Roslyn High School
English Department
Summer Reading
2008
Dear Student,
Great Literature students are required
to read one selection
from the following list. Great Literature
and Analysis students must read two books
from the list. During the month of September, you will be asked to respond to
an in-class assignment based on your book. You will receive a grade which will be part of your first
quarter average.
Sincerely,
Twelfth
Grade English Teachers
Alexie, Sherman
The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Fistfight in Heaven
A brilliant collection of short
stories about the lives
of Native Americans on their
reservation. History,
memory, myth, dream and reality
are woven together
into these brilliant, incisive
tales.
Boyle, T. Coraghessan
The Tortilla Curtain
As in many of his works, Boyle deals here with the
collision of two very different cultures.
Our protagonists are a wealthy businessman living in a gated community
near San Diego, and an illegal Mexican immigrant trying to begin a new life for
his family. Their stories, and the
ultimate crossing of their paths, create a sharp but moving portrayal of an
America teetering into the new millennium.
Carr, Caleb
When a madman begins stalking victims on the
streets of 1896 New York, a team of investigators is forced to apply radical and
untested techniques that include fingerprinting and the controversial new
science of forensic psychology.
Chabon, Michael
A witty and sometimes touching story of two
talented Jewish cousins --one a writer, the other an artist-- who, at the
beginning of WWII, collaborate to create comic book action heroes who battle
Hitler and his minions.
Diaz, Junot
The Brief Wondrous Life of
Oscar Wao
Oscar, a 300-pound gamer nerd who
dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien, is the central figure in this
sprawling, tragicomic family saga by the author of Drown.
Ellison, Ralph
Invisible Man
This novel chronicles the journey
of a nameless black man who searches for his own lengthy identity in a society
that alienates him.
Foer, Jonathan Safran
Extremely Loud and
Incredibly Close
Oskar, a 9-year-old genius
inventor trying to come to terms with his fatherÕs death on 9/11, accidentally
discovers a key that his father has left for him. The book follows OskarÕs
adventures throughout the city as he tries to figure out what the key is for,
and to bring some meaning to the loss of his father.
Kerouac, Jack
In this novel, a group of
drifters express the ideas and attitudes of the Beat Generation of the 1950Õs.
Motherless Brooklyn
A brilliant novel by one of AmericaÕs most promising young writers, this
book immerses the reader in the disappearing world of the Italian community near
BrooklynÕs Court Street. It is a
crime novel with many twists, not the least of which is that our detective-hero
has TouretteÕs syndrome.
Mc Carthy, Cormac
The Road
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel by the author of No Country for Old Men, a father and his beloved young
son wander through an American landscape devastated by an unnamed catastrophe.
Against all odds and hope, they search for salvation and faith.
Pessl, Marisha
Special Topics in Calamity
Physics
From her freshman dorm at
Harvard, punk genius Blue Van Meer recounts the story of her senior year at the
exclusive St. Gallway prep school. There, she became involved with an exclusive
group of students centered on Hannah, a charismatic English teacher who was not
exactly what she appeared to be.
A thousand years of Jewish persecution, from the expulsion from York,
England in 1105 through the Holocaust, is woven into the story of Ernie Levy.
He is the last in a line of lamed-vovniks, who, according to Jewish
legend, take on all the suffering of the world so that the universe may
continue.
The Lovely Bones
A fourteen-year-old girl, the victim of a horrible crime, narrates the
story from her vantage point in Heaven.
From there, she watches over her family and friends, the detective in
charge of her case, and the man who may have committed the crime.
This novel is multifaceted retelling of the story
of John Henry, the black steel-driver, who died outracing a machine designed to
replace him.
Zabor, Rafi
A walking, talking, alto sax playing, Blake-and-
Shakespeare-quoting bear has musical, spiritual, and romantic adventures
Asinof, Eliot
Eight Men Out:
The Black Sox and the 1919 World Series
Asinof captures the feeling of America and its
reaction to the scandal of the 1919 Black Sox baseball team and the World
Series.
Based on hundreds of interviews with directors,
stars, producers, agents, studio executives, etc., Easy Riders, Raging Bulls follows the wild ride
that was Hollywood in the '70s -- an unabashed celebration of sex, drugs, and
rock 'n' roll and a climate where innovation and experimentation reigned
supreme.
Campbell, Joseph
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Campbell's unique perspectives examine the world's
complex and interwoven mythology, folklore and religion, providing an
understanding of the essence and interconnectedness of humanity.
Diamond, Jared
Guns, Germs and Steel:
The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond offers a convincing explanation of
the way the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based
theories of human history.
Dickstein, Morris
Gates of Eden:
American Culture in the Sixties
An original and entertaining analysis of how
American literature influenced and was influenced by the turbulence of the
1960's.
Gabler, Neal
Life, the Movie:
How Entertainment Conquered Reality
Culture critic Gabler explores the story of how our
bottomless appetite for novelty, gossip, glamour and melodrama has turned
everything of importance-from news and politics to religion and high
culture-into one vast public entertainment.
Gladwell, Malcolm
The Tipping Point
Why do some things and ideas
catch on and others do not? In this popular and wide-ranging analysis, Gladwell
explores how and fads seem to come from nowhere, spread like viruses, and
disappear as quickly as they came.
Klein, Naomi
No Logo
In this controversial,
entertaining work, Klein examines the influence of marketing and advertising on
American and global cultures. She
argues that the ÒBrandÓ has become more important in our consumer society than
political, social or religious bonds; in fact, the ÒBrandÓ has become more
important than the products themselves.
Lama, Dalai
The Art of Happiness: A
Handbook for Living
Through meditation, stories, and the meeting of
Buddhism and psychology, the Dalai Lama tells how to defeat day-to-day
depression, anxiety, anger, jealousy, or just an ordinary bad mood, and how to
ride through life's obstacles to find a deep and abiding source of inner peace.
Larson, Erik
The Devil in the White
City
Although it feels like a novel,
this book is actually the incredible, true story of the bizarre events
surrounding the huge 1893 WorldÕs Fair in Chicago. Our hero is the celebrated architect who is the visionary
behind the Fair; the villain is a respected doctor who may or may not have been
AmericaÕs first serial killer.
Schlosser, Eric
Fast Food Nation
Schlosser documents the effects
of fast food on America's economy, its youth culture, and allied industries, such
as meatpacking, that serve this vast food production empire.
Singh, Simon
Fermat's Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the
World's Greatest Mathematical Problem
Singh tells the story of the 350-year search for a
proof for Fermat's Last Theorem, focusing on the work of two modern-day
mathematicians.
Williams, Gregory Howard
Life on the Color Line
One of the most important
accounts of racial identity in recent years, this is the autobiographical story
of a poor son of a racially mixed marriage in the 1950Õs who, after coming to
grips with his true identity, goes on to great success as the dean of the law
school at Ohio State.
Woolf, Michael
Burn Rate
The humorous, fascinating and
occasionally appalling true story of the great Internet technology ÒbubbleÓ of
the late 1990Õs, and how reckless speculation led to great wealth for a few and
financial ruin for many, many others.
Zinn, Howard
A People's History of the
United States: 1492 to Present
This moving history of the American people presents
more than 500 years of American social and cultural history, going well beyond
the wars and presidencies contained in traditional texts to tell the stories of
working men and women.