HASTINGS HIGH SCHOOL
FACULTY/STAFF BOOK CLUB
Book-love, I say again, lasts throughout life, it never flags or fails, but, like Beauty itself, is a joy forever.
~ Holbrook Jackson (1931) ~
2013 SEPTEMBER READING SELECTION FOR DISCUSSION
Our September Book Club Selection will be the 1847 classic, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Date, time, and
place for discussion will be determined when we come back in August. At that time, we will also plan out our
October-January discussion selections and dates.
Jane Eyre is the story of a small, plain-faced, intelligent, and passionate English orphan. Jane is abused by her
aunt and cousin and then attends a harsh charity school. Through it all she remains strong and determinedly
refuses to allow a cruel world to crush her independence or her strength of will. A masterful story of a woman's
quest for freedom and love. Jane Eyre is partly autobiographical, and Charlotte Brontë filled it with social
criticism and sinister Gothic elements. A must read for anyone wishing to celebrate the indomitable strength of
will or encourage it in their growing children.
*Be sure to check out the young adult novel tie-ins to Jane Eyre in our Summer Reading Suggestions below.
2013 SUMMER READING SUGGESTIONS (. . . with apologies for lifting book descriptions from several
sources . . .)
FICTION
Adler-Olsen, Jussi. A Conspiracy of Faith. 2013.
Detective Carl Mørck holds in his hands a bottle that contains old and decayed message, written in blood. It
is a cry for help from two young brothers, tied and bound in a boathouse by the sea. Could it be real? Who are
these boys, and why weren’t they reported missing? Could they possibly still be alive? Carl’s investigation will
force him to cross paths with a woman stuck in a desperate marriage- her husband refuses to tell her where he
goes, what he does, how long he will be away. For days on end she waits, and when he returns she must endure
his wants, his moods, his threats. But enough is enough. She will find out the truth, no matter the cost to her
husband—or to herself.
Carl and his colleagues Assad and Rose must use all of their resources to uncover the horrifying truth in this
heart-pounding Nordic thriller from the #1 international bestselling author Jussi Adler-Olsen.
Albom, Mitch. The Time Keeper. 2012. (FBC AL)
After being punished for trying to measure God's greatest gift, Father Time returns to Earth along with a
magical hourglass and a mission: a chance to redeem himself by teaching two earthly people the true meaning
of time.
Allende, Isabel. Maya’s Notebook. 2013. (FBC AL)
This contemporary coming-of-age story centers upon Maya Vidal, a remarkable teenager abandoned by her
parents. Maya grew up in a rambling old house in Berkeley with her grandmother Nini, whose formidable
strength helped her build a new life after emigrating from Chile in 1973 with a young son, and her grandfather
Popo, a gentle African-American astronomer. When Popo dies, Maya goes off the rails. Along with a circle of
girlfriends known as "the vampires," she turns to drugs, alcohol, and petty crime--a downward spiral that
eventually leads to Las Vegas and a dangerous underworld, with Maya caught between warring forces: a gang
of assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol.
Her one chance for survival is Nini, who helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile. In the care
of her grandmother’s old friend, Manuel Arias, and surrounded by strange new acquaintances, Maya begins to
record her story in her notebook, as she tries to make sense of her past and unravel the mysteries of her family
and her own life.
Bohjalian, Chris. The Sandcastle Girls. 2012. (FBC BO)
Parallel stories of a woman who falls in love with an Armenian soldier during the Armenian Genocide and a
modern-day New Yorker prompted to rediscover her Armenian past.
Chabon, Michael. Telegraph Avenue. 2012. (FBC CH)
Longtime friends, bandmates, and co-regents of Brokeland Records, Archy Stallings and Nat Jaffe fear their
vulnerable little enterprise could be doomed when a rich ex-NFL quarterback plans to build a megastore near
their business. Their wives are also business partners who are caught in a battle for their professional existence
that tests their friendship. And then there is the surprise visit of a teenage son that Archy has never
acknowledged.
Erdrich, Louise. Round House. 2013. (FBC ER)
When his mother, a tribal enrollment specialist living on a reservation in North Dakota, slips into an abyss of
depression after being brutally attacked, 14-year-old Joe Coutz sets out with his three friends to find the person
that destroyed his family.
Gaiman, Neil. The Ocean at the End of the Lane. 2013.
A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home and is drawn to the farm at the end of the road where, when
he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl and her mother and grandmother. As he sits by the pond behind the ramshackle old house, the unremembered past comes flooding back—a past too strange, too
frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.
