People
Beach Books
the For-Fun Summer Reading Picks of the BHS Library
Adventure
Fiction
Stories &
Poetry
Hopes
Non-Fiction
| The Arts | The Calculating Mind | Fantasy | History |
Interesting People |
| Student Picks |
2004 Beach Books the For-Fun Summer Reading Picks of the BHS Library |
Mystery & Adventure |
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| Other Cultures |
Science Fiction |
Short Stories & Poetry |
Struggles & Hopes |
Science/ Non-Fiction |
Books are award winners or well reviewed in book review
sources listed at end of Summer Reading List. Codes are listed within source
list. Click here for list of sources used. ~ J. B. Johnsen-Seeberger, Librarian
This page was last updated on 6/18/04
| Everything Was
Possible: The Birth of the Musical Follies by Ted Chapin As a gofer for the production team of Stephen Sondheim’s landmark musical Follies, Chapin knew something big was happening. He kept a journal that became the basis of one of the most important books ever about mounting a big-budget Broadway show.(ALBA) |
Michelangelo &
the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King. Tells the story of the four years Michelangelo spent painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, explaining how he and his assistants worked, discussing his struggles with finances, ill health, and other difficulties, and examining the political and personal rivalries that shadowed the project. (BL*, LJ, RRBN) |
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Runaway Girl: The
Artist Louise Bourgeois by Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan Beautifully illustrated with photographs, this intriguing biography portrays the rebellious life of progressive sculptor Louise Bourgeois. (BBYA) |
Counterpoint by Frederick Turner In this extraordinary first novel about the meteoric life of musician Bix Beiderbecke, Turner conjures America in the late 1920s, when bootleg booze and red-hot jazz could be found in almost any speakeasy across the country. (ALAN) |
| Yes, Yes Y’all: The
Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade by Jim Fricke Presents personal observations on the early days of hip-hop music and culture as it developed from New York City in the 1970s, and includes photo-graphs, as well as vintage photos and posters.(NYPL) |
Japanese Comickers: Draw Anime and
Manga Like Japan’s Hottest Artists (HarperCollins/ Harper Design
International) Draw new worlds and characters like the professionals. Detailed information from artists who are creating the new anime faces of the future. |
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| Goya by Robert Hughes Hughes, art critic for Time, offers an expert, passionate, and profound appreciation for Goya’s revolutionary genius, "immense humanity," and indelible works of both bold satire and epic tragedy in a fresh and dynamic portrayal of the great painter, his powerful oeuvre, and his volatile world. (ALBA) |
What's Up, Dawg?:
How to Become a Superstar in the Music Business by Randy Jackson with K.C. Baker "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson reveals his secrets to making it big in the music industry, offering musicians and singers advice on finding their musical style, networking with the industry's power players, and landing a record deal. (O) |
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No Fixed Points:
Dance in the Twentieth Century by Nancy Reynolds & Malcolm McCormick Twentieth-century dance encompasses an astonishing range of innovations and styles, thanks to the vision of a group of seminal choreographers, who are sensitively profiled in conjunction with authoritative analyses of their work in this outstanding dance history. (ALBA) |
100 Suns:
1945–1962 by Michael Light The "suns" Light presents to readers in this unprecedented and unforgettable photography collection are manmade: aboveground atomic detonations captured on film both in the Nevada desert and at sea, terrifyingly beautiful images that remind readers of the apocalyptic might of nuclear weapons. (ALAB, BL*) |
| Are Universes
Thicker than Blackberries? : Discourses on Godel, Magic Hexagrams, Little
Red Riding Hood, and Other Mathematical and Pseudoscientific Topics
by Martin Gardner. A collection of essays in which Martin Gardner reflects on a variety of topics related to science, mathematics, literature, philosophy, religion, and mysticism. (C) |
The Art of the
Infinite: The Pleasures of Mathematics by Robert Kaplan and Ellen Kaplan Presents a tour through the world of mathematics, focusing on the concept of the infinite. (SLJ) |
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The Music of the
Primes: Searching to Solve the Greatest Mystery in Mathematics by Marcus Du Sautoy Explains German mathematician Bernard Riemann's theory about the origins and patterns of prime numbers. |
The Geography of
