Good Books to Read for Class?

Parents Forum
1

<p>I am taking an Independent Study English Class this coming school year and am in the process of planning my course curriculum. The course will include elements of reading, writing, and vocabulary. The most structured part of the curriculum will be the course reading list, which I am trying to determine.</p>

<p>With the school year being 36 weeks, I'd like to create a 36 (maybe 30 to be more reasonable) book list, so that I finish one book per week. I'd like the books to be from a variety of time periods (pre-16th century, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century). I'd like to read primarily classics, although not to the extent that I'm boring myself with books that are too dense to realistically complete in seven days.</p>

<p>An early list of possible books includes (title/author/pages):</p>

<p>On the Road- Jack Kerouac (307)
East of Eden- John Steinbeck (608)
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (180)
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (277)
Catch 22- Joseph Heller (453)
Brave New World- Aldous Huxley (268)
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee (323)
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess (192)
War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy (1392)
The Wind in the Willows- Kenneth Grahame (240)
Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (704)
The Prince- Niccolo Machiavelli (146)
Lord of the Flies- William Golding (192)
Walden- Henry David Thoreau (384)
The Republic- Plato (416)
Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut (275)
The Sound and Fury- William Faulkner (326)
Middlemarch- George Eliot (912)
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (581)
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte (326)
A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway (304)
Frankenstein- Mary Shelley (254)
David Copperfield- Charles Dickens (974)
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell (1024)
Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand (1168)
The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand (720)
Uncle Tom's Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe (438)
Faust- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (352)
Utopia- Thomas More (135)
Macbeth- William Shakespeare (272)
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe (320)
Candide- Voltaire (94)
Paradise Lost- John Milton (453)
The Aeneid- Virgil (442)
Oedipus Rex- Sophocles (80)
The Nicomachean Ethics- Aristotle (400)
Canterbury Tales- Chaucer (528)
Inferno- Dante (528)
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen (320)</p>

<p>Any recommendations for books to consider and books to not consider, with regard to historical significance and also ability to complete in one week? Also, any grouping of books that would be good to read together and do a project on comparing and contrasting them or that relate to a certain period in time?</p>

<p>Thanks so much!</p>

2

<p>Will you have to complete any assignments or a thesis for the end of this class, or is your only work reading?</p>

3

<p>Wow. That’s a very varied list, and pretty schizophrenic in its approach. There are a lot of pages in there that are far from classic as literature – Ayn Rand is windy political theory, not literature, and she is your only two-book author; Gone With The Wind is fun, but also not literature. There are a bunch of philosophy books that are absolutely central to the Western tradition, but which you can’t possibly do justice to in a week. (My college philosophy class spent about 10 weeks on The Republic and The Nicomachaean Ethics, and we really only scratched the surface.) Faust, Inferno, Paradise Lost, the Aeneid are really important literature, but also tough to do on a drive-by like this. (And . . . why no Homer?)</p>

<p>The balance is also way off. You have nothing but U.S. books after 1900, mostly British books in the 19th Century, and nothing outside the English-speaking world after the mid-18th Century except the two ginormous Russian novels. You have one book by a non-white author (and an excellent one, no doubt). You are heavily weighted to popular fiction from your grandparents’ generation, far more than that stuff merits. I think you have nothing by a living author – which is fine, but you are missing an opportunity.</p>

<p>Anyway, if I were advising you I would tell you to rethink your approach. I would pare the list, and either change it a lot or forget the book-a-week approach. I would not use this as a back-door philosophy course or political theory course, although you could certainly look at those things through the perspective of literature. If you want to keep the stone classics in there, and not give them more time, then focus on part of them, not the whole thing. You need time to think and write, too, which isn’t going to happen if you are reading War and Peace and Crime and Punishment in two weeks. There are also things that are really hard to read on your own if you don’t have a lot of background, and that certainly includes Chaucer, Dante, Milton. </p>

<p>I’ll write more later when I have thought more.</p>

4

<p>I agree with JHS. If you really want to read a book a week (which I don’t think is necessarily a bad idea), you should probably focus on manageable novels, and perhaps plays. Ditch all the philosphy texts, and ditch the gigantic novels. Ditch Ayn Rand entirely. Reading Paradise Lost in a week in self-study is pointless. You could maybe do just American fiction. Your list has the following U.S. fiction on it:</p>

<p>On the Road- Jack Kerouac (307)
East of Eden- John Steinbeck (608)
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (180)
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (277)
Catch 22- Joseph Heller (453)
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee (323)
Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut (275)
The Sound and Fury- William Faulkner (326)
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (581)
A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway (304)
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell (1024)
Uncle Tom’s Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe (438)</p>

