THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at The City College 138th Street & Convent Avenue – New York, New York 10031 Telephone: (212) 281-6490 Fax: (212) 220 - 8204 Hello HSMSE Students and Parents: Here are the HSMSE suggested titles for summer-fun reading (in no particular order) These texts have been recommended by the staff at our school because they are interesting, timely, beloved, lifechanging, and/or even FUN (*gasp* yes, you read that right: read these books for fun, not because they are part of a mandatory assignment) If you’re looking for a good book to read over the summer and talk about (casually) when you return in September, take a look: English Department Suggestions: The Round House by Louise Erdrich Recommended by Ms Boylan – A thematic sequel to Plague of Doves* and set on an unnamed Indian Reservation in South Dakota; Ojibwe Joe Coutts looks for evidence in a terrible crime that affects his whole family The Secret History by Donna Tart Recommended by Ms Boylan – Set in New England, it examines the effects of a crime on a group of six students at Hampden College The Wedding* by Dorothy West Recommended by Ms Contreras – The Cole family gathers in Martha’s Vineyard of the 1950s for the wedding of their loveliest daughter, Shelby, Waiting for Snow in Havana by Carlos Eire Recommended by Ms Contreras – a memoir of an idyllic childhood in Cuba that ends in exile as Eire is airlifted out of Havana in response to Castro’s revolution The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger Recommended by Mr Hershow – A “creative nonfiction/narrative nonfiction” book that explores the lives of a fishing crew caught within the 1991 Perfect Storm Pachinko* by Min Jin Lee Recommended by Ms Hesseltine – an epic historical novel that follows a Korean family as they immigrate to Japan after World War II and attempt to make a life there Into Thin Air* by Jon Krakauer Recommended by Ms Hesseltine and Mr Hershow – a memoir about the 1997 disastrous attempt to scale Everest, a great contribution to the conversation started by recent events It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura Recommended by Ms Hesseltine and Mr Henning – a coming-of-age story that examines the growing relationship between Sana and Jaimie; a good companion text to To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at The City College 138th Street & Convent Avenue – New York, New York 10031 Telephone: (212) 281-6490 Fax: (212) 220 - 8204 English Department Suggestions continued: In the Time of the Butterflies* by Julia Alvarez Recommended by Ms Walker – the fictionalized story of the real-life Dominican "Mariposa" sisters, activists murdered by the dictator Trujillo in 1960 10 Hamlet* by William Shakespeare Recommended by Ms Walker – see one of the 1000 movie versions first if necessary, but read it he's the original emo guy (Books with an * can also be found in Ms Hesseltine’s classroom library in C5 – see her to borrow one.) History Department Suggestion(s): 11 The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe Recommended by Mr Trimarco – though it focuses on the earlier Mercury program, this is a perfect read in time for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing (feel free to watch the movie too) 12 Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin Recommended by Mr Trimarco – Explores the life of an American man living in Paris 13 Hannibal and Me by Andreas Kluth Recommended by Ms Zafonte – The life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps with his army in 218 BCE, offers timeless lessons to us today about how we should respond to our own victories and defeats 14 Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford Recommended by Ms Zafonte – The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred From the story of his rise through the tribal culture to the explosion of civilization that the Mongol Empire unleashed, this brilliant work of revisionist history tells the epic story of how the modern world was made 15 Gorbachev by William Taubman Recommended by Mr Zara – Phenomenal research into the life of the man who changed Europe and the world in the last half of the 20th century 16 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin Recommended by Mr Zara – one of the first books in the genre of feminist science fiction A major theme of the novel is the effect of sex and gender on culture and society Math Department Suggestion(s): 17 The Hanging on Union Square by H.T Tsiang Recommended by Mr Choi – an epic novel published in 1935 (and reissued in 2019) that examines the lives of New Yorkers in Depression-era New York 18 Slaughterhouse Five* by Kurt Vonnegut Recommended by Mr Coulombe – a science fiction antiwar novel about the WWII experiences of Billy Pilgrim THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at The City College 138th Street & Convent Avenue – New York, New York 10031 Telephone: (212) 281-6490 Fax: (212) 220 - 8204 Math Department suggestions continued: 19 One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey Recommended by Mr Coulombe – Set in an Oregon psychiatric hospital, the story examines the human mind’s individuality and a resistance to institutionalization 20 Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me by Richard Farina Recommended by Mr Coulombe – Set on a college campus meant to resemble Cornell, the hero Gnossos Pappadopoulis navigates the psychedelic landscape of the 1960s to become an inadvertent leader of student rebellion 21 Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem Recommended by Mr Dolcy – By examining evolutionary history, Moalem reveals the connection between the ancestral conditions for survival that lead to contemporary diseases 22 Freakonomics* by Levitt and Dubner Recommended by Mr Dolcy – A nonfiction text that applies economic theory to topics in pop culture 23 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho Recommended by Mr Dolcy and Ms Contreras – An allegory, the story follows a shepherd on his journey to seek out a treasure 24 The Universe Speaks in Numbers by Graham Farmelo Recommended by Mr Liu – how math helps solve the universe’s deepest mysteries 25 Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich Recommended by Mr Scheiman – The inside story of six MIT students who took Vegas for millions 26 The Code Book by Simon Singh Recommended by Mr Scheiman – A sweeping history of encryption, from Mary Queen of Scots to the Navajo Code Talkers 27 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon Recommended by Mr Troesch – a mystery novel with an unforgettable narrator Science Department Suggestion(s): 28 Proust was a Neuroscience by Jonah Lehrer Recommended by Mr Aleyasin – an easy read with lots of useful information about the history of arts, literature, and science 29 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance* by Robert M Pirsig Recommended by Mr Henning – a summer motorcycle trip across America’s Northwest undertaken by a father and son opens the door to philosophical musings about life’s big questions 30 Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman Recommended by Mr Swenson – short imaginative stories that delve into the possibilities of interpreting the world through our understanding of time All of these tales are hypothetical dreams that Einstein could have had while developing his Theory of Relativity THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION High School for Math, Science, and Engineering at The City College 138th Street & Convent Avenue – New York, New York 10031 Telephone: (212) 281-6490 Fax: (212) 220 - 8204 Science Department suggestions continued: 31 The Wind-up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami Recommended by Mr Swenson – the surreal tale of a lost cat and the owner who tries to find it LOTE Department Suggestion(s): 32 Emil and the Detectives / Emil und die Detektive by Erich Kaestner Recommended by Ms Malikova – It’s Emil’s first train ride alone and he’s excited―and a little nervous – until the unexpected happens and he must solve a mystery 33 Sorrows of Young Werther / Die Leiden des jungen Werthers by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Recommended by Ms Malikova - a loosely autobiographical epistolary novel, it is an important text of the Sturm und Drang period in German literature and influenced the later Romantic movement 34 The Lord of Rings by J.R.R Tolkien Recommended by Mr Salisbury – three different volumes make up this classic; start with The Fellowship of the Ring and embark on an adventure through Middle-earth 35 The Count of Monte Cristo* by Alexandre Dumas Recommended by Mr Salisbury – Based on actual events, this sweeping historical romance recounts the story of Edmond Dantès, a gallant young sailor whose life takes a bitter turn when he is falsely accused of treason and condemned to lifelong imprisonment Physical Education Department Suggestion: 36 The Natural by Bernard Malamud Recommended by Mr Diunte – The novel follows the life and career of Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy Have a great summer!