The List is meant as a kind of master document or catalogue, from which 100 Books partner organizations in Egypt and other countries will be able to select 100 starting titles for their libraries. The list will therefore include more than 100 books, but we don’t want it to get too overwhelming. The idea is curation–pointing readers in the direction of what we think the best books really are. Here’s the List as it currently stands.
| Children’s/Lanugage Learning | ||
| Author | Title | Description |
| Berenstain, Jan and Stan | Bears on Wheels | Learn how to count in English with the help of the friendly Berenstain bears and their zany bicycle tricks. |
| Berenstain, Jan and Stan | The Berenstain Bears: Stories | This family of lovable bears lives in a tree, and always seems to be getting into trouble. There are dozens of books in this series. |
| Brinkloe, Julie | Fireflies | A young boy catches a jar full of fireflies. But as their light dims, he realizes he must set the insects free or they will die. |
| Brown, Margaret Wise | Good Night Moon | For more than sixty years, American parents have read this book to their children at bedtime. It’s about a bunny who says goodnight to everything he loves, from his socks to the moon. Simple English makes it great for teaching. |
| Carle, Eric | The Very Hungry Caterpillar/ Other | Bold illustrations and animal themes are the hallmarks of Eric Carle’s stories, among the prettiest English-language early reading books around. Translated into 45 languages. |
| Dahl, Roald | Enormous Crocodile | The Enormous Crocodile is the greediest animal in the jungle, and he loves to brag about eating children. The other animals want to teach him a lesson. |
| De Brunhoff, Jean | The Story of Barbar | When Barbar the Elephant loses his mother to a hunter, he leaves the country for the city to seek a new life. A classic. |
| Dr. Seuss | Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book | Practice your ABC’s with this easy, rhyming text filled with the regular range of Dr. Seuss’s crazy characters. |
| Dr. Seuss | Green Eggs and Ham | Sam I Am wants his friend to eat Green Eggs and Ham–how disgusting! An excellent book for teaching English, with only 50 words. |
| Dr. Seuss | Cat in the Hat | On a rainy day, the tall Cat in the Hat causes trouble for two children stuck at home. This book is created out of 223 easy words, to encourage children to read it themselves. |
| Dr. Seuss | On Beyond Zebra | What letters come AFTER Z? Dr. Seuss shows that only your imagination limits you. With each new letter comes a new creature, new landscape, or an entire new world. |
| Dr. Seuss | One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish | One of the best English-language teaching texts, with Dr. Seuss’s amazing illustrations. All about the rhythm of the language and the fun of using your imagination. |
| Dr. Seuss | Hop on Pop | “STOP. You must not hop on pop!” shouts the surprised father of two trouble-making bears in this book (Pop is another word for father). A great rhyming text for teaching English. |
| Eastman, P.D. | Go Dog Go | English as a Second Language teachers like using this book for adult instruction. Kids love it too! |
| Eastman, P.D. | Are You My Mother? | A little bird left alone goes on a search for his mother. A wonderful English-teaching text with a cute, funny story. |
| Johnson, Crockett | Harold and the Purple Crayon | Armed only with a great imagination and a big purple crayon, a young boy draws himself a landscape full of beauty and excitement. This story has inspired adults and children for over 50 years. |
| Keats, Ezra Jack | The Snowy Day | A small boy plays in the deep, deep snow. Particularly interesting for children who may have never seen snow! |
| LeSieg, Theo | Ten Apples Up On Top! | A great book for learning how to read and count in English. Funny animal illustrations! |
| McCloskey, Robert | Make Way for Ducklings | A pair of ducks decide to make their home in the center of the city of Boston, braving the traffic and the noise. A beloved American children’s book, even after 60 years. |
| Rey, H.E. | The Complete Adventures of Curious George | This fun-loving little monkey is always getting into trouble, but his kind owner, the Man in the Yellow Hat, always seems to be there to save him. A new take on a children’s classic, this book is meant to be read to children by adults. Or kids can just look at the pictures. |
| Scarry, Richard | Cars and Trucks and Things That Go/Any | Filled with colorful cars, boats, animals, and everything else, Richard Scarry’s books are loved by American children. Particularly look for a little gold bug that is hiding in some books on almost every page. Translated into 30 languages. |
| Sendak, Maurice | Where the Wild Things Are | A young boy named Max is sent to his room without any supper. But a jungle starts to grow. The spectacular illustrations make this one of the most beloved American children’s books of all time–many adults keep a copy. For children and langage learners |
| Seeger, Laura Vaccaro | First the Egg | What came first, the chicken or the egg? The fabulous wood-cut illustrations and simple text make this a beautiful book for small children and adults of all ages. |
