- Night by Elie Wiesel
Primary Reader: Rachel Little
Amazon Summary: “Night is Elie Wiesel’s masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps. This new translation by Marion Wiesel, Elie’s wife and frequent translator, presents this seminal memoir in the language and spirit truest to the author’s original intent. And in a substantive new preface, Elie reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.”
Reasoning: Night is an autobiography that depicts very serious and heinous acts from history. This true story is very different from the fiction and fantasy stories that I am prone to choose. The Holocaust is a time in history that I find equal parts horrified and curious to learn more about. I hope this story will give me insight into history from the personal perspective of Elie Wiesel’s life. I also expect to question humanity and how humans could even be capable of acting so inhumanely. The author, Elie Wiesel, is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. I expect the subject matter and writing style to be impactful.
2. Supermarket by Bobby Hall
Primary Reader: Alexa DePalma
Amazon Summary: “Flynn is stuck—depressed, recently dumped, and living at his mom’s house. The supermarket was supposed to change all that. An ordinary job and a steady check. Work isn’t work when it’s saving you from yourself. But things aren’t quite as they seem in these isles. Arriving to work one day to a crime scene, Flynn’s world collapses as the secrets of his tortured mind are revealed. And Flynn doesn’t want to go looking for answers at the supermarket. Because something there seems to be looking for him. A darkly funny psychological thriller, Supermarket is a gripping exploration into madness and creativity. Who knew you could find sex, drugs, and murder all in aisle nine?”
Reasoning: Supermarket by Bobby Hall is definitely new territory for me as a reader. When looking for a book to read, I am usually drawn to young adult, romantic novels. Supermarket is a thrilling, psychological fiction. There is also a bit of dark humor. This is totally out of my comfort zone! The summary instantly pulled me in. I already have so many questions. What secret is Flynn trying to run from? How is the crime scene at the supermarket going to affect Flynn? This novel is very different from the other novels we chose. Not only is the genre completely different, but the author is different as well. Bobby Hall, also known as Logic, is mostly known as a rapper, not an author. I believe reading and writing about a story that is out of our comfort zones can help us develop us as readers and writers. It is going to be challenging but that is what will help us grow! Usually, if I read the kind of reviews that Supermarket has, I would instantly run. Now, the awful reviews intrigue me to read this novel even more. I look forward to reading this novel with a new perspective on how writers read.
3. Reboot by Amy Tintera
Primary Reader: Jay Napoliello
Amazon Summary: “Wren Connolly died five years ago, only to Reboot after 178 minutes. Now she is one of the deadliest Reboots around . . . unlike her newest trainee, Callum 22, who is practically still human. As Wren tries to teach Callum how to be a soldier, his hopeful smile works its way past her defenses. Unfortunately, Callum’s big heart also makes him a liability, and Wren is ordered to eliminate him. To save Callum, Wren will have to risk it all.”
Reasoning: Personally, I find the premise of this novel to be intriguing. I really appreciate stories that do a lot of work building up the concept, if that makes sense. It seems that a bit of worldbuilding and lore has gone into crafting this story, and I’m interested to see where it goes! I also am a big advocate for genre fiction, as a lot of people find it to be inferior to literary fiction, and I think that’s an unfair assumption to make. The reviews on this novel are also promising! Sure, there’s a chance it turns out to not be very good, but that’s okay. I’m excited to see how it plays out, and I think having a more sci-fi/fantasy story to break up the more realistic fiction stories the class is focusing on is a good palette cleanser. Realistic fiction is great and all, but it’s nice to hop into a fantasy world every now and then!
4. Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Primary Reader: Venesa Porter
Amazon Summary: The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a “haunting”; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Reasoning: The reason I chose this book was because I like books that have a scarier theme. I have never watched the show for this book or have read the book itself so I am very excited. All the reviews on this book are incredible and there was even a review from Stephen King. All in all, I am just really excited to read this book and I think I am really going to enjoy it.
Read the Room 