Summer Reading List 2006-2007
*
The attached list suggests works by 20th century American authors. Students in Level One American Literature are asked to read two books by one or more of these authors. Students in Level Two are expected to read at least one work from the suggested list. Students should be ready to complete a major project during the first week of school. AP students should refer to the separate AP list.
Abbey, Edward. Down the River. 1982. (AD) Fiction/Environmental Problems/Nature/Philosophy/Rivers
Abbey, Edward. The Fool’s Progress. 1988. (AD) Fiction/Brothers/Divorce/Family Life/Humor/Marriage
Abbey, Edward. The Monkey Wrench Gang. 1975. (AD) Fiction/Environmental Problems/Underground Resistance Movements
Albee, Edward. A Delicate Balance: A Play in Three Acts*. 1966. (AD) Non-Fiction/Plays/Family Problems
Albee, Edward. Three Tall Women. 1994. (AD) Non-Fiction/Plays/Aging/Women
Albee, Edward. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf*? 1962. (AD) Fiction/Plays/Relationships
Angelou, Maya. Even the Stars Look Lonesome. 1997. (AD) Non-Fiction/Autobiography Essays
Angelou, Maya. Phenomenal Woman. 1994. (AD) Non-Fiction/Poetry/African Americans/Women
Angelou, Maya. Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now. 1993. (AD) Non-Fiction/Autobiography/Essays
Capote, Truman. Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1958. (AD) Fiction/Friendships/Relationships
Capote, Truman. Other Voices, Other Rooms. 1948. (AD) Fiction/Family Life/Father and Son/Relationships
Capote, Truman. A Christmas Memory. 1989. (YA) Fiction/Christmas/Friendship
Crichton, Michael. Disclosure. 1993. (AD) Fiction/Computers/Industry/Mystery/Suspense
Crichton, Michael. Sphere: A Novel*. 1987. (YA/AD) Fiction/Science Fiction/Adventure and Adventurers
Crichton, Michael.
Dillard, Annie. An American Childhood. 1987. (AD) Non-Fiction/Autobiography /Family Relations/Writing/Coming of Age
Dillard, Annie. For the Time Being*. 1999. (AD) Non-Fiction/Death/Ethics/Human Relationships/Religion
Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. 1974. (YA/AD) Non-Fiction/Inspirational/Nature/Religion
Doctorow,
Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime*. 1975. (YA/AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Crime and Criminals/Race Relations
Doctorow. E.L. The Best American Short Stories 2000. 2000. (AD) Fiction/Short Stories
Dorris, Michael. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water*. 1987. (YA/AD) Fiction/Indians of North America/Mother-Daughter Relationship
Dorris, Michael. The Broken Cord. 1989. (AD) Non-Fiction/Adoption/Alcoholism/Family Relations
Dorris, Michael. Working Men: Stories. 1993. (AD) Fiction/Indians of North America/Short Stories
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man*. 1952. (AD) Fiction/African Americans/American History/Race Relations/Racism
Ellison, Ralph. Juneteenth: A Novel. 1999. (AD) Fiction/Civil Rights/Culture/Identity/Prejudice/Race Relations
Ellison, Ralph. Shadow and Act. 1953. (AD) Non-Fiction/African Americans/Civil Rights Movement/Folklore/Music
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. 1984. (YA/AD) Fiction/Indian Reservations/Indians of
Erdrich, Louise. The Beet Queen. 1986. (YA/AD) Fiction/Indians of North America/Small Town Life
Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. 1988. (YA/AD) Fiction/Identity/Indian Reservations/Indians of
Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury*. 1929. (AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Family Problems/Inheritance/Mental
Retardation
Faulkner, William. The Unvanquished. 1938. (YA/AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/US Civil War/Coming of Age
Faulkner, William. The Reivers. 1962. (AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Humor
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. Tender is the Night*. 1934. (AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Wealth/Ethics/Psychiatrists/Love
