Summer 2015 Reading Ladder – June 27th to August 30th
In Order of Least to Most Recent
- The Glass Castle– Jeanette Walls (288 pages)
- To Kill a Mockingbird– Harper Lee (281 pages)
- The Catcher in the Rye– J. D. Salinger (214 pages)
- The Crucible– Arthur Miller (152 pages)
- Romeo and Juliet– William Shakespeare (121 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone– J. K. Rowling (223 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets– J. K. Rowling (251 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban– J. K. Rowling (317 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire– J. K. Rowling (636 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix– J. K. Rowling (766 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince– J. K. Rowling (607 pages)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows– J. K. Rowling (607 pages)
- Cat’s Eye– Margaret Atwood (421 pages)
- A Separate Peace– John Knowles (204 pages)
- The Book Thief– Markus Zusak (550 pages)
- The Power of One– Bryce Courtenay (530 pages)
- Fall on Your Knees– Ann-Marie MacDonald (566 pages)
- The Handmaid’s Tale– Margaret Atwood (311 pages)
- Anne of Green Gables– L. M. Montgomery (308 pages)
- The Nightingale and the Rose– Oscar Wilde (10 pages)
- The Storm– Kate Chopin (5 pages)
Total Pages Read: 7,368 pages total. 7,368/8 weeks of summer = 921 pages per week. 921/7 days a week = approximately 132 pages per day.
I am in love with words, and I always have been. In the summer, I try to read and write as much as possible since during the school year my time for my passions becomes limited. This summer I read about two, oftentimes three books a week, and I am satisfied with that and with my page count. I began with the Glass Castle -which I immediately loved- and then read my required novels and plays right after to make sure that I would have them done. After the required books, I began upon my yearly venture of rereading the Harry Potter series- which were my favorite childhood books, and will always be a large part of me. I then proceeded to tackle the recommended readings for my grade, and when those were finished with time to spare, I read a few novels and short stories that had been sitting in my mental ‘to read’ list. All things taken into account, I would consider this summer’s readings to be a success, as I got through all the books I had wanted to and more.
Top 3 Books: Cat’s Eye (Margaret Atwood), The Glass Castle (Jeanette Walls), and The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger).
- Cat’s Eye: This book captured me. Atwood’s depiction of the highs and lows of childhood, worlds of innocence and malice clashing, and of difficult choices together form a dynamic backdrop against the life story of Elaine Risley. By moving her narrative back and forth in time between Elaine’s troubled childhood and her adult success, Atwood shows how present day Elaine is haunted by the memories of growing up in Toronto- especially by the long-lost Cordelia, once Elaine’s childhood tormentor, and then her best friend. The story portrays the quiet cruelties and disturbing ways of girls and female friendships, with such honesty that I could not help but empathize with Elaine, as I have been in similar situations. One of my favorite books to date, Cat’s Eye shatters stereotypes of childhood ‘innocence’ and reveals the seldom acknowledged brutality of alleged friendships and cruel treatment, as well as how it follows one through to adulthood.
- The Glass Castle: A deeply emotional memoir of Jeanette Walls detailing her childhood, The Glass Castle recounts the Walls siblings’ poverty-stricken, unconventional childhood at the hands of eccentric parents. The story follows this deeply dysfunctional family through an account of a nomadic, semi-homeless upbringing, and makes for a wrenching testimony of childhood neglect, a collective escape by the children to New York, and of the many knots of human emotion. I found it to be one of those books where you become so invested in the characters that it is almost physical pain to put the book down. It is written in such a way that every development of the plot made the blood pound in my ears, and every pang of emotion within Jeanette resonated within me. I will never forget this book, and I will never forget how lucky I am in comparison to the Walls, to live the way I do with the luxuries that I have.
- The Catcher in the Rye: This book is one of the most intriguing I have ever read. I delved into it and didn’t reappear for days, because Holden’s struggle was so familiar and yet foreign to me. His dynamic mixture of curiosity and hesitation, depression and loneliness, and change-resistant tendencies made Holden a character like no other I had read before; they molded him into someone who I could understand in part, but also someone who puzzled me. Holden’s attitude towards the ‘phoniness’ of adults reflects something of own my outlook- although not nearly to the same extent or with the same intensity. I truly understand it and have experienced it, too; as we grow older, we move away from the honesty among children that we take for granted. The adult world is filtered, never fully honest, and never as easy to live in. Reading The Catcher in the Rye has changed me, and it has given me comfort to know that by the end of the book, Holden attained some level of peace towards growing up and entering the world of adult deception and intrigue, as this is a fear we share.
Goals for the next term: I will get through all of the required readings for Advanced Placement English, and in addition at least two novels, two plays, and five short stories by the end of Term 1. These novels, short stories, and plays may be chosen from the following list: A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini), Sarah’s Key (Tatiana de Rosnay), Eleanor and Park (Rainbow Rowell), I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai), As You Like It (William Shakespeare), The Star-Spangled Girl (Neil Gaiman), The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde), To Build a Fire (Jack London), A Pair of Silk Stockings (Kate Chopin), and The Black Veil (Charles Dickens).
Photo Citations:
Grossman, L. (2010, January 7). The Catcher in the Rye. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/the-catcher-in-the-rye-1951-by-j-d-salinger/
DeJardin, E. (2015, April 23). Tolog Review: The Glass Castle. Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://fshalibrarian.blogspot.ca/2015/04/tolog-review-glass-castle_19.html
Various Authors. (2015, August 25). Cat’s Eye (novel). Retrieved October 1, 2015, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat’s_Eye_(novel)
How to Impove SAT Reading. (n.d.). Retrieved October 1, 2015, from http://trueprep.co/2015/02/25/improve-sat-reading/