<p>That’s not so bad. I would lose “Gone with the Wind” and add “Huckleberry Finn,” for sure.</p>

5

<p>Agree with JHS. The list is far too ambitious, and far too long. I would cut it to around 16, with nothing over maybe 500 pages. Books from your list I would likely retain:</p>

<p>The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (180)
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (277)
Catch 22- Joseph Heller (453)
Lord of the Flies- William Golding (192)
Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut (275)
Macbeth- William Shakespeare (272)
Candide- Voltaire (94)
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen (320)</p>

<p>I will think of some additional recommendations as well.</p>

<p>Can you list some of the literature you have read so far? How have you escaped Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird?</p>

6

<p>My kids never read To Kill a Mockingbird. I think it may have fallen off many lists, perhaps because it has the “n” word in it. (Actually, I never read it in school, either.)</p>

7

<p>I would burn out after a few weeks on that reading list. It seems unrealistic to think of retaining anything at the end of a speed read through that list. Slow down and enjoy the scenery instead of driving a race car on a track just to get to the finish line. Pare the list down and concentrate on a few books you can do justice to. If you want to read these classics, more power to you, but don’t do it in a week as part of this class.</p>

8

<p>I agree with everyone. There are at least a couple of courses in there. One looks like a political theory/philosophy course. (Aristotle, Machiavelli, Voltaire, Rand (who definitely doesn’t deserve two books and probably not even one), Thomas More. Another looks like 19th c. and early 20th c. classics. You’ve got some epic poetry thrown in (but the two I found hardest to read when I took a semester of epic poetry - Homer is much more fun.)</p>

<p>As for what I’d definitely cross out: Rand, Gone with the Wind (schlocky romance novel that I loved when I read it), Catcher in the Rye (loathed it), To Kill a Mockingbird (nice read, but not important in the history of literature), Wind in the Willows (children’s book), Uncle Tom’s Cabin (better read in a history course), Robinson Crusoe (just read it for fun).</p>

9

<p>I think you need to think some more about what the purpose or theme of your class should be. Right now it looks like “read the recommended books for college bound students” which is too broad and not particularly meaningful. Many high schools have one year of American Lit, one of British Lit, one of World Lit, and one of AP English or some such thing. What have you done so far? </p>

<p>Also, what types of books interest you when you are left to pick things on your own? Science fiction, fantasy, old, modern, realism? What are some things you have read outside the school requirements and lists?</p>

10

<p>Wow! That is a lor for one year. Also, it appears to be the product of a “shotgun” approach. I agree with JHS.</p>

<p>I would drop these:</p>

<p>A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess (192)
War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy (1392)
The Wind in the Willows- Kenneth Grahame (240)
Wuthering Heights- Emily Bronte (326)
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell (1024)
Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand (1168)
The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand (720)
Faust- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (352)
Utopia- Thomas More (135)
Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe (320)
Candide- Voltaire (94)
The Nicomachean Ethics- Aristotle (400)
Inferno- Dante (528)
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen (320)</p>

<p>Maybe add (if you had time):</p>

<p>Beowolf
The Odyssey
Great Expectations
To Kill a Mickingbird
Huck Finn</p>

11

<p>I think rather than setting yourself a “classics” course, you should pick a curriculum around a literary theme that interests you. Maybe, American Novels Through the Centuries, British Gothic Literature, Marriage and Courtship in British Literature, Teaching Morality through Novels, or Comparative Literature between Britain and America in the 19th century, or The Black American in Literature. Think of it like a college course. No college course is entitled “Classic Books from Every Century”. College English courses are designed to teach you something specific, either to give you a good grasp on how literature in a particular area of the world developed over set period or else to teach you about importnat themes in literary history, or else to get you to understand how certain forms of writing (the novel, the play, the short story, the children’s book) developed over time. </p>

<p>You need to be much more narrow. First, choose a theme, decide what it is you want to learn about, what is this course supposed to teach you? Then choose books that fit that theme. That’s how any good teacher sets up their course. </p>

<p>As far as evaluating what might be suitable for independent study in general. I would definitely drop all of these:
War and Peace- Leo Tolstoy (1392)
Crime and Punishment- Fyodor Dostoyevsky (704)
The Prince- Niccolo Machiavelli (146)
The Republic- Plato (416)
Middlemarch- George Eliot (912)
David Copperfield- Charles Dickens (974)
Gone with the Wind- Margaret Mitchell (1024)
Atlas Shrugged- Ayn Rand (1168)
The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand (720)
Faust- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (352)
Utopia- Thomas More (135)
Candide- Voltaire (94)
Paradise Lost- John Milton (453)
The Aeneid- Virgil (442)
Oedipus Rex- Sophocles (80)
The Nicomachean Ethics- Aristotle (400)
Canterbury Tales- Chaucer (528)
Inferno- Dante (528)</p>

