Which summer assignment books should I choose?

The course is AP Literature & Composition.

What book is the easiest/best choice for each of the two assignments?

Thanks for your help!

Please use this form in your response

Code:

Assignment #1 recommended book:
Comments: 

Assignment #2 recommended book:
Comments:

Here is a general overview:

Assignment #1

Books:

Crime and Punishment
Tess of the D’urbervilles
Light in August
Song of Solomon


What to Include:
Your notes are like a skeleton of a writing you might do. This means that they should include aspects of the novel you would mention in an essay.

Consider how the following categories develop the overall themes in the text:
™ -Characterization
™ -Setting (insofar as it impacts theme and character)
™ -Tone (the author’s attitude toward the subject matter)
™ -Stylistic elements: the author’s use of dialogue, diction (word choice), figurative language (simile, metaphor, imagery, symbol)

When referencing the above categories, make sure you’re connecting them to the overall themes you’re identifying in your notes. Trace a theme throughout the text and comment on its development. It is important to include not only information the author says, but also your thoughts, analysis, and evaluation of that information. You are expected to take notes on the ENTIRE TEXT.



Assignment #2:

Books:

Tolstoy - Anna Karenna, War and Peace
Melville - Moby Dick
Dickens - David Copperfield, Great
Expectations
Rand - The Fountainhead
Homer - The Iliad
Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Andrews - Tom Jones
Joyce - Ulysses, Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man, Dubliners
Dreiser - An American Tragedy
Heller - Catch 22
Turgenev - Fathers and Sons
Warren - All the King’s Men
Dafoe - Moll Flanders
Maughm - Of Human Bondage
Fitzgerald - Tender is the Night
Achebe - Things Fall Apart
Cather - My Antonia
Steinbeck - East of Eden, The Grapes of
Wrath
Lawrence - Sons & Lovers
Hemingway - Farewell to Arms
Wright - Native Son (the book –not the play)
Morrison - Beloved
Wharton - Age of Innocence
Cervantes - Don Quixote
Silko - Ceremony
Austen - Emma
Danticat - Breath, Eyes, Memory
Aeschylus – Oresteia(all three plays)
Hardy - Jude the Obscure
Woolf - To the Lighthouse
Ishiguro - The Remains of the Day
Kafka - The Trial
Conrad - Heart of Darkness
Hong-Kingston - Woman Warrior
Marquez - One Hundred Years of Solitude
Flaubert - Madame Bovary
Ellison - Invisible Man
Forester - A Passage to India

Select one of the works from the list below and complete the following assignment. Explain how the author uses a specific literary device or element (ex: character development, symbol, point of view, plot structure, setting) to illustrate a specific theme or idea the author develops throughout the novel. When coming up with a thesis statement, do not summarize the novel. For example, the thesis statement “In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad uses
characterization to reveal a theme of transformation throughout the novel” is too broad because it does not mention how Conrad comments on transformation. An improved thesis reads: “Conrad’s characterization reveals the idea that environment transforms the individual physically, intellectually and psychologically, while intensifying certain innate traits.” This thesis statement shows Conrad’s attitude toward transformation and how it is presented in the novel.

Length requirement: 600 words (no longer).
Please double space and use a 12 point Times New Roman font size. Be sure to include textual
support (direct quotations) in defense of your argument.

 

I'd pick assignment #2 and choose either The Iliad or Things Fall Apart. Personally, I believe the Iliad is one of the best books I've ever read; although, it can be a difficult read. Things Fall Apart is shorter, and it is interesting enough to not bore you to death. In all honesty, you should just google around to find a book that sounds remotely interesting to you.

Anyhow, considering you can only have a maximum of 600 words, it may be a bit more difficult to write. A big part of AP Language is condensing your writing and taking all of the crap that doesn't need to be there out.

Also, I doubt your teacher really even cares about summer reading. AP Language is entirely about writing, and the closest thing that involves reading in that class is analyzing short stories and poems.

Anyhow goodluck, I doubt you'll need it though.

 

I have to do both Assignment #1 and #2, I don't get to pick one. Also, it's AP Lit, not AP Lang.

Crime and Punishment wasn't in the Assignment #2 book list.

Thanks for you guys' help though!

 

Assignment #1 recommended book: Crime and punishment
Comments: Wasn't the worst read I've ever had, I don't know your taste but hey, you never know

Assignment #2 recommended book: Grapes of Wrath
Comments: Good book, I really enjoyed this book, but I may just be a nerd

Either way, good luck!

 

OP: I'm taking AP Literature and Composition as well and we have to read "Thousand Splendid Suns" and "How to Read Literature Like a Professor." Unfortunately I have not read any of yours, so I prefer not to include my opinions on this. Good luck!

 

I read the Thousand Splendid Suns' author's first book. It was pretty good, so I'm betting that Thousand Splendid Suns will be a good read as well. Good luck to you!

 

Thanks! To be honest, a lot of people have read it and said it was a great book, so I hope I will get a chance to read it soon!

 

Well, having read all but a few of the books I'd recommend crime and punishment for the first and Madame Bovary, Farewell to Arms or Of Human Bondage. All of them contain enough relevant information to apply in any essays you may have to write. Things Fall Apart is an okay book too. I just found it increasingly difficult to relate to Okonkwo and understand his motivations. In Madame Bovary, you can chalk up her less than attractive behavior to her sadistic, selfish nature or the curse of the human condition and urge. Its really a nice list your teacher compiled. Oh and as far as FTA, I just enjoy Hemingway. He is hard to write about though, if you're not writing about his style, that is he has a very distinct style.

I apologize for typos, and everything else. I'm on a phone.

 

Ellison - Invisible Man

 

I am not sure about your taste in books, but The Grapes of Wrath was possibly the most painful book that I have ever read in my life. Follow it up with the movie and it makes me want to shoot myself. Steinbeck, in my opinion, is probably one of the most dull writers around (up there with Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises). Also, if you decide to choose something other than C&P, please let me deter you from choosing Light in August. William Faulkner... enough said ~

Assignment #1 : Crime and Punishment
Comments: Fairly lengthy read but if you get through the whole thing, then it is pretty entertaining.

Assignment #2 : Heart of Darkness
Comments: I wasn't a big fan if this book, but I know some people that liked it and it was fairly short.

Both of my choices should make for fairly straightforward essays. I believe that I read these two books in AP Literature as well.

 

Assignment 1: C and P?

I haven't read any of these =[. Random guess according to my preferences.

Assignment 2: Heart of Darkness / Native Son

Heart of Darkness has a lot of films about it, the most recent of which being Apocalypse Now and they are all fun to watch, the novel is actually a novella I believe, so it's really short and easy, if that's what you're into. But it is an interesting book.

Native Son is longer and is quite graphic - which is why I love it so much. I think it's much more interesting, so I'd pick this one if you're concerned about content.