Required Reading
Dr. Nic Hoffmann, Mike Burns, and Mike Carroll are teachers at the Marist School teaching the American Experiment Class. In an attempt to update our curriculum, we have been reassessing the books we assign, we were assigned in high school and college, and the books we wish we assigned. Do people even read anymore? I mean, we do, but how do we keep the student engaged with the Required Reading.
Episodes
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
World War Z by Max Brooks
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
Thursday Aug 17, 2023
This week we get alllll spooky and cinematic! We talk Zombie apocalypse with World War Z by Max Brooks (also, this one has an incredible audiobook)!
Thanks for reading along with us! Our next book will be Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, because we just can't get optimistic.
Host: Nic
Co-host: Mike Burns and Mike Carroll
"We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the pandemic. The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the living, or at least the undead, hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result. Never before have we had access to a document that so powerfully conveys the depth of fear and horror, and also the ineradicable spirit of resistance, that gripped human society through the plague years." From the Three Rivers Press back cover.
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
Wednesday Aug 02, 2023
We start this season in earnest with a classic Cold War espionage thriller, but I can't remember which one. We read The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum.
From the Bantam summary: "His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic surgery. A frame of microfilm has been surgically implanted in his hip. Even his name is a mystery. Marked for death, he is racing for survival through a bizarre world of murderous conspirators—led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. Who is Jason Bourne? The answer may kill him.
“[Robert] Ludlum stuffs more surprises into his novels than any other six-pack of thriller writers combined.”—The New York Times""
Host: Nic
Panel: Michael Carroll and Michael Burns
Friday Jul 21, 2023
A Wrong Cruelly Done by Michael Carroll
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Hey readers! This summer has been a mess and I promise we will soon return with a regular episode. In the meantime, here is a short story, soon to be published, by panelist Mike Carroll. A Wrong Cruelly Done.
Enjoy,
Nic
Friday Jun 02, 2023
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Friday Jun 02, 2023
Friday Jun 02, 2023
This month in Required Reading we talk about Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk. The book that coined the term 'snowflake,' gave us the rules, and made you question fancy soap. From a philosophical work that came out before 9/11, clearly, join us as we meet Tyler Durden.
Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann
Co-Hosted: Mike Burns and Mike Carroll
From the W. W. Norton book description: "
The first rule about fight club is you don't talk about fight club.
In his debut novel, Chuck Palahniuk showed himself to be his generation's most visionary satirist. Fight Club's estranged narrator leaves his lackluster job when he comes under the thrall of Tyler Durden, an enigmatic young man who holds secret boxing matches in the basement of bars. There two men fight "as long as they have to." A gloriously original work that exposes what is at the core of our modern world."
Monday May 01, 2023
The Plague by Albert Camus
Monday May 01, 2023
Monday May 01, 2023
This week we revisit 2020, I mean the Vichy/Nazi occupation of the south of France. We were infected with The Plague, Camus' longer, somehow, more depressing work.
Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann
Panel: Mike Burns and Mike Carroll
"The townspeople of Oran are in the grip of a deadly plague, which condemns its victims to a swift and horrifying death. Fear, isolation, and claustrophobia follow as they are forced into quarantine. Each person responds in their own way to the lethal disease: some resign themselves to fate, some seek blame, and a few, like Dr. Rieux, resist the terror." From the new Vintage Translation by Laura Marris.
Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
Saturday Apr 01, 2023
Saturday Apr 01, 2023
This month we start with Mike Burns' choice for the high school book he hated, the not subtly homoerotic Billy Budd by Herman Melville.
"Billy Budd, Sailor has been called the best short novel ever written. In his brilliantly condensed prose, Herman Melville fashions a legal parable in which reason and intellect prove incapable of preserving innocence in the face of evil. For all those who feel themselves threatened by a hostile and inflexible environment, there is special significance in this haunting story of a handsome sailor who becomes a victim of man’s intransigence." From the back cover of the Enriched Classics Edition.
How will Billy Budd hold up?
Host: Dr. Nic Hoffmann
Co-Host: Mike Burns and Mike Carroll
Wednesday Mar 15, 2023
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wednesday Mar 15, 2023
Wednesday Mar 15, 2023
This week we revisit the Gothic Horror, Bildungsroman, potential black comedy, Victorian Middle Class novel that is Jane Eyre. This was Nic's selection for the book he read in high school and hated, but will a reread make it better? It certainly won't make it shorter!
From the back of the Penguin Classics Edition (where the cover art comes from as well): "A novel of intense power and intrigue, Jane Eyre has dazzled generations of readers with its depiction of a woman's quest for freedom. Having grown up an orphan in the home of her cruel aunt and at a harsh charity school, Jane Eyre becomes an independent and spirited survivor-qualities that serve her well as governess at Thornfield Hall. But when she finds love with her sardonic employer, Rochester, the discovery of his terrible secret forces her to make a choice. Should she stay with him whatever the consequences or follow her convictions, even if it means leaving her beloved?"
How will Jane Eyre hold up?
Host: Nic
Co-Host: Mike and Mike
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Smile by Raina Telgemeier
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
Wednesday Mar 01, 2023
This week on Required Reading we revisit dental trauma as we talk Smile by Raina Telgemeier.
From the jacket: "Raina Telgemeier's #1 New York Times bestselling, Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir based on her childhood!Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth. What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly."
Find it here!
We would also like to thank our guest panelist Rebecca Michaud, local graphic novelist and illustrator.
Find Michael Carroll here!
Next Episode tune in for Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë as we enter "Books we HATED in High School" Programming.
Thanks,
Nic
Required Reading
Dr. Nic Hoffmann and Mike Burns are teachers at the Marist School teaching the American Experiment Class. In an attempt to update our curriculum, we have been reassessing the books we assign, we were assigned in high school and college, and the books we wish we assigned. Do people even read anymore? I mean, we do, but how do we keep the student engaged with the Required Reading.