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Summer Reading 2019 Bentley Upper School: All School Reading
A dystopian, "fictional historical fiction" science fiction novel that asks some complicated questions about gender and power. It's both disturbing and thought-provoking!
* Finalist for the National Book Award in Poetry *
* Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry * Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism * Winner of the NAACP Image Award * Winner of the L.A. Times Book Prize * Winner of the PEN Open Book Award.
A provocative meditation on race, Claudia Rankine's long-awaited follow up to her groundbreaking book Don't Let Me Be Lonely: An American Lyric.
The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert
ISBN: 9781250062185
Publication Date: 2015-01-06
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE
ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW'S 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST
Your One and Only by Adrianne Finlay
ISBN: 9780544991477
Publication Date: 2018-02-06
★ "Like the works of Ursula K. LeGuin, inside this lyrically written, suspenseful tale is a deeply humane thematic core."—Kirkus Reviews, starred Review
"Readers will feel fully immersed in this new reality. A great choice for lovers of postapocalyptic story lines." –School Library Journal
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
ISBN: 9781451696202
Publication Date: 2012-08-14
At the Edge of Summer by Jessica Brockmole
ISBN: 9781410494726
Publication Date: 2016-11-16
A remarkable story of two women, their loves, their secrets, and two world wars [in which] the beauty of Scotland, the tragedy of war, the longings of the heart, and the struggles of a family torn apart by disloyalty are brilliantly drawn. "Publishers Weekly" (starred review)
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
ISBN: 9781501126062
Publication Date: 2017-09-05
Poetic, lyrical, insightful, magical!
Small Country by Gaël Faye
ISBN: 9781524759872
Publication Date: 2018-06-05
“The death of innocence seen through the eyes of Gabriel, our beguiling 11-year-old narrator, is at the heart of this gorgeous first novel… Faye eloquently speaks to the untenable choices, among love of country, family, or survival, that victims in conflict zones are forced to make." -- Library Journal
There There by Tommy Orange
ISBN: 9780525520375
Publication Date: 2018-06-05
"Orange's debut is an ambitious meditation on identity and its broken alternatives, on myth filtered through the lens of time and poverty and urban life. Its many short chapters are told through a loosely connected group of Native Americans living in Oakland, Calif., as they travel to a powwow. They are all, as in Chaucer, pilgrims on their way to a shrine, or, as in Faulkner's ''As I Lay Dying,'' an extended family crossing the landscape. The novel is their picaresque journey, allowing for moments of pure soaring beauty to hit against the most mundane, for a sense of timelessness to be placed right beside a cleareyed version of the here and now.” -- New York Times
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
ISBN: 9780735212176
Publication Date: 2017-03-07
magical realism with a touch of quiet beauty all while dealing with real issues of immigration.
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
ISBN: 9781101939499
Publication Date: 2017-10-17
Short but INTENSE and addresses issues of race and racial profiling from a teen's perspective.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
ISBN: 9780062498533
Publication Date: 2017-02-28
This powerful first novel by Angie Thomas brings to life Black Lives Matter issues and it illuminates the importance and difficulties of speaking out
when personally confronted by some of these issues. Although presented as a YA book, it is a must read for everyone given our current social climate.
Educated by Tara Westover (Contribution by)
ISBN: 9780399590504
Publication Date: 2018-02-20
shocking and inspiring
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
ISBN: 9781455563937
Publication Date: 2017-02-07
An addictive sage of a Korean family in Japan.
Mink River by Brian Doyle
ISBN: 9780870715853
Publication Date: 2010-10-01
A beautifully told story of the lives of some of the residents of a small Oregon coastal town. It was my introduction to Brian Doyle and he is now one of my favorite authors. His use of language is so poetical. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!1
Tribe by Sebastian Junger
ISBN: 9781455566389
Publication Date: 2016-05-24
A very important and insightful book about the nature of human civilization. Especially important to read now when our "tribes" are becoming fewer and fewer...
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
ISBN: 9781101873724
Publication Date: 2017-02-28
For you budding scientists (and for everyone else too!) - this is for you. It is not only a celebration of one person's lifelong curiosity, but also introduces the reader to a totally different way of looking at the world through the eyes of a geobiologist.
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
ISBN: 9781476738024
Publication Date: 2015-05-05
A wonderful novel that makes you believe in the power of love and how love for each member of a community can heal all.
This story opened my eyes to another American's life experience that I could not have ever pictured or understood before on my own.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
ISBN: 9780812993547
Publication Date: 2015-07-14
If you're interested in race in America--which you should be--this is a must-read.
A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
ISBN: 9780151836000
Publication Date: 1991-05-06
My favorite novel of all time!
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
ISBN: 9781594486340
Publication Date: 2013-08-20
Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
ISBN: 9781101872765
Publication Date: 2014-11-04
Wolf Willow by Wallace Stegner
ISBN: 067077734X
Publication Date: 1962-10-15
Nathan Coulter by Wendell Berry
ISBN: 9781582434094
Publication Date: 2008-05-28
Annals of the Former World by John McPhee
ISBN: 9780374105204
Publication Date: 1998-06-10
5 book series
Thomas Jefferson by Jon Meacham
ISBN: 9781400067664
Publication Date: 2012-11-13
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
ISBN: 9780812995343
Publication Date: 2017-02-14
This experimental first novel combines history and ghost-ery to meditate on the poignancy of death, particularly the death of a child. It's a different kind of storytelling that relies on the multiple voices of multiple spirits stuck in a sort of Buddhist purgatory.
There There by Tommy Orange
ISBN: 9780525520375
Publication Date: 2018-06-05
This book is a fantastic local story that deals with what it means to be a Native American in the current era and the hardships they face in our own communities. Not an easy read, but worth it!
Also recommended by Ms. Bogas and Dr. Chang (and others!!)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
ISBN: 9780374214913
Publication Date: 2012-10-02
This is a fantastic modern day sci-fi book that takes place in our own backyard. If you enjoy mystery, conspiracy theories, tech, cabinets of curiosities, and nerdy heists, this is the book for you.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
ISBN: 9780679433354
Publication Date: 1994-04-26
This was one of my favorite books that I read during middle school and I think that it has something for everyone about immigration, race, and finding yourself as a young teenager.
The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu
ISBN: 9780762459162
Publication Date: 2015-07-28
This book is an interesting investigation of what it is like to be a student in high school and also struggling with your immigration status. Very relevant and well written.
Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
ISBN: 9781400044160
Publication Date: 2006-09-12
If you enjoyed Adichie's "Danger of a Single Story" TEDTalk or her short story "The Thing Around Your Neck" in tenth grade, this is an awesome way to enter her full length novel work. A remarkable story about moral responsibility, the end of colonialism, ethnic allegiances, class, and race, told through the lens of three characters experiencing Nigeria's struggle for independence in the 1960s.
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
ISBN: 9781439153666
Publication Date: 2010-02-02
A fantastic and interesting view on racism and the class systems in place during slavery. Also a great look into the purity of childhood. It follows the story of an Irish immigrant orphan who is forced into the life of indentured servitude after the deaths of her parents and must face the harsh reality of inhabiting the limbo that falls between slavery and freedom.