I need a reading list

College Confidential Community
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<p>I'm looking for books that are good for just improving my vocab and comprehension (like ap english books) but that aren't actual ap english lit. books since I'll be taking that next year and don't want to spoil the fun. I just want some "good reads".</p>

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<p>For vocab, I recommend the dictionary. ;)
(I'm actually serious though. Reading dictionaries is hours of fun! There are so many words, and they all have definitions—and if your dictionary is good, etymologies! Does anyone else find this as exciting as I do?)</p>

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<p>The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas (forgot this first name, sorry)</p>

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<p>they have sat books now..like stories written stictly to help you with vocabulary..<a href="http://www.sparknotes.com/satfiction/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sparknotes.com/satfiction/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>hmm and some books were published again with sat words on the back like umm frankenstein..edgar allen poe stories..some other stuff..</p>

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<p>no matter what you do, read Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World.</p>

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<p>Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)</p>

<p>There's just a couple to get you started... they're all very good! :)</p>

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<p>Any novel by Kurt Vonnegut is a good novel. Seriously.</p>

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<p>Ever read "Mother Night?" I read it in like 1 day. It was awesome. :)</p>

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<p>cannednish: you are totally right I'm in love with Vonnegut, what's your favorite?</p>

<p>beyond Vonnegut I guess I'd have to say Orwell.</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.etymonline.com%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.etymonline.com&lt;/a> is obviously great for etymology. & Jack Kerouac is good to read</p>

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<p>Catch-22 by Joseph Heller</p>

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<p>Anything by Virginia Woolf. She improves critical reading and vocabulary. :)</p>

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<p>How about Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad? You might read that in AP English - it depends on the teacher.</p>

<p>Conrad uses really complex vocab, and he wasn't even a native English speaker, so that makes it even more interesting and his choice of words is important.</p>

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<p>thanks a lot guys! You reallly hit what I was looking for on the head!</p>

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<p>If you like detective stories -all of Sherlock Holmes and P.D.James novels will also help develop your vocabulary, as well Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mysteries.</p>

<p>Also recommend Empire Falls by Russo and Cold Mountain. Try Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure or Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre for classics. Anna Karenina --Tolstoy in a good translation is well worth reading too.</p>

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<p>atlas shrugged by ayn rand</p>

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<p>i'll be reading that next year in ap english lit, but thanks anyways jewcrewandjosh</p>

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<p>Well, I'm just getting into Vonnegut. So far I've read Cat's Cradle, Mother Night, and Galapagos. I think I'm going to read Slapstick next....(Vonnegut is driving me into the poor house...his books are the only books I actually buy, everything else = library)</p>

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<p>haha me too. I've read Siren's of Titan, Galapagos, Cat's Cradle, God bless you Mr Rosewater, and Slaughterhouse Five and I just bought three more and we just finished a huge unit in english so I can't wait to read another one, the problem is I buy all of them and it's an expensive addiction! At least it isn't as bad for you as heroin or anything. I can't pick a favorite but I suppose it would be Sirens of Titan it was this book that Vonnegut concluded that the purpose of life was to "love whoever is around to be loved" ahhhhh I love him! and how about Kilgore Trout? I wish he was real, I'd be his biggest fan!</p>