Summer Reading List 2013
Memoirs
Alphabetical
While the English department encourages students to read as much as possible over the summer, we
are requiring all students to read a minimum of one memoir from the following list. We have offered a
wide variety of options (over 100 titles) in the hope that you will find at least one that interests you.
All titles have been well-reviewed.However, it is the nature of the memoir to examine personal
challenges, and thus these works vary in terms of readability and may include mature content. Therefore,
we encourage students to involve parents in helping them select a book that is right for them. Reviews
of all these books can be found on online bookseller websites.
Students are expected to have completed reading their book selection before the first day of school, and
will be assessed during that first week. In addition, this book may the basis for an ongoing project or
presentation during first marking period.
Titles in boldface are recent releases (2012-2013).
Author
Adorjan, Johanna
Agassi, Andre
Aguirre, Carmen
Title
An Exclusive Love
Open
Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter
Infidel
Ali, AyanKirsi
Apps, Jerry
Armstrong, Lance
Axelrod, Jim
Bauby, Jean Dominque
Beah, Ishmael
Beard, Amanda
Behar, Ruth
Boylan, Jennifer
Finney
Bradley, Bill
Bragg, Rick
Bryson, Bill
Chang, Jung
Clapton, Eric
Cleary, Beverly
Common
Conlon, Edward
Connors, Jimmy
Conroy, Pat
Limping through Life: A Farm Boy’s Polio Memoir
It's Not About the Game
In the Long Run: A Father, a Son, and Unintentional Lessons in Happiness
Diving Bell and the Butterfly
A Long Way Home:Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
In the Water They Can't See You Cry: A Memoir
Traveling Heavy: A Memoir between Journeys
Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three GendersMy Life on the Road
All Over But the Shoutin'
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Clapton: The Autobiography
A Girl from Yamhill
One Day It Will All Make Sense
Blue Blood
The Outsider: A Memoir
My Losing Season
Conway, Jill Ker
Davis, Steph
Deford , Frank
Deresiewicz, William
deWaal, Edmund
Dicks, Matthew
Dillard, Annie
Donald, Mark L. and
Mactavish, Scott
Dubus, Andre
Dugard, Martin
Dumas, Firoozah
Dungy, Tony
Dunn, Warrick
Eire, Carlos
Emanuel, Ezekiel J.
Feynman, Richard
Finkel, David
Fisher, Derek
Fong-Torres, Ben
Francona, Terry
Gill, Michael Gates
Goodwen, Dwight
Graham, Katherine
Grandin, Temple
Hamilton, Gabrielle
Hampton, Dan
Hanagarne, Josh
Hari, Daoud
Harrison, George
Hickam, Homer
Hill, Julia Butterfly
Hnida, Dr. Dave
Howe, Ben Ryder
Hurston, Zora Neale
James, LeBron
&Bissinger, Buzz
Jay- Z
Road From Coorain
Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love,
and One Amazing Day
Overtime: My Life as a Sports Writer
A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship,
and the Things That Really Matter
The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Family's Century of Art and Loss
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
An American Childhood
Battle Ready: A Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic
Townie
To Be a Runner: How Racing Up Mountains, Running with the Bulls, or Just
Taking On a 5-K Makes You a Better Person
Funny in Farsi
Quiet Strength
Running for My Life
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
Brothers Emanuel: A Memoir of an American Family
"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" (adventures of a Curious Character)
The Good Soldiers
Character Driven
The Rice Room: Growing Up Chinese-American From Number Two Son to Rock
'n' Roll
Francona: The Red Sox Years
How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone
Else
Doc: A Memoir
Personal History
Thinking in Pictures
Blood, Bones, and Butter
Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat
The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and
the Power of Family
The Translator: A Memoir
I, Me, Mine
Rocket Boys
The Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman, and the Struggle to Save
the Redwoods
Paradise General: Riding the Surge at a Combat Hospital in Iraq
My Korean Deli: Risking It All For A Convenience Store
Dust Tracks on a Road
Shooting Stars
Empire State of Mind
Jennings , Luke
Joyner-Kersee, Jackie
Kapaczieuski, Joseph
Karr, Mary
Kaysen, Susanna
Kimmel, Haven
Kimmel, Haven
Kingston, Maxine Hong
Leonard, Sugar Ray
Maathai, Wangari
Mah, Adeline
Mah, Adeline
Mancuso, Sarah
Markham, Beryl
Martin, Steve
Marton, Kati
Marx, Jeffrey
Massie , Bob
McBride, James
McCourt, Frank
McDougall, Sean
Meggysey, Dave
Min, Anchee
Miranda,Deborah A.
