Center for Teaching & Learning
CTL graduates become voracious readers: that’s a fact. But after 8th grade-and without booktalks and classroom libraries-it can be hard to find books for pleasure reading. Nancie created these lists of recommended titles for high school students looking for the next level of great books to read independently. If you’re a CTL alum who’s found a great book that’s not on the list, would you give Louise a call? We’d love to add your beloved new titles and spread the word.
Pleasure Reading for CTL Graduates
Adams, Douglas The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series
Adigo, Aravind The White Tiger
Alexie, Sherman Flight and Wardances
Allende, Isabel The House of the Spirits, Ines of My Soul and Island Beneath the Sea
Anderson, Laurie Halse Speak
Anderson, M.T. The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: The Kingdom on the Waves
Atkinson, Kate Behind the Scenes at the Museum
Atwood, Margaret Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, Cat’s Eye, The Handmaid’s Tale, Moral Disorder, and Surfacing
Austen, Jane Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park
Bank, Melissa The Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing and The Wonder Spot
Banks, Russell Rule of the Bone and The Sweet Hereafter
Barker, Pat Regeneration
Bauby, Jean-Dominique The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Beattie, Ann Chilly Scenes of Winter
Benioff, David City of Thieves
Bissinger, H.G. Friday Night Lights
Bloom, Amy Where the God of Love Hangs Out
Bolano, Roberto The Savage Detectives
Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
Bronte, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Bryson, Bill A Short History of Nearly Everything, The Thunderbolt Kid, and A Walk in the Woods
Bowden, Mark Blackhawk Down
Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange
Byatt, A.S. Possession
Carroll, Jim The Basketball Diaries
Chabon, Michael The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Wonder Boys and Manhood for Amateurs
Chang, Jung Wild Swans
Cheever, John The Wapshot Chronicles
Colwin, Laurie Happy All the Time, Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object
Desai, Kiran The Inheritance of Loss
Diamond, Jared Guns, Germs, and Steel
Dick, Phillip Man in the High Castle
Dawidoff, Nicholas The Crowd Sounds Happy
Doctorow, E.L. Ragtime, The March, and The Book of Daniel
Donnelly, Jennifer A Northern Light
Dorris, Michael A Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Draper, Sharon Copper Sun
Dudman, Martha Augusta Gone
Dumas, Alexander The Count of Monte Cristo
DuMaurier, Daphne Rebecca
Edwards, Kim The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
Eggers, Dave A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, What Is the What, and Zeitoun
Ellison, Ralph The Invisible Man
Enright, Anne The Gathering
Eugenides, Jeffrey Middlesex and The Virgin Suicides
Fitch, Janet White Oleander
Fitzgerald, F. Scott The Great Gatsby and Tender Is the Night
Fleming, Keith The Boy with a Thorn in His Side
Foer, Jonathan Safran Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Forster, E.M. Howard’s End and A Room with a View
Fowler, Karen The Jane Austen Book Club
Fowles, John The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Franzen, Jonathan The Corrections
Frazier, Charles Cold Mountain
Freudenberger, Neil Lucky Girls
Gaiman, Neil American Gods and Anansi Boys
Galloway, Gregory As Simple as Snow
Garland, Alex The Beach
Gilbert, Elizabeth Stern Men
Gladwell, Malcolm Blink, The Tipping Point, and Outliers
Golding, William Lord of the Flies
Gore, Al An Inconvenient Truth
Green, Hannah I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
Griffin, John Howard Black Like Me
Guest, Judith Ordinary People
Guterson, David Snow Falling on Cedars
Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Haig, Matt The Dead Fathers Club
Harding, Paul Tinkers
Harris, Jane The Observations
Harris, Joanne Chocolat
Haruf, Ken Plainsong
Heller, Joseph Catch-22
Herbert, Frank Dune
Hijuelos, Oscar Dark Dude
Hillenbrand, Laura Seabiscuit
Hoffman, Alice At Risk
Hornby, Nick High Fidelity, About a Boy, and Slam
Hosseini, Khaled The Kite Runner
Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
Irving, John The Ciderhouse Rules, Hotel New Hampshire, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The World According to Garp
Ishiguro, Kazuo Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day
Janzen, Rhoda Mennonite in a Little Black Dress
Johnson, Diane Le Divorce
Johnson, Joyce Minor Characters
Jones, Lloyd Mr. Pip
Joravsky, Ben Hoop Dreams
Junger, Sebastian War
Karr, Mary Cherry, Liar’s Club, and Lit
Kaysen, Susanna Girl, Interrupted
Kidd, Sue Monk The Secret Life of Bees
Kesey, Ken One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
King, Stephen The Shining
Kingsolver, Barbara Animal Dreams, The Bean Trees, The Lacuna, and The Poisonwood Bible
Kneale, Matthew When We Were Romans
Koertge, Ron The Burn Journals
Korman, Gordon Jake Reinvented
Kovic, Ron Born on the Fourth of July
Krakauer, John Into Thin Air and Into the Wild
Krauss, Nichole The History of Love
Lamott, Anne Blue Shoe
Lee, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
Lehane, Dennis Mystic River
Letts, Billie Where the Heart Is
Levy, Andrea A Small Island
Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks
London, Jack The Call of the Wild
Lovell, James and Jeffrey Kluger Apollo 13
Ludlum, Robert The Bourne trilogy
Maclean, Norman Young Men and Fire
McCann, Colin Let the Great World Spin
McCarthy, Cormac The Crossing, The Road, and No Country for Old Men
McCarthy, Mary A Charmed Life and The Group
McEwan, Ian Atonement and Saturday
Mailer, Norman The Naked and the Dead
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude
Martel, Yann Life of Pi
Martin, Steve Shopgirl
Martinez, A. Lee Gil’s All-Fright Diner
McCann, Colin Let the Great World Spin
McCormick, Patricia Purple Heart
Messud, Claire The Emperor’s Children
Mezrich, Ben Bringing Down the House
Minot, Susan Evening and Monkeys
Moehringer, J.R. The Tender Bar
Moody, Rick The Ice Storm
Moore, Lorrie * Birds of America, A Gate at the Stairs,* and Who Will Run the Frog Hospital?