| Slobodkina, Esphyr | Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler and Some Monkeys | Monkeys steal caps from a man selling them in this timeless children’s tale. |
| Any | PopUp/Interactive Books/Other | These books use illustrations, simple text, and special effects to make reading fun. |
| Fiction for Children and Young Adults | ||
| Baum, Frank | The Wizard of Oz | In 1939, this book was made into one of the most famous American movies of all time. The book is a great way to practice your English as you read about how Dorothy gets caught in a tornado and ends up on the yellow brick road with the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man. For children and young adults |
| Carroll, Lewis | Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland | A young girl follows a rabbit down a hole, discovering a magical world of fantastic characters like the Mad Hatter and the ever-smiling Cheshire Cat. Eating delicious cakes makes her shrink and grow. Might be a bit old-fashioned these days, but still fun. For children and young adults |
| Dahl, Roald | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | A hungry, poor boy has his life transformed when he wins a trip to a magical chocolate factory run by Willy Wonka. Charlie sails on a chocolate river and gasps as rich, spoiled children meet their ugly fates. An all-time American favorite. For children and young adults |
| Dahl, Roald | James and the Giant Peach | Any child who has dreamed of escaping from mean adults will particularly love this book, in which a magical peach helps James win his freedom. Giant talking insects join him on his unforgettable journey. Wickedly wonderful. For children and young adults |
| Dahl, Roald | Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator | In this sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka has given Charlie the factory to own, and takes Charlie’s family on a ride to space in a magical glass elevator. For children and young adults |
| De Saint Exupery, Antoine | The Little Prince | Originally written in French, this beloved book is about a pilot who crashes in the Sahara Desert and meets the Little Prince, a visitor from another planet. The prince has been traveling through the universe to get advice on how to care for his rose, the only flower that grows on his tiny planet. For all ages |
| L’Engle, Madeline | A Wrinkle in Time | 12-year-old Meg and her brother travel to another dimension in search of their missing father, a scientist who has been experimenting with time travel. Before they can rescue Mr. Murray, they must first defeat the all-controlling IT. A battle of good versus evil as well and a tale about being true to yourself. For children and young adults |
| Lewis, C.S. | The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe | Four children in 1940s England push past fur coats in an old wardrobe and find themselves in a magical, snowy wood. Fawns, witches, and a lion lead these children on an adventure that will change their lives. This is the first of seven books in a very popular series. For children and young adults |
| Lowry, Lois | The Giver | Twelve-year-old Jonas lives in a completely controlled and pleasant society free of conflict, hate and disappointment. But as Jonas grows up, he starts to question if a society without a true understanding of the complexities and realities of life is really so perfect after all. For children and young adults |
| Pène du Bois, William | The Twenty-One Balloons | In 1883, a volcano erupted on the island of Krakatoa in one of the biggest explosions of modern times. This book imagines what might have been on the island before the explosion. You will never guess. For children and young adults |
| White, E.B. | The Trumpet of the Swan | A large white bird famous for his song is born without a voice, so he learns how to play the trumpet. For children and young adults |
| White, E.B. | Charlotte’s Web | In this beautiful tale about unlikely friendships, a very intelligent spider saves the life of a young pig on a farm by with the help of her web. For children and young adults |
| Wilder, Laura Ingalls | Little House on the Prarie | Best known to Americans by the popular TV show it inspired, this series of children’s books captures the joys and hardships of farm life in late 19th century America. The star, a young girl named Laura, is based on the author herself. With its simple language, this book great for English learning. For children and young adults |
| Science Fiction and Fantasy | ||
| Adams, Douglas | The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy | Arthur Dent is trying to mind his own business when he’s picked up by a spaceship. Luckily, he has his towel with him. A zany, funny adventure, much loved by teenage readers. The first of five books in a series. Science fiction |
| Asimov, Isaac | Foundation | In this epic, the galaxy has been plunged into a nightmare of ignorance and violence, and it’s up to a small group of men and women to save mankind. This is the first in a series of six books. Science fiction |
