SUMMER READING GUIDE 2018

Many readers have “go-to” authors, writers they turn to when no one else grabs their attention. This summer we’d like to help you find a “go-to” writer of your own. Below is a list of authors who have many titles to their credit. Some have written a series with recurring characters; some have written books with similar themes; some have written exclusively within one genre (mystery, fantasy, and so on); and some have just produced lots of good, lively writing over the years.

In addition, we have included some individual titles, recommended by students, by faculty, and by the library staff.

THE HEADMASTER’S CHOICE THIS YEAR IS BEARTOWN BY FREDRIK BACKMAN, WHICH BEGINS LIKE THIS:

“It’s a Friday in early March in Beartown and nothing has happened yet. Everyone is waiting. Tomorrow, the Beartown Ice Hockey Club’s junior team is playing in the semi-final of the biggest youth tournament in the country. How important can something like that be? In most places, not so important, of course. But Beartown isn’t most places.”

Backman’s novel explores the hopes that a small community pins on a group of teenaged athletes, and it explores the secrets that can tear a small town apart. Backman’s characters—coaches, athletes, parents, and local fans—are often flawed, often heroic, and always fully human.

In addition to Beartown, you are to read two other books from the list below. You may choose two books by the same author, or two books by different authors. You may do some research on your own and read other titles from the authors listed here (for instance, John D. MacDonald and Terry Pratchett have at least 30 titles more than the ones we’ve included).

When you return in the fall, your English teacher will give a graded assessment of your summer reading. That grade will be part of your fall trimester average. You may certainly read more than what is required, and you will receive extra credit for reading you do beyond the three required books. Extra credit reading may include authors not listed in the Summer Reading Guide.

Please remember that this is a summer reading program. Recorded books are popular and entertaining, but they are not a substitute for reading itself. If you listen to recorded books, you should follow the written text as well.

Finally, you obviously should choose books that you have not previously read. The purpose of summer reading is to read, not just to check titles off a list.

We hope you enjoy the chance this summer gives to explore new writers. Fiction

Joe Abercrombie writes “epic fantasy” full of dark secrets, court magicians and fraudulent wizards, invaders from the frozen North, and much palace intrigue. Reviewers have described his First Law trilogy as “unpredictable, compelling, wickedly funny, and packed with unforgettable characters. It is noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.” • The Blade Itself • Before They Are Hanged • Red Country • Half a King

Margaret Atwood has gotten lots of attention recently for one of her earliest novels, The Handmaid’s Tale, the inspiration for the acclaimed Hulu television series. However, Atwood has been writing for decades, and everything she releases is equally thought-provoking. Her MaddAddams trilogy centers on a dystopian world in which cloning, genetic engineering, environmental exploitation, and powerfully corrupt corporations are the norm. • The Handmaid’s Tale • Oryx and Crake • The Year of the Flood • MaddAddam

Leigh Bardugo is a fantasy writer who is immersed in Russian folklore. Her Grisha trilogy is a fine interweaving of Russian mainstays and originality. She also writes other fairy tale retellings, short stories, and even a novelization of Wonder Woman. • Shadow and Bone • Siege and Storm • Ruin and Rising

Pat Barker’s Regeneration books are historical novels set during WWI. The first book focuses on the real-life poet and decorated war hero, Siegfried Sassoon, who refuses to return to the front because he finds the war mere senseless carnage. Barker has said that that the books are “trying to tell something about the parts of war that don’t get into the official accounts.” • Regeneration • The Eye in the Door • The Ghost Road

W. Edward Blain--known to us simply as Woodberry’s longtime English Department Chair “Mr. Blain” --is author of two top-notch murder mysteries set at Virginia’s “Montpelier School for Boys.” Both whodunits combine Mr. Blain’s knowledge of the culture of boys’ schools with his love of theater. Publisher’s Weekly says that Mr. Blain endows “teachers, teachers’ wives, sports coaches, the boys and their girlfriends with an unforgettable reality.” • Passion Play • Love Cools

Raymond Chandler is one of the founding fathers of the American “hard- boiled” detective novel. Chandler’s novels feature private-eye Philip Marlowe, a wise-cracking, hard-drinking cynic, who also loves an occasional game of chess, or even a good poem now and then. His novels usually center on a beautiful but untrustworthy woman, whom Marlowe almost falls for, but doesn’t. • The Big Sleep • The Lady in the Lake • Playback • Farewell, My Lovely

Agatha Christie is the grande dame of British mystery. Her greatest characters are Miss Marple, Harley Quin, Tommy and Tuppence, and, of course, Hercule Poirot. Her quirky sleuths rely both on calculated deduction, as well as sudden, brilliant insight to solve crime and bring criminals to justice. Christie has written dozens of novels. Below are some of her most famous titles. • Murder on the Orient Express • The Murder of Roger Ackroyd • Death on the Nile • And Then There Were None

