No matter what subject they teach, Tualatin High School (TuHS) teachers have sensational taste in all kinds of literature. This is a collection of a few TuHS teachers whose favorite books they’d like to share with the rest of us. 

Anthony Mooney: 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

“Gatsby is an idealist and he changes and shapes his entire life for his love Daisy. I just find that really romantic and charming, and I think he is one of the great literary heroes.”

Jessica Fontaine: 

Wild by Cheryl Strayed 

“It’s about a young woman who is facing a lot of challenges in her life, particularly the loss of her mom. She ends up deciding, on a whim, to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, and she talks about how it became this healing process for her. It was beautifully written, and I really admire her perseverance in doing this really hard thing. I’d never want to do that thing. She made it sound terrible. But doing a mini version of that, of doing this hard thing to prove to myself that I can and that I am capable of doing hard things, is a really powerful message.”

Diane Leebrick: (will get photo by paste up)

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

“A book that immediately came to mind is Lovely Bones. It just gripped me from the first page. I have always loved mysteries, and this was such a good one.  Difficult subject matter to read at times but ‘good’ wins in the end. I like the narration and the imagery. I watched the film, and it was also well crafted and imagined.”

Kati Armstrong:

The Historian by Elizabeth Costava

“One of my favorite books is The Historian by Elizabeth Costava, and it is a sort of historical take on Dracula. It is really long but always one of my favorite October rereads. It’s a couple of historians chasing Dracula all over Eastern Europe during the Cold War. It’s excellent, and I love it.”