Which summer book for AP Lit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a list for AP Lit?

Pride and Prejudice is definitely the best book on that list.
After that, I'd say
Poisonwood Bible
Kindred
Joy Luck Club

I haven't read Jasmine.
Very "meh" on the rest as books for a course. They are all great for independent entertainment reading.

This would be my ranking although I haven’t read Kindred. I did find poison wood Bible super depressing — but I’ll also note that books about death didn’t bother me as much as a teen so maybe she wouldn’t. There is a major character in poison wood Bible that is a teen girl so that might appeal. But if she hasn’t read any Austen, that’s the clear pick.

Three of the major characters in Poisonwood Bible are teen girls, and the fourth is a younger girl.

I’d say it is pretty understandable for a teenager getting dragged along to something they don’t want to do— in this case, to the extreme!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would pick the Joy Luck Club. It’s an interesting and not difficult read. As a treat for finishing the book, watch the movie. Since it’s summer reading, I’d probably take decent notes on a few things, and read the other books as well, although I’m not sure about the Austen.

I agree with Joy Luck Club. It's not my ethnic background, but I am interested in Chinese culture and Chinese-American culture and the role of women in these cultures. I read the book after the movie, which I usually don't do...I usually try to read the book first. The movie does a wonderful job of making the emotional turmoil visceral, while the book has more time to set up backstories and connections. My husband and I still think about some of the scenes in the movie from time to time. Like Waverly and the "best quality crab scene. Or the architect and his wife splitting grocery bills down to the ice cream. There's a lot there to think about.

I read Pride and Prejudice first in middle school and found it very boring. I had to grow up to understand it better. The attraction between the main characters involves negative energy and unspoken feelings so it's not easy for a romantically inexperienced person to relate to it. Now I really like it, and I'm a sucker for the vivacity and intensity of the Colin Firth miniseries version. But I think it's less accessible than Joy Luck Club what with it being essentially about a very narrow social class and being about very repressed feelings.

What you say about P&P may have been true for you, but not everyone. I read it aged 11 and absolutely loved it. I didnt' have a clue about romantic relationships.

[Anonymous]

I love the Joy Luck Club (I am not Chinese) — it is just so beautifully written, as all of Amy Tan’s works are! As a bonus, learn about Chinese history and culture.

[Anonymous]

My picks:

Pride and Prejudice
The Joy Luck Club
All the Light We Cannot See
The Secret Life of Bees

I didn’t like The Poisonwood Bible
And I don’t know much about these
Jasmine (by Bharati Mukherjee)
Kindred (by Octavia Butler)
The Map of Salt and Stars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are all pretty quick reads, so I'd read them all. However, she is most likely to be assigned everything on that list on some other class at some point, so I'd do Pride and Prejudice, otherwise she may never read it.

Nothing by Kingsolver is a “quick read” (that’s a WILD take).

[Anonymous]

Books that have appearedthe most times on the exam over the past 53 years

32 times: Invisible Man

27 times: Wuthering Heights

25 times: Great Expectations; Jane Eyre

23 times: King Lear

19 times: Heart of Darkness; Their Eyes Were Watching God

18 times: Crime and Punishment

17 times: Moby Dick

16 times: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Awakening; Catch-22; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; The Scarlet Letter

15 times: Beloved; Native Son

14 times: The Color Purple; A Raisin in the Sun

13 times: Antigone; Ceremony; Death of a Salesman; The Great Gatsby; Light in August; Othello

12 times: The Crucible; Portrait of a Lady

11 times: As I Lay Dying; Candide; The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire; Waiting for Godot

10 times: A Passage to India; Pride and Prejudice; Song of Solomon; Sula; The Tempest

9 times: Frankenstein; Madame Bovary; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Things Fall Apart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Books that have appearedthe most times on the exam over the past 53 years

32 times: Invisible Man

27 times: Wuthering Heights

25 times: Great Expectations; Jane Eyre

23 times: King Lear

19 times: Heart of Darkness; Their Eyes Were Watching God

18 times: Crime and Punishment

17 times: Moby Dick

16 times: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; The Awakening; Catch-22; Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man; The Scarlet Letter

15 times: Beloved; Native Son

14 times: The Color Purple; A Raisin in the Sun

13 times: Antigone; Ceremony; Death of a Salesman; The Great Gatsby; Light in August; Othello

12 times: The Crucible; Portrait of a Lady

11 times: As I Lay Dying; Candide; The Glass Menagerie; A Streetcar Named Desire; Waiting for Godot

10 times: A Passage to India; Pride and Prejudice; Song of Solomon; Sula; The Tempest

9 times: Frankenstein; Madame Bovary; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; Things Fall Apart

This is super helpful. Except both my kids took AP Lit this year and have now graduated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would pick Kindred. But that is because I have been wanting to read that particular book for a couple years now.

Pride and Prejudice is a book people will still be talking about 40 years from now. So that would be a recommendation from me.
All the Light We Cannot See sounds appealing to me. But It has been a long time since I was a teenager. What appeals to a teen might be way different from what appeals to me.

If you truly can't decide what appeals to you, you could just look on Libby for your library and see what is available right now for you to check out.

40 years from now? That's like saying they'll still be talking about that Hamlet play 40 years from now.