Goolrick, Robert. Heading out to Wonderful. 2012. (FBC GO)
In 1948, a mysterious and charismatic man arrives in a small Virginia town carrying two suitcases; one
contains his worldly possessions, the other is full of money. He soon inserts himself into the town's daily life,
taking a job in the local butcher shop and befriending the owner and his wife and their son. But the passion that
develops between the man and the wife of the town's wealthiest citizen sets in motion a series of events that not
only upset the quiet town but threaten to destroy both him and the woman.
Graver, Elizabeth. The End of the Point. 2013. (FBC GR)
Returning to Ashaunt Point to escape from the chaos of rapidly changing times, Helen Porter and her son
Charlie soon discover that the Point has not remained unscathed from events unfolding beyond its borders.
Neither Charlie nor his mother can escape the long shadow of history--Vietnam, the bitterly disputed real estate
development of the Point, economic misfortune, illness, and tragedy.
Haddon, Mark. The Red House. 2012. (FBC HA)
Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his estranged sister, Angela, and her family to join his family for a week at a
vacation home in the English countryside. Richard has just remarried and acquired a willful stepdaughter in
the process; Angela has a husband whose career has collapsed and three children who sometimes seem alien to
her. The stage is set for seven days of resentment and guilt, long-held grudges, fading dreams and rising hopes,
and tightly guarded secrets.
Haruf, Kent. Benediction. 2013. (FBC HA)
A terminally ill cancer patient is attended throughout his final days by his wife and daughter while the trio
contemplates their relationships with an estranged son, a situation that stirs up painful memories for a new
next-door neighbor who has recently lost her mother.
Hosseini, Khalid. And the Mountains Echoed. 2013. (FBC HO)
Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about
how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In
this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers,
Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one
another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most.
Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from
Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming
more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.
Joyce, Rachel. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. 2012. (FBC JO)
Harold Fry is convinced that he must deliver a letter to an old love in order to save her, meeting various
characters along the way and reminiscing about the events of his past and people he has known, as he tries to
find peace and acceptance.
Keck, J. The Big House: Story of a Southern Family. 2012.
"I don't know how Mama knew Daddy was going to hurt us," Minnie says. She yanked us out of the bed and
over to the wall. The door flew open. There was a huge explosion! Daddy had fired his shotgun into our bed."
Minnie leaves boarding school to spend the summer at The Big House, her cherished Grandpa's home. She
enjoys adventure, but she also learns of the dangers posed by the land and a river that can seduce the unwary.
The arrival of Minnie's great-grandmother provides her with a fearless female role model, as well as tales of
the elderly woman's antebellum past and how she survived the Civil War. She also learns of her Grandpa's
struggle to build a post-Civil War cotton and lumber empire in a wilderness of swamps, disease, and
treacherous men willing to steal and murder.
Kingsolver, Barbara. Flight Behavior. 2012. (FBC KI)
Tired of living on a failing farm and suffering oppressive poverty, bored housewife Dellarobia Turnbow, on the
way to meet a potential lover, is detoured by a miraculous event on the Appalachian mountainside that ignites a
media and religious firestorm that changes her life forever.
Kline, Christina Baker. Orphan Train. 2013.
Penobscot Indian Molly Ayer is close to “aging out” out of the foster care system. A community service position
helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping Molly out of juvie and worse. As she
helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly learns that she and Vivian aren’t as different as
they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest
with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
McEwan, Ian. Sweet Tooth. 2012. (FBC MCE)
During her final year at Cambridge in 1972, beautiful Serena Frome is being groomed for the intelligence
services. Sent on a "secret mission", she enters the literary world of Tom Haley, a promising young writer. First
she loves his stories; then she begins to love the man. Can she maintain the fiction of her undercover life?
Mathis, Ayana. The Twelve Tribes of Hattie. 2012. (FBC MA)
The story of an African American family held together with a mother's grit and monumental courage.
Meyer, Philipp. The Son. 2013.
The Son is an epic of the American West and a multigenerational saga of power, blood, land, and oil that
follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family, from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the to the oil booms
of the 20th century. Harrowing, panoramic, and deeply evocative, The Son is an unforgettable novel that
combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife-edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.
Panning, Ann. Butter. 2012. (FBC PA)
Set against the backdrop of small-town Minnesota in the 1970s, eleven-year-old Iris learns from her parents
that she is adopted. As her parents' marriage unravels, Iris grows more observant of disintegration all around
her.
Piccoult, Jodi. The Storyteller. 2013. (FIC PI)
Becoming friends with Josef Weber, an old man who is particularly loved in her community, Sage Singer is
shocked when one day he asks her to kill him and reveals why he deserves to die, causing her to question her
beliefs.
