The Gate House Reading List
Many visitors ask what we read. It's not that we get a lot of reading done, unless it is pouring rain. However, conversations between gate staff and visitors usually wind their way to questions over titles that we see people have in their cars or that we may be holding during a quiet spell between the mad rush of helping people get into the park and the paperwork that must get completed before the end of the night. Over two decades of duty at the gate has helped me to create a hefty list of titles. A few of them are educational titles and designed to bore one to sleep. However, there is quite a list of titles to suggest for all age groups and genres.
Past Reads Young Adult Fiction - "Brain Candy" Percy Jackson Series - Rick Riordan Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan Heroes of the Valley - Jonathan Stroud Peter and the Starcatchers - Dave Barry Marina - Carlos Ruiz Zafon Adult Fiction/Non Fiction Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon Angel's Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon Prisoner of Heaven - Carlos Ruiz Zafon Siddhartha - Herman Hesse The Fifties - David Halberstam The Water is Wide - Pat Conroy Abraham- Bruce Feiler Longitude - Dava Sobel Outliers- Malcolm Gladwell In the Heart of the Sea - Nathaniel Philbrick Dead Wake - Erik Larson Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson The Middle of Everywhere - Mary Pipher Nickle and Dimed - Barabara Ehrenreich Comoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) The Truth of All Things - Kieran Shields A Study in Revenge - Kieran Shields |
Recent Reads
Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow For those of us without advance tickets to the Broadway show of the same name, this is the closest, and unabridged, version of the life of Alexander Hamilton one can get for under $25.00. It is a biography of a young and brilliant mind who helped shape not only our country's history but our economic system. While a lengthy, and thus a heavy tome, it is not a read that one plods through just to acclaim it has been accomplished. Chernow has done a wonderful job portraying Hamilton's full yet short life. The reader will, when done, appreciate why Hamilton is one of a few non presidents to grace the money in our wallets. Valiant Ambition - Nathaniel Philbrick Subtitled as "George Washington, Benedict Arnold and the Fate of the American Revolution", this recent Philbrick book tells the complex story of America's most hated traitor from our country's formative years. Most of us graduate from school having been taught that Benedict Arnold was a traitor and that was all there was to his story. In the immortal words of Paul Harvey, Philbrick does a fine job of giving the reader "the rest of the story." You may finish reading the book and still hate Benedict, but you'll walk away with a better understanding of the man as he chose a path from hero to villain. Nickle and Dimed - Barabara Ehrenreich An undercover journalist tries to live the notion that "a job, any job" could improve one's life. Moving across the country and only working minimum wage jobs, she sheds light on the reality of the welfare reforms of the late 1990s. The Middle of Everywhere - Mary Pipher When a psychologist volunteers to help refugees we get a very real and emotional image of today's global crisis of displaced people. Sapiens: A Brief History of Human Kind - Yuval Noah Harari This hefty book, due to the weight of paper the hard cover is printed on and the content, will make you revisit what you thought you learned and knew about our beginnings. It is a book that makes you stop to reread and rethink. Certainly not a "brain candy" book. This is a thinker and the quiet of a beach day may be the best place to absorb it. You will of course need several beach days to complete it. The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien This Vietnam memoir takes the reader through a very different approach to the writer's experiences during one of America's most controversial conflicts. What did these soldiers carry besides the required military equipment? The Teacher Wars: A History of America's Most Embattled Profession - Dana Goldstein A fast paced and concise look at the history of teaching in America from it's seminal beginnings with Beecher and Mann through unionization to the current data driven frenzy. This is a great read for teachers and non-teachers alike. It helps lay a foundation to understanding the current trends in American Public schools. |