| Bach, Richard | Jonathan Livingston Seagull | This story about sea birds might just be the most beautiful modern fable in English about having the courage to do what you love. Fantasy |
| Bradbury, Ray | Fahrenheit 451 | Guy Montag is a fireman of the future whose job it is to burn books. He starts to read one after meeting a young girl and his mind changes. Set in a futuristic America where books are illegal, this classic story is a warning about a world that discourages thought. The title is the temperature (232 Celsius) at which books burn. Science fiction. |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone | Find out what all the fuss is about. In this first book of the series, orphan Harry Potter thinks he’s destined for unhappiness until a letter arrives telling him he’s someone special. From then on, Harry lives both in the regular world and in an alternative realm of magic castles, wizards and witches. In this book, he enrolls in Hogwarts, a wizardry school, and finds his place among the other young spell-casters. Fantasy |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter: The Chamber of Secrets | Harry Potter’s adventures at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry continue in the second book in this best-selling series. Someone is turning the school’s young students to stone, and it’s up to Harry to figure out who. Fantasy |
| J.K. Rowling | Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban | In his third year at magic school, Harry begins to realize that only he can save the world from the evil forces that want to take over. Lord Voldmort has escaped from prison, and Harry must begin to rise to his destiny. This is the third book in this famous series. Fantasy |
| Tolkien, J.R.R. | The Hobbit | This book is the ideal introduction to Tolkien’s fabulous world of hobbits (small furry man-like creatures), dwarfs and elves. Simpler than the Lord of the Rings books, it follows humble hobbit Bilbo Baggins on an unexpected quest under mountains, through wild forests, and to a dragon’s lair. Amazing. Fantasy |
| Tolkien, J.R.R. | Fellowship of the Ring: Part I of Lord of the Rings | Hobbits, dwarfs, elves, wizards—an imaginary world comes to life in this voted best-of-all-time English fantasy series. In Part I, young hobbit Frodo Baggins is entrusted with an immense task. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-Earth to destroy the ruling Ring of Power, the only thing that can prevent evil from conquering the world. Fantasy |
| Tolkien, J.R.R. | Two Towers: Part II of Lord of the Rings | In this second book of the Lord of the Rings series, chaos sweeps over Middle Earth, and the group that came together to bring the Ring of Power to Mordor scatters. Hobbit Frodo and his friend servant continue their journey alone, as the frog-like Gollum creeps along behind them. If you’ve made it this far through the series, you’re probably hooked. Fantasy |
| Tolkien, J.R.R. | The Return of the King: Part III of Lord of the Rings | The armies of evil prepare for the final battle. Meanwhile, men, dwarfs, elves, huge talking trees, and other magical creatures unite under the banner of the good. Will Frodo and Sam destroy the Ring of Power and save the world? Take a guess. Perhaps the real reason this series is so popular is that it creates a fantasy world in which a victory of values like bravery, integrity, and love is still possible. Fantasy |
| Classic Fiction | ||
| Achebe, Chinua | Things Fall Apart | A wonderful novel about how Western religion, capitalism and colonization transform a small village in Nigeria. Achebe himself is Nigerian. Classic fiction |
| Cervantes, Miguel de | Don Quixote | One of the first novels ever written, this classic remains surprisingly fresh and humorous after 400 years. Don Quixote, a old, courtly gentleman, reads too many tales of chivalry and starts living a fantasy. He rides around the Spanish countryside searching for adventure with his trusty companion, Sancho Panza.Translated from Spanish. Classic fiction |
| Conrad, Joseph | Heart of Darkness | Marlow, an Englishman, takes an assignment to travel to Africa as a ferry boat captain to retrieve Kurtz, an ivory trader who has gone mad with power and has turned himself into a demi-god among the local tribes. An famous tale about how absolute power corrupts absolutely. Classic fiction. |
| Dickens, Charles | Great Expectations | This classic novel—considered Dickens’ best—is difficult, but it rewards your patience. Pip, a poor orphan in Britain, comes into a fortune and forgets about his family and friends. When the money disappears, Pip is left to figure out who gave it to him in the first place. Reflections on poverty, wealth, kindness and good deeds–and vivid characters. Classic fiction |
| Fitzgerald, F. Scott | The Great Gatsby | A young, educated man enters the decadent world of wealthy Americans in the 1920s and discovers their selfishness can lead to disaster. While this slim book may be challenging, its beautiful moments are unforgettable. Considered one of the best American novels ever written. Classic Fiction. |
