Books.

My Desert Island Books:

No One Belongs Here More Than You–Miranda July
The Bell Jar–Sylvia Plath
Unaccustomed Earth–Jhumpa Lahiri
The Glass Castle –Jeannette Walls
A Prayer for Owen Meaney –Jon Irving
Middlesex –Jeffrey Eugenides
Interpreter of Maladies –Jhumpa Lahiri
Once Were Warriors –Alan Duff
Snow Falling on Cedars–David Guterson

 

Other Excellent Reads:

The Pages In Between: A Holocaust Legacy of Two Families, One Home–Erin Einhorn
The Sex Lives of Cannibals–J. Maarten Troost
Lost in the Forest–Sue Miller 
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao–Junot Diaz
The Liars’ Club –Mary Karr
The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir–Bill Bryson
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly–Jean-Dominique Bauby
Praying for Sheetrock– Melissa Fay Greene
Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It–Geoff Dyer
Shakespeare: The World as Stage–Bill Bryson
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time–Mark Haddon
The Nazi Officer’s Wife–Edith Hahn Beer
Autobiography of a Face–Lucy Grealy
Whale Rider –Witi Ihimaera
In Cold Blood –Truman Capote
Travels with Charley –John Steinbeck
The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003–ed. Zadie Smith and Dave Eggers

Pretty Good:
Family Tree–Barbara Delinsky
Uglies–Scott Westerfeld
The Penelopiad–Margaret Atwood
The Notebook–Nicholas Sparks
Before We Were Free–Julia Alvarez
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie–Jordan Sonnenblick 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan–Lisa See
Rumspringa–Tom Shachtman
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat–Oliver Sacks
Where the Red Fern Grows –Wilson Rawls
Cash: The Autobiography–Johnny Cash
The Time Traveler’s Wife –Audrey Niffenegger
Between, Georgia –Joshilyn Jackson
Trans-Sister Radio–Chris Bohjalian
The Year of Magical Thinking –Joan Didion
Romeo and Juliet –William Shakespeare
Breakfast of Champions –Kurt Vonegut
Catfish and Mandala –Andrew X. Pham
The Kite Runner–Khaled Hosseini
We Tell Ourselves Stories In Order Live –Joan Didion

Eh…:
Before You Know Kindness–Chris Bojalian
Schooled–Gordon Korman
Farewell to Manzanar–Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Ashes of Roses–Mary Jane Auch
Ask Me No Questions–Marina Budhos
The Trouble With Islam Today–Irshad Manji
The Sea–John Banville
The English Patient–Michael Ondaatje
Siddhartha–Hermann Hesse
Brick Lane –Monica Ali
Bill Bryson’s African Diary–Bill Bryson
A House Somewhere –ed. Don George & Anthony Sattin
The Other Boleyn Girl–Philippa Gregory

A Struggle to Finish: 
Pocketful of Names–Joe Coomer
A Framework for Understanding Poverty–Ruby K. Payne
Hamlet’s Dresser: A Memoir–Bob Smith
A Thousand Splendid Suns–Khaled Hosseini
The Icarus Girl–Helen Oyeyemi

Unfinished or REALLY Disliked:
The Secret River –Kate Grenville
The Abortionist’s Daughter–Elizabeth Hyde

 

Good Books for Middle School Students:
Homeless Bird–Gloria Whelan
A Twist of Gold –Michael Morpurgo
Schooled–Gordon Korman
Uglies–Scott Westerfeld
Hole in My Life–Jack Gantos
Farewell to Manzanar–Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston
Before We Were Free–Julia Alvarez
Ashes of Roses–Mary Jane Auch
When I was Puerto Rican–Esmeralda Santiago
Afternoon of the Elves–Janet Taylor Lisle
Bud, Not Buddy–Christopher Paul Curtis
Maus–Art Spiegelman
The Glass Castle –Jeannette Walls
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time–Mark Haddon
Whale Rider –Witi Ihimaera
Autobiography of a Face–Lucy Grealy
Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie–Jordan Sonnenblick 
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan–Lisa See
The Kite Runner–Khaled Hosseini
Ask Me No Questions–Marina Budhos
Bill Bryson’s African Diary–Bill Bryson
A Thousand Splendid Suns–Khaled Hosseini
The Icarus Girl–Helen Oyeyemi
Hush–Jacquline Woodson