2008 SUMMER READING LIST
Winchester Public Library Homepage
The
English Department presents the 2008 summer reading list. Our goal is to keep the students reading –
for pleasure, for enrichment, for background.
Students are responsible for reading the minimum number of books
designated for the course they will be taking next year. Students will be tested on their summer
reading upon returning to school in September.
Students: Please note the title and level of your course,
the number of books required, and the study guide questions for your books.
Find
summer reading on the high school website: www.winchester.k12.ma.us
Links:
high school > English > summer
reading
Crackback, Coy
Cut, McCormick
My Brother’s Keeper, McCormick
Speak, Anderson
?? What personal qualities and
significant relationships help each of the main characters overcome life’s
obstacles?
Life of Pi, Martel
The Namesake, Lahiri
Kaffir Boy, Mathabane
??
What conflicts with her/his environment
does each main character face? What
strengths do the characters draw upon to overcome adversity?
Montana 1948, Watson
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl, Oates
?? How
does the character change and grow between the beginning and the end of the novel?
Required: Athletic Shorts, Crutcher*
Choose one from the following list:
Feed, Anderson
Looking for Alaska, Green
The Earth, My Butt, and Other Round Things, Mackler
?? What techniques
does an author use to develop character and reveal traits? What personal traits
enable a person to survive and make a life under difficult circumstances?
Required: Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck*
Required: Feed, Anderson*
Choose one from the following list:
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Dorris
Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Pessl
??
How do these books demonstrate the influence of the environment on the
development of character? Each of these
books uses a metaphor in the title. Explain
each metaphor and how it contributes to your understanding of the text.
Thematic Literature and Composition I and II C-2 CHOOSE
TWO
Inexcusible, Lynch
Guyaholic, Mackler
Breathing Underwater, Flynn
Swallowing Stones, McDonald
?? How do the character’s
relationships with others impact that character’s own development and
self-understanding?
Travels with Charlie, Steinbeck
A Hope in the Unseen, Suskind
A House Made of Dawn, Momaday
Bless Me Ultima, Anaya
??
What do these stories reveal about how one formulates one’s identity? Do cultural influences determine character or
does biology? Do all Americans inhabit
the same culture?
British Literature C-1 READ
ALL___
Picture of Dorian
Gray, Wilde
Curious Incident of
the Dog in the Nighttime, Haddon
Six Great Sherlock
Holmes Stories, Doyle (Dover
Edition ISBN#0486270556)
(Read “The Red-Headed
League” and “The Adventure of the Speckled Band”.)
?? What are the common elements of the mystery genre
established by Doyle and continued by Haddon?
?? How does Haddon’s novel go beyond the standard
mystery? How do these authors force the
reader to look beyond the surface of things?
Moll Flanders, Defoe
Regeneration, Barker
Dracula, Stoker
Film: Passage to India
?? How are these
novels the same and/or different? What
elements survive the centuries and what elements seem to be left out? Does film function in the same manner as the
novel?
American Studies C-1 and Honors_______H-
READ & VIEW ALL_
C-1
– READ & VIEW REQUIRED
Required:
Killers of the Dream, Smith
Billy Budd, Melville
Film:
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Honors: All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy
??
What does Ford’s film tell us about the power and function of myth in the
making of the American West
?? What American ideals are represented in each of these
novels? In what sense are these ideals
flawed or exposed as myth?
Plain Secrets,Mackall
Sea Wolf, London
??
Each of these books involves a physical and a spiritual journey. What does each journey reveal about the persons taking it?
The Audacity of Hope, Obama
??
Each of these books involves a physical and a spiritual journey. What does each journey reveal about the persons taking it?
Shakespearean and Modern Drama C-1 and Honors READ ALL_____
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare (Folger Library Edition)
Crimes of the Heart, Henley
The Piano Lesson, Wilson,
Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom
??How
does the playwright, working with love or life itself, make the choice between
comedy and tragedy?
H
- CHOOSE THREE
Catch-22, Heller
The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood
The World According to Garp, Irving
The Color Purple, Walker
?? As you read, consider what is desired by the
central character(s) and what drives the choices he/she/they make?
1984, Orwell
Films: Psycho, Hitchcock
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gondry
?? As you read and view the films, consider what
the authors and directors are suggesting about human nature or individual
identity. How do the filmmakers or authors convey the state of a character’s
consciousness?
??
In 1984, how is an individual identity formed in the face of an
oppressive social order?
Dispatches from the Edge, Cooper
The Freedom Writers’ Diary, The Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell
??
What potential impact can a good journalist or non-fiction writer have on his
or her community?
Humanities C-1 & Honors READ & VIEW
ALL___
The Stranger,Camus
Irrational Man, Barrett
The Agony and the Ecstasy, Stone
Film:
Amadeus
?? How do history, fiction, philosophy and film
help us to understand complex people, situations and events? How does each genre impact storytelling
differently?
The Orestia, Aeschylus – Read all three plays:
(Fagles Translation,Penguin Books. For background, read pp 13-23 and then 86 - 97)
Catch-22, Heller
Saturday, McEwan
The Yacoubian Building, Ala Al Aswany
?? Pay particular attention to the views of the universe and human nature that each text provides. Are there any perspectives that reflect your views? Be prepared to identify how you define the nature of the universe and human beings.