Michael Crichton specializes in thrillers, most of which have a scientific or medical backdrop. Whether writing about a deadly extraterrestrial microbe, eco-terrorists plotting mass murder to draw attention to global warming, or (most famously) genetically engineered dinosaurs, Crichton warns about the dangers of technology gone haywire. • Jurassic Park • The Lost World • The Andromeda Strain • Sphere • State of Fear • The Great Train Robbery

Arthur Conan Doyle, of course, created the most famous sleuth of all, the iconic Sherlock Holmes. Doctor Watson, Holmes’s fast friend and biographer, tells how the great detective uses logic and deduction to solve the gnarliest of cases. • The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes • The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes • The Return of Sherlock Holmes • A Study in Scarlet • The Hound of the Baskervilles • The Sign of the Four

C.S. Forester’s Hornblower saga tracks Horatio Hornblower’s naval career during the Napoleonic Wars. We follow Hornblower from his earliest days as a midshipman through his rise to Commodore in His Majesty’s Royal Navy. Forester captures perfectly the reality of life at sea, as well as the political and personal pressures faced by a career Navy man in the early 1800’s.

• Ship of the Line • Admiral Hornblower • Hornblower in the West Indies • Flying Colours

Neil Gaiman’s books range widely. He’s written graphic novels; he’s retold the Norse myths of Odin, Loki, and Thor (do you know why Odin has only one eye?); and he’s even written a biography of the 80’s hair-band, Duran-Duran. His books make the unbelievable believable and the mythical not-so-far- fetched. • American Gods • Good Omens (written with Terry Pratchett) • Stardust • Anansi Boys • The Ocean at the End of the Lane • Norse Mythology

The New York Times actually coined a term—“Green-Lit”—to describe John Green’s books. Green-Lit is characterized by "sharp dialogue, defective authority figures, occasional boozing, unrequited crushes and one or more heartbreaking twists.” John Green will also be familiar to many of you as the creator of the educational You Tube series, “Crash Course,” designed to help students with literature, history and science. • Looking for Alaska • Turtles All the Way Down • The Fault in Our Stars • Paper Towns When John Grisham publishes a new book, it goes straight to the top of the best-seller list. English teachers sometimes dismiss him as a mere storyteller, and Grisham himself has modestly said, “I’m just a famous writer in a country that doesn’t read much.” However, over the course of three decades, Grisham’s mysteries and legal thrillers (Grisham himself was a practicing lawyer before becoming a novelist) have gained the respect of critics. Walk down any beach in the summer, and you’re sure to see at least a few people reading a Grisham novel. • A Time to Kill • The Firm • The Pelican Brief • The Rogue Lawyer • The Rooster Bar

John Hart is a Woodberry alum, class of ’84, and two-time winner of the Edgar Allan Poe prize for best mystery novel. He writes thrillers, mostly set in North Carolina. His novel The Last Child about a kidnapping was our all-school read a few years back. • The Hush • The Last Child • King of Lies • Down River

Woodberry third-formers have already read Paulette Jiles’s historical novel News of the World, about a young girl, captured and raised by the Kiowa tribe and the old man tasked with returning her to her rightful home. Jiles has also written powerfully about Texas oil families during the Great Depression, families torn apart by the Civil War, and even a modern dystopian novel whose main character is a mapmaker in an overpopulated world with no borders. • The News of the World • Enemy Women • • The Color of Lightning • Lighthouse Island

Jenny Hubbard taught at Woodberry a dozen years ago, left to pursue a writing career, and is now returning to serve as a teacher and writer-in- residence at WFS for 2018-19. The school is so fortunate to have her back. Check out her two novels. • Paper Covers Rock • And We Stay

Stephen King’s books explore the weird and the supernatural. Children who can see into a world that no one else can, time travel, writers who are visited by ghosts, dogs who become monsters after being bitten by bats: these are the subjects that King uses to weave his tales of terror. • Carrie • The Shining • Bag of Bones • The Green Mile • Doctor Sleep • 11/22/63

Ursula Le Guin is perhaps best known for her Earthsea Trilogy, which extended far beyond the original three books. She once remarked that she needed to return to Earthsea now and again, to see what had happened there in her absence. An incredibly prolific writer, she wrote the Catwings series for young readers, plus many anthropology-tinged science fiction and fantasy novels, as well as (Lavinia). She also has written several books of essays on the craft of writing. • A Wizard of Earthsea • The Tombs of Atuan • The Left Hand of Darkness • Four Ways to Forgiveness • Words Are My Matter

