International School of Florence. Grades 9 and 10 Summer Reading List 2018

Transcription

1 International School of Florence Grades 9 and 10 Summer Reading List 2018 NB grades referred to are those for September 2018 In order to be well prepared for next year we ask for students to read the following books during the summer. Many of the texts can be purchased at Paperback Exchange, or online at Grade 9 Speak by Laurie Anderson Grade 10 The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho Italian Grade 10 Mario Tobino, Biondo era e bello, Mondadori. We suggest that in addition students read at least one work in English during the summer, for pleasure and to ensure that they do not lose language skills. Here are some suggestions of possible texts:

2 Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families- -in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte For decades, people have enjoyed losing themselves in the stories of classic literary characters, including the passionate feuding of Cathy and her tempestuous lover, Heathcliffe. The novels of Emily Brontë remain as popular, relevant, and enjoyable for the modern reader as they were for their contemporary readership, continuing to sell in the thousands, this novel will remain a must-read for generations to come. The Stranger by Albert Camus

3 Albert Camus' novel The Stranger addresses the issue of conformity within society, and the specific repercussions pertaining to the minority, (the non-conformists), such as Camus' absurd protagonist Mersault. Camus uses Mersault to glorify the isolation of one who does not fit the modern social standards, therefore revealing societies true judgments upon a man who lives in an alternate fashion. Mersault's existentialist view is judged by society as a lack of morality, thus using Mersault as a minute example of a more universal situation, and exemplifying the societal plague of conformity. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is another intriguing study of identity and color contrast in the early to mid-twentieth century. Like the other works we ve studied so far our main character is acutely aware of his otherness in society, but it is his journey to understand his grandfather s last words that really seems to make the narrative a unique one in the sea of race/ethnicity novels at the time. Among his otherness characteristics it is most interesting that the narrator/main character is never allowed his name, and this is the most intriguing of all. Lord of the Flies by William Golding

4 William Golding's coming-of-age commentary on human nature, 1954's Lord of the Flies, has ignited controversy and debate almost since its time of publication. The novel details the situation of a group of English schoolboys left to fend for themselves on an isolated island following the crash of the plane meant to evacuate them from their war torn homes. The Illiad by Homer In Homer's great work, The Illiad, the hero Achilles is driven on by an ever increasing desire to preserve his memory in ages to come. This wish for everlasting life or fame is an integral part of Western culture as a whole. Achilles wish to become immortal through the society he was part of is a lasting tradition, even today. Achilles quits the battle on the shores of Troy so that he may escape his mortal fate. This decision is made in part because of a prediction that his immortal mother made at Achilles request. If he should stay his life would be a happy one, but no one was to remember him in years to come. If he should go to Illion, he would achieve everlasting glory but never return home. After the death of Patroclus, Achilles realizes the folly of chasing everlasting life and instead rejoins the fight to obtain the mortal equivalent, through glory. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

5 In The Bell Jar, Plath's character Esther is a product of the male-dominated society in which she lives. Esther is a very intelligent woman and has much education; however, her environment has restrained her by indicating that health and fashion are the only appropriate things for women to know. Buddy tells her that a poem is "a piece of dust." In contrast, Buddy expects Esther to take an interest in his job as a doctor, which he sees as much more important. Similarly, in her college dorm Esther can only gain respect when she is invited by Buddy to the Junior Prom. Even her magazine job, with all the free makeup the girls get and the cooking luncheons, implies that women must be attractive and have etiquette lessons if they want to be successful. Animal Farm by George Orwell Animal Farm is a political fable telling the story of how the animals of Manor Farm rise up and rebel,ousting Mr. Jones the farmer,and taking control of the farm. The main characters are Major, Napolian, Snowball, and Squealer, these are the pigs, the most intelligent animals on the farm. Boxer and Clover are two carthorses who are not very clever but work hard on the farm for the cause and believe everything they are told. Major is the most important character as he stirs the animals into thinking about higher things. Napolian, is not much of an orator but likes to get his own way. Snowball is a more lively character, more engaging to the other animals than Napolian, and Squealer is a good orator, winning round the animals with his clever words. Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

