Summer Reading 2014
Class of 2015
Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie; an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson. Maybe
it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you
when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you
sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz,
his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you
made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn't you like to see that
person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the
way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered
Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his
study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one
final "class": lessons in how to live. Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together,
through which Mitch shares Morrie's lasting gift with the world. 192p. Destiny
Brown, Daniel James. Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936
Berlin Olympics. Daniel James Brown’s robust book tells the story of the University of Washington’s
1936 eight-oar crew and their epic quest for an Olympic gold medal, a team that transformed the sport
and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers,
the boys defeated elite rivals first from eastern and British universities and finally the German crew rowing
for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic games in Berlin, 1936.The emotional heart of the story lies with one rower,
Joe Rantz, a teenager without family or prospects, who rows not for glory, but to regain his shattered selfregard and to find a place he can call home. The crew is assembled by an enigmatic coach and mentored
by a visionary, eccentric British boat builder, but it is their trust in each other that makes them a victorious
team. They remind the country of what can be done when everyone quite literally pulls together—a
perfect melding of commitment, determination, and optimism. 416p. Amazon
Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. The
Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine and covers some of the most breathtaking terrain in
America–majestic mountains, silent forests, sparking lakes. If you’re going to take a hike, it’s probably the
place to go. And Bill Bryson is surely the most entertaining guide you’ll find. He introduces us to the
history and ecology of the trail and to some of the other hardy (or just foolhardy) folks he meets along the
way–and a couple of bears. Already a classic, A Walk in the Woods will make you long for the great
outdoors (or at least a comfortable chair to sit and read in). 397p. Amazon
Charles and Emma: the Darwins’ Leap of Faith. Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, his
revolutionary tract on evolution and the fundamental ideas involved, in 1859. Nearly 150 years later, the
theory of evolution continues to create tension between the scientific and religious
communities. Challenges about teaching the theory of evolution in schools occur annually all over the
country. This same debate raged within Darwin himself, and played an important part in his marriage: his
wife, Emma, was quite religious, and her faith gave Charles a lot to think about as he worked on a theory
that continues to spark intense debates. 288p. Amazon
Coben, Harlan. Six Years. Six years have passed since Jake Sanders watched Natalie, the love of his
life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college
professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her
life with her new husband, Todd. But six years haven't come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when
Jake comes across Todd's obituary, he can't keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the
glimpse of Todd's wife he's hoping for . . . but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she's
been married to Todd for more than a decade, and with that fact everything Jake thought he knew about
the best time of his life--a time he has never gotten over--is turned completely inside out. 351p. Destiny
Danforth, Emily, M. The Miseducation of Cameron Post. In the early 1990s, when gay teenager
Cameron Post rebels against her conservative Montana ranch town and her family decides she needs to
change her ways, she is sent to a gay conversion therapy center. 470p. Destiny
Summer Reading 2014
Class of 2015
Foer, Jonathan Safran. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Jonathan Safran Foer emerged as
one of the most original writers of his generation with his best-selling debut novel, Everything Is
Illuminated. Now, with humor, tenderness, and awe, he confronts the traumas of our recent history. Nineyear-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five
boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his
father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible
task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious,
and ultimately healing journey.“Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is a miracle, a daybreak, a man on
the moon. It's so impeccably imagined, so courageously executed, so everlastingly moving and fine.”
326p. Baltimore Sun
Gladwell, Malcolm. Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking. Explores the process by which
people make decisions, explaining how the difference between good and bad decision making is directly
related to the details on which people focus, and offers advice on how to improve decision making skills.
277p. Destiny
Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.
On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and
disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean
surface, a face appeared; it was Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of
endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor.
Zamperini had a troubled youth, yet honed his athletic skills and made it all the way to the 1934 Olympics
in Berlin. However, what lay before him was a physical gauntlet unlike anything he had encountered
before: thousands of miles of open ocean, a small raft, and no food or water. He spent forty-seven days
adrift in the ocean before being rescued by the Japanese Navy, and was held as a prisoner until the end
of the war. 473p. Summary from Request
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. Afghan women Mariam and Laila grow close, despite
their nearly twenty-year age difference and initial rivalry, as they suffer at the hands of a common enemytheir abusive, much-older husband, Rasheed. 372p. Destiny
King, Steven. 11/22/1963: a novel. Dallas, 11/22/63: Three shots ring out. President John F. Kennedy
is dead. Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high
school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a
gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived
his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre
secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission
that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a
portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and
cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in
the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be
rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful. 880p. Amazon
Larson, Erik. Devil in the White City: murder, magic and madness at the Fair that Changed
America. Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller In the Garden of Beasts—intertwines the true tale of the
1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death.
Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the
wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction. 447p. Amazon
Levitt, Steven D. Freakonomics: a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. The
author offers his view of how the economy really works, examining issues from cheating and crime to
sports and child-rearing, offering a very different view on what drives the economy. 315p. Destiny
Summer Reading 2014
Class of 2015
Makos, Adam and Larry Alexander. Higher Call: an Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry
in the War-Torn Skies of World War II. Four days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American
bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a 21-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay
wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s
tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the
American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be
called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II. 400p. Amazon
Maraire, J. Nozipo. Zenzele: a letter for my daughter. Written as a letter from a Zimbabwean mother
to her daughter, a student at Harvard, J. Nozipo Maraire evokes the moving story of a mother reaching
out to her daughter to share the lessons life has taught her and bring the two closer than ever before.
