916. A novel about a young man growing up in Ireland and rebelling against family, country, and religion. Other titles by this author – Ulysses; The Dubliners + Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis. 1915. The story begins with a traveling salesman, Gregor Samsa, waking to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin" Other titles by this author – The Trial Keneally, Thomas. Schindler's List. 1982. Oskar Schindler, a rich factory owner, risks his life and spends his personal fortune to save Jews listed as his workers during World War II. * Kesey, Ken. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. 1962. A novel about a power struggle between the head nurse and one of the male patients in a mental institution. + King, Laurie R. The Beekeeper's Apprentice, or, on the Segregation of the Queen. 1994. Retired Sherlock Holmes meets his intellectual match in 15-year-old Mary Russell, who challenges him to investigate yet another case. * + Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. 1901. Kim is the orphaned son of an Irish solder who earns his living by begging and running errands. He befriends a Tibetan Lama and joins him on his quest to free himself from the Wheel of Things. Other titles by this author - *+ Captain Courageous Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. 1975. Five interconnected stories go through a Chinese woman’s life and the events that shape it. * Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. 1959. Through a flashback, this coming of age novel goes back to when Gene and Phineas become friends at their private school and their experiences. Other titles by this author – + The Paragon; + Peace Breaks Out Kosinski, Jerzy. Painted Bird. 1965. An abandoned dark-haired child wanders alone through isolated villages of Eastern Europe in World War II. * Lawrence, D.H. Sons and Lovers. 1913. Tells the story of Paul Morel, a young man and a budding artist, as he lives through the agonies of striving to win free from his old life. Other titles by this author – Women in Love; Lady Chatterley’s Lover + Lewis, Sinclair. Babbitt. 1922. Babbitt lives a professionally successful life, but is nevertheless unhappy. Will he realize happiness? Other titles by this author – + Main Street; + Arrowsmith; + Elmer Gentry + London, Jack. The Call of the Wild. 1903. Buck is a loyal pet dog until cruel men make him a pawn in their search for Klondike gold. Other titles by this author - + Sea Wolf; + Iron Heel; + Martin Eden Malamud, Bernard. The Fixer. 1966. Victim of a vicious anti-Semitic conspiracy, Yakov Bok is in a Russian prison with only his indomitable will to sustain him. Other titles by this author – The Assistant * Maloy, Sir Thomas. Le Morte D’Arthur. 1485. A compilation of some French and English Arthurian romances. Mann, Thomas. Death in Venice. 1912. In this novella, an author becomes aware of a darker side of himself when he visits Venice. Other titles by this author – + The Magic Mountain Markandaya, Kamala. Nectar In A Sieve. 1954. Natural disasters, an arranged marriage, and industrialization of her village are the challenges Rukmani must face as the bride of a peasant farmer in southern India. Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. 1967. This novel chronicles a family’s struggle and the history of their fictional town, Macondo, for one hundred years. Mason, Bobbi Ann. In Country. 1985. After her father is killed in the Vietnam War, Sam Hughes lives with an uncle whom she suspects suffers from the effects of Agent Orange, and struggles to come to terms with the war's impact on her family. McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding. 1946. A young Southern girl is determined to be the third party on a honeymoon, despite all advice. McKinley, Robin. Beauty. 1978. Love is the only key to unlocking a curse and transforming the Beast into a man. Other titles by this author - + The Blue Sword + Melville, Herman. Moby Dick. 1851. A complex novel about a mad sea captain’s pursuit of the White Whale. Mori, Kyoko. Shizuko's Daughter. 1993. In the years following her mother's suicide, Yuki develops the inner strength to cope with her distant father, her resentful stepmother, and her haunting, painful memories. + Morrison, Toni. Beloved. 1987. Preferring death over slavery for her children, Sethe murders her infant daughter who later mysteriously returns and almost destroys the lives of her mother and sister. Other titles by this author – Sula; * Song of Solomon; +Bluest Eyes; + Jazz O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction. 1990. These stories follow Tim O'Brien's platoon of American soldiers through a variety of personal and military encounters during the Vietnam War. O'Connor, Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge. 1965. Stories about misfits in small Southern towns force the reader to confront hypocrisy and complacency. Other titles by this author – A Good Man is Hard to Find * + Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. In this futuristic authoritarian regime in 1984, Winston Smith is working for the Ministry of Truth when problems arise. + Pasternak, Boris. Doctor Zhivago. 1957. An epic novel of Russia before and after the Bolshevik revolution. Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. 1963. The heartbreaking story of a talented young woman’s descent into madness. Potok, Chaim. The Chosen. 