6 Robert Louis Stevenson s classic novel, Treasure Island(1883) tells the story of young Johnny Hawkins, who lives with his mother and helps her manage the Admiral Benbow inn. One of the tenants is a strange and mysterious Billy Bones, who had been a pirate. After some time had passed, Billy Bones had a frightening visitor, Black Dog. The two pirates begin to quarrel and eventually, Billy Bones is killed and Black Dog is injured. A series of pirates visit and young Mr. Hawkins finds a map in the dead pirate's chest. Johnny realizes that the map is valuable and immediately takes it out of the chest and hides it. That s when the adventure really begins. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. The 1969 novel Slaughterhouse - Five is a dark satire written by American author Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut tells the story of Billy Pilgrim, a soldier who by chance becomes unstuck in time, and therefore has the ability to travel to different points in his life both past and present. Throughout the novel many ideas are explored, two of the most important ones being the concept of time, as well as the effect of war on those involved. Time plays a very large role in Slaughterhouse - Five, as the novel presents the life of Billy Pilgrim in nonlinear fashion, by way of the various journeys which he randomly undergoes both backward and forward in his lifetime. Full List of recommended readings by the College Board

7 Author Title -- Beowulf Achebe, Chinua Things Fall Apart Agee, James A Death in the Family Austen, Jane Pride and Prejudice Baldwin, James Go Tell It on the Mountain Beckett, Samuel Waiting for Godot Bellow, Saul The Adventures of Augie March Brontë, Charlotte Jane Eyre Brontë, Emily Wuthering Heights Camus, Albert The Stranger Cather, Willa Death Comes for the Archbishop Chaucer, Geoffrey The Canterbury Tales Chekhov, Anton The Cherry Orchard Chopin, Kate The Awakening Conrad, Joseph Heart of Darkness Cooper, James Fenimore The Last of the Mohicans Crane, Stephen The Red Badge of Courage Dante Inferno de Cervantes, Miguel Don Quixote Defoe, Daniel Robinson Crusoe Dickens, Charles A Tale of Two Cities Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Crime and Punishment Douglass, Frederick Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Dreiser, Theodore An American Tragedy

8 Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers Eliot, George The Mill on the Floss Ellison, Ralph Invisible Man Emerson, Ralph Waldo Selected Essays Faulkner, William As I Lay Dying Faulkner, William The Sound and the Fury Fielding, Henry Tom Jones Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby Flaubert, Gustave Madame Bovary Ford, Ford Madox The Good Soldier Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von Faust Golding, William Lord of the Flies Hardy, Thomas Tess of the d'urbervilles Hawthorne, Nathaniel The Scarlet Letter Heller, Joseph Catch-22 Hemingway, Ernest A Farewell to Arms Homer The Iliad Homer The Odyssey Hugo, Victor The Hunchback of Notre Dame Hurston, Zora Neale Their Eyes Were Watching God Huxley, Aldous Brave New World Ibsen, Henrik A Doll's House James, Henry The Portrait of a Lady James, Henry The Turn of the Screw Joyce, James A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

9 Kafka, Franz The Metamorphosis Kingston, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird Lewis, Sinclair Babbitt London, Jack The Call of the Wild Mann, Thomas The Magic Mountain Marquez, Gabriel García One Hundred Years of Solitude Melville, Herman Bartleby the Scrivener Melville, Herman Moby Dick Miller, Arthur The Crucible Morrison, Toni Beloved O'Connor, Flannery A Good Man Is Hard to Find O'Neill, Eugene Long Day's Journey into Night Orwell, George Animal Farm Pasternak, Boris Doctor Zhivago Plath, Sylvia The Bell Jar Poe, Edgar Allan Selected Tales Proust, Marcel Swann's Way Pynchon, Thomas The Crying of Lot 49 Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front Rostand, Edmond Cyrano de Bergerac Roth, Henry Call It Sleep Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye Shakespeare, William Hamlet Shakespeare, William Macbeth

10 Shakespeare, William A Midsummer Night's Dream Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet Shaw, George Bernard Pygmalion Shelley, Mary Frankenstein Silko, Leslie Marmon Ceremony Solzhenitsyn, Alexander One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Sophocles Antigone Sophocles Oedipus Rex Steinbeck, John The Grapes of Wrath Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island Stowe, Harriet Beecher Uncle Tom's Cabin Swift, Jonathan Gulliver's Travels Thackeray, William Vanity Fair Thoreau, Henry David Walden Tolstoy, Leo War and Peace Turgenev, Ivan Fathers and Sons Twain, Mark The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Voltaire Candide Vonnegut, Kurt Jr. Slaughterhouse-Five Walker, Alice The Color Purple Wharton, Edith The House of Mirth Welty, Eudora Collected Stories Whitman, Walt Leaves of Grass Wilde, Oscar The Picture of Dorian Gray Williams, Tennessee The Glass Menagerie

11 Woolf, Virginia To the Lighthouse Wright, Richard Native Son HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER!