The summer reading lists at America's most prestigious private schools
For many people, the summer months symbolize pleasure reading at its best.
It's a time to indulge in the texts that are most appealing, without scrutiny: an easy beach read, a guilty pleasure, or that book you've always meant to start.
But students at America's most prestigious private schools must still endure the rigors of homework during their summer vacations with a little reading — some required, some merely recommended. The titles cover issues such as war, sexuality, and racial history.
Check out the reading lists of rising seniors at reputable private schools across the US:
The Hotchkiss School — Lakeville, Connecticut
Students must read three books of their choosing plus the required items below:
Read (novel) — ""The Things They Carried," by Tim O'Brien
Read (novel) — "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," by Sherman Alexie
Watch — "The Hunger Games" (2012)
Read (poem) — "A Work of Artifice," by Marge Piercy
Trinity School — New York, New York
Students can choose to read one or more of the books on the list below and then participate in informal discussion groups in the fall:
"Alice in Wonderland," by Lewis Carroll
"All the Light We Cannot See," by Anthony Doerr
"The Boys in the Boat," by Daniel James Brown
"Closely Watched Trains," by Bohumil Hrabal
"Color of Magic," by Terry Pratchett
"Crime and Punishment," by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"The Old Man and the Sea," Ernest Hemingway
"The Wind in the Willows," Kenneth Grahame
Deerfield Academy — Deerfield, Massachusetts
Students must read four books that they choose from a list of over 50. Titles on the list include:
"Half of a Yellow Sun," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"A Clockwork Orange," by Anthony Burgess
"The Universe and The Teacup: The Mathematics of Truth and Beauty," by K.C. Cole
"Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison
"Madame Bovary," by Gustave Flaubert
"To The Lighthouse," by Virginia Woolf
The Harker School — San Jose, California
English teachers at the school put together the following list of recommended summer reading:
"Slouching Towards Bethlehem," by Joan Didion
"Native Son," by Richard Wright
"Interpreter of Maladies," by Jhumpa Lahiri
"The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan
Ransom Everglades School — Miami, Florida
"Song of Solomon," by Toni Morrison
Choate Rosemary Hall — Wallingford, Connecticut
Students must read"Flight," by Sherman Alexie plus two books they choose from a list of over 100. Works include:
"The Andy Warhol Diaries," by Andy Warhol
"Why Sinatra Matters," by Pete Hamill
"Americanah," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
"Welcome to the Monkey House," by Kurt Vonnegut
"Pride and Prejudice," by Jane Austen
"Love in the Time of Cholera," by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Lawrenceville School — Lawrenceville, New Jersey
Students must read "All the Light We Cannot See," by Anthony Doerrplus one book they choose from a list of over 50. Works include:
"A Very Long Engagement," by Sebastien Japrisot
"Cities of the Plain," by Cormac McCarthy
"Franny and Zooey," by J.D. Salinger
"The Beautiful Struggle," by Ta-Nehisi Coates
"Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies," by Jared Diamond
The College Preparatory School — Oakland, California
Faculty members at the school put together a list of recommended summer reading. Here are some of their picks:
"Adventures of Kavalier and Clay," by Michael Chabon
"Cat's Cradle," by Kurt Vonnegut
"Crime and Punishment," by Fyodor Dostoevsky
"The Princess Bride," by William Goldman
"The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," by Haruki Murakami
"A Streetcar Named Desire," by Tennessee Williams
See Also:
8 books that America's most prestigious private schools love to assign for summer reading
English teachers have been assigning Elie Wiesel's memoir of the Holocaust for 30 years — here's why
SEE ALSO: 14 things that are harder to get into than Stanford