Morrison, Toni Beloved, The Bluest Eye, and A Mercy
Mosley, Walter 47
Munro, Alice Dance of the Happy Shades, Friend of My Youth, Lives of Girls and Women, The Love of a Good Woman, Runaway and Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You
Nabukov, Vladimir Lolita and Pale Fire
Nafisi, Azar Reading Lolita in Tehran
Nasar, Sylvia A Beautiful Mind
Nicholls, David One Day
Oates, Joyce Carol We Were the Mulvaneys
Obama, Barack Dreams from My Father
O’Brian, Patrick The Master and Commander series
O’Brien, Tim The Things They Carried, If I Die in a Combat Zone and Going After Cacciato
Ondaatje, Michael The English Patient
O’Neill, Joseph Netherland
Patchett, Anne Bel Canto and Truth and Beauty: A Friendship
Perotta, Tom Election
Pessl, Marisha Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Plath, Sylvia The Bell Jar
Prachett, Terry Nation
Prose, Francine Goldengrove
Proulx, E. Annie The Shipping News
Reichl, Ruth Tender at the Bone
Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front
Rice, Anne Interview with the Vampire
Rich, Simon Ant Farm
Robbins, Tom Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Robinson, Lewis Water Dogs
Robinson, Marilyn Gilead and Housekeeping
Rosoff, Meg The Bride’s Farewell, How I Live Now, and What I Was
Roth, Phillip Good-bye, Columbus and The Human Stain
Roy, Arundhati The God of Small Things
Rushdie, Salman Haroun and the Sea of Stories and Luka and the Fire of Life
Russo, Richard Empire Falls
Sacco, Joe Palestine and Safe Area Gorazde
Sagan, Carl Contact
Salinger, J.D. Catcher in the Rye
Satrapi, Marjane Persepolis and Persepolis II
Schiff, David Beautiful Boy
Sedaris, David Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Naked, and Me Talk Pretty One Day
Sharra, Michael The Killer Angels
Shepard, Jim Project X
Shields, Carol Unless
Silverstein, Ken The Radioactive Boy Scout
Simpson, Mona Anywhere But Here
Sittenfeld, Curtis Prep
Smiley, Jane A Thousand Acres
Smith, Ali The Accidental
Smith, Alison Name All the Animals
Smith, Dodie I Capture the Castle
Smith, Zadie On Beauty and White Teeth
Spencer, Scott Waking the Dead
Spiegelman, Art Maus I and Maus II
Stewart, Leah The Myth of You and Me
Stegner, Wallace Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety
Stockett, Kathryn The Help
Strout, Elizabeth Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge
Sullivan, J. Courtney Commencement
Swofford, Anthony Jarhead
Tan, Amy The Joy Luck Club
Tartt, Donna The Secret History
Tinti, Hannah The Good Thief
Toews, Miriam A Complicated Kindness
Trillin, Calvin About Alice, Remembering Denny, and others
Trumbo, Dalton Johnny Got His Gun
Updike, John The Centaur, Couples, The Witches of Eastwick, and the Rabbit trilogy
Vizzini, Ned Be More Chill and It’s Kind of a Funny Story
Vonnegut, Kurt Welcome to the Monkey House, Armageddon in Retrospect, Slapstick, and Slaughterhouse-Five
Walbert, Kate A Short History of Women
Walls, Jeanette The Glass Castle
Waugh, Evelyn Brideshead Revisited
Wharton, Edith House of Mirth
Whitehead, Colson Sag Harbor
Wiesel, Elie Night
Wolff, Tobias In Pharaoh’s Army, Our Story Begins, Old School, and This Boy’s Life
Woolf, Virginia To the Lighthouse and A Room of One’s Own
Wright, Richard Native Son and Black Boy
Wroblewski, David * The Story of Edgar Sawtelle*
Young, Rusty and Thomas McFadden Marching Powder
Zusak, Markus The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger
Zinn, Howard A People’s History of the United States