Summer Reading 2016

Recommended by Mr. Nord: This dude can write! A couple of English teachers recommended this book. I know I was a bit late getting on the bandwagon, but it is absolutely incredible. It's the story of two teenagers growing up in the years leading up to WWII and how their paths cross during the war. It is an emotionally charged read that left me in awe. I have nothing but amazing things to say about it. It won the Pulitzer prize in 2015 for fiction.

Recommended by Mr. Giorgi: 2015 National Book Award Winner. Prompted by the murder of a person friend of the author and written in light of the recent deaths of numerous African-Americans at the hands of police, the book is a meditation on the current state of race relations in America from the Gen-X African-American perspective wrapped inside a letter by the author to his son. It is also inspired by and written in homage to *The Fire Next Time* by James Baldwin.

Recommended by Mr. Sorensen: In depth analysis of the background behind the financial crisis in 2008. By the author of Moneyball. I know the topic sounds dry, but the writing is incredibly engaging and informative.

Recommended by Mr. Giorgi: If you liked the *Big Short*, you'll love *Flash Boys*, which focuses on high-frequency trading and how Wall Street firms figured out how to front-run each other through ever-faster technology. Want to know why the stock market rises and falls so quickly and so drastically, read this book. Mr. Sorensen is right on the money (oh, disastrous unanticipated pun!) about Mr. Lewis.

Recommended by Ms. Anderson: The story of the early carreer of and relationship between artists Patti Smith and Robert Maplethorpe. The backdrop of the story is the late 1960's-early 1970's NYC bohemia - the Chelsea Hotel and Warhol's "The Factory". If you're into gaining insight into that era - or if you are a Patti Smith fan, you'll find this book interesting. Won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2010.

Recommended by Mrs. Naldzin: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes has been called “heartbreaking in the best sense” by the New York Daily News and was on Amazon's Best Books of the Month list in January 2013. The book was also nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in 2013...

Recommended by Mrs. Schwander: Set in France during WWII, we hear the fascinating story of 2 sisters each with their own hopes and struggles. Although there are many novels out there which cover the horrors of the Holocaust, this is one of the most powerful and emotional ones which I have read in awhile. Have your tissues ready!

Recommended by Mr. Renfer: The Series follows a lowly-ranking member of the British army through many battles in many wars and across many continents (and his own subsequent rise through the ranks). Kind of a satisfyingly James Bond-ish character in the protagonist. Cornwell also writes a fabulous series about an English Archer, Thomas of Hookton, in the Grail Quest series set around the time of the Hundred year's war.

Recommended by Mr. Renfer: This is an edge-of-your-seat science thriller. No, but seriously - A book that I re-read every other year because I love it. Covers science achievements over the past several centuries, atomic theory, galactic facts and figures, and more! My favorite thing about the book is the humanity that Bryson brings to the people behind the science and the wonder with which he writes about the universe that we live in. You'll love it or your money back! Please see the business office about that last statement...