Thought: How Asians and Westerners think Differently ... and Why by Richard E. Nisbett Examines differences between the ways Westerners and East Asians think, describing specific cognitive patterns regarding mathematics, language, and other subjects, and discussing the implications of these differences for international politics. (NYT, LJ*) |
| Everything and
More: a Compact History of Infinity by David Foster Wallace Traces the history of the theory of infinity, explaining how mathematicians have attempted to prove or disprove the theory and how it is applied in mathematics. (NYT) |
Modern Physics
and Ancient Faith by Stephen M. Barr Argues that science and religion are not incompatible, and analyzes five scientific discoveries, including the Big Bang theory, unified field theories, anthropic coincidences, Godel's Theorem in mathematics, and quantum theory to see how they reinforce Judeo-Christian beliefs. (LJ, C, B) |
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Prime Obsession:
Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics by John Derbyshire Traces the history and background of the Riemann Hypothesis, discussing the impact it has had on the field of mathematics since it was first developed in 1859. (NYT, SBF, BL) |
A Mathematician
Plays the Stock Market by John Allen Paulos Explains what the tools of mathematics can teach people about the vagaries of the stock market. "With accustomed humor and apt examples, Paulos tackles complex computations that are vaguely understood and frequently misapplied by Wall Street pros."(K*) |
| The Confessions
of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer Max Tivoli has an unusual malady: born with the appearance of an elderly man, he appears progressively younger and younger as he ages. He recounts his inverted but ultimately rewarding life, set in late-19th-century San Francisco. His dilemma is illustrated by his relationship with Alice Levy, his first and only love. Tivoli transforms a quirky idea into something surprisingly and genuinely affecting. (NYT, LJ*, BL*) |
Alva & Irva : The
Twins Who Saved a City by Edward Carey. Irva, a young recluse, and Alva, her adventurous twin sister, struggle with their opposing natures and difficulty living apart, eventually coping by constructing a miniature version of their fictional European hometown--a model that serves an unforeseen purpose when tragedy strikes. (ALAN) |
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Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan In this adventurous fantasy, Henry Atherton, a teen from “our world,” and his octogenarian employer join forces with an animal-loving boy from the faerie world who is in “mortal” danger. (BBYA) |
Midnighters #1:
The Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld Upon moving to Bixby, Oklahoma, fifteen-year-old Jessica Day learns that she is one of a group of people who have special abilities that help them fight ancient creatures living in an hour hidden at midnight; creatures that seem determined to destroy Jess. (VOYA, K) |
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Fairie-Ality: The
Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand by Eugenie Bird What will the fairies wear this season? Gerbera daisy bell-bottoms or snakeskin bikinis? This fashion catalog for the wee folks will set the trends. (BBYA) |
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| The Amulet of
Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. Nathaniel, a young magician's apprentice, becomes caught in a web of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion, after he summons the djinni Bartimaeus and instructs him to steal the Amulet of Samarkand from the powerful magician Simon Loveland. BBYA, LJ VOYA, BL*, LMC*) |
Firebirds: An
Anthology of Original Fantasy and Science Fiction Ed. by Sharyn November This collection of previously unpublished sf and fantasy short stories showcases popular and award- winning authors of the genre. (VOYA, LJ, BL) |
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Jarka Ruus by Terry Brooks. Grianne Ohmsford, having denounced her former life as the Ilse Witch and devoted herself to the greater good as Ard Rhys, the High Druid of Paranor, is still plagued by enemies from her past, and when she suddenly disappears, her faithful servant Tagwen joins with Grianne's nephew Pen, and the powerful elf Ahren, on a desperate rescue mission. (VOYA, WSH) |
Sorcery &
Cecelia; or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede &Caroline Stevermer. In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards. |
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September 11, 2001:
Attack on New York City |
Getting Away with Murder: The True Story of the
Emmett Till Case by Chris Crowe Using archival photographs and primary sources, Crowe describes how the Mississippi murder of 14- year-old Emmett Till contributed to the civil rights movement. (VOYA, SLJ*, WSH, BBYA) |
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Coal: A Human
History by Barbara Freese Facts and anecdotes examine the historic, scientific, economic, political, cultural, and literary aspects of coal, as well as the current debates about energy consumption, developing nations, and global warming. (BBYA) |
Inside the Alamo by Jim Murphy Primary sources and lively text describe the events that led to General Santa Anna’s victory at the battle of the Alamo. (VOYA, BL*, BBYA) |
| Hard Times: An
Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel. A variety of people who lived through the Great Depression describe their memories of that time. (WSH, WPL) |
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Beyond the River: The Untold Story of the
Underground Railroad |
An American Plague: The True and Terrifying
Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 by Jim Murphy This gripping account explores how yellow fever disrupted the federal government, divided the medical establishment, and destroyed the lives of thousands of Philadelphians. (2004 Robert F. Sibert Medal winner, Newbery Honor Book, BBYA) |
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Triangle: The
Fire That Changed America by David Von Drehle. Chronicles the events surrounding the fire at the Triangle shirtwaist factory which broke out on March 25, 1911, killing more than one hundred factory workers who were trapped after the fire broke out, and discusses how the fire changed the work force in America. (NYT, LJ, ALAN) |
33 Things Every Girl Should Know About Women's History by Tonya Bolden Uses poems, letters, essays, photographs and more to present the actions and achievements of women in the United States throughout history, up to the present day. (NYPL) |
| The Tree of Life:
A Book Depicting the Life of Charles Darwin, Naturalist, Geologist & Thinker by Peter Sis Material from Darwin’s own diaries and detailed illustrations by the author introduce the nineteenth-century scientist who sailed around the world and wrote a book that changed it. (BBYA) |
Six Wives: The Queens
of Henry VIII by David Starkey In Starkey’s account of the fates of the six wives of England’s king Henry VIII, the detail is profuse but luscious. Truly, this is history made as fluent and compelling as excellent fiction. (LJ, K, BL, ALAB) |
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Flavor by Rocco Dispirito He runs one of the most successful restaurants in New York City. He is seen everywhere from David Letterman to Good Morning America to the Food Network. He has graced the cover of Gourmet magazine as "America's Most Exciting Young Chef"—and Zagat calls him a "rock star." Now, Rocco DiSpirito unleashes his culinary magic with Flavor. (O) |
Gellhorn: A
Twentieth-Century Life by Caroline Moorehead Acclaimed biographer Moorehead offers a riveting portrait, the first, of Martha Gellhorn, intrepid world traveler, war correspondent, and true free spirit, who covered the twentieth’s century’s most horrific conflicts, married and divorced Ernest Hemingway, and devoted herself to bearing witness to life on the edge. (ALAB) |
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Me and Orson Welles by Robert Kaplow Acting in the play "Julius Caesar" and learning about love. (NYPL) |
A.L.T.
by Andre Leon Talley Tells the story of Vogue's editor and the women in his life. (NYPL) |
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| When Hollywood Had a
King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence Connie Bruck In this riveting account of power-broking in Tinseltown, Bruck shows how Lew Wasserman managed both to end the era of movie moguls -by freeing the stars of the 1940s from their studio contracts) and then to become the greatest mogul of them all - by realizing that television was an opportunity not a threat). (NYT, ALAB) |
Lightning
Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse by Kenneth Silverman Chronicles the life of Samuel Morse, focusing on the evolution of his invention of the Ameri-can electro-magnetic telegraph. Masterful biographer Silverman’s great talent, in this exemplary work about the inventor of the electric telegraph, lies in the way he refrains from expostulating directly, allowing Morse’s habits and actions to speak through his own words. (NYT, BL*,LJ*, K*, ALAB) |
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Surviving the Extremes: A Doctor's Journey to the Limits of
Endurance Physiological constraints confine our bodies to less than one-fifth of the earth's surface. What happens when we go to extremes? Dr. Kenneth Kamler has spent years observing exactly what happens. A vice president of the legendary Explorers Club, he has climbed, dived, sledded, floated, and trekked through some of the most treacherous and remote regions in the world. (O) |
The Sky's the Limit by Catherine Thimmesh Thimmesh honors the curious and brilliant women who have changed the world with their research in such fields as astronomy, biology, medicine and anthropology. (NYPL) |
| Close to Shore:
