<p>So, I'm self studying for AP Lit, and in the last couple years I've read:</p>
<p>Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Great Gatsby
The Odyssey (seems like it would take a long time to review)
Hamlet
Oedipus Rex
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Pride and Prejudice
Heart of Darkness</p>
<p>I'd like to narrow this list down to 3 or 4 books to review. Can anyone recommend which ones I should review in order to cover the greatest number of possible themes/topics? </p>
<p>I've been told Hamlet and Heart of Darkness are both very good to know?</p>
<p>my teacher is making us narrow down to 4 four books. and she recommends us to have at least one from shakespeare.</p>
<p>Anything by Shakespeare is definitely good, so I’d recommend reviewing Hamlet. I haven’t read most of the books on your list, but I think Oedipus Rex could be interesting, although I don’t know how versatile the story is, so it might not fit a lot of prompts. Have you read the other books in the Oedipus Cycle? Antigone would be a better on to choose if that’s an option for you. The Great Gatsby is definitely a good choice as well. As for the others, I don’t know because I haven’t read them, but just think about which ones have a lot of different themes that could potentially fit a wide range of prompt topics.</p>
<p>Your list is excellent. If you must narrow it down, I’d pick:</p>
<p>Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Great Gatsby
Hamlet
Oedipus Rex
Pride and Prejudice</p>
<p>Hamlet is a must. Oedipus Rex is a good book to review. The Great Gatsby (i never read it but my cousin did). There Eyes were watching God for sure. I would recommend Odyssey but it’s a LONG story.</p>
<p>(FWIW I usually recommend knowing 5-8 books inside and out to rock any prompt they can throw at you. Make sure you have some important women characters, some violence, some bildungsroman, some family stuff, and some identity discovery/realization)</p>
<p>thanks guys- some very helpful suggestions
I actually did read Antigone as well and forgot about it–that seems like it has the potential to work for a lot of social/family prompts.
I hate to try to narrow this down, but I’ve ended up with 3 APs scheduled over a span of 4 days, so prep time is definitely an issue.</p>
<p>Narrow it down to the ones you remember the most and the ones you actually enjoyed. Simple as that.</p>