10th_Summer Reading_2009 - Friends' Central School

More documents

Recommendations

Info

16. The Hours by Michael Cunningham Ms. Ewen “Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself.” This famous opening line of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is the thread that intertwines the lives of three women in Cunningham’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel—Virginia Woolf herself, Laura Brown, a housewife who turns the pages of Woolf’s novel, and Clarissa Vaughn, a modern Manhattanite whom we meet as she sets out to buy flowers for a party she’s giving. The novel traces a day in the life of these three women who are separated by history but who are drawn to the fictional character of Mrs. Dalloway and the parts of their own lives they see in hers. 17. Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen Mr. MacFarlane An admired former professor of mine at college includes Gish Jen in her list of the top ten underappreciated American Women writers, "one of the funniest and most free-wheeling novelists of the multicultural 90s." This first got me interested in reading her. When I saw the Amazon.com description of the title character of this novel, I thought many students here might appreciate an introduction to the author as well. Mona, it tells us, is "a self-described 'self-made mouth' [who] goes to temple, loves pickles, is boy-crazy, worries about getting into the right college and keeping up with her over-achieving sister, and wishes her parents were less strict. Her equally Jewish Westchester classmates hardly notice what everyone else finds hard to forget: Mona may be Jewish by choice (and voice) and American by nationality, but her surname is Chang and she is considered less an expert on seders and schmaltz than China." 18. We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg Ms. Haimm From borders.com: It is the summer of 1964. In Tupelo, Mississippi, the town of Elvis's birth, tensions are mounting over civil-rights demonstrations occurring ever more frequently -- and violently – across the state. But in Paige Dunn's small, ramshackle house, there are more immediate concerns. Challenged by the effects of the polio she contracted during her last month of pregnancy, Paige is nonetheless determined to live as normal a life as possible and to raise her daughter, Diana, in the way she sees fit – with the support of her tough-talking black caregiver, Peacie. As the summer unfolds, hate and adversity will visit this modest home. Despite the difficulties thrust upon them, each of the women will find her own path to independence, understanding, and peace. And Diana's mother, so mightily compromised, will end up giving her daughter an extraordinary gift few parents could match.
17. Idea Factory: Learning to Think at MIT by Pepper White Mr. Buckingham “Getting an education at MIT is like getting a drink of water from a firehose,'' says one of White's fellow students in this grad school memoir. Test anxiety, lab-project drama, and stylish prose propel White's recollections with enough force to make three years of engineering study compelling, even to readers committed to the liberal arts. The professors' egos, the career stakes, and the quizzes are presented as intense. This is a personal story of the educational process at one of the world's great technological universities. Pepper White entered MIT in 1981 and received his master's degree in mechanical engineering in 1984. His account of his experiences, written in diary form, offers insight into graduate school life in general--including the loneliness and even desperation that can result from the intense pressure to succeed--and the purposes of engineering education in particular. The first professor White met at MIT told him that it did not really matter what he learned there, but that MIT would teach him how to think. 18. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith Ms. Plunkett From the book jacket: The first novel in Alexander McCall Smith’s widely acclaimed The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series tells the story of the delightfully cunning and enormously engaging Precious Ramotswe, who is drawn to her profession to “help people with the problems in their lives.” Immediately upon setting up shop in a small storefront in Gaborone, she is hired to track down a missing husband, uncover a con man, and follow a wayward daughter. But the case that tugs at her heart, and lands her in danger, is that of a missing eleven-year-old boy, who may have been snatched by witch doctors. 19. Why Is Sex Fun: The Evolution of Human Sexuality by Jared Diamond Mr. Vernacchio If you enjoyed Jared Diamond’s visit to FCS this Spring and his intellectual yet approachable way of talking about complex subjects – or if you’re just interested in human sexuality – this is a great book for you. Diamond calls humans the “animals with the weirdest sex lives” and in this book he explores the evolutionary path that led to such behaviors as sex for pleasure, sex as a private behavior, the role of the human male in sex, and the reason for female menopause; the topics are hetero-centric, but fascinating nonetheless. Written in a scholarly and scientific tone, this book is certainly not a “how-to” manual, but rather an interesting exploration of why humans behave the way they do. As Diamond says in his preface, “…the book may help you understand why your body feels the way it does, and why your beloved is behaving the way he or she is.” 20. 1984 by George Orwell Mr. Dankoff In a world where Big Brother is always watching you and Thought Police can practically read your mind, Winston Smith is in grave danger for the simple reason that his memory still functions. Written in 1949 amidst the anti-communist hysteria of the Cold War, the novel depicts a future totalitarian government that censors everyone’s behavior and thoughts. Winston is disgusted with his oppressed life and secretly longs to join the fabled Brotherhood, a supposed
Page 1 and 2: FRIENDS’ CENTRAL SCHOOL 10 TH GRA
Page 3 and 4: seems impossible that someone from
Page 5: 11. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kha
Page 9: selling out. This wonderfully frank

10th_Summer Reading_2009 - Friends' Central School

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?