Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Summer Reading suggestions for High School

Oh, how about The Handmaid's Tale?

These were some of my favourites in high school. Unfortunately, not a single one is American, but I thought I'd include them anyway in case he's an avid reader.

Joseph Conrad- Heart of Darkness
Graham Green - Travels with my Aunt
Oscar Wilde- Anything, really!
Dante Alighieri- Divine Comedy
Goethe- Faust
Rohinton Mistry- A Fine Balance
Moliere- Ecole des Femmes
Voltaire- Candide
Homer- The Odyssey
Monty Python transcripts (for pop culture)

Atwood is Canadian, but it's a great dystopian novel.

aquinas' list and my DD's look quite similar-- she'd sub Chekhov for the Conrad any day of the week, though.



She also really enjoyed the contrast between French and British/Irish satirists and the American tradition in the 19th century-- Twain being the most obvious, there. Something to think about; world lit is a pretty rich thing, and it can inform deeper analysis of American Lit, too.

What about Murakami? He's not American but he is highly influenced by American authors, especially by Raymond Chandler and F. Scott Fitzgerald. I find many of his recent work to be too disturbing and exploitive but his earlier books are wonderfully quirky and strangely life-altering. I'd want my DD to read them when she is 14+.

Blasphemy! I listed him first for a reason.

But seriously, atta girl.

Thanks. Lots of good books to try and choose from. Many are not American, but that is probably OK. I'm going to take a few of these out of the library and see if he can get interested in one(or more) that will stick. It is so much easier to get him to read if he liked the book and there is no reason for summer reading not to be fun.