The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo In 1916, mass hysteria grips the Jersey coast when a shark terrorizes the shoreline in this account of one of the first documented shark attacks.(BBYA) |
Double Helix by Nancy Werlin. Eighteen-year-old Eli discovers a shocking secret about his life and his family while working for a Nobel Prize-winning scientist whose specialty is genetic engineering. (TeenReads, VOYA, SLJ*) |
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How Angel
Peterson Got His Name and Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports by Gary Paulsen Paulsen recounts the bizarre, daredevil feats that he and his friends attempted during their Minnesota childhood.(BBYA) |
Blind Lake by Robert Charles Wilson Blind Lake, a large federal research installation, is home to scientists observing a city of lobsterlike aliens on a distant planet, including an ex-husband-and-wife team who must find a way to put their differences aside when they become isolated due to a military cordon placed on the site. (NYT, LJ, |
| Shutterbug
Follies by Jason Little In this graphic novel, Bee’s job as a photo-lab technician leads her into a bizarre murder mystery involving an art photographer’s grisly subjects. (BBYA) |
Sophie by Guy Bert In disturbing conversations with his hostage, the mysterious Sophie, Mattie recounts his traumatic childhood. A dark, provocative thriller. (BBYA) |
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| The Devil in the
White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson. Tells the parallel stories of Daniel Burnham, the main architect of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and serial killer Henry H. Holmes, discussing the challenges Burnham faced in creating the hugely successful White City, and looking at how Holmes used the opportunities afforded by the fair to lure victims to their deaths. |
The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Christopher, a 15-year-old autistic teen who can solve quadratic equations in his head but can’t bear to be touched, solves the mystery of who murdered his neighbor’s dog. (BBYA) |
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Signal & Noise by John Griesemer A rousing historical adventure set in the mid-nineteenth century, an ambitious, technology-obsessed era much like our own. Brilliant engineer Chester Ludlow is soon transformed into a mesmerizing showman when he becomes involved in the laying of the trans-Atlantic cable. Meanwhile, his wife, Lily, still grieving the death of their child some years before, embarks on an intense spiritual quest in an attempt to communicate with her dead daughter. (ALAB, BL*) |
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn. The first in a proposed trilogy set in ancient Japan, telling the story of Takeo, a sixteen-year-old saved from a massacre by the mysterious Lord Otori, who struggles to reconcile his dual nature--the one given him by the Hidden, the pacifist people among whom he was born and raised, and the one inherited from his father, a celebrated assassin. |
| The Meaning of
Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer Coming of age in 1950s Puerto Rico, Consuelo discovers herself as she observes her disintegrating family and the way life is changing on the island. (BBYA) |
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho; translated by Alan R. Clarke A young Spanish (Andalusian) shepherd seeking his destiny travels to Egypt where he learns many lessons, particularly from a wise old alchemist. The real alchemy here, however, is the transmuting of youthful idealism into mature wisdom. in this eloquent parable. Basic, rich, philosophical allegories for questions teenagers have. (LJ) |
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Living to Tell
the Tale by García Márquez Nobel laureate García Márquez tells the entrancing story of his remarkable family, chronicles the turbulence of his troubled country, Colombia, and offers a piquant portrait of himself as a struggling young writer. A resplendent memoir written with compassion and artistry. (BBYA) |
Acceleration by Graham McNamee While working a summer job in the subterranean lost-and-found office of the Toronto Transit Commission, Duncan discovers a lost journal containing a man’s plans to murder women. (BBYA) |
| Tree Girl by Ben Mikaelsen From the safety of a tree, Gabriela witnesses the destruction of her Mayan village and the murder of nearly all its inhabitants. She and her traumatized sister find safety in a Mexican refugee camp and face their fears. |
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| The Cave by Jose Saramago; translated from the Portuguese by Margaret Jull Costa Cipriano Algor, an elderly potter who lives with his daughter and her husband, has turned to making dolls for sale at the Center, a huge complex of shops, apartments and sensation zones, near his village. A chance discovery there sends him and his family fleeing in terror. A dark, allegorical tale juxta-posing a rural existence with artificial modern life and examines love, relationships, and family. (Nobel Prize for Lit, ALAN) |
