Good+Reads+List


 * Book Recommendations: This is a SHORT list that will continue to grow. Please email me with additional recommendations.**

Coelho, Paul. //The Alchemist//. A novel that follows Santiago, a young Spanish shepherd, as he goes on a journey to find his place in the world.

Cameron, Peter. //Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You//. James hates everyone except his grandmother. Take a look at life through this brilliant and mischievous New York teen’s eyes as he tries to figure out life and his place on it.

Dunn, Mark. //Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters//. The people of Nollop are good citizens, but as the use of more and more letters in the alphabet is outlawed, how will the residents communicate?

Foer, Jonathan Safran. //Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close//. Oskar Schell, a gifted 9-year old, explores the mystery of his father’s death during 9/11 attack.

Green, John. //Looking for Alaska//. Join Miles Halter, who is intrigued by famous last words, as he heads off to boarding school in search of the “Great Perhaps”. What he finds is a beautiful but troubled girl named Alaska.

Haddon, Mark. //The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time//. Christopher has two mysteries to solve: who killed Wellington the dog and what happened to his mother. But Christopher, who has Asperger Syndrome, a form of Autism, approaches these mysteries and the word itself in a unique and special way.

Hosseini, Khaled. //The Kite Runner//. Years after he flees from Afghanistan, Amir, now an American citizen, returns to his native land and attempts to atone for the betrayal of his best friend before he fled Kabul and the Taliban.

Kidd, Sue Monk. //Secret Life of Bees.// Searching for the truth about her mother’s lie and death, a grieving Lily finds the answers, love and the acceptance where she least expects it.

Kyle, Aryn. //The God of Animals//. Twelve-year old Alice must face issues beyond her years. Her sister has run off, her mother won’t get out of bed, and the family horse farm is failing. Can she keep the family from falling apart?

Marguire, Gregory. //Wicked: The life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.// The Wizard of Oz retold from the point of view of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. You’ll never think of Oz the same way again.

McCarthy, Cormac. //The Road//. 2008. After an apocalyptic catastrophe, a father and his son embark on a grim quest following the road to the sea.

Murakami, Haruki. //Kafka on the Shore//. Reality and fantasy converge in this story of Japanese runaway’s quest to find his long-lost sister and mother.

Zusak, Marcus. //The Book Thief//. Living in Nazi Germany, young Liesel and her family choose to lie and steal to protect a Jewish refugee hiding in their basement. Narrated by Death, this is not you’re Typical World War II story.

Atwood, Margaret—//The Handmaid’s Tale// Erdrich, Louise—//The Master Butcher’s Singing Club// Rebecca Skloot—//The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks// Salinger, J.D.—//Nine Stories// Ruiz Zafron, Carlos—//The Shadow of the Wind// Sebold, Alice- //The Lovely Bones// Alexie, Sherman- //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian// Tan, Army- //The Joy Luck Club// Cody, Robin- //Ricochet River// Bradbury, Ray- //The Martian Chronicles// Herbert, Frank- //Dune// Krakauer, Jon- //Into the Wild// McEwan, Ian- //Atonement// London, Jack- //The Call of the Wild// Kingsolver, Barbara- //Pigs in Heaven// Vonnegut, Kurt- //Slaughterhouse Five// O’Brien, Tim. //The Things They Carried//
 * __A Few__ of Ms. Wendel's Favorites:**


 * Books/Authors by ERA:**

Equiano, Olaudah (African American) //The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano// Franklin, Benjamin //The Autobiography// Hawthorne, Nathanial //The Scarlet Letter, The Celestial Railroad// Irving, Washington Cooper, James Fennimore //The Deerslayer// Emerson, Ralph Waldo //Nature// Douglass, Frederick (African-American) //Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass// (any edition) Thoreau, Henry David //Walden// Poe, Edgar Allen – short stories Melville, Herman //Moby Dick, Typee, Billy Budd// Jacobs, Henrietta (African-American) //Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself// Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens) //Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer// Stowe, Harriet Beecher //Uncle Tom’s Cabin// James, Henry Crane, Stephen //Red Badge of Courage, Maggie// Dreiser, Theodore //Sister Carrie// Chopin, Kate //The Awakening,// short stories London, Jack //Call of the Wild// Cather, Willa //My Antonia, O Pioneers, Death Comes for the Archbishop// Wharton, Edith //Ethan Frome, House of Mirth// Porter, Katherine Anne //Ship of Fools//, short stories Fitzgerald, F. Scott //This Side of Paradise, Tender is the Night, Tales of the Jazz Age// (short stories) Hemingway, Ernest Faulkner, William Parker, Dorothy Hurston, Zora Neale (African American) //Their Eyes Were Watching God// Hughes, Langston (African American) short stories, //The Simple Stories, The Big Sea// (autobiography) Thurber, James Hughes, Langston (African American) short stories, //The Simple Stories, The Big Sea// (autobiography) Wright, Richard (African American) //Black Boy// (autobiography) Steinbeck, John //Cannery Row, Grapes of Wrath// Hurston, Zora Neale (African American) //Their Eyes Were Watching God// Porter, Katherine Anne //Ship of Fools//, short stories Thurber, James Welty, Eudora //The Robber Bridegroom//, short stories Williams, Tennesee //The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire// Singer, Isaac Balshevic Ellison, Ralph (African American) //The Invisible Man// Cheever, John Bellow, Saul Baldwin, James (African American) McCullers, Carson //The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, A Member of the Wedding// Lee, Harper //To Kill a Mockingbird// O’Connor, Flannery X, Malcolm (African American) //The Autobiography of Malcolm X// Bradbury, Ray Wolfe, Tom //The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test//
 * 1) ** 1700 – 1860: Pre-Colonial, Early American, American Romanticism **
 * 1) ** 1860 – 1914: Post Civil War to Pre-WW1 **
 * 1) ** 1860 – 1914: Post Civil War to Pre-WW1 (continued) **
 * 1) ** 1914 – 1939: The Moderns and the Harlem Renaissance **
 * 1) ** 1940 – 1970 **

Morrison, Toni (African American) //Beloved, The Bluest Eye// Angelou, Maya (African American) //I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings// Walker, Alice (African American) //The Color Purple// Updike, John Wiesel, Elie //Night// Anaya, Rudolfo (Hispanic)//Bless Me, Ultima// Hersey, John (non-fiction) // Hiroshima // McPhee, John (non-fiction) Kingston, Maxine Hong (Asian American) //The Woman Warrior// Capote, Truman ( non-fiction) // In Cold Blood // O’Brien, Tim //The Things They Carried// Carver, Raymond Malamud, Bernard Paley, Grace Robbins, Tom Kesey, Ken //Sometimes a Great Notion// Terkel, Studs (non-fiction) Tan, Amy (Asian American) //The Joy Luck Club, 100 Secret Senses, The Kitchen God’s Wife// Jen, Gish (Asian American) //Typical American, Mona in the Promised Land// Danticat, Edwidge (Haitian American) Alexie, Sherman (Native American) //The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, Smoke Signals, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian// N. Scott Momaday (Native American) Abu-Jaber, Diane (Middle Eastern) //The Language of Baklava, Cresecent// Oscar Hijuelos (Hispanic American) //The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love// Kingsolver, Barbara
 * 1) ** 1970 – Present **

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 * Link to Times "best" 100 English Language novels:**

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 * Link to international author's top picks:**

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 * 101 Books for College-Bound Readers:**