| E.M. Forster | Passage to India | A sweeping novel set against the backdrop of the Indian struggle for independence. Draws on the authors own experiences in India. Classic fiction |
| Greene, Graham | The Quiet American | A CIA operative is sent to Vietnam to steer the French colonial war there according to American interests. A veteran British war correspondent and a beautiful young Vietnamese girl become involved with him in different ways. A novel which foretells America’s growing involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s. Classic fiction |
| Hemingway, Ernest | In Our Time/Any | Hemingway reshaped American literature by writing in simple, precise prose, a world away from the flowery language favored by many 19th century writers. This is a collection of his early short stories. Classic fiction. |
| Homer | The Odyssey (trans. R. Fitzgerald) | Perhaps the most celebrated of all Western narratives, the Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’s roundabout voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, where his beloved Penelope awaits. As he sails home from present-day Turkey to Greece, he famously encounters the Sirens, the Cyclops, and many, many others.Translated from Greek. Classic fiction |
| Kafka, Franz | The Trial | Josef F. is a respectable bank officer who is suddenly arrested and must defend himself against a charge about which he can get no information. The brutality of bureaucracy against a single man. You won’t forget this one. Classic fiction |
| Kerouac, Jack | On The Road | A young writer travels from New York to Los Angeles with a friend, meeting a crazy cast of women, bohemians, musicians, and others along the way. Written in 1950, this book became a hallmark of the “Beat Generation,” young people in the 1960s who sought freedom from the rules of American society, and by so doing, began to change them. Based on Kerouac’s own adventures. Classic fiction. |
| Kundera, Milan | The Book of Laughter and Forgetting | A young woman is in love with a man torn between his love for her and his mistress, during the Prague Spring, a moment of political openness in Russian-dominated Czechoslovakia. Part autobiography, part fairy tale, and part philosophical tract, it is widely considered a work of genius. Translated from Czech. Classic Fiction |
| Marquez, Gabriel Garcia | 100 Years of Solitude | This famous novel traces the lives of seven generations of the Buendia family in a fictional town drawn from the author’s memories of his native Colombia. The themes of memory, history, prophecy, myth and reality propel this unusually constructed tale by a Nobel Prize winner. Translated from Spanish. Classic Fiction |
| Melville, Herman | Moby Dick | This unforgettable tale of a young man’s search for adventure on the high seas is so beautifully written that some chapters seem to soar off into the sky. Along with Captain Ahab’s obsessive quest for the whale, check out the quirky bar scene at the Spouter Inn (pg. 9)—and references to ancient Egypt, particularly the gods of Isis and Osiris. |
| Morrison, Toni | Beloved | This Nobel Prize-winning novel transforms the brutal history of American slavery into a personal saga filled with pain and suspense. Sethe, an escaped slave, is haunted by the ghost of her baby: Beloved. Written in southern dialect, the text can be difficult for non-native English speakers, but it represents a side of the American story that the country is still coming to terms with. Classic fiction |
| Naipaul, V.S. | A Bend in the River | Born in Trinidad of Indian descent, V.S. Naipaul has traveled the world writing about religion, landscape, and history. In this, his best fiction work, he tells the story of a Muslim-Indian trader whose family has lived in Africa for centuries as the nation he lives in becomes independent. Classic fiction. |
| Orwell, George | Nineteen-Eighty Four | All about how governments seek to control the truth, this novel offers insights into any kind of government and society, from a democracy to a totalitarian state. Beloved leader Big Brother watches from every television screen. Writing in 1949, Orwell thought things might be like this in 1984—and his prophecy still echoes. A description of a closed nation like North Korea, and a warning to the rest of us. Science fiction |
| Ovid | Metamorphoses | Writing during the Roman empire, Ovid brings to life Greek and Roman mythology in this series of magical narrative poems all about transformation. There are the famous tales of the Golden Fleece and Helen of Troy, and less known sagas in which princesses mix potions and animals turn to stone. Read one chapter or many. Translated from Latin. Classic fiction |
| Salinger, J.D. | The Catcher in the Rye | America’s classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion, set in late-1940s New York. The slang words and curses may have changed over the years, but that sense of superiority, jaded-ness, and confusion narrator Holden Caulfield feels still rings true to millions of people, making this their favorite book of all time. As of 2008, the author was still alive. Classic fiction |