Brick Lane : A
Novel Monica Ali. Nanzeen, married off to an older man, moves from her Bangladeshi village to live with him in London in the 1980s and 1990s, where she raises a family, learns to love her husband, and comes to a realization that she has a voice in her own life. (NYT, BL, WF, K*) |
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Star of the Sea by Joseph O'Connor On a ship leaving Ireland for America during the Famine, Pius Mulvey, a notorious, sinister criminal, is pressured by a group of fellow steerage passengers to kill the lord who recently evicted them, while Mary, the lord's family nanny and the woman Mulvey abandoned years ago, wonders what his intentions are. (NYT, LJ*, K*) |
Reading Lolita in
Tehran : A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi Nafisi presents a memoir of her life in post-revolutionary Iran, focusing on her organization of a group of young women in 1997 who met secretly once a week to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. (LJ*) |
| A Great and
Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray In 1895 Victorian England, after her mother’s tragic death abroad, 16-year-old Gemma Doyle finds herself embroiled in a decades-old supernatural mystery at a stuffy finishing school. (BBYA) |
Feed by M.T. Anderson This futuristic novel is about an America that has given itself over to consumerism. Corporations have direct access to people's minds via a "feed," a computer chip that's implanted directly into people's brains when they're young. No one sees a need for education, because the only things anyone wants to do are chat and purchase merchandise, which they can do mentally. Titus and his friends are the quintessential representatives of this society-until Titus meets Violet, and his world changes. Violet received her feed implant later than most of her peers, so she can read, and she thinks about world issues. This work will spark discussions about the ways in which corporations, the Internet, and the breakdown of education influence teens' lives. (WSHS, LMC, SLJ) |
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Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood Protagonist Jimmy, a.k.a. "Snowman," is perhaps the only living "remnant" (i.e., human unaltered by science) in a devastated lunar landscape where he lives by his remaining wits and remembers. Having once led a life of comfort and self-indulgence, he struggles to function without everything he once knew, including time, he reflects on the past, on his relation-ships with two characters named Oryx and Crake, and on the role of each individual in the destruction of the natural world. From its opening scene, in which the children of Crake scavenge through debris, to its horrifying conclusion, the book is Atwood's impassioned plea for responsible management of our human, scientific, and natural resources. (NYT, ALAB, BL*, LJ*) |
Messenger by Lois Lowry. In this novel that unites characters from "The Giver" and "Gathering Blue," Matty, a young member of a utopian community that values honesty, conceals an emerging healing power that he cannot explain or understand.(NYT, SLJ, BL*, K*) |
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| Singing the
Dogstar Blues by Alison Goodman This highly entertaining novel mixes genres. Daughter of a sperm donor and a mother who is a famous newscaster, Joss is a wild, fun-loving girl who plays the harmonica. Her life turns upside down when Mavkel, the first Chorian to visit Earth, comes to study time travel and selects Joss to be his study partner at the Centre for Neo-Historical Studies. She finds plenty of excitement and danger with him and becomes fascinated with his heritage, especially with the fact that the Chorians are a harmonizing species of twins who communicate through song. Mavkel is telepathically crippled and in danger as a result of an accident that claimed his twin so the partners embark on a dangerous, illegal journey back in time. (VOYA, K*, SLJ*, BBYA, H) |
Ilium |
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Mortal Engines: A
Novel by Philip Reeve. Tom, a third class history apprentice and orphan Hester live in a frightening future in which technology has been lost and tiered cities move about the Earth on caterpillar tracks like tanks, often "devouring" smaller cities, have many dangerous adventures as they unravel the mystery of who is trying to resurrect an ancient atomic weapon hidden in London's core. (VOYA, LJ*, RR, K*) |
Changing Planes by Ursula K. Le Guin Presents sixteen linked stories about travelers who visit other planes of existence.Presented as travelers' tales about different planets (or "planes of existence"), the stories fit well together as a meditation on culture and what it means to be human. (NYT, LJ*) |
| Pringle, Peter.