Interweaving history and memories, disappointments and dreams, Zenzele tells the tales of Zimbabwe's
struggle for independence and the men and women who shaped it: Zenzele's father, an outspoken
activist lawyer; her aunt, a schoolteacher by day and secret guerrilla fighter by night; and her cousin, a
maid and a spy. 194p. Amazon
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. An eleven-year-old African-American girl in Ohio, in the early 1940s,
prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be beautiful. 215p. Destiny
Newman, Leslea. October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. On the night of October 6, 1998,
a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by
two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. 128p. Amazon
Philbrick, Nathaniel. In the Heart of the Sea: the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. The ordeal of the
whaleship Essex was an event as mythic in the nineteenth century as the sinking of the Titanic was in the
twentieth. In 1819, the Essex left Nantucket for the South Pacific with twenty crew members aboard. In
the middle of the South Pacific the ship was rammed and sunk by an angry sperm whale. The crew
drifted for more than ninety days in three tiny whaleboats, succumbing to weather, hunger, disease, and
ultimately turning to drastic measures in the fight for survival. Nathaniel Philbrick uses little-known
documents-including a long-lost account written by the ship's cabin boy-and penetrating details about
whaling and the Nantucket community to reveal the chilling events surrounding this epic maritime
disaster. An intense and mesmerizing read, In the Heart of the Sea is a monumental work of history
forever placing the Essex tragedy in the American historical canon. 302p. Amazon
Picoult, Jodi. The Storyteller. Sage Singer becomes friends with an old man who is particularly
beloved in her community after they strike up a conversation at the bakery where she works. Josef Weber
is everyone's favorite retired teacher and Little League coach. One day he asks Sage for a favor, to kill
him. Shocked, Sage refuses, but then he tells her he deserves to die. Once he reveals his secret, Sage
wonders if he is right. Can someone who has committed a truly heinous act ever redeem themselves with
good behavior? Should you offer forgiveness to someone if you are not the party who was wronged? And
most of all, if Sage even considers his request, is it murder, or justice? What do you do when evil lives
next door? 460p. Amazon
Roby, Steven. Hendrix on Hendrix: Interviews and Encounters with Jimi Hendrix (Musicians in
Their Own Words). Hendrix on Hendrix includes the most important interviews from the peak of Jimi
Hendrix’s career, 1966 to 1970, carefully selected by one of the world’s leading Jimi Hendrix historians.
384p. Amazon
Saenz, Benjamin Alire. Last Night I Sang to the Monster. Eighteen-year-old Zach does not remember
how he came to be in a treatment center for alcoholics, but through therapy and caring friends, his
amnesia fades and he learns to face his past while working toward a better future. 239p. Destiny
Summer Reading 2014
Class of 2015
Schroff, Laura. An Invisible Thread: the True Story of an 11-year-old Panhandler, a Busy Sales
Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny. When Schroff first met Maurice on a New York City
street corner, she had no idea that an incredible and unlikely friendship that would inevitably change both
their lives. As one lunch with Maurice turns into two, then into a weekly occurrence, she learns details
about Maurice's horrific childhood. 238p. Destiny
Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. The author recalls her life growing up in a dysfunctional family
with an alcoholic father and distant mother and describes how she and her siblings had to fend for
themselves until they finally found the resources and will to leave home. 288p. Destiny
Yousafzai, Malala with Christine Lamb. I am Malala: the Girl Who Stood up for Education and was
Shot by the Taliban. When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out.
Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9,
2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank
range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's
miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan
to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful
protest and the youngest nominee ever for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is the remarkable tale of a family
uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner,
championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a
fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. This story will make you believe in the power of
one person's voice to inspire change in the world. -- Publisher's description. 352p. Amazon
Zuckoff, Mitchell. Frozen in Time: an Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes
of World War II. On November 5, 1942, a US cargo plane slammed into the Greenland Ice Cap. Four
days later, the B-17 assigned to the search-and-rescue mission became lost in a blinding storm and also
crashed. Miraculously, all nine men on board survived, and the US military launched a daring rescue
operation. But after picking up one man, the Grumman Duck amphibious plane flew into a severe storm
and vanished. Frozen in Time tells the story of these crashes and the fate of the survivors, bringing vividly
to life their battle to endure 148 days of the brutal Arctic winter, until an expedition headed by famed
Arctic explorer Bernt Balchen brought them to safety. Mitchell Zuckoff takes the reader deep into the most
hostile environment on earth, through hurricane-force winds, vicious blizzards, and subzero temperatures.
Moving forward to today, he recounts the efforts of the Coast Guard and North South Polar Inc. – led by
indefatigable dreamer Lou Sapienza – who worked for years to solve the mystery of the Duck’s last flight
and recover the remains of its crew. A breathtaking blend of mystery and adventure Mitchell Zuckoff's
Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II is also a
poignant reminder of the sacrifices of our military personnel and a tribute to the everyday heroism of the
US Coast Guard. 416p. Amazon