| Salinger, J.D. | Franny and Zooey | This short novella is really just a series of four or five conversations. What’s so amazing is that it actually captures how multi-layered simple conversation can be. Franny and Zooey are sister and brother in an intellectual New York caught up in the tension between a worldly and spiritual life. Classic fiction |
| Thompson, Hunter S. | Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas | A man and his attorney search for the American dream in Las Vegas in a drug-fueled haze. Don’t expect to find much of a coherent plot in this famous tale of 1970s drug culture–it’s all about the “experience,” man. Based on Thompson’s own experiences. Classic fiction |
| Tolstoy, Leo | Anna Karenina | Lurking in this huge book with all the difficult Russian names is one of the greatest love stories of all time. It’s so good that the ever-romantic Oprah Winfrey recently selected this book for her television book club, making it a best seller again. It is simply great. If you can read one work by Tolstoy in your life, make it this one. Classic fiction |
| Vonnegut, Kurt | Cat’s Cradle | Physicist Felix Hoenikker, in an attempt to eliminate mud for military vehicles, invents a substance called Ice-9 that allows water to freeze at normal temperatures. This apocalyptic substance is split between his three children, all of whom have selfish intensions. The result is a funny, creative and tragic story about the planet’s ultimate fate. Highly recommended. Classic fiction |
| Vonnegut, Kurt | Slaughterhouse-Five | Vonnegut witnessed the Allies’ firebombing of the German city of Dresden when he served in World War II. How can one comprehend such horror? This unusual book is his attempted answer. Blending science fiction, humor, and history, it follows Billy Pilgrim, an American solider who becomes “unstuck in time,” is captured by aliens, and like Vonnegut, struggles to cope with truth of Dresden. Classic Fiction. |
| Wells, H.G. | The Invisible Man | A scientist learns how to make himself invisible and unleashes terror on his small village in England. This fantasy was published more than 100 years ago, helping to launch the genre of science fiction as technology began to bloom. Short and action-packed. Science Fiction. |
| Wolfe, Tom | The Bonfire of the Vanities | It’s impossible to see New York the same way again after reading this book, which crystallizes the the city’s intense economic inequality and racial tension in the late 1980s, and captures in glorious detail the vanity of the lives of the super rich. A bond trader and his mistress hit a young man with their car in the South Bronx, setting events in motion. Classic fiction |
| Wright, Richard | Native Son | Bigger Thomas is a black man in 1930s Chicago who becomes a criminal. Does the discrimination he faced explain or excuse his actions? What about his free will? You be the judge. The debate has continued since this novel’s publication. Classic fiction |
| Contemporary Fiction | ||
| Golden, Arthur | Memoirs of a Geisha | It’s hard to believe that an American man wrote this book—it is told so beautifully and convincingly from the perspective of a legendary geisha-girl working in Japan before World War II. A best-seller, it has been translated into 32 languages. Contemporary fiction |
| Martel, Yann | Life of Pi | Pi, the precocious animal-loving son of an Indian zookeeper, loses his family in a shipwreck en route to North America—and is left alone in a lifeboat with a man-eating Bengal tiger, with whom he manages to strike up an ingenious truce. A great read. Contemporary fiction |
| Ishiguro, Kazuo | The Remains of the Day | Japanese-British author Ishiguro perfectly captures the restraint of an English butler as he tells his life story in the form of a diary. Beautiful in its simplicity, this book won many awards. Contemporary fiction. |
| Lahiri, Jhumpa | Interpreter of Maladies | A collection of nine short stories about Indians and Indian-Americans who are caught between the culture they have inherited and the “New World” they have found themselves in. A reflection on identity and migration by an Indian-American woman. Contemporary fiction |
| McEwan, Ian | Atonment | Crime, chaos, love, and war all combine in this lush, complicated novel, recently made into a popular film. Contemporary fiction |
| Pamuk, Orhan | Istanbul: Memories and the City | The first Turk to win the Nobel Prize, Pamuk now lives and writes in New York. Here, he reflects on his beloved birth-city, Istanbul. Orignially written in Turkish. Contemporary fiction |
| Pamuk, Orhan | My Name is Red | This historical novel focuses on court painters during the Ottoman Empire in 1591. There’s love and mystery. Originally written in Turkish. Contemporary fiction |
| Prolux, E. Annie | The Shipping News | Quoyle, a sad, overweight loaf of a man, is left by his wife and goes to the quiet coast of Newfoundland, Canada to try to get his life together at age 36. Bringing his two daughters with him, he confronts his private demons as he learns about nature, fate and love in an often sick world. Powerful writing, echoes of Moby Dick and Walden. Contemporary fiction |