Moceanu, Dominique
Moehringer, J.R.
Moses, Kate
Nabokov, Vladimir
Nafisi, Azar
O' Neal, Shaquille w/
MacMullan, Jackie
Obama, Barack
O'Brien, Tim
Patchett, Ann
Paul, Allan
Pausch, Randy
Pele´
Piazza, Mike
Renn, Crystal
Rice, Condoleezza
Robison, John Elder
Robison, John Elder
Rodriguez, Luis
Blood Knots: A Memoir of Fathers, Friendship, and FishingA Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Female Athlete
Back in Fight: The Explosive Memoir of a Special Operator Who Never Gave
Up
The Liar's Club
Girl Interrupted
A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Moorlland, Indiana
She Got Up Off the Couch and Other Heroic Acts From Mooreland, Indiana
Woman Warrior
The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring
Unbowed: A Memoir
Chinese Cinderella:The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter
Falling Leaves
The Two Kinds of Decay
West With the Night
Born Standing Up
Enemies of the People
Season of Life: A Football Star, A Boy, A Journey to Manhood
A Song in the Night: A Memoir of Resilience
The Color of Water
Angela's Ashes
Born To Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World
Has Never Seen
Out of Their League
Red Azalea
Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir
Off Balance: A Memoir
The Tender Bar
Cakewalk: A Memoir
Speak, Memory
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Shaq Uncut: My Story
Dreams From My Father
If I Die in a Combat Zone: Box Me Up and Ship Me Home
Truth and Beauty
Big in China
The Last Lecture
Pele´: My Life and The Beautiful Game
Long Shot
Hungry
Extraordinary, Ordinary People: A Memoir of Family
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's
Be Different
Always Running
Rosenthal, Amy Krouse
Sachs, Oliver
Satrapi, Marjane
Saulitis, Eva
Sebold, Alice
Sedaris, David
Sheff, Nic
Small, David
Smith, Alison
Smith, Daniel
Smith, Patti
Sokolov , Raymond
Sotomayer, Sonia
Strauss, Darin
Strayed, Cheryl
Tan, Amy
Taylor, Jill Bolte
Torre, Joe
Volk, Patricia
Walls, Jeannette
Weaver, Lia Quintero
Welch, Wendy
Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life
Uncle Tungsten: Memories of a Chemical Boyhood
Persepolis
Into Great Silence: A Memoir of Discovery and Loss among Vanishing Orcas
Lucky
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Tweak
Stitches
Name All the Animals
Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety
Just Kids
Steal the Menu: A Memoir of Forty Years in Food
My Beloved World
Half a Life
Wild
The Opposite of Fate
My Stroke of Insight
The Yankee Years
Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family
The Glass Castle
Darkroom: A Memoir in Black and White
The Little Bookstore at Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community,
and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book
Wilson, Diane
An Unreasonable Woman: A True Story of Shrimpers, Politicos, Polluters, and
the Fight for Seadrift, Texas
Witherspoon, Jeanette Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal
Wolff, Mishna
I'm Down
Wolff, Tobias
This Boy's Life
Wooden, John
John Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the
Court
Woolfe, Emma
An Apple a Day: A Memoir of Love and Recovery from Anorexia
Wortmann, Fletcher
Triggered: A Memoir of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder