Books to read

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I have a long list of books that I have never read (some of them I will be able to read over winterbreak). Does anyone know any that I could/should possibly add to this really long list? I know it’s probably sad that I have never read any of these books, butI’m going to eventually. Also, if any of these are really really bad or hard to read books let me know. </p>

<p>The Lord of the Flies
Catcher in the Rye
Animal Farm
The Odyessy
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Of Mice and Men
The Red Pony
The Clockwork Orange
The Lost World
The War of the Worlds
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Frankenstein
Dracula
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Crime and Punishment
The Strange
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Iliad
Our Town
The Aeneid
The Time Machine
The Invisible Man
Chronicles of Narnia
Little Women
Wuthering Heights
Cheaper by the Dozen
Jane Eyre
Grapes of Wrath
Fajremheit 451
I am the Cheese( (No idea what this is about)
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Gone with the Wind
A streetcar Named Desire
Catch 22
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
Scarlett Letter</p>

2

<p>Prince of Tides and everything else by Pat Conroy</p>

3

<p>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - the first “serious” book I ever read (I was about 12) and I still love it…</p>

4

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<p>I could tell you but that would spoil it ! :smiley: (From the song, “The Farmer in the Dell” the cheese stands alone) Strange book, will take you a couple of hours to read.</p>

5

<p>Our Town–a great play and SHORT. You can start with this one and feel good about your progress toward reading all the books on your list.</p>

6

<p>I liked 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Pride and Prejudice.</p>

7

<p>Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead – Tom Stoppard</p>

<p>Oedipus/Antigone/Electra – the whole Sophoclean tragedy (lol… that’s not a word)</p>

8

<p>“Man’s Search for Meaning”. It is inspirational beyond belief. If you can read only one book, read this one.</p>

9

<p>A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd</p>

10

<p>Quality over quantity. (I don’t mean, obviously, that those books aren’t of quality–I’m saying it’s better to read one good book thoroughly than two good books superficially.)</p>

11

<p>The Chosen by Chaim Potok is not to be missed. </p>

<p>Among the books you mentioned, Animal Farm is quite good, a good “cultural literacy” book because many later writers make mention of it, and rather easy to read.</p>

12

<p>Cry The Beloved Country by Alan Paton…loved it in high school and re-read it recently and still loved it.</p>

13

<p>I’ll pick up the science fiction end. Although H.G. Wells is popular, he is one of the first, not the best. The following are science fiction books I feel are woefully underappreciated:</p>

<p>Solaris - Stanislaw Lem (absolutely superb, cynical, psychological, Polish, must read in genre)
Planet of the Apes - Pierre Boulle (not at all like the movies, social commentary, French)
Flatland - Edwin A. Abbott (social satire, occasionally hilarious, enlightening, quickread, 1884)
Enders Game - Orson Scott Card (thought provoking, action filled, recent classic, pass on the rest)</p>

14

<p>“A Lesson Before Dying” is another wonderful book.</p>

15

<p>Sophie’s World-- the ten-minute history of Western philosophy, as taught to a 14 year old Norweigan girl.
Read some Tolstoy and Dostoevsky before you die at least, but preferably now. The Idiot and Anna Karenina are my favorites.
One Hundred Years of Solitude.
Faulkner is also on the list of authors you really must read, especially if you live in the US.</p>

16

<p>i always love to toot the Kurt Vonnegut horn: the sirens of titan, player piano, “goodbye, mr rosewater”</p>

17

<p>i HATEEEEEDDDDDDDDD cry the beloved country…hatttteeeddddddddd…please dont bring up that REDICULOUS book. i had to read it for HS, HORRIBLEEEEE</p>

18

<p>It looks like a good list to me, but Jane Eyre and Scarlet Letter should go straight to the bottom (not recommended at all).</p>

19

<p>There seems to be a positive feedback loop in literature studies. Some classic books seem to be held in high regard simply because no critics are willing to confront their deficiencies (out of the fear of being ridiculed for heresy). In turn, millions of students learn the material, inwardly resent the fact, but recommend it to others because “everybody reads them at some point.” These students then act as the critics to which the next generation apeals, and the cycle begins again (with the books even more firmly entrenched in the school curriculum).</p>

<p>Just a thought . . .</p>

20

<p>“american dream” and “the zoo story” by edward albee. two very very good, interesting plays. we read them in one of my classes during high school.</p>