Food, Inc.: Mendel to Monsanto—the Promise and Perils of the Biotech Harvest by Peter Pringle A journalist provides a balanced and thought- provoking view of the economic, ecological, and political controversies surrounding genetically modified food. (ALA) |
Krakatoa: The Day
the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 by Simon Winchester An eloquent, and fascinating account of the cataclysmic explosion of the East Indian volcanic island of Krakatoa in 1883. As exciting as the details are, Winchester gives us a wealth of further information, setting the incident within the contexts of Dutch rule in the East Indies and the region’s flora and fauna. (NYT, LJ*, BL*, SLJ, ALAB) |
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Stiff: The
Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach Roach exams the afterlife of human cadavers in this humorous, touching, and respectful look at how scientists utilize the human body.(BBYA) |
The Secret Life
of Germs by Dr. Philip Tierno They're everywhere. silent and invisible to the naked eye...and despite the remarkable advances of science, germs are challenging medicine in ways that were unimaginable just a decade ago. In the face of an explosion of infections, the author reveals exactly where the greatest threats may be hiding. (O) |
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The Big Splat, or
How Our Moon Came To Be by Dana Mackenzie. Provides an explanation of how the moon originated based on the findings and speculations of scientists William Hartmann and Alastair Cameron. (ALAB, SBF, BL*) |
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| Monster of God:
The Man-Eating Predator in theJungles of History and the Mind by David Quammen. Explores the nature of the world's largest predators and the variety of human attitudes towards them, discussing how both have changed throughout history. Dragons, sharks, Manchurian tigers, crocodiles, and other big flesh eaters are the focus of this multi-faceted examination of, as well as a moving meditation on, the earth’s changing communities. (NYT, LJ*, SBF, C, RRBN) |
The Greatest
Experiment Ever Performed on Women: Exploding the Estrogen Myth |
The Miraculous
Fever Tree: Malaria and the Quest for a Cure That Changed the World |
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Enough: Staying Human in an
Engineered Age by Bill McKibben Technological advancements are proceeding so rapidly that we will soon need to make decisions about how much technology is enough. McKibben makes genetic engineering understandable even to those who are not techno-savvy. A disturbing though ultimately optimistic book that examines the arguments against technological advancements that come eerily close to leaving behind humanness. (NYT, ALAB, BL) |
| Keesha’s House by Helen Frost In this novel, told in sestinas and sonnets, troubled kids who are forced to leave their homes find their way to Keesha’s House. A 2004 Printz Honor Book. (BBYA) |
Risking
Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation Edited by Roger Housden Presents more than one hundred poems on the joy of loving without fear, by such writers as Billy Collins, Czeslaw Milosz, Seamus Heaney, Emily Dickinson, William Wordsworth, and Goethe. (NYPL, BL) |
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Smoking Lovely by Willie Perdomo Our Nuyoricon laureate. In the case of Perdomo, a veteran slam poetry performer and author of Where a Nickel Costs a Dime, making the psychic shift whereby the CD becomes the primary document makes for a transformative "reading" experience. (NYPL) |
Alabanza by Martin Espada A Latino lyric voice with a tough, ironic style showcased in a collection of poems written between 1982 and 2002.. (NYPL) |
| Nine Horses:
Poems by Billy Collins. A collection of poems by 2002-2003 Poet Laureate of the United States, Billy Collins. "and why I bother to tell you these things" (NYPL) |
You Are Here This Is Now by David Leviathan David, editor Scholastic, 2003 Poems, stories, essays and art by teens. (NYPL) |
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Outlandish Blues by Honoree Jeffers Bold work with a gospel beat. Jeffers derives her form and jaunty, deal-with-it attitude from the blues, an American tradition that beats back despair with wit, élan, and grace. (NYPL, Booklist) |
Dress Your Family
in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris Humorous stories firmly camped in American. Sedaris's sense of life's absurdity is on full, fine display, as is his emotional body armor. Fortunately, he has plenty of both. (K) |
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You Remind Me of You by Eirann Corrigan A memoir of her life during high school told through poetry. In this eloquent and moving poetic memoir, Corrigan recounts her descent into anorexia and her bargaining with a suicidal ex-boyfriend - she would eat if he would live, and he did. (NYPL) |
A Few Short Notes on
Tropical Butterflies Murray’s stunning story collection examines well-educated, successful characters whose lives seem doomed by forces of science and heredity. The stories are set in intriguing locations across the globe—a cholera tent in the slums of Bombay, for example—yet they all live most vividly in the world of emotion. (ALAB) |
