What did you read/watch over summer break?

Posted on June 18, 2015 by nobles

We asked members of the Nobles community to tell us what they read, listened to, and watched over the summer and here are some of their favorites.   Science Teacher Mike Hoe: “The Martian! About an astronaut/botanist whose crew thinks he’s dead on Mars, so they abandon him. Turns out, he is ALIVE and has to figure out how to survive until he can try and get into contact with NASA. They’re making a movie about it right now and Matt Damon is the lead actor.” Science Teacher Robert Kern: “The best movie I saw was The Water Diviner with Russell Crowe. Interesting story, well acted. It is about an Australian farmer (who happens to be very good at finding water) whose sons go off to fight in World War I (Turkey); he recounts the tragic, surprising and even uplifting events that follow.” Director of Graduate Affairs Greg Croak ’06: ” ‘Mr. Robot’ was the best show of the summer and possibly the best show of the year (really not fair to compare with “Game of Thrones,” but that is the only competitor). A computer hacker battling mental health and drug issues hatches a plan to take down an evil corporation (aptly named EvilCorp), while wrestling inner demons and sorting out what is real and what is imagined. The show is technically set in the present, but its uncanny ability to predict what will happen in the current news cycle sets the show in what I would call the ever-present. This show is happening NOW.  Highly recommended to fans of Fight Club, The Matrix and the ’90s (Mr. Robot is played by Christian Slater).” English Teacher Alden Mauck: “Dead Wake by Erik Larson: His latest readable history and very accessible and interesting; he humanizes both Captains — the Lusitania and the U-boat that sinks her. Winston Churchill is less of a hero than you might imagine, and Woodrow Wilson falls in love. Lots of time on the deck of the doomed liner and below the water in U-20. Perhaps not as good as Devil in the White City or In the Garden of Beasts but still really good.” Social Studies Teacher Don Allard: “The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. One of the highlights of the summer. If you love history, culture or the sport of rowing you will love this piece of non-fiction.“ Head of School Robert P. Henderson ’76: “Dead Wake by Erik Larson. The latest work of ‘novelistic’ history by this author, it chronicles the final journey of the great ocean liner Lusitania to its sinking by a German u-boat. Like all of Larson’s books, it is a page-turner that provides a fascinating view of the times and central personalities.” “Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles by Bernard Cornwell. This author usually writes historical fiction but a lifelong fascination with the Battle of Waterloo and its central figures (especially Wellington and Napoleon) led him to write this comprehensive account of one of history’s most decisive and fateful military encounters. The stories of incredible sacrifice and extraordinary decision-making made this a riveting read.” Director of Achieve Nora Dowley-Liebowitz: “I just finished ‘Show Me a Hero’ on HBO. It is a six-part miniseries that dramatizes the housing desegregation efforts in Yonkers, NY in the 1980’s and 1990’s. It was written by David Simon, the man behind ‘The Wire.’ The character development is intimate and extraordinary, the soundtrack hilariously excellent (all Bruce Springsteen all the time), and the stories Simon tells are compelling, complicated and ripe for debate. The star of the show, Oscar Isaac, plays the mayor of Yonkers who is deeply flawed, yet you pull for him from beginning to end. I don’t want to spoil any of it— watch it. You won’t regret spending 6.5 hours of your fall with ‘Show Me a Hero’— some of the most thought-provoking and important TV I’ve seen in a long time. “ Emily Orscheln ’20: “This summer, in addition to all the summer reading books, I read many other books, including a book called Carpe Diem. It was about an overachieving girl who travels all around southeast Asia with her grandmother who she hardly knows. All throughout the book she is trying to figure out a family secret and at the end she does, and boy, does it affect her life! I really enjoyed it and think that many other people would too!” “I also started a podcast called Serial that is super interesting! Throughout the whole podcast they are re-investigating a murder that happened over 15 years ago. The way the narrator tells it is so interesting and will intrigue many if not all people. From the first minute of it I was hooked! I haven’t finished it quite yet, but I definitely will!” Breene Halaby ’19: “‘Sense8:’ a Netflix original show about eight people all around the world who are completely unrelated except for a telepathy-like connection. I love the diversity of the characters and how unique they are.” English Teacher Julia Russell: “My Brilliant Friend, the first book in a trilogy by Elena Ferrante, is a rich, intense, and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila.  Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Set in a very tough neighborhood of Naples in the 1950’s. The writing is unbelievably good. “ Director of Academic Services Gia Batty: “I read The Primates of New York by Wednesday Martin which was both fascinating and revolting. Martin observed how the mothers of New York City’s Upper East Side live in their natural habitat.  She used her skills as a trained anthropologist to carefully examine how they care for their young, communicate, hunt and gather…among other things. It’s a quick read, a bit salacious and a lot sensational.” “I finished Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, which I loved and which has lived on my list of ‘Books I Want to Read’ for a really long time. Teenager Ava Bigtree journeys into the swamps of the Everglades to find her sister and in the process learns much about her family, herself and the big scary world she lives in.” “I listened to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, the story of the Lisbon sisters and their mysterious existence as told through the eyes of the boys who worshipped them.  