Two of Dennis Lehane’s novels have been turned into major motion pictures— Shutter Island and Mystic River. He writes mysteries (often set in Boston), psychological thrillers, historical novels, and short stories. • Shutter Island • Mystic River • A Drink Before the War • Darkness Take My Hand

John D. Macdonald wrote dozens of mysteries and thrillers. His most well- known books center on Travis McGhee, who lives on a Fort Lauderdale houseboat, which he won in a poker game. McGhee is not your typical crime- solver. He’s not a cop, not a private eye, but rather a “salvage consultant.” Essentially, he’s a beach bum who happens to be really good at solving crimes. Stephen King calls Macdonald—who, by the way, wrote the novel that inspired the movie Cape Fear-- "the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller. • The Deep Blue Goodbye • Nightmare in Pink • A Purple Place for Dying • The Quick Red Fox • A Deadly Shade of Gold is best known for his tough-guy detective, Easy Rawlins, an African-American veteran of WWII, who now lives in L.A. Booklist says that "Mosley writes with great power about the themes that have permeated his work: institutional , political corruption, and the ways that both of these issues affect not only society at large but also the inner lives of individual men and women.” • Down the River Under the Sea • Charcoal Joe • • And Sometimes I Wonder About You

Walter Dean Myers won the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American fiction multiple times. He writes about everything from sports to war. Much of his work is aimed at children; however, the titles below should interest teens and adults alike. • Hoops • Slam • Fallen Angels • Sunrise over Fallujah • Monster

You should not read Mervyn Peake this summer. You probably wouldn’t like his bizarre characters and strange plot twists. Just because some critics say his books are better than the great JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings doesn’t mean it’s true. So whatever you do, do not—I repeat—do not pick up Peake’s Gormenghast Trilogy this summer. • Titus Groan • Gormenghast • Titus Alone

Terry Pratchett is a comic genius. His Discworld series in some ways parodies classic fantasy works like Lord of the Rings. Discworld is a flat universe that balances on the backs of four elephants, which in turn balance on the shell of a giant turtle. In such a nonsensical setting, Pratchett creates somewhat absurd novels with a cast of madcap characters about genuinely serious topics. His books are deeply thoughtful but very funny riffs on topics like time, music, death, religion, fate and war. • The Colour of Magic • Mort • Small Gods • Soul Music

Kurt Vonnegut novels defy categorization. Are they science fiction or fantasy? Are they tragic or comic? Are they profound commentary on society or absurd juvenile nonsense? The answer to all is “Yes!” It’s impossible to read a Vonnegut book without wondering about the weirdness of being human. • Slaughterhouse Five • Welcome to the Monkey House • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater • Cat’s Cradle

Jesamyn Ward’s books center on life in rural small towns along the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and . Family, community, poverty, finding hope in difficult circumstances: these are her themes. Ms. Ward was the first woman ever to win two National Book Awards for fiction. • Where the Line Bleeds • Sing, Unburied, Sing • Salvage the Bones

Connie Willis is a time travel guru with lots of heart. Winner of eleven Hugo awards and seven Nebula awards, she may be the best science fiction writer you've never heard of. She takes near-future Oxford historians to World War II hot spots, the plague years, and 19th century Oxford, as well as celebrating Christmas on other planets and pondering the implications of our tech industry. She writes powerfully of the extremely courageous, little known heroes of Pearl Harbor, Dunkirk, and the London bomb shelters. Whether you want short stories (start with "Uncharted Territory") or long novels, she has a lot to offer. • • Uncharted Territory • Blackout/All Clear • •

Non-fiction

For those whose guiding force is intellectual curiosity, Bill Bryson may be the traveling companion for you. He is best known for his entertaining A Walk in the Woods, about hiking the Appalachian Trail. He has written about nearly everything, including the origins of the universe and humankind's scientific discoveries. He has traveled the world to bring very informative and entertaining commentary on locales from the US and Great Britain to Australia, of which he notes with glee that everything there can kill you. • A Walk in the Woods • Notes from a Small Island • A Short History of Nearly Everything • The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid

Ta-Nehisi Coates is America’s foremost authority on race. Whether writing about the country’s racial history or his own personal experiences with racial prejudice, Coates is required reading. No one writes with such power about such an important topic. • Between the World and Me • We Were Eight Years in Power • The Beautiful Struggle

Charles Dew is an alumnus of Woodberry Forest and is currently a professor of American history at Williams College. He spoke recently at our graduation ceremony. He has written extensively on the Confederacy, on race, and on the lasting impact of the Civil War on today’s society. • Apostles of Disunion: Southern Secession Commissioners and the Causes of the Civil War • The Making of a Racist: A Southerner Reflects on Family, History, and the Slave Trade • Bond of Iron: Master and Slave at Buffalo Forge

