Our grade 12 students did their final exams last week and I helped supervise the tests. I was with students in the library, and as supervisors, our job is to move among the students to ensure security, so we are not allowed to sit, catch up on our work, or check emails. Or read!
After several hours, most students had finished and left, and there were only a handful remaining which were well spaced apart. As I cruised in circles around the library, I began to scan the sets of books stacked on the counters and in the returns carts as I walked by. MacBeth, To Kill a Mockingbird, Life of Pi, Tuesdays with Morrie, War Child, A Long Way Gone, The Kite Runner, Of Mice and Men, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. How many of these had I read?
I mentally ticked off A Long Way Gone, as this was our school-wide reading project this year, a first hand account of the horrors of life as a child soldier in Africa. I’d read MacBeth when I was in high school, and more recently read Life of Pi, Tuesdays with Morrie, and Of Mice and Men, so I ticked those off, too. It was tempting to try to read one of the others on the sly during the next hour or so.
Soon there was one student left, and I found myself scanning all the shelves. Did they have any 808.02 books (writing books)? (To my disappointment, they did not.) What could a book called Guns, Germs and Steel be about? There were many intriguing titles. I found a sticky note and jotted down some of them to add to my reading list.
On the counter I also saw a sign that said “Summer Reading”, and nabbed one of the sheets of paper in the box. I was happy to see that I’d read a few of the ones on the list (but not many), and now have more recommendations of new works to balance out my many old books that I’ve recently acquired.
Here are the books that one teacher is recommending to our students. See how many you’ve read. Should they be on a list of top-notch books? Did you enjoy them, or not? Do any of the others strike your interest?
1984 – Orwell
The AshGarden – Bock
The Bean Trees – Kingsolver
The Chosen – Potok
Crime and Punishment – Dostoevsky
CrowLake – Lawson
Davita’s Harp – Potok
Fifth Business – Davies
The Grapes of Wrath – Steinbeck
Great Expectations – Dickens
The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald
Heart of Darkness – Conrad
The Hero’s Walk – Badami
The Kite Runner – Hosseini
House of the Spirits – Allende
The Lovely Bones – Sebold
Life of Pi – Martel
The Metamorphosis – Kafta
Monsignor Quixote – Greene
The Mosquito Coast – Theroux
My Name is Asher Lev – Potok
Frankenstein – Shelley
No Great Mischief – MacLeod
Obasan – Kogawa
The Outsider – Camus
The Poisonwood Bible – Kingsolver
Pride and Prejudice – Austen
A Separate Peace – Knowles
Snow Falling on Cedars – Guterson
The Stone Angel – Laurence
Things Fall Apart – Achebe
Under the Ribs of Death – Marlyn
The Wars – Findley
Wild Geese – Ostenso
Windflower – Roy
WutheringHeights – Bronte
Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, MacBeth, The Tempest – Shakespeare
Happy Summer Reading!
Happily Writing 
After reading the post, I realized I have a lot of work to do. I’ve read The Great Gatsby last year. I wanted to read the book first before watching the film adaptation.
I have lots of books to read after attending the Calgary Reads and found books on my Goodreads to-read list.
I’ll take note of the list and add it to my ever-growing list.
Thanks for the recommendation.
Ah, yes, that ever-growing list. It’s almost impossible to try to read them all, but don’t you just love carrying it around with you, all those intriguing titles? So glad you enjoy the books and the lists as much as I do, and wishing you lots of reading time this summer!