Sloan, Robin. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. 2012. (FBC SL)
The bookstore -- The library -- The tower -- Epilogue. After a layoff during the Great Recession sidelines his
tech career, Clay Jannon takes a job at the titular bookstore in San Francisco, and soon realizes that the
establishment is a facade for a strange secret.
Strout, Elizabeth. The Burgess Boys. 2013. (FBC ST)
Catalyzed by a nephew's thoughtless prank, a pair of brothers confront painful psychological issues
surrounding the freak accident that killed their father when they were boys, a loss linked to a heartbreaking
deception that shaped their personal and professional lives.
Walls, Jeannette. The Silver Star. 2013.
It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their
artistic mother, Charlotte, a woman who “found something wrong with every place she ever lived,” takes off
to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day
and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their Uncle
Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations.
An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears many stories about why their
mother left Virginia in the first place. Because money is tight, Liz and Bean start babysitting and doing office
work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town—a big man who bullies his workers, his tenants, his
children, and his wife. Bean adores her whip-smart older sister—inventor of word games, reader of Edgar
Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts and makes friends,
and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz.
NONFICTION
Blackman, Douglas. Slavery by Another Name. 2008.
In this groundbreaking historical expose, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful
chapters in American history—an “Age of Neo-slavery” that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War
through the dawn of World War II. Using a vast record of original documents and personal narratives, Douglas
A. Blackmon unearths the lost stories of slaves and their descendants who journeyed into freedom after the
Emancipation Proclamation and then back into the shadow of involuntary servitude shortly thereafter. By turns
moving, sobering, and shocking, this unprecedented account reveals the stories of those who fought
unsuccessfully against the re-emergence of human labor trafficking, the companies that profited most from neoslavery, and the insidious legacy of racism that reverberates today.
Blehm, Eric. Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy Seal Team Six Operator
Adam Brown. 2013. (921 BRO)
When Navy SEAL Adam Brown woke up on March 17, 2010, he didn’t know he would die that night in the Hind
Kush Mountains of Afghanistan—but he was ready. In a letter to his children, not meant to be seen unless the
worst happened, he wrote, “I’m not afraid of anything that might happen to me on this earth, because I know no
matter what, nothing can take my spirit from me.”
Fearless is the story of a man of extremes, whose courage and determination were fueled by faith, family, and
the love of a woman. It’s about a man who waged a war against his own worst impulses, including drug
addiction, and persevered to reach the top tier of the U.S. military. In a deeply personal and absorbing
chronicle, Fearless reveals a glimpse inside the SEAL Team SIX brotherhood, and presents an indelible
portrait of a highly trained warrior whose final act of bravery led to the ultimate sacrifice.
Cain, Susan. Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. 2012. (155.2 C)
At least one-third of the people we know are introverts. They are the ones who prefer listening to speaking; who
innovate and create but dislike self-promotion; who favor working on their own over working in teams. It is to
introverts—Rosa Parks, Chopin, Dr. Seuss, Steve Wozniak-- that we owe many of the great contributions to
society.
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing
so. She charts the rise of the Extrovert Ideal throughout the twentieth century and explores how deeply it has
come to permeate our culture. She also introduces us to successful introverts–from a witty, high-octane public
speaker who recharges in solitude after his talks, to a record-breaking salesman who quietly taps into the
power of questions. Passionately argued, superbly researched, and filled with indelible stories of real people,
Quiet has the power to permanently change how we see introverts and, equally important, how they see
themselves.
Fey, Tina. Bossypants. 2012.
From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately
halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided
college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon .Tina Fey reveals all, and proves what we've all suspected:
you're no one until someone calls you bossy.
Gelman, Rita. Tales of a Female Nomad. 2002.
At the age of forty-eight, on the verge of a divorce, Rita left an elegant life in L.A. to follow her dream of
connecting with people in cultures all over the world. In 1986 she sold her possessions and became a nomad,
living in a Zapotec village in Mexico, sleeping with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands, and residing
everywhere from thatched huts to regal palaces. She has observed orangutans in the rain forest of Borneo,
visited trance healers and dens of black magic, and cooked with women on fires all over the world. Rita’s
example encourages us all to dust off our dreams and rediscover the joy, the exuberance, and the hidden spirit
that so many of us bury when we become adults.
Makos, Adam. A Higher Call. 2012. (921 BRO)
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.
This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—2nd Lieutenant
Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—2nd
Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.
A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog
over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of
enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone
at sea, and the spectacle of 1,000 bombers each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.
Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between
them, the American 8th Air Force would later classify as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never
mention or else face a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty
years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.
Strayed, Cheryl. Wild. 2012. (921 STR)
A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young
woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again.