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. This Side of
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. 1995. (AD) Fiction/US Social Life and Customs/Short Stories
Fowles, John. The Magus. 1965. (AD) Fiction/Greece/Psychological Fiction
Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman*. 1969. (AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Love Stories
Fowles, John. Wormholes: Essays and Occasional Writings. 1998. (AD) Non-Fiction/Prose Literature
Gaines, Ernest J. In My Father's House. 1978. (AD) Fiction/Fathers and Sons/Human Behavior/Psychology
Gaines, Ernest J. Bloodline. 1968. (AD) Fiction/Family Life/Race Relations/Relationships/Short Stories
Herbert, Frank. Eye. 2000. (YA) Fiction/Story Collection
Herbert. Frank. Dune: House Harkonnen. 2000. (YA) Fiction/Science Fiction /Imaginary Places
Heller, Joseph. Good as Gold. 1979. (AD) Fiction/Ethics/Family/Jews/Judaism
Heller, Joseph. Portrait of an Artist, as an Old
Heller, Joseph. Something Happened. 1974. (AD) Fiction/Business/Family Life
Hellman, Lillian. An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir. 1969. (AD) Non-Fiction/Autobiography/Writing/Drama
Hellman, Lillian. The Little Foxes: Play in Three Acts. 1969. (AD) Non-Fiction/Siblings Drama/Theft Drama/Extortion Drama
Hellman, Lillian. Scoundrel Time. 1976. (AD) Non-Fiction/Biography/American Dramatists
Hemingway, Ernest. The Nick Adams Stories. 1972. (AD) Fiction/Coming of Age/Growing Up/Short Stories/War
Hemingway, Ernest. The Dangerous Summer. 1959. (AD) Fiction/Bullfighting/Friendship
Hemingway, Ernest. To Have and Have Not. 1937. (AD) Fiction/Alcoholism/Family/Fishing/Poverty
Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. 2003. (AD) Fiction/Afghanistan/Friendship/Social Classes
Hurston, Zora Neale. Dust Tracks on a Road. 1942. (AD) Non-Fiction/Autobiography/African Americans /Poverty/Writing
Hurston, Zora Neale. Jonah's Gourd Vine. 1990. (AD) Fiction/African Americans
Irving, John. A Prayer for Owen Meany. 1989. (YA/AD) Fiction/Adolescence/Friendship
Irving, John. Setting Free the Bears. 1969. (YA/AD) Fiction/Bears/Friendship/Nazism
Kidd, Sue Monk. The Secret Life of Bees*. (AD) Fiction/Historical Fiction/Racism/Teens/Beekeeping
Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal Dreams. 1998. (YA/AD) Fiction/Courage/Pollution
Kingsolver, Barbara. Prodigal Summer. 2000. (AD) Fiction/Coyotes/Ecology/Environmental Problems
Kingsolver, Barbara. The Poisonwood Bible. 1998. (YA/AD) Fiction/Christianity/Colonialism/Cultural Conflict/Family Life
Chinese Americans/Cultural Conflict/Emigration and Immigration
Malamud, Bernard. The Natural*. 1952. (YA/AD) Fiction/Baseball/Sports
Malamud, Bernard. The Assistant. 1957. (AD) Fiction/Italian Americans/Brooklyn, NY
Malamud, Bernard. The Coming-of-Age/Inspirational Fixer. 1967. (AD) Fiction/Jews/Russia/Homicide/Trials
McCullers, Carson. The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and Other Stories*. 1971. (YA) Fiction/Short Stories
McCullers, Carson. The Member of the Wedding*. 1973. (YA) Fiction/African American Women/Georgia
McCullers, Carson. Reflections in a Golden Eye*. 2000. (AD) Fiction/Military Life/Psychological/Domestic
Miller, Arthur. All My Sons. 1974. (YA) Non-Fiction/War/Family Life/Friendship
Miller, Arthur. Homely Girl, a Life, and Other Stories. 1997. (AD) Fiction/US Social Life and Customs/Short Stories
Miller, Arthur. Mr. Peters' Connections. 1999. (AD) Non-Fiction/Near-Death Experience Drama/Subconsciousness Drama
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. 1970. Fiction/African Americans/Women/Abuse
Morrison, Toni. Sula*. 1973. (YA) Fiction/African Americans/Women/ Friendship
Morrison, Toni. Tar Baby*. 1981. (YA) Fiction/African Americans /Race Identity/Love Stories
Mowat, Farley. Walking on the Land. 2000. (AD) Non-Fiction/Inuit Nuncvut History/Social Conditions
Mowat, Farley. Never Cry Wolf*. 1963. (YA) Non-Fiction/Wolves/Wildlife
