The first of the following two lists came from the syllabus I received for my AICE English Language class I'll be taking next year. I am going to try to read all of them this summer. No, I have not lost my mind. My rationale: do this so during the actual school year I can engage more in discussions and also be reading through it for the second time, increasing my chance of uncovering any hidden meanings. As much as my classmates might, I do not want to heavily rely on Sparknotes. Sure, I could reference it from time to time, but it would not be lifeline for me.
The ones in bold here crossover with the second list and vise versa.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The second list was compiled by my English teacher for the past two years. Basically it consists of the read-these-before-you-graduate-college books. I've already read two!
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
White Fang by Jack London
Call of the Wild by Jack London
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Antigone by Sophocles
So if you've read any of these, please feel free to tell me what you thought of them or what you essentially learned. :D
I haven't read any of the ones on the first list, but on the second list I've read...
ReplyDeleteTo Kill A Mockingbird, which I really liked
Lord of Flies, which I didn't like
Romeo and Juliet, which was eh... okay I guess, not my favorite
Animal Farm, which was actually pretty interesting
Pride and Prejudice, which I liked the story of but couldn't stand actually reading
Call of the Wild, which I don't really remember cause it was a few years ago
Great Expectations, which was a drag to read through but my English teacher that year sucked so that could be partially why
and next year I know we're at least reading Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, and Catch 22... so I guess we shall see!
Good luck reading all of those this summer! I think I'm going to reread Harry Potter instead, haha ;P
I've read
ReplyDeleteA Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansbury- pretty good; it's a play, so it's a fairly quick read
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald- amazing!
Lord of the Flies by William Golding- definitely one of my favorite books. it's intense actually. plenty of symbols, allusions, etc. i highly recommend it. if you happen not to read this in class, then i'd suggest going to Sparknotes to get a better understanding of the novel once you're done reading it.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare- eh.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck- very good especially if you have a great english teacher who finds more meaning in the novel than the author himself.
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens- it's really long and there are pages and pages of detailed descriptions of stuff i found pointless. however, the plot is great.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain- a great and fun novel to read. i also highly recommend The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
i love summer readings!
I studied Lord Of The Flies and Of Mice And Men in school last year, Lord Of The Flies is pretty damn alright and Of Mice And Men is a little on the odd side but definitely worth reading as well :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lizzie,
ReplyDeletethank you so much for your sweet comment on my blog, that makes me so happy! :D
You did a good guess, but in Belgium, they don't speak Belgian, but Dutch :p
Yeah, maybe it's a good idea to post things on my blog in English.
I really like you blogtitle!
I've read you live in Florida. I love America a lot! I've been there already two times and I really enjoyed it. The first time was a trip to Las Vegas, Los Angelos, Grand Canyon and so on. (I don't remeber that much of the places, cause I just was 6 years old..) The second time was a year ago. We've been visited Yellowstone National Park (cause my father love the nature there...) Do you know those places? Have you already been anywhere in Europe?
Lovely greetings,
Sophie xx
ps: would you like to be my follower? thank you xx
Haha, you go Sophie! Sorry, she's my classmate :)
ReplyDeleteI've just read 'Pride and Prejudice' from your list and really liked it (i'm just a fan of overromantic lovestories)
Success with the rest of them :) Seems like you still have a lot of reading to do!
O well, 30 followers isn't that much when you know there are amazing blogs around who have over a thousand followers :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, Sophie is my classmate. I told her about my blog a while ago. She watched it, followed and felt like starting her own one. Haha, i'm such an inspiration :p. Today she told me about your comment (you really made her day) and that's why I checked your blog out!
About Pride & Prejudice: I saw the movie first and kind of liked that I could really imagine the scenes before me. And I guess Mr.Darcy is like 'the perfect man' :)
Bye,
Ruth
No, I haven't seen 'Becoming Jane' yet. Actually kind of weird, thinking about the 'freaking about Jane Austen' period I went through a year ago :) I've read all her books (7 or something), except for one. Most of them are actually quite boring, but I love the romantic idea in them.
ReplyDeleteYes, you really made her day and when she sees you're a follower now she's gonna be even more thrilled :)
I guess you made my day too !
This is what I love the most about the blogworld. It's so easy to get in touch with people all over the world and follow their lives :)
The great Gatsby: One of my favourite books of all time. Read it for AS Levels and absolutely adored this book. 5/5
ReplyDeleteDeath of a Salesman: Also read this for AS. Im not a huge fan of plays but this one was so sad and despite getting frustrated with the protagonist Willy Loman I really did feel for him. 4/5
To kill a mocking Bird: I liked this book but not as much as I thought I would. Might read it again just for confirmation? 3/5
Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Read this when I was 11 and adored it. It is the perfect mix of adventure and suspence with each chapter being like a seperate adventure making it a really easy read. 4/5
Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeares greatest tragedy in my oppinion although I am not a huge fan of his work. (see my angry blog on othello) 4/5
Animal Farm: George Orwell is pretty much a genius in my oppinion. This book works amazingly on two levels, as an engaging childrens story of animals and as a political satire of communist Russia which I have recently finished studying for my A2 exams. 5/5