OT Summer Reading

[cheerbear]

so at my school, when you take honors english you have to read and write essays over the summer. my two mandatory novels are: ethan frome and the great gatsby, we then have to read a choice novel out of a whole list. my problem is I don't know which of the novels to read, so I was hoping to have some input if any of you have read these novels/heard good things about them, thanks!

and the book list is:



The Promise, Potok

Woman Warrior, Kingston

Sula, Morrison


Hunger of Memory, Rodriguez

The Kitchen God’s Wife, Tan

The Bluest Eye, Morrison


The Help, Stockett

In Cold Blood, Capote

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain


Farenheit – 451, Bradbury

Cannery Row, Steinbeck

Slaughterhouse-5, Vonnegut


The Bell Jar, Plath

East of Eden, Steinbeck

As I Lay Dying, Faulkner


Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Twain

The Color Purple, Walker

Catch-22, Heller


The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway

Tender Is the Night, Fitzgerald

Invisible Man, Ellison


The Kite Runner, Hosseini

All the King’s Men, Warren

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne


Kindred, Butler

A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey


A Hundred Secret Senses, Tan

Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck


Ceremony, Silko


The Jungle, Lewis


All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy


Native Son, Wright


Prince and the Pauper, Twain


Cider House Rules, Irving


The Road, McCarthy


My Antonia, Cather


The Awakening, Chopin


The Things They Carried, O’Brien


Sister Carrie, Dreiser


American Tragedy, Dreiser


Narrative of Frederick Douglas, Douglas


Portrait of a Lady, James


This Boy’s Life, Wolff


China Men, Kingston


Middlesex, Eugenides


March, Brooks

 

[marissa.d]

i've heard many people my age (just about to graduate) say that they actually enjoyed The Kite Runner and Fahrenheit - 451

 

[TheVipersMom]

I was going to say Fahrenheit 451
.. I haven't read any of the others but I do recall it being pretty good

 

[jcheermom]

so at my school, when you take honors english you have to read and write essays over the summer. my two mandatory novels are: ethan frome and the great gatsby, we then have to read a choice novel out of a whole list. my problem is I don't know which of the novels to read, so I was hoping to have some input if any of you have read these novels/heard good things about them, thanks!

and the book list is:

The Promise, Potok

Woman Warrior, Kingston

Sula, Morrison

Hunger of Memory, Rodriguez

The Kitchen God’s Wife, Tan

The Bluest Eye, Morrison

The Help, Stockett

In Cold Blood, Capote

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain

Farenheit – 451, Bradbury

Cannery Row, Steinbeck

Slaughterhouse-5, Vonnegut

The Bell Jar, Plath

East of Eden, Steinbeck

As I Lay Dying, Faulkner

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Twain

The Color Purple, Walker

Catch-22, Heller

The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway

Tender Is the Night, Fitzgerald

Invisible Man, Ellison

The Kite Runner, Hosseini

All the King’s Men, Warren

The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne

Kindred, Butler

A Lesson Before Dying, Gaines

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Kesey

A Hundred Secret Senses, Tan

Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

Ceremony, Silko

The Jungle, Lewis

All the Pretty Horses, McCarthy

Native Son, Wright

Prince and the Pauper, Twain

Cider House Rules, Irving

The Road, McCarthy

My Antonia, Cather

The Awakening, Chopin

The Things They Carried, O’Brien

Sister Carrie, Dreiser

American Tragedy, Dreiser

Narrative of Frederick Douglas, Douglas

Portrait of a Lady, James

This Boy’s Life, Wolff

China Men, Kingston

Middlesex, Eugenides

March, Brooks

My suggestion is to go with one of the well known books in your list: Huck Finn, The Scarlet Letter, Prince and Pauper, The Great Gatsby, Fahrenheit 451, or Connecticut Yankee.... All of these books are often chosen for reading assignments for summer reading as well as classroom assignments for their authors' brillant literary work that can be presented to students for both independent and group learning. You can't go wrong without any of these books; IMO they are all worth reading.

 

[dohnutt]

I've read..In Cold Blood, The Kite Runner, The Color Purple, The Scarlet Letter, and the Grapes of Wrath. I enjoyed everything except The Grapes of Wrath, I honestly thought that was just terrible (although i'm sure many people will beg to differ) In Cold Blood was good but very slow moving and wordy. I haven't really heard great things about The Things they Carried, and I tried to read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and it was interesting but a little too wordy and confusing for me at the time (which was a few years ago so it could have been that I just wasn't old enough for it yet). I think thats about all I know from the list, but I read a lot so I may have missed a few haha

 

[Aussiekat]

Cider House Rules is easy to read, Irving is a great storyteller. Also recommend The Road, McCarthy; The Kite Runner, Hosseini; Catch 22, Heller and In Cold Blood, Capote.

