<p>What books are you reading in preparation for AP Lit? Novels? Poetry collections?</p>
<p>1984 (required)</p>
<p>choose one novel from: the winter of our discontent, east of eden, the grapes of wrath, the cherry orchard (which i think is a play, but it's on the novel list), as i lay dying, the sound and the fury, anna karenina, OR crime and punishment (i'm probably going for east of eden, but might have to shift to something shorter)</p>
<p>choose play from: a streetcar named desire (my choice), hot cat on a tin roof, medea, a dolls house, ghosts, hedda gabler, dr. faustus</p>
<p>sounds like you like faulkner</p>
<p>hamlet
count of monte cristo
picture of dorian gray</p>
<p>We have to read one classical, one contemporary.</p>
<p>Classics:
Persuasion, Austen
David Copperfield, Dickens
Jane Eyre, Bronte
Crime and Punishment, Dostoyevsky
Madame Bovary, Flaubert
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Hardy</p>
<p>Contemporary:
Alias Grace, Atwood
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Garcia Marquez
Snow Falling On Cedars, Guterson
Catch-22, Heller
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Kesey
Beloved, Morrison
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Winterson</p>
<p>Anyone have any recommendations?</p>
<p>One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is really awesome. We read it last year for AP Lit, and it was one of the most fascinating novels I've ever read. </p>
<p>As for the classics, Hardy is depressing, but Tess is supposedly really good. I read Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge: both were very good, but very depressing, as in over the top depressing. In any case, I think that Hardy writes very well and portrays interesting conflicts. That said, Crime and Punishment is very good--I'm in the middle of that right now--but also somewhat depressing, but not in the same way that Hardy is depressing. If I were to choose, though, I would probably pick Tess of the D'Urbervilles, simply because I like Thomas Hardy.</p>
<p>I didn't take AP Literature as a Class, but I took the exam, and I can tell you what definitely helped me: The Sound and the Fury. It's a very challenging read and you will need someone to discuss it with (it's not easy to understand everything by yourself), but I feel that it really helped me grow as a reader and strengthened my analytical skills. </p>
<p>The Great Gatsby is also an absolute necessity. </p>
<p>Also, Their Eyes Were Watching God was a fantastic read.</p>
<p>We only have one book to read in the summer: The Poisonwood Bible.
Looking at everyone else's list, I think you guys will be much more prepared for the test then I'll be.</p>
<p>Guess I'll be hitting the library..</p>
<p>Our class has to read:
The Awakening - Kate Chopin
Angela's Ashe - Frank McCourt</p>
<p>Last year, each student in our class had a different assignment, it could range from one or two novels or four of five plays. Personally I had Dead Souls by Gogol and Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky. Some good suggestions to prep you for the free response essay would be:
Don Quixote [Cervantes]
Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground [Dostoevsky]
Hard Times [Dickens]
The Stranger and the Plague[Camus]
Jane Eyre [Bronte]
Pride and Prejudice and Emma [Austen]
Dubliners and Ulysses [Joyce]
Siddhartha [Hesse]
1984 and Animal Farm [Orwell]
One Hundred Years of Solitude [Garcia Marquez]
The Color Purple [Walker]
Slaughterhouse Five [Vonnegut]</p>
<p>I would personally recommned One Hundred Years of Solitude and Animal Farm.</p>
<p>Oh, The Awakening is great! </p>
<p>Frank McCourt, on the other hand, makes me want to gouge my eyes out. I read Teacher Man this year, and it was the most awful piece of literature I've ever laid eyes upon. Be prepared!</p>
<p>Some crazy person with too much time on his hands listed all the literature mentioned on the AP Lit test and counted the number of times each work was listed. It turned out that The Invisible Man appeared most frequently.</p>
<p>I would definitely recommend that book. Not only did I find the novel fantastic, it also turned out to be one of the few life-changing kind of books that I've read.</p>
<p>LOL, what's even scarier is that our lit teacher had given us that list with all the years attached to each novel.</p>
<p>some helpful books for AP lit test:
Hamlet
Macbeth (between those two you have most themes covered)
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Great Gatsby
Great Expectations (a zillion themes, plus I used it for the choose a book question on this year's AP lit and got a 5, and it's a great read)
and I would also recommend One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and 1984 as books that are a little easier and more enjoyable than the others.</p>
<p>For my AP Lit class we have to read over the summer (and take notes :() a collection of Greek and Roman mythology, a nonfiction book "How to Read Literature like a Professor", and Their Eyes Were Watching God.</p>
<p>For my AP Lit class, I need to read 5 books - three mandatory and 2 from a list of books.</p>
<p>The three mandatory are:</p>
<p>1) Pride and Prejudice
2) Brothers karamazov
3) Portrait of a young man</p>
<p>From the list, I chose "A Passage to India" and "Huckleberry finn" since i've already read them :D</p>
<p>Is it the Hamilton version b/c that one is actually enjoyable.</p>
<p>Ooh, Portrait of a Young Man is by far one of the most painful pieces of literature I have ever read.</p>
<p>Our required books:</p>
<ol>
<li>Life of Pi</li>
<li>Invisible Man</li>
<li>Siddharta</li>
</ol>
<p>... o<em>O Needless to say, I'm reading Agnes Grey, Anna Karenina, The Sound and the Fury, and a couple other books on my own, since my teacher didn't assign anything really worthwhile (with the possible exception of Invisible Man). I mean, really. Life of Pi? o</em>O</p>
<p>We have to read Pride & Prejudice and The Awakening.</p>
<p>Thanks for the book recs, everyone; I'm going to try and pick up some of those tomorrow (and evade doing my actual homework :))</p>
<p>
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Is it the Hamilton version b/c that one is actually enjoyable.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Was that question directed to me?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Ooh, Portrait of a Young Man is by far one of the most painful pieces of literature I have ever read.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Damn! Why is that?</p>
<p>The first statement wasn't, but the book was so terribly random, I mean I know everyone loves Joyce for his whole stream-of-consciousness bit, but seriously, it's quite a ridiculous read. I remember when we first started it this year in AP Lit, the teacher chose to read the first page to us, and all I could think of was oh those damn moo cows [or something like that]. However, if you want to read good Joyce I would definitely recommend Dubliners.</p>