| Dirt Music: A
Novel by Tim Winton. Luther Fox, failed band musician, has taken up life as an illegal fisherman following the deaths of his family members in a freak accident. He and Georgie Fox, a woman with a bleak past who is living with newly wealthy lobsterman Jim Buckridge, embark on a relationship that spells danger for everyone involved. (LJ) |
Frozen Rodeo by Catherine Clark High-school junior Peggy Fleming Farrell finds herself without a car, working at the Gas 'n Git, and fantasizing about a boyfriend during the hot summer her distracted parents are expecting yet another baby to join their ice-skating family. (NYPL, VOYA) |
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White Midnight by Dia Calhoun Rose, discounted as timid, ugly, and inconsequential by her community, faces her fears and “the thing” in the attic in order to save her beloved Greengarden. (BBYA) |
Staring Down the
Dragon by Dorothea Buckingham Rell is in remission from cancer but can’t quite resume her normal life; no one truly understands what she’s been through or how the disease has changed her life. (BBYA) |
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Prep by Jake Coburn Former “tagger” Nick is forced back into the prep school gangster underworld in order to save the younger brother of his best friend. (BBYA) |
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| Love by Toni Morrison The late Bill Cosey, one-time owner of the Cosey Hotel and Resort, a hot spot for vacationing African-Americans, is kept alive through the memories of the women he loved and who were loved by him. When gorgeous and amoral Junior arrives in the Southern coastal town of Silk, chance brings her to a deadly crossroads. She talks herself into a job at the center of a love/hate feud between two elderly women, the remaining members of a clan who once defined Silk's African American elite. |
Wonder When
You’ll Miss Me |
First Part Last |
The Clarinet
Polka by Keith Maillard. In 1969, young Jimmy Koprowski returns from his stint in the air force to his blue-collar Polish-American hometown, where he struggles to rebuild his life. Maillard brings home the warmth of community in his heartfelt depiction of this depressed war vet who is saved by the red-hot music of an all-girl polka band. This hilarious, often sentimental novel is ultimately a joyous, foot-stomping celebration of the human spirit. (NYT, ALAB) |
Veron Good Little Vernon God Little tells the story of a fifteen year old boy, who stands accused of a high school massacre. An un-forgettable innocent, Vernon is surrounded by a cast of grotesque adults, all of whom are determined to see him as a scapegoat for their own failings. (NYT, 2003 Booker Prize) |
| Bobbed Hair And
Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the Twenties by Marion Meade Meade brings swinging detail to the Algonquin Hotel's Round Table, a.k.a. the "Gonk," as well as to other locales. Culled from diaries, letters, interviews, and other sources, Meade's book gives immediacy to the pain in the lives of these women, as evidenced by their insecurities, illnesses, alcoholism, failed relationships, attempted suicides, and insanity. Recommended by Kate Friedman |
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Nostromo |
Jane Austin Book
Club by Karen Joy Fowler Five women and one man in California's Central Valley begin a six-month series of romantic entanglements after forming a Jane Austen book discussion club. We come to see their lives through Austen's immortal novels. Recommended by Kate Friedman (BL, BR, K)
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Rabbit-Proof Fence: The True
Story of One of the Greatest Escapes of All Time |
| Bookends : a
novel by Jane Green The relationship between four long-time friends, living happily with each other in London's West Hampstead, becomes severely strained when the stunningly beautiful Portia, another friend from college, shows up looking to reconnect with the group. (BL, K, LJ) Recommended by Rachel Fitz |
Violet & Claire
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The Da Vinci Code:
A Novel by Dan Brown Investigating the murder of a Louvre curator, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu find clues painted into a Da Vinci work, inadvertently uncovering a plot involving the Holy Grail and the secret society known as the Priory of Sion. (NYT, BL, LJ, VOYA) Recommended by Eric Totong |
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Sources Used:
Book plot synopsis taken from the sources listed below.
NYPL's "Teen Link"& "Books for the Teenage"(NYPL)
YASLA
Amazon Teenage
Booklist (BL)
Book Report (BR)
Reading Rants (RR)
ALA Notable Books (ALAN)
ALA Best Adult (ALAB)
Best Books for Young Adults (BBYA)
Hornbook (H)
Library Media Connection (LMC)
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
School Library Journal (SLJ)
Choice (C)
New York Times (NYT)
Kirkus (K*starred)
Booklist (B)
Library Journal (LJ)
Library Media Connection (LMC)
Reference and Research Book News (RRBN)
Science Books & Films (SBF)
TeenReads (TR)
Wilson Sr. High School (WSHS)
Wilson Fiction
Wilson Senior High School (WSH)
Wilson Public Library (WPL)