| Sebold, Alice | The Lovely Bones | This best-selling novel starts with a young girl’s murder—she is just 14 when she is killed—and follows her in heaven as she watches life on earth continue. It starts in horror but finishes in a kind of eerie beauty. Contemporary fiction. |
| Suskind, Patrick | Perfume: The Story of a Murderer | Inventive, suspensful, and almost impossibly descriptive, this book tells the story of an unwanted boy in 18th century France who is born with a supernatural sense of scent. His talent perversely leads him to kill. You may never think about scent the same way again. Originally published in German. Contemporary fiction |
| Fun Fiction | ||
| Anonymous | Primary Colors | Based on the rise in the early 1990s of charismatic, womanizing Bill Clinton, the author of this book was later revealed to be Joe Klein, a political journalist who covered Clinton’s 1992 campaign for president. Also made into a movie staring John Travolta. Fun fiction |
| Fielding, Helen | Bridget Jones Diary | Could your diary sell millions of copies? Maybe, if was it was as funny and original as this one. Bridget is a fictional young woman with a London office job who is always falling in love and trying to lose weight. She is witty, sarcastic, and has lots of flaws, but her heart is in the right place. Before blogs, there was Bridget Jones’s Diary. Fun fiction |
| Grishman, John | The Firm | John Grishman, a small town lawyer in Mississippi, was catapulted to fame with this thriller about a young, idealistic lawyer hired by a law firm controlled by the mob. He has since written 16 other legal dramas, most of which have been best-sellers. Fast-paced and exciting. Fun fiction |
| Grishman, John | Any | John Grishman, once a small-town lawyer from Mississipi, is now a best selling author with 16 best-selling legal thrillers under his belt. This is one of them. Fun fiction |
| King, Stephen | Pet Sematary | Prepare to be scared. Horror master Stephen King does not disappoint in this freaky, fast-moving novel about an innocent family that naively moves into a house near a old pet cemetery. Evil awaits. Fun fiction |
| King, Stephen | The Shining | Scary! Horror master Stephen King makes you cringe as you turn the pages of this story about a family that moves to a strange hotel in Colorado for the winter. The classic movie, starring Jack Nicholson and directed by Stanley Kubrick, gave most people instant chills. Fun fiction |
| Memoir | ||
| Eggers, David | A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius | This memoir about Eggers’s life after the death of his parents may start off sounding like one of those coy exercises that put everything in ironic quote marks, but it quickly becomes a virtuosic piece of writing, a big, daring book that announces the debut of a talented new writer. This book instantly became a favorite of American college students for its honest grappling with life’s big questions. Memoir |
| Fermor, Patrick Leigh | Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople | The author, a rebellious British teen, decides to walk from Holland to Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1937. This is the second half of his journey. Memoir |
| Frank, Anne | Diary of a Young Girl | Thousands of books have been written about the extermination of Jews during the Second World War, but this one–the diary of a girl who spent years in hiding in Amsterdam and before dying in a concentration camp–retains its special status. Its a tragic testament to a vibrant girl growing up under unimaginable circumstances. Memoir |
| Lewis, Michael | Liar’s Poker: Rising Thru the Wreckage on Wall Street | There are three must-do things to understand the excess of 1980s greed among New York traders: Watch Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987), read Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) and read this book, a funny, riveting memoir by a young man who joins a trading firm. Memoir |
| McBride, James | The Color of Water | McBride grew up one of twelve siblings in the all-black housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white. McBride was an adult before he heard the rest of his mother’s fascinating story, recounted here. Memoir |
| Mortenson, Greg | Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace | Can good intentions promote peace between cultures? Mortenson, an American mountain climber, helps start schools for boys and girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Is he being helpful–or naïve? You be the judge. Memoir |
| Nafisi, Azar | Reading Lolita in Tehran | A memoir by an Iranian English professor at Tehran University who leaves her post in protest after the Revolution and decides to teach a literature class to women in her apartment. They read Lolita, the Great Gatsby, Jane Austin, and others. As the read each book, they gain a new lens through which to view life in Tehran. A book about reading across cultural barriers and times. Memoir. |
| Obama, Barack | Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance | Find out what motivates the man who is the most inspiring American politican in decades. Memoir |
