AP English Independent Read

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>Hi Everybody!</p>

<p>I've been a long time lurker here, so I think I'm ready to ask my first question. My AP English Lit class is about to undertake independent reading. It can be any book as long as it has "literary value". Having already been on the AP test is also a plus. Here are books I've read throughout HS:</p>

<p>Hound of the Baskervilles (ehh, was okay. freshman year, don't remember too much)
To Kill A Mockingbird (loved this one.)
Rebecca (hated this one with a passion.)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (liked this one. not crazy about Shakespeare though.)
The Last Lecture (liked this one, but it's modern so probably won't fly.)
The Great Gatsby (bored me. wasn't as good as I was hoping.)
Huckleberry Finn (loved this one too. I like Mark Twain.)
The Scarlet Letter (liked it, much better than everyone thinks, the language though....)
A Farewell to Arms (AP summer read. Was pretty good.)
A Confederacy of Dunces (maybe I missed the point, but wasn't that good, didn't finish)
Hamlet (loved it, made me rethink Shakespeare)
King Lear (bored me, made me rethink Shakespeare)
MacBeth (loved it, made me rethink Shakespeare)
Moby Dick (reading now, horribly behind, no comment)</p>

<p>I was really considering Invisible Man, but it's really long and probably too long for my three week limit. I also like the thought of Beloved too. Anybody have any suggestions?</p>

<p>TLDR: Any suggestions for my AP English Independent Read?</p>

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<p>Hmm… you ever try any Faulkner? </p>

<p>If you like sappy romances, try some Bronte (waaay better than Austin imo)</p>

<p>If you like psychological thrillers, try In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien. It’s pretty f’d up.</p>

<p>Ethan Frome is a good length and kept me interested. </p>

<p>Island of Dr Moreau is a pretty good sci-fi read.</p>

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<p>George Orwell… extraordinarily flexible to use in any AP English test. Either 1984 or Animal Farm.</p>

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<p>You could always go for Steinbeck. My AP Lit class has an assignment where groups of 4 students read about 1500 pages from one author in the first semester, and my group picked Steinbeck. His books are usually pretty interesting and have a nice laid-back feel to them. I really liked Cannery Row, or you could try one of his longer books like East of Eden or Grapes of Wrath.</p>

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<p>I thought Beloved was a brilliant book. You could definately finish it way before 3 weeks. The Bluest Eyes was another good book by Toni Morrison.</p>

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<p>I agree with Gryffon5147, and you can never be bored by Orwell.</p>

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<p>^^Beloved was amazing. Sula by Toni Morrison was also another really good one.</p>

<p>Two more books that I read for Lit that might be good are To The Lighthouse and Brave New World.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the suggestions guys! I forgot that I’ve read Animal Farm, but that was freshman year, so we mostly just complained about how boring it was. I wouldn’t mind rereading it, though. Both Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath are on my 100 list. I made a deal with my best friend that I would read Pride and Prejudice (her favorite book) if she read Looking for Alaska (my favorite book)…currently on page 2. We read a short story by Faulkner (Barn Burning) and I like his style. Psychological thrillers are my thing outside school, so I’ll look into that. It was sort of daunting, because he sorta said “okay. Pick anything!” Anyway, thanks for all the help and I’ll look into all the ones y’all suggested. Now to work on making my posts shorter…</p>