AP English 4 Summer Reading

15 downloads 2077 Views 29KB Size Report
On the first day of class, bring in your annotated The Kite Runner and What is the. What as well as any notes you may have on these novels. Papers based on ...
1

AP ENGLISH ACADEMIC YEAR 2008-2009 SUMMER READING1 Required Titles The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini ISBN: 1-594-48000-1 What is the What, Dave Eggers ISBN: 0307385906 Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules, ed. David Sedaris (short stories) ISBN: 0-7432-7394-X Why Read?, Mark Edmundson (non-fiction) ISBN: 978-1582346089

Riverhead Trade McSweeney’s

Simon & Schuster Paperbacks Bloomsbury Publishing

As you read the required titles, annotate the passages you feel are particularly significant or interesting. On the first day of class, bring in your annotated The Kite Runner and What is the What as well as any notes you may have on these novels. Papers based on Summer Reading (Due the first Monday class meets) 1)

Using your annotated passages as a foundation, compose a 5-7 page formal compare and contrast analytical essay on the following question: How would Deng and Amir answer the question, “What is the What?” Be sure your paper has a creative title, an introduction with a specific controlling idea / thesis which takes a risk, body paragraphs featuring textual quotations and plottranscending inferences which expand upon the quotations, and a conclusion which briefly summarizes the paper then broadens the context of the paper and ponders your topic’s greater relevance.

2)

1

Beginning on page 25 of Why Read?, Edmundson begins his discussion of ‘the final narrative,’ in other words, how your life of reading has helped shape your view of important questions and the world in general. How has reading helped shape your view of justice, arts, athletics, the future, your family, your politics, your idea of love, and your very identity? In 3-5 pages and written in the first person, compose your own final narrative. This assignment is purposefully open-ended. Focus on being thoughtful and

For any questions, contact Mr. Pawlyk at [email protected] or Ms. Dennig at [email protected].

2 introspective about your reading experience. Create a literary memoir; there is no thesis or quotation requirement. **

Early in the first quarter we will also work on a writing assignment based on the short story anthology – Children Playing before a Statue of Hercules.

**

Haunt your local bookstores, read books you’ve never been able to get to, follow up on other people’s recommendations, and pick up the New York Times Book Review on Sundays. Just keep reading!

Some Books We Recommend for Your Enjoyment The Road – Cormac McCarthy This most recent Pulizter Prize winner is a great post-apocalyptic novel by a modern master. Read it as a thoughtful member of the 21st century, as father and son travel across this postapocalyptic desolation of the United States in search of survival and hope. The Diagnosis – Alan Lightman An amazing tale of one man’s struggle to cope in a strange world, even as his own biological wiring short-circuits. As Boston’s Red Line shuttles Bill Chalmers to work one summer morning, something extraordinary happens. Suddenly, he can’t remember which stop is his, where he works, or even who he is. The only thing he can remember is his corporate motto: “the maximum information in the minimum time.” Bill’s memory returns but a strange numbness afflicts him. As he attempts to find a diagnosis for his deteriorating illness, he descends into a nightmarish tangle of inconclusive results, his company’s manic frenzy, and his family’s disbelief. Ultimately, Bill discovers that he is fighting not just for his body but also for his soul. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safron Foer Oskar Schell - an amateur inventor, astrophysicist, tambourine player, and pacifist - is the 9-yearold hero-narrator of the novel. Oscar uses his precocious vocabulary and boundless curiosity as he searches New York for the lock that matches a mysterious key belonging to his father who was killed in the September 11 attacks. He unlocks more secrets than he suspected. Water for Elephants – Sara Gruen Having freshly escaped from the rigors of Cornell University, Jacob Janowski literally runs away with the circus. His adventures are captivating, and the novel’s characters are both poignant and memorable. An interesting aspect of the novel is the circus lore we learn throughout Jacob’s adventures. the curious incident of the dog in the night-time – Mark Haddon Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in years.

3 American Gods – Neil Gaimen Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. Until he learns that she’s been killed in a terrible accident. Flying home for the funeral, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever be the same. The Bookseller of Kabul (non-fiction) – Asne Seierstad The author, a 31-year-old war reporter, writes of her year living with an Afghani family living under fundamentalist Islam rule. Although the book is non-fiction, it reads like a great novel. Empire Falls – Richard Russo This Pulitzer Prize winner tells us of a small town in Maine and a little café owned by a man whose dreams have gone unfulfilled. He is saddened by his recent divorce as well as his exwife’s weight loss and engagement to super-idiot gym owner Walt, but most of all, he is still deeply affected by his childhood crush (currently a waitress in his café). His Dad expels gas in any imaginable social setting and is always stealing money from him, but most of all he’s worried about his teenaged daughter Tick, who seems to have the weight of the world (plus her backpack) on her shoulders. Great comedy and drama about life in a small town - - relatable, readable, excellent (particularly if you have deep regrets OR have ever worked retail). The Glass Castle (non-fiction) – Jeanette Walls As the memoir opens, Jeanette sees her mother from across the street, rummaging through a dumpster in New York City. Jeanette turns and walks away without a word. In the pages that follow, a haunting, loving, stark, humorous, dysfunctional narrative chronicles a family’s journey from California to West Virginia to New York; from quirky interactions, to dire poverty, to acceptance of each other and life’s challenges. Beasts of No Nation – Uzodinma Iweala Here we meet Agu, a young boy from West Africa who transforms from a Bible-loving loving child into a guerrilla warrior in a vicious civil war. Agu’s commander proves to be a perverse substitute for his own murdered father and Agu becomes, essentially, a drugged up amoral beast. The transformation from boy to beast is harrowing, but more amazing is the process of selfforgiveness, one which features the tragic mantra, “I am not a bad boy, I am not a bad boy.” This is an astounding first novel. Me Talk Pretty One Day – David Sedaris In Sedaris’ second collection, he gives us about 25 short tales of his life and observations. Particularly memorable are “Go Carolina” (about his childhood speech impediment), “The Youth in Asia” (about his family’s propensity for prematurely killing off their pets), and “Me Talk Pretty One Day (a tale about his attempt to overcome learning gender words in French, leading him to observe “. . . I find it ridiculous to assign a gender to an inanimate object incapable of disrobing and making an occasional fool of itself”). Typical Sedaris and a GREAT summer read.

4 A Long Way Down – Nick Hornby It is New Year’s Eve and four strangers are walking down the streets of London. They make their separate ways to the roof of “Toppers House” to commit the ultimate act of desperation - suicide. The failed rock musician, the 18-year old depressive, the single mother, and the TV host whose life has fallen apart all meet by chance shortly before jumping. Friendships develop and fights, a vacation, and innumerable conversions all take place in this unique novel in which the four protagonists serve as narrators of each respective chapter. This author of best-seller High Fidelity succeeds again at combining heartbreak and humor yet again for a great summer read.