It's extra credit time again...need your recommendations
Apr 7th, 2006, 07:00 PM
#21
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Between Heaven and Earth---good book about the vietnam war told from the viewpoint of a vietnamese woman who marries an army guy and their life in the states. made into a good movie called Heaven and Earth with tommy lee jones.
How about some african-american fiction set in certain time periods? that would be good to show what life was like for certain populations in america.
then there is always the books about the donner party...gruesome, but historically relevent....
How about some african-american fiction set in certain time periods? that would be good to show what life was like for certain populations in america.
then there is always the books about the donner party...gruesome, but historically relevent....
Apr 7th, 2006, 07:03 PM
#22
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wait! I have got some good ones....
There has been a lot of controversy about nefarious organizations that are trying to say that the Holocaust did not happen. Complete rubbish, I say!
There are tons of books out now including Hitler's Willing Executioners (definately college level reading), IBM and the Holocaust (how this computer company has been linked to the Holocaust, etc)....they are difficult reads, but very interesting. I also have heard of highschool students reading Maus----a very good graphic novel that really touches on the human plight of those involved in the Holocaust.
There are tons more to list! As you can tell, I read quite a bit!
There has been a lot of controversy about nefarious organizations that are trying to say that the Holocaust did not happen. Complete rubbish, I say!
There are tons of books out now including Hitler's Willing Executioners (definately college level reading), IBM and the Holocaust (how this computer company has been linked to the Holocaust, etc)....they are difficult reads, but very interesting. I also have heard of highschool students reading Maus----a very good graphic novel that really touches on the human plight of those involved in the Holocaust.
There are tons more to list! As you can tell, I read quite a bit!
Apr 7th, 2006, 07:06 PM
#23
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,942
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Also, check out the PBS website.....their series on life in different centuries, especially the whole Upstairs/downstairs lifestyle in manors, etc. is fascinating and I am sure the kids would be astonished at how people treated each other.
Also, there are some good novels about the Chinese Cultural Revolution that are good....I cannot remember that authors name...sigh. Or any book my Maxine Hong Kingston.......
You mention books and I run off at the mouth! Sorry!
I will keep thinking.....
Also, there are some good novels about the Chinese Cultural Revolution that are good....I cannot remember that authors name...sigh. Or any book my Maxine Hong Kingston.......
You mention books and I run off at the mouth! Sorry!
I will keep thinking.....
Apr 7th, 2006, 07:13 PM
#24
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 748
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Ride the Wind by Lucia St Clair Robson - This book was recommended to my daughter by her HS English teacher. My daughter loved it and she had me read it. It is the story of Cynthia Ann Parker who, after being kidnapped by Comanche Indians, grew up with them and became a Comanche woman. It is a beautiful, powerful tale. I strongly recommend it.
Apr 7th, 2006, 07:43 PM
#25
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 422
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Here are my suggestions:
March (Geraldine Brooks) -- imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the father in "Little Women"
A Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (Geraldine Brooks) -- I thought the ending was a bit contrived, but other than that, it was fascninating and based on real events in Elam, England
Mao's Last Dancer (Li Cunxin) -- not fiction, but the autobiography of a dancer who defected from Communist China to America and joined the Houston Ballet
Cold Mountain -- Charles Frazier
Saints and Villians (Denise Giardina) -- Historical fiction about Dietrich Bonhoffer, a Protestant minister executed by the Nazis
A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
A Thread of Grace (Mary Doria Russell) -- historical fiction about the experiences of Jews in Italy during WWII
March (Geraldine Brooks) -- imagines the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, the father in "Little Women"
A Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague (Geraldine Brooks) -- I thought the ending was a bit contrived, but other than that, it was fascninating and based on real events in Elam, England
Mao's Last Dancer (Li Cunxin) -- not fiction, but the autobiography of a dancer who defected from Communist China to America and joined the Houston Ballet
Cold Mountain -- Charles Frazier
Saints and Villians (Denise Giardina) -- Historical fiction about Dietrich Bonhoffer, a Protestant minister executed by the Nazis
A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
A Thread of Grace (Mary Doria Russell) -- historical fiction about the experiences of Jews in Italy during WWII
Apr 8th, 2006, 01:01 AM
#27
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 9,642
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Bel Ami, by Guy de Maupassant (1885). Esp. if any of your students are considering a career in journalism, because its description of a reporter's life in late 19th century Paris is not all that different from a journo's life today. Shrewd, sharply written, amusing, and suprisingly contemporary.
Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell (1933). If nothing else, they'll learn how to get rid of bedbugs! (Works on ants, too.) Along with a better understanding of the plight of the homeless.
I read both of those when I was 17 and have re-read them several times.
Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell (1933). If nothing else, they'll learn how to get rid of bedbugs! (Works on ants, too.) Along with a better understanding of the plight of the homeless.
I read both of those when I was 17 and have re-read them several times.
Apr 8th, 2006, 03:58 AM
#28
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 74,699
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hi T,
>... significant cultural or historical value...
Gone With the Wind
Don Quixote
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
A Farewell to Arms
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Grapes of Wrath
Hamlet
To name a few (although Hamlet is a play, not a novel, I think that it is a good read).
>... significant cultural or historical value...
Gone With the Wind
Don Quixote
Les Miserables
A Tale of Two Cities
A Farewell to Arms
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Grapes of Wrath
Hamlet
To name a few (although Hamlet is a play, not a novel, I think that it is a good read).
Apr 8th, 2006, 04:12 AM
#29
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 499
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
"The Once and Future King" by TH White
"Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd
"Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
and, though I can't imagine they haven't already read it,
"Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
"Sarum" by Edward Rutherfurd
"Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
and, though I can't imagine they haven't already read it,
"Farenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
Apr 8th, 2006, 09:51 AM
#32
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 24,295
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
A few more:
"Pride and Prejudice," of course.
"China Boy," by Gus Lee
"The Middle Heart," by Bette Bao Lord
"A Thousand Acres,"by Jane Smiley (note comparisons to "King Lear"
And one excellent non-fiction title,
"No Ordinary Time," by Doris Goodwin Kearns, a terrific and very readable account of the Roosevelt war years.
"Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck, if this isn't already on a required-reading list.
"Pride and Prejudice," of course.
"China Boy," by Gus Lee
"The Middle Heart," by Bette Bao Lord
"A Thousand Acres,"by Jane Smiley (note comparisons to "King Lear"
And one excellent non-fiction title,
"No Ordinary Time," by Doris Goodwin Kearns, a terrific and very readable account of the Roosevelt war years.
"Grapes of Wrath," by John Steinbeck, if this isn't already on a required-reading list.
Apr 8th, 2006, 12:56 PM
#34
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 6,098
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene--a "whiskey Priest" hiding from the authorities in anti-clerical Mexico between World Wars. (Based partly on his trip to Mexico in the 30s, described in his non-fiction work The Lawless Roads.)
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway--Spanish Civil War.
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway--Spanish Civil War.
Apr 8th, 2006, 01:08 PM
#35
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 3,194
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I read the House of Spirits before my senior year in high school and I was enthralled. It remains one of my favorite books of all time and I've since read all of Isabel Allende's books. So obviously that's my recommendation!
Apr 8th, 2006, 05:28 PM
#36
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 170
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Oh my gosh! I am not at all surprised that people on this forum would come through for me. Thank you so much. What an amazing bunch of suggestions. Some of these I have already read and have rejected for various reasons, and the rest I am going to research more fully. I guess I know what I'll be reading all summer! For the record, I am a Spanish teacher. I think I will start with Gallileo's Daughter but keep the suggestions coming. Again, a big thank you!
Apr 8th, 2006, 05:40 PM
#37
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 3,227
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Capitan Alatriste (Arturo Perez Reverte). I know it has been translated to English but I really don't know the title there 
It portrays very well Madrid in the XVII century, even with a funny (and drunk !) Quevedo.
It portrays very well Madrid in the XVII century, even with a funny (and drunk !) Quevedo.
Apr 9th, 2006, 04:10 PM
#39
Join Date: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,850
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It is long, but "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is an amazing book.
Though the subject matter is quite raw, Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is the best book I can think to recommend to anyone. It gets into deep American culture and the characters are very well developed.
Though the subject matter is quite raw, Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood" is the best book I can think to recommend to anyone. It gets into deep American culture and the characters are very well developed.
Apr 10th, 2006, 06:57 AM
#40
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 156
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I might have just missed it on this long list already... but I'd recommend
"Devil in the White City"--- historical non-fiction that follows the rise and fall of the Chicago World Fair's architect and a serial murder during the famous 1893 fair.
"Devil in the White City"--- historical non-fiction that follows the rise and fall of the Chicago World Fair's architect and a serial murder during the famous 1893 fair.
