Contemporary Literature – Expanded Reading List

Contemporary Literature – Expanded Reading List Sometimes students say they would like more choice with regard to reading, so outside of our class reading list, these are a few other titles I have read. It’s important that I am familiar with books students read in order to honestly respond to their writing as well as to authentically assess their learning/understanding of the novel. Many of these I’ve chosen to read on my own, other titles I read at the request of a student so that they might have the chance to read something they really wanted to read – other titles were at the request of various friends or were gifts. This isn’t a comprehensive list, but I did include titles I thought students might enjoy or learn something from, so if you would like to substitute one of these titles for a short unit or long unit title (300+ pages), feel free to do so, just sign your choice on our class book log and let me know if you own it or are getting it from the library - or a friend. Also, if there is a title you really want to read , it’s school appropriate, and I can balance that with other reading (for my job :)) and my life, I am happy to read with you (assuming I can get the book at the library).

Books I am currently in the process of reading: Counselor

Ted Sorenson

War and Peace

Leo Tolstoy

The Culture of Disbelief

Stephen L. Carter

The Assault on Reason

Al Gore

Other Books You Might Like… Fantasy / Epic Adventure The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (Fellowship), The Silmarillion

J.R.R. Tolkien

Harry Potter –series

J.K. Rowling

Percy Jackson - series (playaways available from public library)

Rick Riordan

The Chronicles of Narnia - series

C.S. Lewis

The Heroes of Olympus – The Lost Olympian, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena

Rick Riordan

Kane Chronicles -The Red Pyramid, Throne of Fire, The Serpent’s Shadow Rick Riordan Dragon’s Keep

Janet Lee Carey

A Song of Fire and Ice: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast of Crows, A Dance with Dragons, The Winds of Winter (when released), A Dream of Spring (when released)

George R.R. Martin

Memoir/Biography/Historical Fiction ‘Tis , Teacher Man

Frank McCourt

Weekends at Bellevue

Julie Holland

Glory Fields

Walter Dean Meyers

The Help

Kathryn Stockett

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand

*The Book Thief

Mark Zusak

Cross Cultural Perspectives Woman Warrior

Maxine Hong Kingston

The Color Purple

Alice Walker

Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance

Leonard Peltier

A Thousand Splendid Suns (student request)

Khaled Hosseini

Dreaming in Cuban

Cristina Garcia

Elegance of the Hedgehog (student request)

Muriel Barbery

The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven

Sherman Alexie

Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison

Intruder in the Dust

William Faulkner

The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison

Holidays on Ice

David Sedaris

The Joy Luck Club, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, The Hundred Secret Senses

Amy Tan

The Secret Life of Bees

Sue Monk Kidd

Black Boy

Richard Wright

Cutting for Stone

Abraham Verghese

The Nanny Diaries

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

Science Fiction/Adventure Breakfast of Champions

Kurt Vonnegut

The Island of Dr. Moreau

H.G. Wells

The Passage (766), The Twelve

Justin Cronin

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay

Suzanne Collins

Maximum Ride, School’s Out-Forever, Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

James Patterson

Uglies, Pretties, Specials, Extras (playaways available from public library)

Scott Westerfeld

The Midnighters (series) –The Secret Hour, Touching Darkness, Blue Noon

Scott Westerfeld

*A Clockwork Orange

Anthony Burgess

Horror Carrie/Salem’s Lot/Christine/Cujo/Cycle of the Werewolf/The Dark Half/The Dead Zone/ Four Past Midnight/The Eyes of the Dragon/Firestarter/The Green Mile/Insomnia/Misery/Night Shift/Pet Sematary/The Shining/The Stand/The Talisman/The Tommyknockers

Stephan King

Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat/The Queen of the Damned/The Tale of the Body Thief/Memnock the Devil/The Vampire Armand/Merrick/Blood and Gold/The Witching Hour/Lasher/Taltos/

Anne Rice

Twilight – series (yea – I know this is a stretch – try horror romance ☺)

Stephanie Meyer

All Souls Trilogy -A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night,

Deborah Harkness

Self Help/Self-Improvement/Psychology or Inspirational Title

Author

Soar with Your Strengths

Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson

Discover Your Strengths

Marcus Buckingham

Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!

Robert T. Kiyosaki

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen Covey

Made to Stick : why some ideas survive and others die

Chip Heath and Dan Heath

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Daniel Pink

Blue Like Jazz, Searching for God Knows What, A Million Miles Donald Miller in a Thousand Years Christ the Lord out of Egypt

Anne Rice

Good to Great

Jim Collins

Nickel and Dimed

Barbara Ehrenreich

Quiet Strength

Tony Dungy

Heaven Is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

Todd Burpo, Lynn Vincent

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything

Joshua Foer

Generation iY: Our Last Chance to Save Their Future

Tim Elmore

The Power of Habit – Why we do what we do in Life and Business

Charles Duhigg

Mind Gym

Mack Casstevens

Louder than Words - The New Science of How the Mind Makes Meaning Benjamin K. Bergen Metaphors We Live By

George Lakoff and Mark Johnson

Crime/Court/Justice/Mystery/Drama 19 Minutes, My Sister's Keeper

Jodi Picoult

The Body in the Library

Agatha Christie

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl who Played with Fire, The Girl Stieg Larsson who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Monster

Walter Dean Meyers

The Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter (student request)

Mark Seal

*In Cold Blood

Truman Capote

Politics/Expose/Cultural Critique Title

Author

Primary Colors

Anonymous

Glenn Beck’s Common Sense God’s Name in Vain: The Wrongs and Rights of Religion in Politics Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell them

Glenn Beck Stephen L. Carter Al Franken

An Inconvenient Truth The Audacity of Hope

Al Gore Barack Obama

1984

George Orwell

Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated *Little Green Men

Gore Vidal Christopher Buckley

Books that define a generation Title The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, *The Old Man and the Sea [the

Author Ernest Hemingway

lost generation – came of age during WWI]

On The Road (student request) [the beat generation=came of age post WWII] The Great Gatsby

Jack Kerouac F. Scott Fitzgerald

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [silent generation born 1925-1945]

Ken Kesey

General Fiction Title The Grapes of Wrath/Of Mice and Men/The Pearl The Notebook (student request)

John Steinbeck Nicholas Sparks

Author

Wicked The Smell of Apples

Gregory Maguire Mark Behr

The Lord of the Flies The Glass Menagerie (a play) *Looking for Alaska

William Golding Tennessee Williams John Greene

Watching Baseball Smarter Zack Hample Crank, Identical (student request), Impulse, Perfect, Tricks Ellen Hopkins 100 + Read or re-read 2010-2011 (16) Read or re-read 2011-2012 (28) Read or re-read 2012-2013 (19) Read or re-read 2013-2014 (9) -172 titles on list as of last update: August, 2013 *class copy