Honors students must read the following books (and, of course, everyone else is also invited to read them):

Chinua Achebe  Things Fall Apart The Ibos of Nigeria experience the dangers of European culture.

James Joyce  Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man The autobiographical story of Stephan Dedalus.

William Shakespeare  Othello Falsely led by jealous Iago, the noble Moor Othello questions his faithful Desdemona.

George Bernard Shaw  Saint Joan Leading France against England, a young girl claims to hear the voices of saints.

Virginia Woolf  Mrs.Dalloway This stream of consciousness novel examines what is really important to our lives.

18th and Early l9th Century Fiction

Jane Austin  Emma In this book on which the movie Clueless is based, Emma matchmakes for nearly everyone.

Charles Dickens  Hard Times Condemning the Industrial Revolution, this novel shows the power of imagination over facts.

George Eliot  The Mill on the Floss Like George Elliot herself, Maggie has a rebellious but noble spirit.

Oliver Goldsmith  The Vicar of Wakefield A rural family faces sudden poverty, seduction, and other difficulties.

Anthony Trollope  The Warden Septimus Harding kindly cares for the old man until someone questions his ample pay check.

Anthony Trollope  Barchester Towers A satire on the power struggle caused by the arrival of a new bishop and his ambitious wife.

Late 19th and Early 20th Century Fiction

Wilkie Collins  The Moonstone Often considered the first modern mystery, it begins with the theft of a yellow diamond.

Joseph Conrad  Lord Jim This challenging book addresses how a young man comes to terms with his fears of cowardice.

John Galsworthy  The Man of Property An examination of the relationship between material well being and happiness.

D. H. Lawrence  Women in Love Its four-way affair is not unlike the author's own with his wife and their close friends.

Somerset Maugham  Of Human Bondage A handicapped orphan shuns the clergy for unrequited love in Paris.

Somerset Maugham The Moon and Sixpence Like Gaugin, Charles Strickland leaves business in Paris to paint in the Pacific.

Contemporary Works

Kingsley Amis  Lucky Jim A cynical yet amusing view of academic culture.

Maeve Binchy   The Lilac Bus A collection of stories about the people who ride the lilac bus on their weekends.

Maeve Binchy The Copper Beech Passion and fear bring people together to reveal both crimes of the heart and murder.

Christy Brown   My Left Foot A look at the world from a man with cerebral palsy.

A. S. Byatt  Possession Like the French Lieutenant's Woman, a mixture of the Victorian Period and the modern era.

G. K. Chesterton  The Man Who Was Thursday:  A Nightmare A surrealistic detective story in turn-of-the-century London.

A. C. Cronin  The Citadel A young doctor is lured to London for riches and fame, risking the loss of his wife and his values.

Daphne Du Maurier  Rebecca The manor house is beautiful and so was the first wife whose memory still haunts it.

E. M. Forster  Maurice Set in 1913 but published in 1971, this coming-of-age novel focuses on sexual identity.

Graham Greene  The Heart of the Matter Integrity gives way to dishonor and murder.

Graham Greene The Human Factor This spy novel involves old warriors with a secret connection in South Africa.

P. D. James  Devices and Desires This psychological mystery involves a serial killer and a nuclear power plant.

Gish Jen  Typical American A Chinese family comes to America where personal history collides with world history.

Charles Johnson  Middle Passage A freed slave on a slave ship headed for Africa instigates a mutiny.

William Melvin Kelley  A Different Drummer Grass root struggle for dignity comes out of the struggle for human rights.

Gus Lee  China Boy  A young boy grows up in a family that makes it difficult to be either Chinese or American.

Cormac McCarthy  All the Pretty Horses  A sixteen-year-old boy rides out of Texas on horseback to escape the collapse of his family and the pressures of life.

Brian Moore  Black Robes  A novel set during the time of the Jesuit attempt to "save" the souls of the natives of Canada.

Toni Morrison  The Bluest Eyes  Pecola believes that she would be beautiful if only she had blue eyes.