It’s beautifully written, very poignant, and super dark. I loved it.” Nick Samel ’16: “The Chosen, by Chaim Potok. Set in a Jewish section of Brooklyn during World War II, this masterpiece of a novel features the two 14-year-old sons of Jewish rabbis who are of different sects. Reuven Malter is a Modern Orthodox yeshiva student, while Danny Saunders is a boy-genius and Hasidic Jew. As told by Reuven, the two meet when Danny hits him in the eye with a baseball during an intense game between their two schools. The two become best friends, but Danny’s father is extremely controlling about Danny having friends who are not Hasidic. The book follows their challenging friendship all the way from middle school to university, during which they live through events affecting the Jewish community such as the Holocaust and the birth of Israel. This book taught me volumes about Judaism, and the character development is phenomenal.” Jennifer Do-Dai ’21: “I read The Maze Runner by James Dashner where a boy named Thomas wakes up in a box with no memory of who he was. He learns that he is in a place called the Glade. A boy gets sent in once a month to help them survive and figure out how to get out.  The boys believe that going through the Maze is the only way out and have been running around and mapping that area to get out. I liked this book because it was filled with action and once I started reading it I couldn’t stop because I wanted to know what happened next.” Casey Goldstein ’19: “I read The Circle by Dave Eggers this summer and I absolutely loved it! Highly recommend it as a great summer reading book!” Diversity Initiatives Teaching Fellow Paulina Jones-Torregrosa: “This summer, I read Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. I highly recommend it! I tore through it in three days. Salvage the Bones is told through the eyes of Esch, a 15-year-old girl living the rural South in the days before Hurricane Katrina strikes. She has just realized that she’s pregnant, and she has to guard her secret from her brothers and father as they prepare (or do not prepare) for the storm. Salvage the Bones is poignant, unsparing and perfect for young adult and adult readers alike.” Head of Upper School Michael Denning: “Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner. This is an amazing novel about friendship and relationships. I first read it 25 years ago, and it was great then. However, after being happily married for nearly two decades, the book’s wisdom has added meaning.” “Eichmann in Jerusalem, Hannah Arendt. Having had the chance to visit Jerusalem this summer, I felt compelled to reread Arendt’s eloquent but difficult commentary on justice, evil and trying to make sense of one of history’s most horrific regimes and periods.” “The Burning Tigris, Peter Balakian. An immensely moving chronicle of the genocide carried out against the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago this year.” ‘Alex’s Wake: A Voyage of Betrayal and a Journey of Remembrance, Martin Goldsmith. Part history, part memoir, Goldsmith traces the terrible journey of the grandfather and uncle he never knew, as they try to escape Nazi Germany on the St. Louis, the ship of Jewish refugees that was not allowed to dock in Cuba, the United States of Canada. This book is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful.” “The Devils’ Alliance: Hitler’s Pact With Stalin, 1939-1941, Roger Moorhouse. Recommended to me by Mr. Henderson, this is a highly readable account of the infamous Nazi-Soviet Anti-Aggression Pact—often called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—whereby Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union divided much of Eastern Europe. Because of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in June of 1941, this catalyst of World War II is often forgotten. Moorhouse brings these terrible days alive.” “Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates. Perhaps Toni Morrison says it best when she suggests that this book is ‘required reading.’ As an independent-school teacher and father of a teenage boy, I am grateful to Coates for challenging me with his powerful and troubling commentary on our country.” Math Teacher Eric Nguyen: Becoming Odyssa, Jennifer Pharr Davis “Whether or not you enjoyed A Walk in the Woods, join Jennifer Pharr Davis as she recounts the story of her first successful and complete AT-thru hike. Through beautiful and lyrical writing, she shares her observations and experiences of the trail, challenges she faced, and the many people whom she encountered on her journey. In 2011, she went on to set and hold the speed record for an AT thru-hike when she completed it in 46 days, 11 hours, 20 minutes; this record stood for four years until it was finally broken this summer.” Skeleton Crew: How Amateur Sleuths Are Solving America’s Coldest Cases, Deborah Halber “Ever wonder how you can put an Internet connection, persistence, and an uncanny knack for details can help serve the public good? Read about ordinary citizens (okay, maybe not-so-ordinary citizens) who are changing the way that police forces around the country and around the world are solving hardest cold cases.” Science Teacher David Strasburger: “I read and was TOTALLY ENGROSSED by the middle two volumes of Elena Ferrante’s “Neapolitan novels:” The Story of a New Name and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. Beginning from girlhood, the series describes the friendship between two women and the complex web of relationships that tie them to the the poverty-stricken neighborhood in Naples where they were born. The writing is elegant, brisk sometimes to the point of brusque. The long arc of the books encompasses family drama, the intersection of literary and academic life with Italian national politics, and the ever-present but rarely named camorra (mafia). I found the narrator’s bluntness and utter lack of sentimentality in describing her closest relationships to be brutal and completely refreshing. (The English translation of book four was just released this month.) Librarian Emily Tragert, of the Western Maryland Tragerts: “I loved The Martian by Andy Weir–a nerdy thrill ride about an astronaut on one of the first Mars missions who gets stranded on Mars and his struggle to survive.” “I also enjoyed Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari. Ansari is a comedian who teamed up with a sociologist from NYU to research how people meet, date and fall in love. This book is really funny but also fascinating–the perfect combination!” Pennsylvania Born Railroad Baron and Library Director Erin Twohig: “My favorite books this summer included a fabulous recommendation from Judith Merritt about a woman with a heartbreaking childhood who finds healing in the kitchen in Life from Scratch: A Memoir of Food, Family, and Forgiveness by Sasha Martin. I also enjoyed a story about a family with a painful past that travels in time from India to present day New Mexico and includes a little mysticism. The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob was a delight. My favorite audio book, while walking my dog, was Kitchens of the Great Midwest by Ryan Stradal. I LOVED this sweet story that weaves several different characters together while incorporating Midwest cuisine into the mix.” Sabra (look it up) and Librarian Talya Sokoll: “I read 47 books this summer.