Whether or not these books are on your required reading list this year going back to school, here a few great books that I ended up loving, reading them long after the bell rang for summer break.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
What's it About?
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the mysteriously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s.
Why Must You Read it?
I am sure you have been the movie. The one with Leonardo DiCaprio? If not, DEFINITELY pick up this book right now and prepare for greatness. Great Gatsby seriously is one of the best American Lit novels from the first time I read it to now. A wannabe writer, a mysterious man, and a deadly love interest is sure to please.
The Giver by Lois Lowery
What's it About?
Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a seemingly ideal world. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver does he begin to understand the dark secrets behind this fragile community.
Why Must You Read it?
This is a classic novel that reads like a favorite dystopian YA. Or utopia? You decide whether to see the world in black and white or let in color like Jonas begins to within a world where love is not quite concrete enough, but reason to fight and live forward in hope for a better world.
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
What's it About?
A young girl's coming-of-age at the turn of the century, Betty Smith's A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a poignant and moving tale filled with compassion and cruelty, laughter and heartache, crowded with life and people and incident. The story of young, sensitive, and idealistic Francie Nolan and her bittersweet formative years in the slums of Williamsburg has enchanted and inspired millions of readers for more than sixty years. By turns overwhelming, sublime, heartbreaking, and uplifting, the daily experiences of the unforgettable Nolans are raw with honesty and tenderly threaded with family connectedness -- in a work of literary art that brilliantly captures a unique time and place as well as incredibly rich moments of universal experience.
Why Must You Read it?
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn seems to fly under the radar, but ever since I read it before entering high school, before I even knew it was a classic, it still manages to be one of my favorites as it enters the life of a young girl creating a portrait of beautiful life even in the cruel light it sometimes manages to shine on us.
Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
What's it About?
Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...
Why Must You Read it?
If you are getting ready to binge the Hulu award winning series, best to pick up this story to prepare. The story haunts me to this day from when I read it one summer a few years ago and makes one really think about the world women live in today and if we are getting a little too close to becoming a Republic of Gilead. Luckily, we have plenty of people like Offred ready to fight back and question what is right. This is the dystopia for the feminist generation.
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
What's it About?
Anne Frank's extraordinary diary, written in the Amsterdam attic where she and her family hid from the Nazis for two years, has become a world classic and a timeless testament to the human spirit. Now, in a new edition enriched by many passages originally withheld by her father, we meet an Anne more real, more human, and more vital than ever. Here she is first and foremost a teenage girl—stubbornly honest, touchingly vulnerable, in love with life. She imparts her deeply secret world of soul-searching and hungering for affection, rebellious clashes with her mother, romance and newly discovered sexuality, and wry, candid observations of her companions. Facing hunger, fear of discovery and death, and the petty frustrations of such confined quarters, Anne writes with adult wisdom and views beyond her years. Her story is that of every teenager, lived out in conditions few teenagers have ever known.
Why Must You Read it?
Anne Frank's diary is an insight into the mind of a person that may have been never seen. When I read this book along with my class, there was not one of us who was bored or weren't as into the story and the history that went along with the life of Anne Frank as our teacher was. The writing is wonderful and so is the feeling of spirit Anne left behind in each word.
And my brother's recent must read you may have seen in a common high school classroom...
1984 by George Orwell
What's it About?
Among the seminal texts of the 20th century, Nineteen Eighty-Four is a rare work that grows more haunting as its futuristic purgatory becomes more real. Published in 1949, the book offers political satirist George Orwell's nightmare vision of a totalitarian, bureaucratic world and one poor stiff's attempt to find individuality. The brilliance of the novel is Orwell's prescience of modern life--the ubiquity of television, the distortion of the language--and his ability to construct such a thorough version of hell.
Why Must You Read it?
When I asked my brother why everyone must read it he gave to long of a reply to coherently type. Let's just say he loved it and thinks it gives a fantastic commentary not only of when the book was written, but society today. Plus, the plot was pretty awesome.
Has anyone else given those books left behind in high school libraries a second shot since they left, or care to now? Any favorites I left out in my tiny list?
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