AP LitSummerReading

Students will choose 1 book from the following list to read over the summer. Those books with an asterisk are available from the school, and you can check them out from your English teacher. Should you choose a book without an asterisk, you will be responsible for providing it yourself.

One of the benefits of this new choice in summer reading is that you will have a voice in your own education. The theory goes that if you are reading something that you have some degree of interest in, you will have better ideas about the theme, and will get more out of it. Of course, this only works if you choose something that you have some interest in.

  1. Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte
  2. In Our Time* by Ernest Hemingway
  3. The Sun Also Risesby Ernest Hemingway
  4. Catch-22*Joseph Heller
  5. Richard III, Julius Caesar or Othello*Shakespeare
  6. Beowulf*Translated by Seamus Heaney
  7. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
  8. The Aeneid by Virgil
  9. Black Boy by Richard Wright
  10. The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison
  11. A Farewell to Arms* by Ernest Hemingway
  12. The Handmaid’s Tale* by Margaret Atwood
  13. The Iliad* by Homer
  14. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
  15. In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
  16. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  17. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  18. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  19. Native Speaker* by Chang-Rae Lee
  20. 1984 by George Orwell
  21. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevski
  22. The Odyssey by Homer
  23. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
  24. A Raisin in the Sun* by Lorraine Hansberry
  25. Sula by Toni Morrison
  26. The Awakening* by Kate Chopin
  27. The Hero with 1,000 faces* by Joseph Campbell (non-fiction, anthropology)
  28. Waiting for GodotSamuel Becket
  29. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgessy
  30. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
  31. My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
  32. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

So, how can you tell which of these titles interests you?

Are you an actor or artist? You might be interested in the plays.

  1. Waiting for Godotby Samuel Becket
  • The absurdist masterpiece. Bizarre and funny, bleak and disheartening. A look at the futility of it all.
  1. A Raisin in the Sun* by Lorraine Hansberry
  • An African American family looks at the implications of moving to the suburbsin the 1950’s
  1. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles
  • Classical Greek tragedy; where it all began. A king struggles with fate, responsibility and mommy issues.
  1. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  • Classical Greek comedy; where it all began. Until the men stop fighting, the womengo on strike, withholding their … affection.
  1. Richard III, Julius Caesar, Othello, Henry V* by Shakespeare (choose 1)
  • Shakespeare. What else do you want? 4 plays of military genius. Richard the III, one of the great villains, seizes the throne. Brutus must weigh his responsibility to the Roman republic against personal loyalty as he decides whether to assassinate the greatest military leader of all time (with the possible exception of Genghis Khan.) Beware the ides of March! Othello’s interracial marriage causes tension, jealousy and the most tragic murder in all of literature. Henry the V, the great English king invades France and gives 2 of the greatest pep talks of all time before destroying the French who outnumber him 2 to 1 at the battle of Agincourt.
  1. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
  • British comedy of manners

Are you interested in romance?

  1. Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte
  • Victorian governess falls for the dark and troubled master of the house, who broods over a dark secret.
  1. Sula by Toni Morrison
  • The friendship between 2 African American women is tested when one cause the other’s husband to leave.
  1. Snow Falling on Cedars by DvaidGuterson
  • Set on San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound, Hatsue Miyamoto is caught in a love triangle between her husband, accused of murder, and the reporter who writes about the trial. Oh, it’s also a mystery (and one of Ms. Tang’s favorite novels).

Coffee house intellectual

The kind of books you read to look cooler than other people. And frankly, you probably are.

  1. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevski
  2. Waiting for Godotby Samuel Becket

Interested in mythology? Do you play WOW? Diablo III? Skyrim?

  1. Beowulf* Translated by Seamus Heaney
  2. The Aeneid by Virgil
  3. The Iliad* by Homer
  4. The Hero with 1,000 faces* by Joseph Campbell
  • Non-fiction – a look at the similarities of the hero’s journey between all cultures, and the Freudian, psychological significance. The book that gave rise to a whole new school of literary criticism and changed the way we look at mythology.

Science fictionand the dystopian future

  1. The Handmaid’s Tale* by Margaret Atwood
  • This is a messed up future where women are held captive in order to control their reproduction
  1. 1984 by George Orwell
  • Messed up politics
  1. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
  • Seriously messed up look at first contact
  1. A Brave New World* by Aldous Huxeley
  • Seriously messed up future
  1. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgessy
  • This is just messed up. It makes the rest of these look normal.

Tough guy lit (in other words, Ernest Hemingway.)

  1. In Our Time* by Ernest Hemingway
  • A novel told in the form of short stories. Hemingway revolutionized both writing and the short story in this work.
  1. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
  • If you’ve ever had your heart broken, ripped from your chest and stepped on, this is the book for you! Also, bullfighting. (Also Mr. Kendrick’s favorite novel.)
  1. Native Speaker* by Chang-Rae Lee
  • Korean-American pseudo-spy keeps his emotions tightly controlled

Humor

  1. Catch-22* by Joseph Heller
  • Funny look at a bombardier trying to get out of the army in WW II.
  1. Waiting for Godotby Samuel Becket
  2. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Feminist

(Don’t let the category title fool you. It just means books with female protagonists. And the young men in the class should keep in mind that understanding the opposite gender makes you a better person. Be brave enough to open yourself up to a new perspective and read a feminist novel or two.)”

  1. Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte
  2. The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison
  3. The Handmaid’s Tale* by Margaret Atwood
  4. Lysistrata by Aristophanes
  5. Sula by Toni Morrison
  6. The Awakening* by Kate Chopin
  7. My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
  • Meat is the message! No, really, it is. And a little teeny growth hormone called DES, no big deal.

World literature

Explore another culture!

  1. Things Fall Apart* by Chinua Achebe
  2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
  3. Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevski
  4. My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
  5. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  • Set in Barcelona, a father introduces his son to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where this young boy selects a novel to protect for the rest of his life. Then, the Devil tries to kill him.

The African American experience

  1. Black Boy* by Richard Wright
  2. The Bluest Eye* by Toni Morrison
  3. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  4. A Raisin in the Sun* by Lorraine Hansberry
  5. Sula by Toni Morrison

War

  1. In Our Time* by Ernest Hemingway
  2. Catch-22* Joseph Heller
  3. A Farewell to Arms* by Ernest Hemingway
  4. The Iliad* by Homer
  5. In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien
  • Wait, he does WHAT at the end? Or he doesn’t? No, he did, right? No? WHY WON’T HE TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED??? GAARGH!