1967. A baseball injury brings together two Jewish boys, one Hasidic, the other Orthodox, first in hostility but finally in friendship. Other titles by this author - + My Name is Asher Lev Power, Susan. The Grass Dancer. 1994. Ending in the 1980s with the love story of Charlene Thunder and grass dancer Harley Wind Soldier, this multigenerational tale of a Sioux family is told in the voices of the living and the dead. * Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot 49. 1966. A woman possibly unearths the centuries-old conflict between to mail distribution companies, Thurn und Taxis and the Trystero. * + Remarque, Erich Maria. All Quiet on the Western Front. 1929. A young German soldier in World War I experiences pounding shellfire, hunger, sickness, and death. Roth, Henry. Call It Sleep. 1934. The story of three years in the life of a sensitive Jewish slum-child. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. 1951. A prep school dropout rejects the “phoniness” he sees all about him. Other titles by this author - +Raise High the Roof Beam * + Scott, Sir Walter. Ivanhoe. 1819. Tale of Ivanhoe, the disinherited knight, Lady Rowena, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Robin Hood at the time of the Crusades. Other titles by this author – + Quentin Durwoard; + Rob Roy; + The Talisman Shaara, Michael. Killer Angels. 1974. Officers and foot soldiers from both the Union and Confederacy steel themselves for the bloody Battle of Gettysburg. * Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. 1831. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of a man, but larger than average and more powerful. + Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. 1906. The deplorable conditions of the Chicago stockyards are exposed in this turn-of-the-century novel. * + Solzhenitsyn, Alexander. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. 1963 Ian Denisovich Shukhov endures one more day in a Siberian prison camp and finds joy in survival. + Steinbeck, John. The Grapes of Wrath. 1939. An Oklahoma farmer and his family leave the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression to go to the promised land of California. Other titles by this author – + Of Mice and Men; * + Cannery Row; + East of Eden; + In Dubious Battle; + Short Reign of Pippen IV; + Winter of our Discontent * + Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island. 1883. A young boy must deal with pirates and Long John Silver in a tale of adventure and treasure. Other titles by this author - * Kidnapped; + Black Arrow Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 1852. The classic tale that awakened a nation about the slave system. + Swift, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. 1726. Gulliver encounters dwarfs and giants and has other strange adventures when his ship is wrecked in distant lands. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. 1989. After her mother’s death, a young Chinese-American woman learns of her mother’s tragic early life in China. * + Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. 1937 Follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win his share of the treasure guarded by the dragon, Smaug. Other titles by this author - * + The Fellowship of the Ring; + The Two Towers; + The Return of the King; + Tolkein Reader Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. 1873-1877 Anna forsakes her husband for the dashing Count Vronsky and brief happiness. Other titles by this author – War and Peace Uchida, Yoshiko. Picture Bride. 1987. Hana Omiya journeys to America in the early 1900s to marry a man she has never met. Updike, John. Rabbit, Run. 1960. Shows three months in the life of a 26 year old former high school basketball player and his attempts to escape the constraints of his life. * Verne, Jules. Journey to the Center of the Earth. 1864. A professor leads his nephew and hired guide down a volcano in Iceland to the “center of the Earth”. Other titles by this author - * Around the World in 80 Days; * + 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; * + The Mysterious Island * + Voltaire. Candide. 1759. Begins with a young man, Candide, who has lived a sheltered life in a Eden-like paradise. His uptopia is destroyed and he must learn about himself and the world around him. + Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five. 1969. Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist from New York shuttles between World War II Dresden and a luxurious zoo on the planet Tralfamadore. Other titles by this author – + Cat’s Cradle; * Welcome to the Monkey House; + Breakfast of Champions; + God Bless You, Mr. Rosenwater + Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. 1983. A young woman sees herself as property until another woman teachers her to value herself. Watson, Larry. Montana 1948. 1993. The summer he is 12, David watches as his family and small town are shattered by scandal and tragedy. + Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth. 1905. New York socialite Lily Bart is attempting to secure a husband and a place in rich society. Other titles by this author – The Age of Innocence; + Ethan Frome; + The Glimpses of the Moon White, T.H. The Once and Future King. 1958. An Arthurian fantasy novel. + Wilde, Oscar. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 1890. While being painted for a portrait, Dorian realizes that beauty is what is valued most in the world and so wishes that his picture would get old and gray instead of him. + Wright, Richard. Native Son. 1940. For Bigger Thomas, an African American man accused of a crime in the white man's world, there could be no extenuating circumstances, no explanations and only death. Yolen, Jane. Briar Rose. 1992. Disturbed by her grandmother Gemma's unique version of Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca seeks the truth behind the fairy tale. Other titles by this author – + Girl Cage; + Children of the Wolf; + Queen’s Own Fool Non-Fiction + Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. 1969. An African-American writer traces her coming of age. Asinof, Eliot. Eight Men Out: The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series. 1963. It's all here: the players, the scandal, the shame, and the damage the 1919 World Series caused America's national pastime. Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Streets: Young Former Gang Members Tell Their Stories. 1996. Gang members from all races and backgrounds describe why they joined, and why--and how--they left. Alvarez, Walter. T. Rex and the Crater of Doom. 1997. Shows the development of the impact theory of dinosaur extinction as the adventure/mystery it was. Aronson, Marc. Art Attack: A Short Cultural History of the Avant-Garde. 1998. Discover everything you ever wanted to know about bohemians, hipsters, and the development of the world's most radical art. Blackstone, Harry, Jr. The Blackstone Book of Magic & Illusion. 1985. A well-known magician introduces readers to the history, principles, and effects of one of the oldest entertainment arts. Blais, Madeleine. In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle. 1995. Learn about the year of heart, sweat, and muscle that transformed the Amherst Lady Hurricanes basketball team into state champions. + Brown, Dee. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. 1970. There's another side of America's western expansion: the one seen through Native American eyes. Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls. 1997. The historical evolution of body perception has turned the value system of American girls inside out. Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962. This landmark book gave birth to the environmental movement. Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. 1997. Barely a postscript in official Japanese history, the horrific rape, mutilation, torture, and murder of hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens took place over the course of just seven weeks. Clark, Kenneth. Civilisation: A Personal View. 1970. Clark explores history through the works, impulses, and beliefs of the great creative individuals of Western civilization. + DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. 1903. Educator DuBois describes the lives and history of African American farmers, including the career of Booker T. Washington. Day, David. The Search for King Arthur. 1995. Discover through magnificent illustrations and romantic retellings what is fact and what is legend about this fifth-century hero. Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. 1997. Diamond contends that these three factors determined the course of world power throughout history. Dorris, Michael. The Broken Cord. 1989. The persistent physical and emotional problems of his adopted son baffled the author until he learned the condition had a name: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Faludi, Susan. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. 1991. This unflinching analysis examines the current status of American women. Ford, Michael Thomas. The Voices of AIDS: Twelve Unforgettable People Talk About How AIDS Has Changed Their Lives. 1995. Individuals whose AIDS experiences have been catalysts for making a difference share their poignant and personal stories. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. 1791. Considered one of the most interesting autobiographies in English. Fremon, Celeste. Father Greg & the Homeboys: The Extraordinary Journey of Father Greg Boyle and His Work With the Latino Gangs of East L.A. 1995. Conscience, parent, motivator, drill sergeant: Father Greg was all this and more to the gangbangers who called his barrio parish community home. Goldberg, Vicki. The Power of Photographs: How Photography Changed Our Lives. 1991. Photographers and photographs evolve, rather than spring forth fully formed. Gombrich, E. H. The Story of Art. 1995. Everything from cave paintings to the experimental art of today is covered, in words and pictures, in this sixteenth edition of one of the most famous and popular art books ever published. Green, Bill. Water, Ice, and Stone: Science and Memory on the Antarctic Lakes. 1995. A chemist investigates Antarctica's ice-covered lakes and discovers beauty and poetry. Hafner, Katie and Matthew Lyon. Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet. 1996. The origins of the world's first computer network are explained, with tales of the motivations, breakthroughs, and personalities that created it. * + Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. 1942. Gods and heroes, their clashes and adventures, come alive in this splendid retelling of the Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. 1988. Cosmology becomes understandable as the author discusses the origin, evolution, and fate of our universe. + Hayley. Alex. Roots. 1976. Traces Hayley’s search for the history of his family, from Africa through the ear of slavery to the 20th century. Hersch, Patricia. A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence. 1998. An intimate three-year journey through contemporary adolescence with eight "typical" teens reveals a separate culture spawned not from personal choice, but rather from adult alienation and abandonment. + Hersey, John. Hiroshima. 1946. Six Hiroshima survivors reflect on the aftermath of the first atomic bomb. Humes, Edward. No Matter How Loud I Shout: A Year in the Life of Juvenile Court. 1996. Humes paints a tragic and heartbreaking portrait of the chaos characterizing America's juvenile justice system where, as one inmate writes, "my screams have no voice, no matter how loud I shout." Jones, K. Maurice. Say It Loud! The Story of Rap Music. 1994. From a village in West Africa to a street in Brooklyn, to MTV, rappers make the Scene. Junger, Sebastian. The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea. 1997. Haunting premonitions didn't save seven fishermen from the ferocious and deadly power of the sea. Karnos, David D. and Robert G. Shoemaker, editors. Falling in Love With Wisdom: American Philosophers Talk About Their Calling. 1993. Contemporary philosophers share their contemplations and epiphanies. + Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. 1956. A series of profiles of Americans who took courageous stands in public life. Kolb, Rocky. Blind Watchers of the Sky: The People and Ideas that Shaped Our View of the Universe. 1996. Kolb delivers a witty and lively history of astronomy and cosmology. Kotlowitz, Alex. The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death, and America's Dilemma. 1998. Geographically, only a river separates two closely neighboring towns, but the murder mystery surrounding the death of a young black man exposes a deeply rooted racial divide. Kozol, Jonathan. Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools. 1991. Kozol's stinging indictment of America's public school system advocates an equal distribution of per pupil funding to right the gross inequities in our current system. Krakauer, John. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster. 1997. His dream expedition to Everest became a nightmare when human error and a sudden storm combined to claim the lives of some of the world's best mountain climbers. McCloud, Scott. Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. 1993. A comic book asks and answers the question of whether or not comics are a literary form. McPhee, John. In Suspect Terrain. 1983. Traveling along I-80 with geologist Anita Harris, McPhee describes the geologic features that reveal the history of the Appalachians. Paulos, John Allen. Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and its Consequences. 1988. Paulos illustrates the importance of understanding and the consequences of misunderstanding mathematical concepts in everyday life. Penn, W. S., editor. The Telling of the World: Native American Stories and Art. 1996. Traditional and contemporary legends, stories, and art from many tribes explain our world and its life forms. Petroski, Henry. Invention by Design: How Engineers Get From Thought to Thing. 1996. Using examples from paper clips to monumental bridges, Petroski shows how engineers work. Plato. Republic. 360 BC. Socrates and other Athenians discuss the meaning of justice and whether the just man is happier than the unjust man by constructing an imaginary city. Other titles by this author – Apology Regis, Ed. Virus Ground Zero: Stalking the Killer Viruses with the Centers for Disease Control. 1996. The history of the CDC is told through the handling of the Ebola outbreak in Zaire. Sheehan, Neil. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. 1988. A soldier exposes the corruption undermining the American war effort in Vietnam. Simon, David and Edward Burns. The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. 1997. Crack owns this corner and infects the lives of all those within reach. Singh, Simon. Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World's Greatest Mathematical Problem. 1997. A Princeton professor pursues a lifelong dream of solving a 350-year-old mathematical puzzle. Sobel, Dava. Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. 1995. A self-taught eighteenth-century English clockmaker succeeded where the scientific community failed. + Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor's Tale and Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began. 1986. Using comic book format, the author chronicles his father's experience of the Holocaust and its impact on his family. + Williams, Juan. Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965. 1987. From Brown v. the Board of Education to the Voting Rights Act, Williams outlines the social and political gains of African Americans. Drama * Aeschylus. The Oresteian Trilogy. 458 BC This is the only surviving example of a trilogy of ancient Greek plays (the fourth and final play has not survived). They concern the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. + Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. 1948-49. Two men wait for someone named Godot, who never arrives. + Chekhov, Anton. The Cherry Orchard. 1904. An aristocratic Russian woman and her family return to the family’s estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage. Other titles by this author – The Three Sisters * Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. 1879. A woman leads her life as if she’s playing house. Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. 1953. Young girls claim they have been controlled by witchcraft and a town turns on itself. Other titles by this author – Death of a Salesman + O’Neill, Eugene. Long Day’s Journey Into Night. 1956. A tragedy set in 1912 in the summer home of an isolated, theatrical family. Rostand, Edmond. Cyrano de Bergerac. 1897. A man with a large nose believes that he doesn’t deserve love so he helps a “pretty” man woo the woman they both love. * Shakespeare, William. + A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream. 1594-1596 It shows the adventures of four young lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. Other titles by this author - * + As You Like It; * Merchant of Venice; *Taming of the Shrew; * Julius Ceasar; * Twelfth Night; + Measure by Measure + Shaw, Bernard. Pygmalion. 1913. The original play that the musical My Fair Lady is based on. Other titles by this author – Man and Superman; Saint Joan; * Arms and the Man Sophocles. Oedipus Rex. 429 BC Oedipus unwittingly killed his father, married his mother and brought a plague to Thebes. Other titles by this author - Antigone * Wilde, Oscar. The Importance of Being Earnest. 1895. A comedy about characters using fictional identities to escape unwelcome social obligations. Wilder, Thorton. Our Town. 1938. The dead of a New Hampshire village of the early 1900s appreciate life more than the living. * Williams, Tennessee. The Glass Menagerie. 1944. A family’s connections with each other are as fragile as the glass collection the daughter spends most of her time with. Other titles by this author – * A Streetcar Named Desire; * Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Short stories/essays Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Selected Essays. Welty, Eudora. Thirteen Stories. Yolen, Jane, editor. Favorite Folktales from Around the World. 1986. This collection of international folktales provides an understanding of the roots of diverse cultures. Poetry – stories and author collections * --, Beowulf. Between 8th to 11th century. An Old English heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship, Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, battles three antagonists: Grendel, Grendel's mother; and an unnamed dragon. --, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Late 14th century. Outlines an adventure of Sir Gawain as he accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior outfitted totally in green. * + Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. 14th Century A group of pilgrims going to Canterbury to visit a shrine pass the time by telling a collection of stories. * Dante. Inferno. Between 1308 and 1320 This poem tells of Dante’s journey through the three realms of the dead. * Homer. The Iliad. 9th or 8th century BC. Concerns events during the tenth and final year of the siege of Troy by the Greeks. Other titles by this author – The Odyssey * Ovid. Metamorphoses. 8 AD Describes the creation and history of the world. + Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. 1855. Good poets to read their collections: Angelou, Maya Donne, John Giovanni, Nikki Sandburg, Carl Yeats, William Butler Brooks, Gwendolyn Eliot, T.S. Hughes, Langston Thomas, Dylan Cummings, E.E. Frost, Robert Keats, John Williams, William Carlos * Dickinson, Emily Ginsberg, Allen Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth Wordsworth, William Books which were on the lists and I removed because they’re assigned to be read for other classes here in the district. Anderson, Sherwood Winesburg, Ohio Carroll, Lewis Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Through the Looking Glass Douglass, Frederick Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird Poe, Edgar Allen Selected short stories Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Cormier, Robert The Chocolate War Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage Huxley, Aldous Brave New World Orwell, George Animal Farm Steinbeck, John The Pearl Machiavelli, Niccolo The Prince Dickens, Charles A Tale of Two Cities Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God Paton, Alan Cry, the Beloved Country Thoreau, Henry David Walden Frank, Anne The Diary of a Young Girl Golding, William Lord of the Flies Melville, Herman. Bartleby the Scivener Shakespeare, William Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet Weisel, Elie Night This list is a compilation of lists from the CollegeBoard (101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers), the Young Adult Library Services Association (Fiction Outstanding Books for the College Bound Titles and Non-fiction Outstanding Books for the College Bound Titles), Arrowhead Library System (College Bound Reading List), Readings Lists for the College-Bound Students, 3rd edition (Estell, Satchwell and Wright), input from Mrs. Wallis and my own interjections.