summer reading lists

Was cleaning off my desk and found the summer readings lists from Uni High School in Irvine, CA, which I had picked up last year when I went to my childhood library in Irvine with Brooke. (Which, by the way is such a cool library. There was this spiral ramp leading up to the grown up section that was fun to play in.) We wanted to see how many of the books we'd actually read, and use them for ideas of things to read. As if we needed that. Since I've held on to these lists for so long, I thought I'd share them. You too can see how much (or little) you have in common with the literary habits (or coercions) of today's youth and add fodder to that to-read list on Good Reads. I've only read a few of these. Should I be ashamed? This is the high school that I would have almost gone to had my family not moved and put me in Catholic prep school, which just brings back horrible memories of staying up all night while my mom read Lord of the Flies out loud to me so I would stay awake because the summer reading test was the next day which we had only barely found out about since I had only barely enrolled...

University High School Summer Reading List

Incoming Freshman
Ender’s Shadow, Orson Scott Card
Charms for the Easy Life, Kaye Gibbons
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
Sister of my Heart, Chitra Divakaruni
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith
Timeline, Michael Crichton

Incoming Sophomores
A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Betty Smith
The Red Pony, John Steinbeck
Falling Leaves, Adeline Yen Ma
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya
Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
Peace Likre A River, Leif Enger
A Lesson Before Dying, Ernest J. Gaines

Incoming Juniors
The Forest House, Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart
Absolution by Murder, Peter Tremayne
The Queen’s Man, Sharon Kay Penman
The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, Robin Maxwell

Incoming Seniors
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
Nervous Conditions, Tsitsi Dangarembga
The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle
The Samurai’s Garden, Gail Tsukiyama
Five Quarters of the Orange, Joanne Jarris
The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

So how many can you check off this list?