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12th Grade Book RecommendationsHappy Reading!Jack Snyder, Freakonomics, by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt - Freakonomics examines what is behind certain statistics, and explains interesting statistical anomalies, as well as uses statistics and logical reasoning to inform people on things like how to be a good parent, cheating in sumo wrestling, etc.Andalib Khokhar, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom. A maintenance man named Eddie passes away after saving a little girl from getting killed by an amusement park ride. The story talks about the five people Eddie meets as he travels to heavenAndalib Khokhar, Saga (comic book), by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. The comic is about a husband and a wife from two different species who hate each other, and their journey fleeing authorities as they raise their daughter, Hazel (This series is extremely graphic).Nina Svirsky1. ????Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This follows the lives of two Nigerian lovers, one who moves to England and one who moves to the United States, as they grapple with distance and racial/cultural alienation.2. ????The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. This is an eerily realistic science fiction story that shows the increasing control of the government over women’s lives. Not just for feminists – a great read!3. ????Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut. Funny, insightful, book inside of a book story that offers some great teasing of American society. Memorable characters make it hard to put the book down.Otto Harder1. ????His Dark Materials Trilogy (Golden Compass etc.), by Philip Pullman: really well written sci-fi fantasy book about a girl who gets wrapped up in a multiverse conflict and a lot of existential stuff happens. A bit hard to explain but very well written and widely regarded as one of the best sci-fi books of the last 50 years. Good for young teens to adults.2. ????Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. If you’ve heard of this at all, I probably don’t have to explain why I recommend it. Witty, funny, and smart sci fi widly regarded as a classic. –Word, Rayat3. ????Gunnerkrigg Court, by Tom Siddel (Comic). This one is a bit more of light reading. Imagine sci fi/fantasy Harry Potter but extremely engaging and well written, and with some mystery elements as well. Its an ongoing webcomic, that’s been running for quite some time, so be warned that the earliest few chapters are a bit underwhelming compared to the later body of work.Rayat Rahman1. ????The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick. An alternate history (sci-fi?) novel where the Axis has won the war and the USA is split into Japanese and German territories. An author in this world is writing an alternate history novel where the Allies win! Super well written and follows memorable characters and their experiences in this race-envy-commenting, at-times existentialist novel. Won the Hugo award!2. ????Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom. A melancholy story by first time writer Albom, where Albom himself starts a tv show documenting the slow death of his favorite college professors years after they part ways, every Tuesday. Morrie is lovable and the book really pulls at the heartstrings. Read it!Lauren Puglisi1. ????Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nina already recommended it but I also love it)2. ????Tell the Wolves I’m Home, by Carol Rifka Brunt. A coming of age story told from the point of a whimsical girl who lost her artistic Uncle, who was her best friend, to AIDS at the start of the epidemic, but meets a man at his funereal who helps her through her sadness. Although sad, it is a page turner which is incredibly touching and sweet.Carmen Chen1. Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into values (ZAMM), by Robert M, Pirsig – published in 1974, it is a book on the works of philosophical fiction and the first of Robert Pirsig’s text in which he explores his Metaphysics of Quality 2. Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo – novel follows lives of several characters and interaction of several characters especiall Jean Valjean an ex convict.3. Cosmos, by Carl Sagan ?- Carl Sagan’s collection of his reflection on extraterrestrial life, anthropological, cosmological, biological, historical, and astronomical matters.Jamila Amanfu, The Cinder Series, by Marissa Meyer: it’s about this half human-half robot girl who tries to save her planet from being taken over by the evil lunar queen. Cinder, the main character, has superpowers that makes her the only one able to defeat the queenSneha Sargunam, Going Bovine, by Libba Bray. ?This book is about a 16-year-old boy who is diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jacob, ?or “mad cow” disease. ?He goes on an adventure with Dulcie, an angel who is his guide, and Gonzo, a gay dwarf, to find Dr. X and a cure for his disease. ?Talia Smith, Warriors Don't Cry, by Melba Patillo BealsEtiange Domoa, Sold by Patricia McCormick AND The Host ?by Stephanie MeyerSara Zakrzewski: The Bad Seed by William MarchLin Li: Haveli by Suzanne Fisher StaplesKelly Collao: The Book Thief by Markus ZusakEric Kwan: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared DiamondMS. GORDON’s Recommendations (in no particular order):**Find book summaries on Goodreads, Barnes and , and/or !Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (REALISTIC FICTION)A beautifully written, very dark coming-of-age story about a girl who--after years of town-hopping with her dad--finally settles down in a small town for her senior year of high school. She meets a strange, troubled group of students and starts to uncover disturbing aspects of their shared pasts. So intelligent it will knock your socks off. Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (NARRATIVE NON-FICTION)Erik Larson chronicles the build-up to--and execution of--the Chicago World Fair in thoroughly engaging detail. Woven into the narrative of triumph is a decidedly creepier story about the basement executions of innocent, unsuspecting women who have come to the fair only to meet (and die at the hands of) a charming psychopath. So thrilling you won’t be able to put it down.The Once and Future King by T.H. White (FICTION/ FANTASY/ PHILOSOPHY)One of the oldest tellings of the King Arthur story. T. H. White uses the narrative framework of Arthur and the Round Table to deliver mind-blowing philosophical essays on the essence of humanity. One of my all-time favorites. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (FICTION)One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. Through the examination of several different relationships, Kundera espouses wisdom about what it means to live and love. Just read it.Ms. Palmer’s recommendations (in no particular order…):1. ????Anywhere But Here, by Mona Simpson. A beautifully written book about a teenage girl and her fun but emotionally unstable mother, and their adventures together in Los Angeles.2. The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster. AS meta-fiction detective trilogy, for fans of high-minded, mind-blowing mystery.3. Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots, by Jessica Soffer. This book chronicles an interesting relationship between a troubled teenage girl in NYC and an elderly widow, and how they bond through cooking. The narration switches between the 2 characters.4. The Love Song of Jonny Valentine, by Teddy Wayne. A very funny book that follows a preteen boy who's a major pop star (kind of a Justin Bieber-type character). 5. Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout. A Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of linked short stories about different people in a small town in Maine.6. Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris (or any of his other books). Sedaris is a hilarious essayist who writes about his wacky family and everyday life. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)7. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. This sci-fi book is about a boarding school where something is quite off and it's a mystery about what exactly it is. 8. Mona in the Promised Land, by Gish Jen. This book takes place in the 1960s, and follows a family of Chinese-Americans, who move to a rich town outside of New York City. It's about the clash of cultures, told from the perspective of a teenage girl.9. The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez. This book chronicles the many points-of-view of a range of Hispanic immigrants to a small town in contemporary Delaware.10. Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng: This novel begins with the death of a teen girl who's half-Caucasian and half-Asian. Slowly, through an exploration of her family's secrets and background, the mystery of how she died is revealed. 11. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr. This year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel takes place during World War II and switches narration between a blind French girl and a German orphan recruited to join the Nazi Youth.12. Euphoria, by Lily King. Loosely based on the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead, this novel is about a woman studying native tribes in New Guinea--it’s part romance, part adventure, part mystery.13. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel. This is a new post-apocalyptic novel about a wandering tribe of actors.14. Rainey Royal, by Dylan Landis. A gorgeously written novel about 2 offbeat, bohemian teenage girls in 1970's New York--specifically, the East Village.15. How to Build a Girl, by Caitlin Moran. A hilarious coming-of-age novel about a music-loving, trouble-seeking teenage girl growing up in poverty in the UK.16. Redeployment, by Phil Klay: This year’s National Book Award-winning collection of short stories is about soldiers deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.17. Long Division, by Kiese Laymon. This book is a gripping ride through 3 different time periods--now, the ‘80s, and the ‘60s, and a fun and interesting exploration of race, culture, and language.18. Tenth of December, by George Saunders. This is the book of short stories I told you about in class, by one of the graduation speakers: Each story uses a hint of science-fiction to create contemporary social commentary. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)19. The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt. Last year’s Pulitzer Prize-winning page-turner follows 13-year-old orphan Theo from NYC to Las Vegas to Amsterdam, among other destinations, as he deals with loss and adventure.20. Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, by David Rackoff. A beautiful and poignant, hilarious but heartbreaking novel written in verse. This story follows a variety of characters, and was written shortly before this beloved writer’s death from cancer.21. Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter. A gorgeous novel that follows an Italian inn-keeper and his almost-love affair in the 1960s, plus contemporary Hollywood types 50 years later; the decades-spannign story comes together almost magically.22. The Age of Miracles, by Karen Thompson Walker. This novel, narrated by a preteen girl, takes place in a world like ours, only the Earth's rotation is slowing down so that each successive day becomes a bit longer. 