logicx24

And collegeluva101, I LOVED STRANGER. One of my favorite books I've read in high school. I loved it's theme of absurdity, I loved the way it balanced philosophical preaching with purity of story. It was a work of art; so much so, that I wrote my Columbia essay on it.

FastNeutrino

I usually read then use online resources (sparknotes, Wiki summary, etc.). I remember things more if I actually read the book than if I don't, so it helps my performance in class.

MutaRiSC

Last year, I read the entirety of The Brothers K for summer but then my teacher didn't even put in grades for our summer essays .

aomame

SHAME.

This is such an awesome book.

MutaRiSC

Oh yeah, OP; water does taste good.

collegeluva101

@aomama Yeah, I know... To be honest, I was so busy with other stuff that I didn't really have time to get into it...I read the final pages of the book which were pretty good! I doubt that counts for anything, though...

aomame

Meh, it's the stuff towards the end that matters. So you were close.

ecouter11

Normally, I do, but I've been kind of behind lately. I agree though, class discussions are way more interesting if you actually read the thing.

I'm planning on rereading Anna Karenina for one of my AP lit books. We're not reading all of Paradise Lost, merely part of it, but I need to catch up on that. Also, a Picture of Dorian Grey is gathering dust...

We began with Beowulf, earlier in the year and our teacher literally gave us the worst possible translation ever. It was awful. I managed to get a PDF of Seamus Hanley's translation and then I loved it. I really just dislike Poetry, or rather-long pieces of poetry that are supposed to double as stories. That's probably why I really did not enjoy the Cantebury tales.

aomame

I'm curious, but which translation did you read? We just read that (Beowulf) in our Brit Lit class and the translation was...okay.

I'm already cringing in anticipation of the Canterbury Tales.

Also, I can't not read my books for Asian Lit because class is 100% discussion based, which are really fun. We just got Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress today, which is pretty short and seems interesting already.

WeInDaNOLABaby

I read all my books freshman and sophomore year, but I had no time last year. I think we read 4 or 5 books? I know that I only read like 1/5th of Scarlet Letter, a good bit of Invisible Man....I did read all of Great Gatsby and Beloved. This year I was doing good, I read the first 2 we had to read...but we had to read Hamlet and I never once picked up the book. I actually just had my essay today so I hope I was able to pull something together well enough hahaha.

kikikaylen

Unpopular opinion, but I loved the Scarlet Letter!

I always read the books for my English classes, even if I'm speed-reading like crazy the day before the assignment for the book is due. I just hate the idea of not having a complete conception of the book during class discussions, missing little tidbits that might end up on the tests, and usually a lot of the books are decent reads from a philosophical standpoint. I do always refer to Sparknotes afterward though, just for ideas and to make sure I have a well-rounded perception of the book.

anmsestudent

Eh, not really. Out of the 2 books we read in AP Eng Lang I didn't finish them. I read the first two chapters of turn of the screw and then gave up. And I read only half of Freakonomics.
But this year in AP Lit I actually read Othello, Death of a Salesman (love!), and Master Harold and the boys. Hopefully I finish all the books throughout the rest of the year.

audi500

I always read the books (I actually like reading). But because of my busy schedule I usually can't make time read, but if its for school then I have to make time!

ks699322

I have to read the books. IB program you get a lot of foreign texts that don't have quality summaries online.

dtothe2nd

Welp, in my English class, if you want to even have the chance to stay in the class for the first 9 weeks, you darn well better read...