John Feinstein, a long-time sports journalist for the Washington Post, has written books about professional basketball, golf and tennis, as well as about college athletics. He writes about the culture of sports, the big personalities in sports, and the business side of sports. John Feinstein spoke to the entire student body at Woodberry Forest several years ago in a memorable address about whether athletics builds character. • The Legends Club • The Walk-On • A Season on the Brink • The Punch • The March to Madness

Malcolm Gladwell is difficult to categorize. He has written about trends and epidemics, about how people make decisions, and about why we love underdogs. In his own words, Gladwell loves interesting stories, interesting research, and “cases where they overlap.” • The Tipping Point • Outliers • Blink • David and Goliath

Jon Krakauer is best known for his first two works, Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, both books about men who tackle the extremes of nature. However, Krakauer has also written on such interesting topics as the Mormon Church and the life of Pat Tillman, an NFL star who gave up his career after 9/11 to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan. • Into the Wild • Into Thin Air • Under the Banner of Heaven • Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman

Erik Larson writes true stories that read like novels. His subtitles alone should pique your interest. • Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America • Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania • Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History • Thunderstruck (no subtitle, but it’s about murder and Marconi, inventor of the wireless radio)

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner explore the principles of economics by asking weirdly ordinary questions: Which is more dangerous: a gun or a swimming pool? What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? How is the KKK like a group of real estate agents? wrote that if Indiana Jones were an economist, he would be Steven Levitt. • Freakanomics • Super Freakanomics • Think Like a Freak

David McCullough makes history come alive. He chooses an event, a project, a person, or an era, and then writes about the impact his subject has on the lives of everyday people. His books are non-fiction, but they read like page- turner novels. They span a wide range of topics: from historic floods to the building of the Bridge, from the life of Harry Truman to the construction of the Panama Canal. • The Johnstown Flood • The Path Between the Seas • The Great Bridge • The Wright Brothers • 1776

Jon Meacham held a Woodberry audience spellbound this past spring during his Fitzpatrick lecture on the theme of political character and leadership. During that lecture Mr. Meacham mentioned each of the books listed below and how he has been fascinated throughout his career by the relationship between power and character. • The Soul of America • Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush • Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power • American Gospel: God, The Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation

PJ O’Rourke as a young man in the 1960’s was as liberal as liberal can get. As he grew older, his politics changed, and he became a writer of decidedly conservative (and sometimes libertarian) views. His books tackle big subjects— the military, Congress, the U.S. economy—but his tone is wickedly sarcastic. Both funny and thoughtful, O’Rourke is worth reading because he says bluntly what many are too shy to say. • Give War a Chance • Parliament of Whores • Eat the Rich

Some Student Recommendations:

Conn Jannerbo recommends Razor Girl by . Nam Bui recommends 1984 by George Orwell. Kirk Yarbrough recommends The Painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski. Rob Neill recommends Red Dragon by Thomas Harris. Andrew Jacobs recommends A River Runs Through It by Norman McLean. Jack Ryan recommends The Power of the Dog by . Will Keller recommends the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore. Carter White recommends The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. Dr. Smith and Liam Desmond recommend Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre. Avery Warmack recommends Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan and Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith. Bill Clark recommends the Stormlight series by Brandon Sanderson.

Some Faculty Recommendations:

Dr. Broaddus recommends Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Mr. Fisher recommends Fermat’s Enigma by Simon Singh. Mr. Amos recommends True Grit by Charles Portis. Mr. Reimers recommends Deliverance by James Dickey and The Quantum Spy by David Ignatius. Mr. Jacobs recommends Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett. Mr. LaVoi recommends The River Why by James David Duncan. Ms. Ryan recommends The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore and Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman by Richard Feynman. Dr. Watson recommends Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. Mr. Tallman recommends Empire of the Summer Moon by SC Gwynn and War by Sebastian Junger. Mr. Houyoux recommends Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Mr. Johns recommends Moonwalking With Einstein by Joshua Foer and Dreamland by Sam Quinones. Mr. Sydnor recommends The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson. Mr. Wixted recommends Enemy at the Gates by William Craig. Ms. Dykeman-Bermingham recommends All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. Mr. Lonergan recommends A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and Clockers by Richard Price. Mr. Blain recommends Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by CS Forester. Mr. Reid recommends The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humbolt's New World by Andrea Wulf andYour Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin Ms. Wright recommends The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende and State of Wonder by Ann Patchett And Finally, Some Recommendations from Your Friendly Woodberry Library Staff

Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala Exit West by Mohsin Hamid Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann (non-fiction) Children of the Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds Grist Mill Road by Christopher J. Yates Gods of Howl Mountain by Taylor Brown The Feed by Nick Clark Windo Scythe by Neal Shusterman The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein The Book Thief by Markus Zusak