I'm in grade 12 and this year is really important. I want to do well in English and it's not my forte. So, if you could please help me to choose which book I should read for my essay (which is a research and analytical). I want a book that I can understand well, I've had people tell me my English is in a grade 6 level. Also, I want a book that I can find a lot of secondary source references.
The List:
Male-Female Relationships:
Madame Bovary - Flaubert
Anna Karenina - Tolstoy
Wuthering Heights - Bronte
A Farewell to Arms - Hemingway
Racial Relations:
Cry the Beloved Country - Paton
The Joy Luck Club - Tan
The Nature of Man:
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Wilde
Social Criticism:
Great Expectations - Dickens
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Kesey
A Handmaid's Tale - Atwood
Depiction of Women:
The Color Purple - Walker
The Scarlet Letter - Hawthorne
Satire:
Gulliver's Travels - Swift
Growing Up:
A Separate Peace - Knowles
Man's Use of Science:
Flowers for Algemon - Keyes
War:
Catch 22 - Heller
The Red Badge of Courage - Crane
All Quiet on the Western Front - Remarque
Other books not listed:
The Catcher in the Rye
Tender is the Night
This Side of Paradise
1984
Animal Farm
My seniors (average class) enjoyed the following.
Animal Farm
l984
Flowers for Algernon
A Separate Peace
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Cry the Beloved Country
The Color Purple.
These are also relatively easy to read, and have good conflict in them to keep your interest.
You need to read all those books this year. The mark of an educated person is to be well read, and those are worth reading. Make it a promise to yourself and get it done.
By the way, one learns to read by reading. One improves one's reading by reading.
I don't like reading, I only need to read one book and I'm simply asking for help which book is not that challenging and which book I can find third party sources.
I don't know if you can find third party sources but One flew over the cuckoo's nest is a very enjoyable story, and they made a movie of it.
I recommend Animal Farm.
Growing Up:
A Separate Peace - Knowles
I agree with both bobpursley and kavita.... I would add one other, Flowers for Algernon. Any one of those three would fit your needs nicely.
So many to choose from, at least that narrows down my list! Now, off I go search each of those books recommended to see if I like it and if I can find a lot of criticism essays
thank you everyone for helping me
Go to www.spark notes.com.... they will have analysis of the books.
www.amazon.com will have book reviews on those books.
After you have decided on what you'll read (or maybe before), here is a good place to start looking for literary criticism:
http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/
They don't have links to articles on every author or book that ever was, but they do have a large number. It's a good place to check first. I usually search by author's last name rather than by title or time period.
=)