For most of my teaching career, I attended the annual convention
of the National Council of Teachers of English wherever it was held. Held the
weekend before Thanksgiving, this conference felt like the teaching equivalent
of a gospel tent revival, sending me home with a renewed enthusiasm for this
profession I have loved. I always came home with practical ideas I could use in
class the next Monday, Wednesday at the latest, and a head full of ideas.
I developed friendships at these gatherings with people who shared
common bonds, especially those who loved books as much as I do. Among all the practical sessions, I always
made time for one guilty pleasure, a regular session called Readers Ourselves. In this session,
participants talked about books we had read for pleasure, not for the
classroom. We were given an index card (low-tech, eh?) to note any titles we
mentioned. Michael Moore, one of the
facilitators, always gathered the cards with contact information and shared the
final list with everyone. He started this sharing before internet, but now the
list comes via email.
At another regular session High
School Matters, one of the larger double sessions, roundtable discussions
alternated with some keynote speakers, the rock stars of the English
profession. My friend Carol Jago, one of
the most voracious readers I know, always shared a list of her book
recommendations. Eventually her husband
started printing up book marks so participants could listen without having to
write (and keep asking, “What did she say?”). I always knew I could trust Carol’s
book choices.
I’ve missed the conference for two or three years now, because of school
budget constraints, but Carol and Michael generously share their lists anyway.
I, in turn, will share them here (with the ones I've read highlighted). After all, who doesn’t need one more book
list?
Carol
Jago’s List:
Ta-Nehisi
Coates, Between the World and Me
David
McCullough, The Wright Brothers
Kamil
Daoud, The Meursault Investigation
Brian
Turner, My Life as a Foreign Country
Lydia
Davis, Can't and Won't, stories
Claudia
Rankine, Citizen, An American Lyric
Gabriella
Coleman, Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy
Rabih
Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman
Readers
Session – Minneapolis:
My
Dear, I wanted to tell you – Louisa Young -- Historical fiction, WWI
The
Hero’s Welcome – Louisa Young – Historical fiction, WWI
The
Three-Day Road – Joseph Boyden – Canadian First Nations’ Soldiers in WWI
Our Souls at Night – Kent Haruf – 2 small town
neighbors who have lost their spouses –
want
to spend nights together talking
Dead Wake – Erik Larsen (Nonfiction, the Lusitania
Tragedy WWI)
How
We Learn – Benedict Carey (cognitive science)
Burial
Rites – Hannah Kent – Last woman to be publicly executed in Iceland
The Rosie Project; The Rosie Effect – Australian scientist w/
Aspergers
Longbourne
– Jo Baker – Pride and Prejudice the servants’ stories
Accidental
Saints – Badia Bolz-Webber – NPR featured-memoir of unorthodox
Lutheran
minister
Learning
to Swim – Sara J. Henry – A woman thinks she sees someone fall off a Lake
Champlain
ferry-and jumps in to save the person – mystery novel
Dead
Man’s Land – Robert Ryan – Doctor Watson in the trenches of WWI-Someone is
using
the cover of war for murders (mystery)
Nothing
to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea – Barbara Demick
Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
Sense
of an Ending – Julian Barnes
The
Wave – Todd Strasser
Middlesex – Jeffrey
Eugenides
Hold
Still – Sally Mann
How
I Shed My Skin – Jim Grimsley
Brown
Girl Dreaming – Jacqueline Woodson
I
Must Say: My Life as a Humble Comedy Legend – Martin Short
The Warmth of Other Suns – Isabel Wilkinson
Can
We Talk About Something More Pleasant – Roz Chast
Nothing
to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea – Barbara Derrick
Minds
Made for Stories – Jim Newkirk
People
of the Book – Geraldine Brooks
10% Happier – Dan Harris
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up –
Kondo
The
Gifts of Imperfection – Brene Brown
We Were Liars – E. Lockhart
Hate
List – Jennifer Brown
The Orphan Master’s Son – Adam Johnson
Orphan Train – Christina Baker Kline
The Devil in the White City – Jeff Larson
Gifted
Hands – Ben Carson
All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doer
The
Lotus Eaters – Tatiana Soli
The
Serpent of Venice – Christopher Moore
Waking
Up White – Debby Irving
The
Year of Lear – James Shapiro
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare – James Shapiro
Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Guernsey Literary and Sweet Potato
Pie Society –
Mary Ann Shaffer
Make
It Stick – Peter Brown
How
We Learn – Benedict Carey
Lila – Marilyn Robinson
The
Girl With All the Gifts – M.R. Carey
Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah
Quiet:
The Power of Introverts in a World That Cannot Stop Talking
Americanah – Chimamanda
Ngozi Adichie
The
Boys in the Boat
Submission
– Michel Houelebeque
The
Map & the Territory
The
White Road – Edmund de Waal
My
Struggle – Karl Ove Knausgaard
The
Wright Brothers – David McCullough
Between the World and Me – Ta-Nehisi Coates
The
Year of Lear – James Shapiro
The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
Station
Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
One
Thing Stolen – Beth Kephart
Vernacular
Eloquence – Elbow
Being
Mortal – Atul Gawande
The
Sixth Extinction – Elizabeth Kolbert
The
Brothers Karamasov – Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky translation
The
Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories – Gene Wolfe
Embers
– Sandor Marae – Two older men – once friends-Reconnect after 40 years –
story
reveals the secrets that cause the 40 year break
Special
Topics in Calamity Physics – Marsha Pessl – at its heart is a murder mystery –
just
a remarkably different voice
Horrorstory
– Grady Hendrix – An IKEA like store is the hellmouth
The
Distant Land of My Father – Boo Caldwell – Historical fiction that takes place
in
Shanghai
during the Japanese Occupation
The
Sound of a Wild Snail Eating – Elizabeth Tora Bailey – Memoir , a quiet
book
about a woman who accidentally becomes an invalid and begins to
nurture
the snail who arrives with get well flowers – fascinating
Biography
of Georgia O’Keefe – Mike Venezia
The
Norton Book of Nature Writing – Finch,E Elder – Literary authors on nature and
philosophy.
Leads to exploring other works by authors. I just finished a book
by
Sigurd Olson and one by Louise Erdrich
Elements of Style – E.B. White’s wit
Biography
of Woody Guthrie – Joe Klein
Difficult
Men – Brett Martin – The third golden age of television. The backstory
behind
The
Sopranos, The Wire, the Shield and others.
Just
Kids – Patti Smith – Patti and Robert Maplethorpe in NYC in the mid sixties to
mid
Seventies
The
Three Arched Bridge – Ismail Kadare – Nobel Laurette and a different kind of
magical
realism
The
Prophets – A.J. Heschel – Shows transactional consciousness is as old as Amos
and
Isaiah
Soul
Dust – Nicholas Humphrey – scientific theory of the evolution of not just mind
but
soul
in warm blooded creatures as a magic theatre that creates attachment to
one’s
own life, to others’ lives, and to life itself. A scientific
justification for
putting
the humanities at the heart of education once again.
A
Woman in Charge – Carl Bernstein
Hillary’s
Choice - Gail Sheehy – Shows the Clintons as good and hopeful people.
Primary
Colors –
Self
and Soul – Mark Edmundson
The
Idiot and The Devils – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Always a Great Source for Book Recommendations: NCTE
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