Summer reading once again =(

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Help me pick good books for summer reading from these lists</p>

<p>List 1---
Things fall apart - Chinua Achebe
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Journey of Ibn Fattouma - Naguib Mahfouz
Nectar in A Sieve - Kamala Markandaya
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden</p>

<p>List 2---
Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Three Theban Plays - Sophocles
The Trial - Franz Kafka
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Gracia Marquez
Candide - Voltaire</p>

<p>Tell me one good book from each of the lists.</p>

2

<p>I really like Sophocles on the second list. From the first list, I'm not sure which to recommend. </p>

<p>Things Fall Apart- Deals with Africa and colonialism. VERY emotional and a bit depressing. It's a book you hate the first time but keep coming back to. A good pick if you liked Heart of Darkness.</p>

<p>The Handmaid's Tale- Takes place in the not-so-distant future US. Things are under tight control (think mix of Nazi Germany and The Giver). A good read, especially for females. </p>

<p>The Journey of Ibn Fattouma- A bit of an allegory. A man travels around the world trying (fruitlessly) to find the perfect society. </p>

<p>Nectar in A Sieve- "Done before," in my opinion. Similar to Pearl Buck's The Good Earth- the novel follows a simple farmer/wife and shows the poverty, pitfalls, and pride they experience. It's well-written, though, and it draws in the reader. </p>

<p>Memoirs of a Geisha- Follows almost the entire life of a geisha (entertainer/artist), from an abandoned girl to an old mistress. Well-researched, and the plot is actually quite engaging. Not my favorite, but it's well worth a read.</p>

3

<p>I second Sophicles</p>

4

<p>Crime and Punishment from second list.</p>

5

<p>From the first list, Id say Memoirs of a Geisha. I, personally, absolutely adore that book. </p>

<p>And Sophocles from the second.</p>

6

<p>things fall apart was pretty good</p>

7

<p>I hated Things Fall Apart with a passion... it was throughly depressing.</p>

<p>From your first list, I liked Memoirs of a Geisha and A Handmaid's Tale... though I haven't read anything from list 2, anything by Kafka should be interesting, and I've heard Candide is good :) (of course I head this from my ap euro teacher, who is something of an eccentric)</p>

8

<p>From List One: Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden- (warblersrules86 description). I really liked this book, but it is the only book that I have read in your list one, so I might be a little biased. :)</p>

<p>From List Two: One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Gracia Marquez-The novel tells the story of the rise and fall of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buend</p>

9

<p>I /have/ to read The Trial...it's such a pain in the ass...honestly I love Kafka...but in the summer he is not my friend. </p>

<p>Plus we're also required to read two books by Joseph Conrad, "No Exit" by Jean Paul Sartre, and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.</p>

<p>I think my English teacher is trying to kill us.</p>

10

<p>crime and punishment
memoirs of a geisha (such a good movie!)</p>

11

<p>
[quote]
Things fall apart - Chinua Achebe

[/quote]

Good book. Lots of neat symbolism.</p>