<p>Some because they are just way too long and you’re setting yourself up for failure, but many because they are not suited to an independent study course. Particularly the philosophy books you really need to be reading in context of their time and their contemporaries, which requires a class in and of itself led by a teacher or professor who is an expert in the works being studied, or at least has studied them themselves. Doing it indpendently, you’re just not going to get as much out of it.</p>

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<p>I like the idea of creating a theme</p>

<p>When young people I know are reading Gone with the Wind, I suggest as accompaniments: </p>

<p>The Wind Done Gone, Alice Randall
Our Nig, Sketches from the Life of a Free Black, Harriet Wilson
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Oldest Living Confederate Widow, Allan Gurganus
Somerset Homecoming, Dorothy Redford
Within the Plantation Household, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese</p>

<p>I continue to be surprised at how many reading lists GWTW is on but it did win that Pulitzer.</p>

13

<p>First comment: what do Russian, Greek and German books have to do with IS English? Second comment: the list is too predictable and too broad imho. How about a more focused reading list like 20th Century American writers. This could include works from writers such as Cormac McCarthy, Gertrude Stein, Peter Matthiesen, Toni Morrison, David Mamet, Hayden Carruth, Flannery O’Connor, Philip Roth, Thomas Pynchon, Edward Albee, John Updike et al.</p>

14

<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>

<p>For background info on me, my school doesn’t have the most challenging English curriculum. I took regular English classes in 9th and 10th and took American Literature in 11th. In those classes, I’ve read some of Homer, Orwell, Shakespeare, Twain, Emerson, and Thoreau. I’ve read some Dickens on my own and I’m familiar with others, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, but haven’t technically read the whole thing.</p>

<p>I’d agree that the list is too ambitious. I’ll cut that number from 36 down to 18, so one book every two weeks or about two books a month. I’m most interested in American/British literature; however, that is mainly because I’m pretty unfamiliar with the literature from other countries. Could someone enlighten me on some good books from other countries and cultures? I’d be interested in reading them, I just haven’t heard of many of them.</p>

<p>As far as the focus of the class, I’d like to have four central themes, one for each quarter. One quarter (4-5 books) would be on, say, 20th century American literature, but I’d like some diversity in the books. I’ll complete some projects on the books, but instead of tedious assignments for each book, I’ll probably do one big project per quarter focusing on the similar/different themes, ideas, and characters from the books that I read that quarter.</p>

<p>I’d be happy to read books from living authors. Anyone have recommendations? Many of the books I read in my spare time are from living authors, so I don’t want to use this class as time to read those books.</p>

<p>Originaloog, as far as the course title as “English”, I know I labeled it as such; however, in reality this course is more in line with a humanities class.</p>

<p>Thanks for the replies. Looking forward to more advice!</p>

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<p>I’d recommend going even narrower and picking 4-5 books per quarter (depending on length and complexity) that you can draw together into a cohesive theme. Give your theme a title as if it were a class that you had signed up for. Just as example, I’ll take two books from your list, To Kill a Mockingbird and Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Then I’d add two more by African-American authors - say, Beloved by Toni Morrison and A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. You could call your quarter-long study something like Slavery and Its Aftermath in America. Knowing what your over-arching theme is when you start reading will really help you focus in on your quarter-long project.</p>

<p>If you want some British Lit and maybe want to dip your toes into World Lit, how about a theme regarding European Colonialism? You could read something by Kipling, A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.</p>

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<p>Drop those recommended above. Skip Beowulf</p>

<p>Add:
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court - Twain
Don Quixote - Cervantes - needs more than a week
House of Mirth or Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
The House of the Spirits - Allende
The Trial - Kafka</p>

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<p>and Tale of Two Cities instead of Great Expectations - Dickens</p>

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<p>Here’s an idea for a guy-oriented theme: war in literature in the 20th century</p>

<p>to start</p>

<p>Hemingway: A Farewell to Arms
Heller: Catch 22
Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five
Tim O’Brien: If I Die in a Combat Zone, or Things They Carried</p>

<p>Maybe someone can suggest a couple of other choices. The Heller and Vonnegut could also be used in a theme of “satire on war in 20th century literature” or some such thing.</p>

19

<p>Actually, an interesting one might be a literature survey as follows:
Q1: European exploration and conquest
Q2: European colonialism (to include Kipling, etc.)
Q3: War literature in the 20th century (see above. Great list. Esp Things They Carried)
Q4: Post-colonial/anti-colonial literature (Fanon, Jamaica Kincaid, etc.)</p>

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<p>This is fun! In the colonialism section, how can we forget Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen? In the Post-colonial section, how about The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver?</p>