23. The Fever, by Megan Abbott. This quick page-turner takes place in a high school in which girls have started mysteriously getting quite sick. It's a light mystery.24. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. A hilarious satirical novel told through mixed media--letters, emails, FBI documents, bills--about an offbeat family and architecture. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)25. The Sense of an Ending, by Julian Barnes. An elegant screed about philosophy, memory, and our incomplete understandings of ourselves. It’s a beautiful and mind-blowing page-turner.26. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. Part psychological thriller, part chronicle of debauched youth, this novel follows a group of friends at an elite college and a mysterious and morally questionable murder. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)27. Salvage the Bones, by Jesym Ward. This 2011 National Book Award winner is known as the best novel about Hurricane Katrina. It’s written like poetry--visceral and lyrical--following a family as they anticipate the storm.28. Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray. A funny, wacky novel about an eclectic range of characters at a boarding school in Dublin.29. The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. This beautiful and funny novel follows a baseball star at a Midwestern college, and a cast of other characters at the school. It’s about ambition, and love, and anxieties in the modern age. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)30. Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles. Set in 1938 New York, this novel follows 25-year-old Katey Kontent from her life as a lower-middle-class secretary to the upper tiers of NY society.31. The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton. Perhaps the most account early 20th century high Manhattan high society, this novel both satirizes and celebrates this world’s conventions. (Note: Ms. Palmer’s newest book includes an extended allusion to this novel.)32. The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides. Set in 1970s Michigan, this novel is told from the first-person plural POV of neighbors to?a family of 5 sisters who all killed themselves (the movie is wonderful too).33. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides. This 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows the life of Cal, who’s being raised as a girl but is hormonally a boy. The book also deals with the Greek-American immigrant experience and the rise and fall of Detroit. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)34. Absurdistan, by Gary Shteyngart. This laugh-out-loud funny book chronicles the adventures of Misha Vainberg, the 325-pound son of the 1,238th-richest man in Russia, as he struggles to return to his true love in the South Bronx.35. The Magus, by John Fowles. This post-modern metafictional novel follows a British English teacher on a Greek island who becomes embroiled in the psychological illusions of a master trickster. (Fun fact: This was Ms. Palmer’s favorite book in high school, and for her high school graduation, her parents got her a first edition that’s still on her bookshelf today!) **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)36. A Visit from the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan. This 2011 Pulitzer Prize winner is about music, self-destruction and redemption. Among the many linked stories it tells, we hear from aging punk rocker record executive Bennie and his troubled assistant Sasha. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)37. The Jew of Home Depot, by Max Apple. This wise, funny, heartbreaking book of short stories is by Ms. Palmer’s college mentor.38. Lucy, by Jamaica Kincaid. This beautiful novella follows a woman from the West Indies who comes to the U.S. to be an au pair for a wealthy white family.39. Disturbances in the Field, by Lynn Sharon Schwartz. This novel about friendship, family, and music follows a girl’s then a mother’s coming of age and events that can jolt us into disarray.40. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, and Skinny Legs and All, both by Tom Robbins. Robbins is known for his irreverent satire and his poetry. His novels are full of social and philosophical commentary, and the plots are crazy and free-wheeling and fun.41. The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth. This novel reimagines an alternate version of American History: In 1940, aviator and isolationist Charles Lindbergh is elected president and he negotiates a cordial “understanding” with Hitler, governing the United States with folksy anti-Semitism.42. Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. This essay collection is the ultimate guide for writers, full of beautiful and important gems (“Shitty First Drafts” comes from this book). **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)43. Birds of America, by Lorrie Moore. Moore is known as one the best American short story writers today. Her stories are darkly funny and beautiful and devastating.44. Girls of Riyadh, by Rajaa Alsanea. This novel follows 4 upper-class Saudi women living in Riyadh, uncovering their struggles, dreams, and hopes as they navigate their traditions and the modern world. It’s been described as the Saudi “Sex and the City.”45. The Hotel New Hampshire, by John Irving. This quirky 1980s novel follows the Berrys and their 5 kids as they remake an abandoned girls’ school into a hotel in New Hampshire. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)46. Lush Life, by Richard Price. This crime mystery, written by one of the writers of HBO’s The Wire, is a tale of 2 Lower East Sides: one a high-priced bohemia, the other a home to hardship. When a hipster is shot to death by a street kid from the “other” LES, crime ripples through the city.47. The Way the Crow Flies, by Anne-Marie MacDonald. Set in the 1960s on a Canadian Air Force base, infused with the excitement of the space race the menace of the Cold War, 8-year-old Madeleine narrates this sweeping tale where a series of secrets slowly come out.48. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote. Considered the first ever “true crime” nonfiction book, this story chronicles the 1959 murders of 2 farmers and 2 of their 4 children. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)49. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros. This series of poetic vignettes form a coming-of-age tale of a young Latina girl growing up in Chicago.50. Prep, by Curtis Sittenfeld. This insightful coming-of-age story follows a 14-year-old transplant from a small town in Indiana to a prestigious prep school, and dissects class, race, and gender, as well as adolescent angst and ambition.51. On Beauty, by Zadie Smith. Smith is one of the most celebrated African-American authors currently writing. This novel follows an interracial family living in a university town and deals with family, politics, and the culture of political correctness.52. A Fan's Notes, by Frederick Exley. This fictional memoir of a New York Giants fan traces the narrator’s descent into the underside of American life through the crackup of his family, his personal despair, and his alcoholism.53. Special Topics in Calamity Physics, by Marisha Pessl. An exciting murder mystery, this novel is narrated by teenager Blue van Meer, who falls in with a clique of eccentrics known as the Bluebloods.54. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon. For fans of comic books, this sweeping novel takes place in 1939 NYC and follows two young artists creating the first successful comic books as World War II begins abroad. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)55. Sophie's Choice, by William Styron. Winner of the 1980 National Book Award, this gorgeous but devastating book concerns a writer and a couple living in a Brooklyn boarding house after World War II; the couple includes a Jewish man and a Polish survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. The plot centers around a tragic decision Sophie was forced to make upon entering the concentration camp. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)56. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. This famous memoir recounts Walls’ impoverished childhood in West Virginia with her brilliant but psychologically unstable parents; it’s a gripping read. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)57. In the Woods, by Tana French. A fascinating thriller that begins as a murder mystery set in 1980s Dublin and continues on 20 years later as a detective sets out to solve both a contemporary murder and the one from two decades earlier, as the details of the two are eerily similar.58. No One Belongs Here More than You, by Miranda July. This short story collection chronicles a series of awkward, quirky, unusual characters and their small moments that transcend the everyday. 59. All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren. This 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel portrays the political rise of governor Willie Stark in the 1930s American South, and is narrated by a political reporter who becomes Stark’s right-hand man.60. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz. In this hilarious contemporary novel set in New Jersey and Santo Domingo, narrator Oscar is a self-described “ghetto nerd” who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkein and of finding love. **(seconded by Ms. Gordon)61. Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri. This 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of short stories showcases characters navigating between their inherited Indian traditions and their American lives. Lahiri’s writing is elegant and touching and gorgeous.62. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. This 1997 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a chilling postapocalyptic tale of a father and son walking alone through burned-out America.63. Asterios Polyp, by David Mazzucchelli. A dazzling graphic novel about a New York architect in search of love and life meaning.64. Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann. This 2009 National Book Award-winning novel is set in 1970s New York and narrated by a range of characters. The central plot event is the real-life feat of a man tightrope-walking between the Twin Towers, 110 stories in the air. 65. If you Follow Me, by Malena Watrous. This novel follows a recent college graduate who moves to Japan to teach English shortly after her father’s suicide. She navigates Japanese culture and forges a complicated relationship with her female roommate.66. The Golden Notebook, by Doris Lessing. This 1962 novel explores mental and societal breakdown through the narration and notebook recordings of writer Anna Wulf, and is a famed examination of the budding women’s liberation movement, as well as the European anti-Communist movement.67. Local Girls, by Caroline Zancan. This Miami-based story follows three recent high school graduates and their experience with a national celebrity. It’s a wonderful exploration of female friendship and growing up.(Lastly, a shameless plug: You might also consider reading my own two books, Pretty in Ink and If We Lived Here.)Cheers, Ms. Palmer. ................
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