| Shaarawi, Huda | Harem Years | Shaarawi made headlines in 1932 when she arrived back in Cairo from Rome and lifted the black veil from her face. She went on to fight for Egyptian independence and women’s rights. What became of her movement? Could she have been in any way wrong to do what she did? The story of her life, translated from her Arabic diaries. Memoir |
| Thoreau, Henry David | Walden | American thinker Thoreau builds himself a rough hut on the shore of Walden Pond and decides to live there alone for most of the next two years in an experiment in solitary living. His book chronicles his thoughts as he reflects on society and adapts to living in nature. “The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation,” he writes. An American classic. Memoir |
| Journalistic Non-Fiction | ||
| Capote, Truman | In Cold Blood | With the publication of this book, Capote broke the barrier between crime journalism and serious literature. As he reconstructs the 1959 murder of a Kansas farm family and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, Capote builds suspense and empathy. He interviewed the murderer and other witnesses over the span of six years. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Chandrasekaran, Rajiv | Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone | The inside story of all that went wrong in Baghdad during the U.S. invasion of Iraq, by a Washington Post reporter. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Herr, Michael | Dispatches | Herr, a journalist for Esquire, brought the Vietnam War home to America in all its uncensored reality. Instead of reporting on press conferences, he went to observe the fighting first-hand, recording the language of the soldiers. Considered the best book on the Vietnam war. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Kapuscinski, Ryszard | Shah of Shahs | Kapuscinski sits in a room full of photographs in the days after the Shah falls in the 1979 Iranian revolution. How can he describe the depth of the change taking place? His answer, reflected through the many other revolutions he’s seen around the world, is a kind of poetic reflection on revolution. Originally written in Polish. Beautiful. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Krakauer, Jon | Into Thin Air | Everyone thinks they can climb Mt. Everest these days, but the world’s tallest mountain does not always reward amateurs. This riveting true story takes you inside an expedition that was weighted down by inexperienced, spoiled climbers, with deadly results. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Sheehy, Gail | Passages: Predictable Crises in Adult Life | Sheehy, a journalist facing a mid-life crisis, decides to find out if everyone goes through something similar. She interviews hundreds of Americans and tells their fascinating stories. As much a time-capsule of 1970s America as it is a guide to current lives, it is also a kind of self-help book. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Wolfe, Tom | The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test | What possesses people living in a time of unparalleled freedom and a place of unmatched beauty to rebel and demand more? In experimental language that became a hallmark of “New Journalism,”—journalism filled with dialogue, description, and free writing styles—Tom Wolfe travels through gorgeous California amid the social upheavals of 1967 to find out. Classic. Journalistic non-fiction |
| Arab Fiction | ||
| Al-Aswany, Alaa | The Yacoubian Building | A scathing portrayal of modern life in Egypt. Poverty, class discrimination, torture, hypocracy, lust, and radical Islam. Amazingly, government censors not only permitted this novel, but Egypt’s leaders also attended the debut of the feature film. Arab Fiction. |
| El Saadawi, Nawal | Woman at Point Zero | A near-perfect short novella which, in Kafka-esque fashion, shows how a once well-intentioned Egyptian woman sprials downwards until, at last, there is nothing to hold to. She cannot find a way to be free. Arab Fiction |
| Gibran, Khalil | The Prophet | One of the most beautiful and inspiring books about man’s quest for meaning ever written, this is a collection of deep thoughts more than a regular narrative. Gibran, born in Lebanon, was in the United States when he wrote this. A bit like Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist, but better. Arab Fiction |
| Habiby, Emile | The Secret Life of Saaed: The Pessoptimist | A withering satire of Zionism, this book is about Saaed, a Palestinian comic fool who becomes an Israeli citizen. Habiby, who recently died, was honored by both Arabs and Israelis for his work. Arab fiction |
| Idris, Yusuf | City of Love and Ashes | Hamza, a young radical fighting for Egyptian indepedence, falls in love with Fawziya, who also supports the cause. But what place do personal feelings have in a time of national struggle? Idris, one Egypt’s best contemporary writers, died in 1996. He often wrote in colloquial dialect. Arab fiction |
| Mahfouz, Nagib | The Cairo Triology | Set during World War I, this epic tome tracks the lives of an upper-class Cairene family from World War I until independence in 1952. Characters are unforgettable and perfectly drawn–from domineering patriarch Sayyid al-Gawad to his subservient wife and four children. Mafouz won the Nobel Prize. Arab fiction. |
| Unknown | The Adventures of Sayf Ben Dhi Yazan | The first English translation of a series of sweeping medieval Arab-Islamic epic folk tales composed between the 13th and 16th centuries. They tell the story of a Muslim warrior king from Yemen whose heroic exploits, supernatural encounters, and love affairs span Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan. Arab Fiction |
| Unknown | Arabian Nights: The 1001 Nights | It’s all here: Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, the beautiful Scheherazade, and Aladdin and his Magic Lamp. The oldest evidence of this collection comes from Egypt in the 9th century. The first English translation came in the 1700s. These tales have had a huge influence on how Arabic, Turkish, and Persian culture is perceived and imagined in the West. This older translation may feel slow to modern readers, but its accurate. Arab Fiction |
| Arab History and Biography | ||
| Blottiere, Alain | Siwa, The Oasis | A poetically told history of the oasis from Alexander the Great’s visit in 331 B.C. to the early 1990s. History |
| Dunn, Ross E. | The Adventures of Ibn Battuta | Ibn Battuta, a medieval Muslim travler, set off from Tangier in 1325, visiting Egypt, Mecca, Syria, Iraq, Anatolia, Central Asia, India, the Maldives, and possibly China before returning home nearly twenty five years later. This modern book makes his incredible travels accessible. History |
| Herodotus | The Histories | The ancient world of the 5th century B.C. is recorded in careful detail by the Greek historian Herodotus. Book II is about Egypt, and includes a mention of Siwa’s oracle at the shrine of Ammon. Of Egypt, he writes, “There is no country that possesses so many wonders, nor any that has such a number of works that defy description.” Egyptian women of the time, he wrote, “attend the markets and trade, while the men sit home at the loom (pg. 131).” History |
| Nelson, Cynthia | Doria Shafik: Egyptian Feminist | The story of how a well-known Egyptian writer and feminist (1908-1975) became educated, started a magazine, and then, shunned by society, slowly went mad. Biography |
| Other Non-Fiction | ||
| Campbell, Joseph | The Power of Myth | Why are the creation stories of so many different societies so similar? Is there something universal captured in myth? This book is an iintroduction to the subject; an interview with Campbell, who taught mythology at an American college for 38 years. Mythology |
| Friedman, Tom | The World is Flat | Tom Friedman is sometime criticized for not seeing the downside of globalization. Love him or hate him, he is very influential on the subject. Here, he argues that networks are making where you live in the world less and less important. Economics |
| Freud, Sigmund | The Interpretation of Dreams | The book that launched modern psychology as we know it. Whether you agree with him or not, it’s interesting to learn that for Freud, all dreams are wish-fulfillments. Think about that next time you catch yourself dreaming about doing something you shouldn’t. Psychology |
| Gladwell, Malcom | The Tipping Point | A book about change and when change happens. Very popular in America. But do his conclusions apply to other countries? Science |
| Goodman, Linda | Sun Signs/Love Signs | Why include a popular astrology book in this collection? Because Linda Goodman helped start the New Age spirituality movement in America. Linda got everyone asking, “What’s your sign?” Her descriptions may be useful to you, or you may find them ridiculous. Astrology |
| Hamilton Edith | Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heros | An anthology of Greek, Roman and Norse mythology, and a very helpful basis for understanding the reoccurrence of these themes in Western literature. Mythology |
| Hawking, Stephen | A Brief History of Time | Hawking, a British theoretical physicist, describes the physical nature of the universe in suprisingly simple language, from black holes to Einstein’s E=MC2. A huge best-seller. Science |
| Isaacson, Walter | Einstein: His Life and Universe | Einstein’s life and ideas are explained in a new biography intended primarily for non-scientists. Biography |
| Isaacson, Walter | Benjamin Franklin: An American Life | One of America’s most innovative thinkers–scientist, politican, philosopher, founding father–is the subject of this popular recent work. Biography |
| Rousseau, Jean-Jacques | The Social Contract | How and why do a people come together to form a nation? Rousseau offers his theories If you enjoy this, also seek out John Locke’s Two Treatises on Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration on the Internet. Politics |
| Stiglitz, Joseph | Globalization and its Discontents | A balanced look at the IMF, World Bank, and other institutions of globalization, by a Nobel Prize winner in economics who supports a regulated market and is often critical of international institutions. Economics |
| Arabic-English Dictionary | Any | |
| English Dictionary | Any |
