Volume 67, Issue I
1. Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. For lovers of Gone Girl– read it before you see the movie, which came out October 7th.
2. Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty.
If you haven’t read What Alice Forgot or Big Little Lies (a favorite of Ms. McCarthy) by now, put this down and go get copies from the library. If you’ve already done so, put it on your Hanukkah/Christmas/Halloween/ Black Friday/Arbor Day wishlist.
3. Upstream by Mary Oliver
After you’ve gone apple picking, read this with a cup of chamomile tea. Oliver’s selected essays reflect on her friend Walt Whitman (as one does) and her time in the wilderness. Upstream could not be more perfect for the fall. Disclaimer: Mary Oliver is Pulitzer Prize winning poet who happens to share the same name as our lovely geometry teacher.
4. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
I’m a little late to the Cheryl Strayed party, but I understand the hype. Strayed, who happens to have given herself that amazing last name, brings you on her personal journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail to deal with the aftermath of her divorce and mother’s death. The movie stars Reese Witherspoon, but read the book first! Bonus points if you read Strayed’s Tiny Beautiful Things afterwards.
5. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn If Gone Girl wasn’t creepy enough for you, Sharp Objects will be.
6.Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave
A beach read for when you aren’t at the beach but need a beach read.
7.The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
There’s a reason Dr. Kenney assigned it for AP Lit. Promise, it’ll be worth your while. It includes murder, a Bacchanal, and alcoholism. What’s not to love?
8.Quiet: the Power of Introverts by Susan Cain.
Granted, I’m not an introvert, but I can recognize the importance of
understanding yourself. Writer Steve Almond spoke in a WBUR podcast of “Dear Sugar” on how it helped him understand his wife and helped her understand herself. It’s hard to be someone who recharges by being alone when high school places such an importance on socializing. This book is a great tool to understanding how being introverted is way different than being quiet, and to understand those around us.
9. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein are the coolest/most metal couple I’ve ever heard of. Reasons are as follows: they were lesbians before it was legal, they fled to escape Nazi persecution for being illegal lesbians, one of them wrote the autobiography of the other (basically a super long love note. No guy is ever going to do that for me) and they were best friends with Picasso.
10. In nite Jest
This is less a book and more a project for the next year, but it’ll be worth it! It’ll make us all a better person to understand addiction.
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