My Annotated Reading List
THe Crucible by Artur Miller
A sory of a group of young girls take control over thier town causing mass hysteria about witch craft.
My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
A story of a boy struggling to control his gift for art and his finding an identity in the Hasidic Jewish Community.
Sleepers by Lorenzo Carretara
This is a semi autographical novel about a group of boys who get sent to a reform institue and the way their lives turned out.
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo
The story of a man who loses all limbs and struggles to mkae contact with the outside world.
For Whom The Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
The story of a reporter during the Spanish Civil War as he accounts his experiances of the battles.
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
The story of two boys who become friends by overcoming the religious differences of their fathers.
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
This is a fantasy adventure of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins and his dwarf companions as they travel to an ancient castle in a mountain to defeat the evil dragon Smaug and reclaim a lost treasure.
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
This first person narrative is the story of a very confused boy who goes through a peroid a five days which explain his life.
The Andromeda Strain by Micheal Crichton
This sci-fi book tells the story of an alien virus that threatens the whole word by clotting a persons blood. A team of sciencetists must find a cure before they themselves contract the deadly disease.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbach
The story of two men in the 30's who go from farm to farm working. George and Lenny are two of the most inconpatable people but they form a bond that holds them close. Trouble breaks out when Lenny accidentaly kills the bosses wife and George and Lenny are forced to run.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
When a group a British boys crash on a deserted island, all hell breaks loose as there are no grown-ups to set boundaries. The book explores how there is an animal in every person and without the rules of society to hold it back humans degenerate to beasts.
A Sepereate Peace by John Knowles
The story of two boys during WWII who are tucked away in a private school. Without the external war they are away from a new one forms inside one of the boys as he struggles with jeolousy, envy, and the internal urges to destroy those around him.
Shoeless Joe by W.R. Kinsella
The story of how baseball can change a mans life. Strange voices on a mans farm causes him to build a baseball field in his corn and leads him on a cross country journey to find how important baseball is to America and himself.
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A Time To Kill by John Grisham
The story of a southern town that is wrapped in contraversy as the father of a black girl who was raped kills the rapers of his daughter. The trial goes on as KKK members try to frighten the young hot-shot lawyer who has to convince the jury that his client temporarily loses his sanity.
Sidhartha by Hermen Heese
The story of a boy who has trouble finding his inner peace in his primative Indian society, so he leaves to experiance other walks of life in his search for Nirvana. It is only after he experianced everything that he understood the Nirvana could only come from experiancing all.
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Animal Farm by George Orwell
This is a social satire of the world played out by animals on a farm. When the animals revolted against their human owners they form a society where everyone is equal and there is no coruption. Yet, as time goes by the pigs change rules secretly for their benefit and take advanage of the dumber working animals.
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The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley
This book documents the life and death of the civil rights leader Malcolm X. From his childhood in poverty, his long stay in jail, his service as a minister for the Muslum religion, and finally his breakaway from the Muslum society the reader feels the reality of Malcolm's brutal life and comes away with a greater understanding of life and the interaction between whites and blacks.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
This is the story a young girl growing up in the racist south. The town she lives in is thrust into contraversy as a black man is accused of rape and the girl's father must defend him.