Iris Murdoch  The Green Knight This novel asks us to decide if an action is self-defense or attempted fratricide.

Gloria Naylor  Linden Hills  The question of sacrificing one's self for success is explored.

Edna O'Brien  Country Girls Barbara and Kate come to Dublin from the west.   Kate to marry and Barbara to seek fortune.

Ellis Peters  Monk's Hood Detective story with Brother Cadfael, an 11th century monk.

Ellis Peters A Morbid Taste for Bones Another story with Brother Cadfael, rich with local color of the Medieval Period.

Barbara Pym  Jane and Prudence Jane, the vicar's wife, prefers matchmaking to homemaking when Prudence comes to visit.

Barbara Pym Some Tame Gazelle With pathos and humor, it explores the quiet lives of middle aged Belinda and her sister Harriet.

Henry Roth  Call It Sleep  David sees the ugliness of immigrant life and the angst of his eastern European parents.

Isaac Bashevis Singer  Enemies: A Love Story  It tells of the effects of the Holocaust on a survivor who settles in Brooklyn.

Monica Sone Nisei Daughter A Japanese-American girl and family are sent to an internment camp in Idaho during WWII.

Evelyn Waugh  Brideshead Revisited Captain Ryder nostalgically remembers his seduction by the aristocratic Marchmains.

Fay Weldon  Letters to Alice: On First Reading Jane Austin Using Austin as a guide, the author advises her niece.

Edith Wharton  Age of Innocence  In Old New York scandal is worse than disease.

Marianne Wiggins  John Dollar  Stranded on a desert island, two adults and eight students deal with issues of survival.

Virginia Woolf  To the Lighthouse  Using stream of consciousness, Woolf deals with our relationship to the small issues of life.

Drama

Fania Fenelon  Playing for Time Women survive the concentration camps by playing for time on their musical instruments.

Athol Fugard  Master Harold and the Boys  Love can overcome cultural differences.

Brian Friel  Translations  A clash of cultures makes Yolland and Marie similar to Romeo and Juliet.

Oliver Goldsmith  She Stoops to Conquer  In this comedy written in 1773, women use their intelligence to get their way.

Sean O'Casey  Juno and the Paycock  The Boyles illuminate the follies, evils, and strength of Ireland in a time of turmoil.

Richard Sheridan  The School for Scandal  Containing elements of Restoration comedy, the play explores scandal and love.

Tom Stoppard  Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead  Minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet take on major roles in this existential comedy.

J. M. Synge  The Playboy of the Western World  Ireland's great playwright captures the essence of the Irish spirit.

Non-Fiction

Brendan Behan  Confessions of an Irish Rebel  An autobiography.

Dominic Behan  My Brother Brendan

Wilfred Blunt  The Dream King

Anthony Burgess  Shakespeare

Ellis Close  The Rage of the Privileged Class This book explores the prejudice encountered by affluent African-Americans.

Jill Ker Conway  The Road from Coorain: An Autobiography  The first women president of Smith College writes of her growing up in Australia.

Joan Didion  Miami  This study of a city of exiles, immigrants, glamour, and glitter is always linked to Cuba.

Christopher Hibbert  The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici  Story of Lorenzo il Magnifico of Florence.

Elspeth Huxley  The Flame Trees of Thika  Moving to Kenya, the author's family starts a coffee plantation.

Nancy Mitford  Frederick the Great  The story of the Austrian emperor.

Nancy Mitford  The Sun King  The story of Louis XIV, his court, and the power struggles that ensued.

Frank O'Connor An Only Child

A. L. Rouse  William Shakespeare

Albert Speer  Inside the Third Reich

Barbara Tuchman  The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam or Guns of August  Story of the first thirty days of World War I.

NOTES ON SUMMER READING

Use this format for recording your notes on each of the five books you read this summer.

Title:

Author:

Setting:

Major Characters: 

Plot Summary (limited to three sentences):

Theme: 

Personal Reaction/Evaluation: