Summer Reading List : 1ère euro/ Term euro

Pour les futurs élèves de 1ères et de Terminales de la section européenne, veuillez pendre connaissance du travail à faire pour le 1er cours de la rentrée en Septembre.

B2 list

• The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Native Americans, humour, contemporary US)
• Academy Street by Maria Castelo (Immigration/ Ireland and US/1940s’)
• The Milkman by Anna Burns (Troubles in Northern Ireland)
• There There by Tommy Orange (Native Americans, contemporary US)
• On Chesil Beach by Ian Mc Ewan (romance)
• Boy Heaven by Laura Kasischke (provocative mystery book/love story)
• The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (collection of short stories)
• The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka (intimate and psychological novel about mothers and daughters and the sorrows of implacable loss)
• Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler (rewriting of The Taming of the Schrew by Shakespeare/humour/ love and marriage)
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon (humour/murder mystery/Asperger’s syndrome)
• One of Us Is Lying by Karen McMAnus (Mystery/thriller/Young adult)
• The Guernesey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows (epistolary, 2nd world war, light-hearted)
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman (urban science fiction, fantasy)
• Red White and Royal Blue (Romance, LGBT, young adult)

C1 list

• The Handmaid’s Tale + The Testaments (sequel) by Margaret Atwood (dystopia)
• Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (tale/India)
• I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing by Maya Anglelou (autobiographic novel/segregation/US)
• Small Great Things by Jodi Picault (race issue in the US)
• Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (segregation/US)
• The Promise by Damon Galgut (South Africa)
• Machines Like Me by Ian Mc Ewan (Artifical intelligence)
• Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift (love story)
• Swing Time by Zadie Smith (story of a Black dancer in London)
• Actress by Anne Enright (reflection on actors’ and actresses’ life)
• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (modern Britain and black womanhood)
• The Golden House By Salman Rushdie (success in the US)
• Middle England by Jonathan Coe (contemporary England, during and after Brexit)

C2 list

• Moon Palace by Paul Auster (Quest of identity/ New York)
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (coming-of-age novel/post-colonial Nigeria)
• The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (Nobel prize/Oxford/1950s’)
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (England/16th century/ family, love and death)

During the holidays, you need to pick one book from the list and read it. For the future 1ère, you need to choose one from the whole list. For the future terminales, you need to choose one from the C1 and C2 list. Be ready to answer the following questions when you go back to school in September.

• Why did you choose this book at first ?
• Identify the genre, recap the main actions of the plot and draw a portrait of the main characters.
• What did you like about the book ? What didn’t you like ?
• If you really enjoyed this book, be ready to convince your classmates that it was an enriching and compelling experience. (3 arguments minimum)

Have fun !