I had to read As I Lay Dying and The Bell Jar for year 12, do not go near them! So depressing. Faulkner was especially taxing to read. 12 different voices, written phonetically. I've grown to love Plath, but still can't go near Faulkner.

 

[foundmyway2SC]

All of the books I read for English are on this list. Definitely liked Grapes of Wrath the best. It's kind of a slow read at times but is really interesting!

 

[cartwheels&cupcakes]

I just say that The Bluest Eye and Woman Warrior were true good points and all the stuff, but very tough to get myself to actually read. The Great Gatsby and Kite Runner however were very easy to follow.

 

[cheeeeer93]

Only from experience can I say do NOT read Slaughterhouse 5 or Scarlet Letter. Awful.
I read an excerpt from The Jungle in my history class and found it pretty interesting.. just a little gross.

 

[KRECCheer]

Of the books listed, The Bell Jar is probably the easiest read.

 

[Mamarazzi]

I really don't think you could go wrong with any book on this list. They're all novels everyone should read before they die, IMO, and provide different avenues for social exploration (race relations, sexual orientation, cultural identity, etc.) The Grapes of Wrath, not my fave. Not a big Hemingway fan either. My picks would be:

The Kitchen God’s Wife
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
My Antonia

Sula

Fahrenheit - 451

 

[ALittleBitTwisted]

That's a great list of books! I actually read 5 John Steinbeck books throughout my senior year for a final project and you definitely have to like his style of writing to enjoy his books. I definitely recommend trying East of Eden, that was probably my favorite of the five. I also have read Slaughterhouse 5 which was a fairly easy read and pretty interesting. I read The Sun Also Rises for my AP Language course and it was also a pretty easy read and interesting...the characters if I remember are kind of all over the place, but I enjoyed the storyline. I recommened maybe choosing a top 5 or so and read a few pages/sparknotes etc. to see what interests you the most A lot of these are classics meaning you will probably read them eventually. haha I am so glad I read so many Steinbeck books in high school for that reason

 

[KRECCheer]

PS: Reading these books for enjoyment and reading these books for an assignment can be totally different. I would suggest reading each book twice. Once for enjoyment and understanding of the plot and once to be very detailed like you would in class.

 

[kristenthegreat]

I haven't read most of those books, oddly enough since I'm a book-nerd, but I can say they are DEFINITELY on many Top Books lists and ALL are worth reading. I can't give you any particular suggestions (I don't know your tastes and what I consider easy/worthwhile/interesting might not hold the same for you), but I WILL say that when I took my CLEP test (college credit) in Humanities, the MAJORITY if not ALL of these books were on my test due to their appeal and significance.

I've read Huckleberry Finn and Scarlet Letter, both of which I enjoyed. They're older classics (particularly Scarlet Letter), which if you've seen the movie Easy A, those two (Scarlet and that film) follow similar issues (being a social outcast for perceived/real sins. The price of guilt, it's essentially the basis for the film)..Faulkner can be tricky, from what I've heard, as well as depressing. Vonnegut and Bradbury lean sci-fi/utopian/dystopian, and I've meant to read both of those (once I finish Dante's Inferno). Color Purple, The Invisible Man and Bluest Eye are both racial-based novels, if I recall. Amy Tan (Kitchen God's Wife) is, if I recall correctly, also racially-based (I could be HORRIBLY wrong, don't quote me). The Things They Carried is a Vietnam War novel, hated it when I first read it, might go back now that I'm not forced to read it.. Steinbeck is usually a favorite/not a difficult yet still enjoyable read. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is an EXCELLENT movie, can't wait to read the book..I've read another piece by Chopin, who wrote The Awakening (I think Chopin also wrote The Yellow Wallpaper). I will say, if you enjoy The Great Gatsby, take a look at Tender is the Night (his other novel). I agree whomever said pick 5 and sparknotes them for a synopsis before you choose.

 

[cheerislove8]

Fahrenheit 451 definitely did not interest me at all.

Look into A Lesson Before Dying. I think I've heard that that was actually really good, but I could be mixing up two books.

Kite Runner is very graphic to my understanding... I have to read it this summer and I'm really not looking forward to it. :banghead:

Also, when I was studying Short Stories in English, I read a chapter of The Things They Carried, and I really liked it actually! Maybe look into that one as well