R.I.P. Reading List
Fiction
1984—George Orwell
In a society of the future, individual privacy is invaded as the Thought Police persuade the people that “War is Peace—Freedom is Slavery—Ignorance is Strength.”
Brave New World—Aldous Huxley
In a chilling vision of the future, babies are produced in bottles and exist in a mechanized world without souls.
The Bluest Eye—Toni Morrison
Pecola yearns to have beautiful blue eyes like the little white girls she sees. The Bluest Eye is a powerful coming of age novel not to be missed. (Recommended for older scholars)
Caramelo—Sandra Cisneros
LaLa learns the stories of her Awful Grandmother and weaves them into a colorful family history. The “caramelo,” a striped shawl begun by her Great-Grandmother, symbolizes their tradition.
Catch-22—Joseph Heller
In this satirical novel, Captain Yossarian confronts the hypocrisy of war and bureaucracy as he frantically attempts to survive.
The Catcher in the Rye—J.D. Salinger
A bawdy, hilarious and touching tale of a sixteen-year-old’s wanderings in New York for three days after he is dropped from his school. (Recommended for older scholars)
Fahrenheit 451—Ray Bradbury
Books are for burning in this future society in which thinking and reading are crimes.
The Fall of the House of Usher, and other Tales—Edgar Allan Poe
Desolation and impending doom press heavily on these splendid tales of physical horror and psychological terror.
Grapes of Wrath—John Steinbeck
This important American novel depicts life during the Great Depression for one family. The novel’s power comes from the fundamental questions it poses about justice, the ownership and stewardship of the land, the role of government, power, and the very foundations of capitalist society.
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent—Julia Alvarez
The four Garcia girls face a strange new life in America when they are forced to flee the Dominican Republic.
The House of the Spirits—Isabel Allende
Through the lenses of the Trueba family, we follow the portion of Chilean history that eventually leads to the 1973 coup.
Invisible Man—Ralph Ellison
A young African American seeking identity during his high school and college days, and later in New York’s Harlem, relates his terrifying experiences.
.The Jungle—Upton Sinclair
This gritty description of urban life at the turn of the century shows the moral and physical degradation of a “jungle” in which humans barely live better than animals.
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The novel, considered Marquez’ masterpiece, chronicles a family's struggle, and the history of their fictional town, Macondo, for one hundred years.
Things Fall Apart—Chinua Achebe
European missionaries and colonial officials disrupt the patterns and rituals of traditional Nigerian Ibo society at the end of the nineteenth-century.
The Things They Carried—Tim O’Brien
These stories follow Tim O’Brien’s platoon of American soldiers through a variety of personal and military encounters during the Vietnam War.
To Kill A Mockingbird—Harper Lee
A young girl tells of life in a small Alabama town in the 1930s and her father’s defense in court of an African American accused of raping a white woman.
A Yellow Raft in Blue Water—Michael Dorris
At times separated by hardships and angry secrets but always bonded by kinship, three generations of Native American women tell their stories in their search for self-identity.
Nonfiction
The Autobiography of Malcolm X—Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley)
A great and controversial Black Muslin figure relates his transformation from street hustler to religious and national leader.
Black Boy: A Record of Childhood and Youth—Richard Wright
Wright recalls his pre-World War II youth when racial and personal obstacles seemed insurmountable.
Chinese Cinderella: The True Story of an Unwanted Daughter—Adeline Yen Mah
Wu Mei, also called Adeline, is the fifth younger sister of her family, and the one who bears the blame for all their bad fortune. In her inspirational tale of survival in 1940s China, she triumphs against all odds.
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother—James McBride
McBride blends his story with that of his mother, who battled poverty and racism to raise twelve children.
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal—Eric Scholosser
The growth of the fast food industry has changed America’s eating habits and greatly impacted agriculture, the meatpacking industry, the minimum wage and other aspects of American life.
The Feminine Mystique—Betty Friedan
Many feel that the first edition of this book precipitated the women’s liberation movement by inspiring new appraisals of roles and aspirations.
Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez: An Autobiography—Richard Rodriguez
Rodriguez’s journey through the educational system leads to his belief that family, culture, and language must be left behind to succeed in mainstream America.
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America—Barbara Ehrenreich
Can you really survive on minimum wage? To find out, the author left her middle-class life for a year to see what life is really like for America’s working poor.
The Shame of A Nation—Jonathon Kozol
Based on observation from sixty urban schools, Shame of a Nation investigates the worsening conditions for inner-city students in predominantly segregated schools.
The Souls of Black Folk – W.E.B. DuBois
Published in 1903, this collection of DuBois essays quickly became a cornerstone for future black progressives who wished to bring about changes in American society long promised since the days of the American Civil War
Walden and Other Essays—Henry David Thoreau
For two years and two months, Thoreau decided to live in the Concord Wilderness near Walden Pond, as an experiment in self-reliance. One of the best known American text, it is no surprise that Walden has rarely been out of print since its publication in 1854.
The majority of selections and descriptions are taken from:
The Young Adult Library Services Association’s More Outstanding Books for the College-Bound, Chi