Sullivan, Luke. Thirty Rooms to Hide In: Insanity, Addiction, Rock ‘n’ Roll in the Shadow of the Mayo
Clinic. 2012.
Thirty Rooms to Hide In tells the story of Sullivan’s father and his descent from being one of the world’s top
orthopedic surgeons at the Mayo Clinic to a man who is increasingly abusive, alcoholic, and insane, ultimately
dying alone on the floor of a Georgia motel. For his wife and six sons, the years prior to his death were years of
turmoil, anger, and family dysfunction; but somehow, they were also a time of real happiness for Sullivan and
his five brothers, full of dark humor and much laughter.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, the six brothers had a wildly fun and thoroughly dysfunctional childhood living
in a forbidding thirty-room mansion, known as the Millstone, on the outskirts of Rochester, Minnesota. The
many rooms of the immense home, as well as their mother’s loving protection, allowed the Sullivan brothers to
grow up as normal, mischievous boys. Against a backdrop of the times—the Cold War, the Cuban Missile
Crisis, fallout shelters, JFK’s assassination, and the Beatles—the cracks in their home life and their father’s
psyche continue to widen. When their mother decides to leave the Millstone and move the family across town,
the Sullivan boys are able to find solace in each other and in rock ’n’ roll.
POETRY (A NOVEL IN VERSE)
Newman, Leslea. October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard. 2012. (FIC NE)
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. October
Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic
imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew
was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a
decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to
remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.
YOUNG ADULT
Roth, Veronica. Divergent. 2011. (FIC RO)
In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the
cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity
(the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select
the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her
family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone,
including herself. (Divergent is the first book in the Divergent Trilogy. Second is Insurgent. Allegiant will be
published in the fall of 2013.)
Yancey, Rick. The Fifth Wave. 2013.
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the
unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who
only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors.
To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan
Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose:
between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
YOUNG ADULT BOOK TIE-INS FOR THE CLASSIC JANE EYRE
Campbell-Slan, Joanna Campbell. Death of a Schoolgirl. 2012. (FIC CA)
In her classic tale, Charlotte Bronte introduced readers to the strong-willed and intelligent Jane Eyre. Picking
up where Bronte left off, Jane's life has settled into a comfortable pattern: She and her beloved Edward
Rochester are married and have an infant son. But Jane soon finds herself in the midst of new challenges and
threats to those she loves. Jane can't help but fret when a letter arrives from Adele Varens, Rochester's ward,
currently at boarding school, warning that the girl's life is in jeopardy. Although it means leaving her young
son and invalid husband, and despite never having been to a city of any size, Jane feels strongly compelled to
go to London to ensure Adele's safety. But almost from the beginning, Jane's travels don't go as planned. She is
knocked about and robbed, and no one believes that the plain, unassuming Jane could indeed be the wife of a
gentleman; even the school superintendent takes her for an errant new teacher. But most shocking to Jane is the
discovery that Adele's schoolmate has recently passed away under very suspicious circumstances, yet no one
appears overly concerned. Taking advantage of the situation, Jane decides to pose as the missing instructor and
soon uncovers several unsavory secrets, which may very well make her the killer's next target. (This is the first
of the Jane Eyre Chronicles. The second is Death of a Dowager.)
Fforde, Jasper. The Eyre Affair. 2002. (FIC FF)
Thursday Next, a Special Operative in literary detection in a time-altered Great Britain in which messing with
the classics is a punishable offense, sets out to apprehend a criminal who is murdering characters from works
of literature and has chosen Jane Eyre as his next victim.
Tennant, Emma. Adele: Jane Eyre’s Hidden Story. 2002. (FIC TE)
Adèle is a homesick, forlorn eight-year-old who longs for her dead mother when she is first brought to
Thornfield Hallby Edward Fairfax Rochester, but when a loving governess named Jane Eyre arrives to care for
her, she finds herself opening her heart again, but her trust is threatened when she uncovers a horrible secret
that could threaten Jane's happiness.
HASTINGS READS SELECTIONS (2013-2014)
The theme for Hastings Reads is TBD.
Adult Selection: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (FIC GR)
Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything
but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus
Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.
Young Adult (Middle School) Selection: Wonder by R. J. Palacio (FIC PA)
“I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.” August Pullman was born
with a facial deformity that, up until now, has prevented him from going to a mainstream school. Starting 5th
grade at Beecher Prep, he wants nothing more than to be treated as an ordinary kid—but his new classmates
can’t get past Auggie’s extraordinary face. Wonder begins from Auggie’s point of view, but soon switches to
include his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. These perspectives converge in a portrait of one
community’s struggle with empathy, compassion, and acceptance.
Children’s Book Selection: TBD
Picture Book Selection: TBD