Mowat, Farley. The Farfarers: Before the Norse. 2000. (AD) Non-Fiction/American Exploration/Canadian Exploration
Naylor, Gloria. Bailey's Café. 1992. (AD) Fiction/Human Behavior/Outcasts/Storytelling
Naylor, Gloria. Linden Hills. 1985. (AD) Fiction/African Americans/Family/Identity/Middle Classes
Naylor, Gloria. The Women of
O’Connor. Flannery. Everything That Rises Must Converge. 1965. (YA) Fiction/Southern States/Short Stories
O’Connor. Flannery. Wise Blood. 1990. (AD) Fiction/Preaching/Southern States
O’Neill,
O’Neill,
O’Neill,
Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar*. 1996. (AD) Fiction/Psychology/Depression/College Students/Suicide
Plath, Sylvia. Crossing the Water: Transitional Poems. 1971. (AD) Non-Fiction/American Poetry
Plath, Sylvia. Poems. 1988. (YA) Non-Fiction/American Poetry
Porter, Katherine Anne. Flowering Judas and Other Stories*. 1935. (AD) Fiction/Short Stories
Porter, Katherine Anne. Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels. 1939. (AD) Fiction/Manners and Customs
Porter, Katherine Anne. The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter. 1969. (AD) Fiction/Manners and Customs
Quindlen, Anna. A Short Guide to a Happy Life. 2000. (AD) Non-Fiction/Inspirational/Philosophy/Self-Help
Quindlen, Anna. How
Quindlen, Anna. One True Thing. 1994. (AD) Fiction/Cancer/Family/Illness/Mother-Daughter Relationship
Soto,
Soto,
Soto,
Styron, William.The Confessions of Nat Turner*. 1967. (YA/AD) Fiction/African Americans/Historical/Racism/Slavery
Styron, William. All the Finest Girls. 2001. (AD) Fiction/Family/Caribbean/Children of Divorced Parents/Psychological
Tan, Amy. The Bonesetter's Daughter*. 2001. (AD) Fiction/Alzheimer’s Disease/Asian Americans/Emigration and Immigration/
Family Life/Mothers and Daughters
Tan, Amy. The Hundred Secret Senses*. 1995. (YA/AD) Fiction/Asian Americans/Family Life/Multicultural/Reincarnation/Sisters
Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club*. 1989. (YA) Fiction/Chinese American Women /Mothers and Daughters
Tan, Amy. The Kitchen God's Wife*. 1991. (YA/AD) Fiction/Asian Americans/Emigration and Immigration/Family Relations/
Multicultural/Secrets
Tolstoy, Leo. War and Peace. 1952. (AD) Fiction/Russian Role/Napoleonic Wars/History
Theroux, Paul. Hotel Honolulu. 2001. (AD) Fiction/Waikiki (
Theroux, Paul. The Kingdom By the Sea: A Journey Around the Coast of
Railroad Travel
Theroux, Paul. Sir Vidia's Shadow: A Friendship Across Five Continents. 1998. (AD) Non-Fiction/Friendship
Tyler, Anne. Breathing Lesson. 1989. (YA/AD) Fiction/Family Relations/Marriage
Tyler, Anne. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant*. 1982. (YA/AD) Fiction/Abandonment/Family Relations/Mothers
Tyler, Anne. Searching for Caleb. 1975. (AD) Fiction/Change/Family Life/Friendship/Humor/Relationship
Watson, Larry. White Crosses: A Novel. 1998. Fiction/Community Life/Family Problems/Accidental Deaths
Watson, Larry. Laura. 2000. (AD) Fiction/Men Psychology/Man-Woman Relationship
Watson, Larry. Justice. 1995. (YA/AD) Fiction/Frontier and Pioneer Life
Wharton, Edith. The Age of Innocence*. 1978. (AD) Fiction/NY Social Life and Customs/Man-Woman Relationship/Love Stories
Wharton, Edith. A Backward Glance. 1998. (AD) Non-Fiction/Women Novelist’s Biography/American Novelists
Wharton, Edith. The Glimpses of the Moon. 2000. (AD) Fiction/Upper Class /Marriage/Love Stories
Williams,
Williams,
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town*. 1938. (YA/AD) Non-Fiction/Family Life/Marriage/Small Town Life
Wilder, Thornton. The
Wilder, Thornton. Skin of Our Teeth. 1942. (AD) Non-Fiction/Family Problems/Survival/War
Wright, Richard. Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth*. 1945. (YA/AD) Fiction/ African Americans/Coming of Age/
Poverty/Racism
Wright, Richard. 12 Million Black Voices. 1988. (YA) Non-Fiction/African Americans/Social Conditions
Wright, Richard. Haiku: This Other World. 1998. (AD) Non-Fiction/Haiku/Nature Poetry