2008+Summer+Reading

1. Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult

2. Donorboy by Brendan Halpin This novel combines a variety of narrative techniques: e-mail, journal entries, diverse points of view. Some of the best moment take place in the girls' bathroom at school (nothing weird--just lost souls finding each other). It may be trite to say, but I laughed and cried and truly enjoyed the authentic voice of a young teenage girl whose world has been turned inside out by the death of her two mothers and emergence of her biological father as legal guardian.

2. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Dystopia to the extreme. In this society, which is especially difficult for women, Atwood explores what can happen when society reduces its members to their biological function.

4. Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth

5. Leaving Paradise by Simone Elkeles

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

8. Losing Is Not an Option Rich Wallace

9. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See The author does a fantastic job of describing what it's like to have your feet bound in the Chinese ritual that existed all the way into the early 20th century. But more than that, this novel tells the story of two friends who make a lifelong commitment to each other in spite of the differences in their circumstances, including those related to marriage, family, and finances.