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.

Normally I encourage the reading of more contemporary work, but on this list I'd say Pride and Prejudice. Because I consider Jane Austen to be second only to Shakespeare as far as writers who wrote in English.

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.

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.

It’s so easy to sample books these days on the Libby app or kindle or Apple Books. Try them all. Read them all if you can.

Pride and Prejudice hands down - the only one on that list worth reading.

Anonymous wrote:Shouldn’t your DD pick?

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.

Shouldn’t your DD pick?

Those are all great reads— what a great list: . The Poisonwood Bible is one of my favorite books of all time and would be my pick. I believe I first read it in high school.

Also think Pride and Prejudice should be read by everyone. Kindred is also fantastic but is a shorter read. Joy Luck Club is also a classic.

Really if they have all summer, read them all!

I read both the Joy Luck Club and Pride & Prejudice in HS and loved them both! Astute observations of familial relationships and how we may be bound by our cultural context/societal expectations.

My top three would be…
The Joy Luck Club
The Secret Lives of Bees (this is a very quick read and it is weird to me that it is on the list with the others…nonetheless, it is good!)
Pride and Prejudice (if she has not read anything else by Jane Austen)

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.

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.

Rising senior, female, which would you pick:

All the Light We Cannot See
Jasmine (by Bharati Mukherjee)
Kindred (by Octavia Butler)
Pride and Prejudice
The Joy Luck Club
The Poisonwood Bible
The Secret Life of Bees
The Map of Salt and Stars