High School English Literature reading suggestions

My daughter is starting Year 11 and has been given the following list from which to choose four or five books for the purpose of keeping a reading journal. I'm listing them here to see which ones we have, and for a quick reference. It's interesting. How many have you read? Which ones would you choose?

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
I Know Why the caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
Ethics and Politics, Aristotle
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
The House of Spirits, Isabel Allende
Of Love and Shadows, Isabel Allende
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Attwood
The Handmaid's Tale
Cat's Eye
Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
Regeneration, Pat Barker
Eucalyptus, Murray Bail
Pere Goriot, Honore de Balzac
Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett
Home, Larissa Behrehndt
Labyrinths, Borges
Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
March, Geraldine Brooks
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
The Good Earth, Pearl S Buck
A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
The Plague, Albert Camus
The Outsider, Albert Camus
The True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
The Alchemist, Paul Coelho
Inferno, Dante
Robinson Crusoe, Daniel De Foe
White Noise, Don DeLillo
Rebecca, Daphne Du Maurier
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Phillip K Dick
Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
Hard Times, Charles Dickens
Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky
The Shark Net, Robert Drewe
The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
The Patron Saint of Eels, George Eliot
The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot
The Black Dahlia, James Ellroy
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
Medea, Euripedes
The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
A Passage to India, E M Forster
The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde
An Angel at My Table, Janet Frame
My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Sophie's World, Jostein Gardner
Lord of the Flies, William Golding
Maestro, Peter Goldsworthy
The Overcoat, Nikolai Gogol
A World of Strangers, Nadine Gordimer
Six Feet of Country, Nadine Gordimer
July's People, Nadine Gordimer
The House Gun, Nadine Gordimer
The Pickup, Nadine Gordimer
The Tin Drum, Gunter Grass
The Quiet American, Graham Greene
The Secret River, Kate Grenville
The Idea of Perfection, Kate Grenville
Snow Falling on Cedars, David Guterson
Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy
The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
Catch 22, Joseph Heller
Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway
Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
Dune, Frank Herbert
Siddartha, Herman Hesse
Trojan Women, Hippolytus
Electra, Hippolytus
The Iliad, Homer
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce
Ulysses, James Joyce
The Trial, Franz Kafka
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
On the Road, Jack Kerouac
The Boat, Nam Le
On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
Amsterdam, Ian McEwan
The White Earth, Andrew McGahan
Death in Venice, Thomas Mann
Life of Pi, Yann Martel
Beloved, Toni Morrison
The Mystic Masseur, V S Naipaul
Miguel Street, V S Naipaul
In a Free State, V S Naipaul
Guerrillas, V S Naipaul
Sabriel, Garth Nix
Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje
The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell
Cry, The Beloved Country, Alan Paton
Heat and Dust, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
The Unbearable Lightness of Being in Aberystwyth, Malcolm Pryce
Shipping News Annie Proulx
All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque
The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
Midnight's Children, Slaman Rushdie
The Diceman, Luke Rhinehart
The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger
The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S Thompson
The Book of Secrets, M G Vassanji
Slaughterhouse Five, Kurt Vonnegut
The Colour Purple, Alice Walker
Cloudstreet, Tim Winton
This Boy's Life, Tobias Wolff
The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham

Not quite the 1001, but close.

For English LTers, can you just remind us how old that makes your daughter? I'm guessing 16-ish? If I'm right then she has some great books to choose from and I would especially recommend Things Fall Apart, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The House of Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Pride and Prejudice, Fahrenheit 451, Jane Eyre, The Outsider, Alice in Wonderland, Rebecca, A Passage to India, The Eyre Affair, Sopie's World, Lord of the Flies, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, On Chesil Beach, Life of Pi, Beloved, 1984, Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men and The Color Purple. Still quite a long list, I know, but I've just randomly picked out the ones that I loved, or would have loved, at that age. I've deliberately ignored Dickens, though I love him, because it seems that a lot of teenagers find him a bit bleak and long-winded. Of course, everything depends on your daughters general tastes, interestes and preferred reading matter. Can you tell us a bit more about her - particularly any books you know she loves?

For English LTers, can you just remind us how old that makes your daughter? I'm guessing 16-ish? If I'm right then she has some great books to choose from and I would especially recommend Things Fall Apart, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, The House of Spirits, Of Love and Shadows, Pride and Prejudice, Fahrenheit 451, Jane Eyre, The Outsider, Alice in Wonderland, Rebecca, A Passage to India, The Eyre Affair, Sopie's World, Lord of the Flies, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, On Chesil Beach, Life of Pi,Beloved, 1984, Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men and The Color Purple. Still quite a long list, I know, but I've just randomly picked out the ones that I loved, or would have loved, at that age. I've deliberately ignored Dickens, though I love him, because it seems that a lot of teenagers find him a bit bleak and long-winded. Of course, everything depends on your daughters general tastes, interests and preferred reading matter. Can you tell us a bit more about her - particularly any books you know she loves?

By the way, I love the way your schools do this in America. It's a while since my kids were at school so I'm not sure how it's done here now but when I was at school we would never have had that kind of choice; we'd have been given the one or two books chosen by teacher or curriculum and been stuck with them. Anyone over here who has read widely in the classics has done it either at uni or by themselves - very little thanks to their schooling.

ETA - Sorry, had to remove touchstones to get it to load.

I've read quite a few, about 45 which is OK considering I haven't studied literature. I've not read any Nadine Gordimer or Naipaul, both seem to have a few novels on this list. I have quite a few on my TBR pile too.

Oh goody! Howdy Booksloth. You're right, she's 16 and has two years of high school left. That's a great list you've chosen. My oldest has mainly read YA up till now. So she has all the classics to choose from.

And UN-recommends - again based purely on my own taste - would be Waiting for Godot, In a Free State and The Shipping News and The God of Small Things though I do know I'll be in a minority on a couple of those. Quick count up - have read 63, several more on Mount TBR

Just to clarify, this is the Australian VCE English Literature Units 1 & 2. In English, or English Language subjects you wouldn't have this. Her set texts are Heart of Darkness, Hamlet, Theban Plays and some poetry. Looks quite challenging.

An amazing list. I would be interested to know what she chooses.

Yes, I was thinking some of the books would be quite challenging. Not to say long. Imagine reading Ulysses at 16, with not a lot of culture behind you.

#7 Oops - sorry: didn't mean to call you American! You're right, some of them look extremely challenging - and Heart of Darkness would definitely be another UNrecommend from me. We didn't get that kind of choice in English lit either and the choice wasn't available when I was teaching GCSE (usually similar age group, though I was teaching it to adults) about 10 years ago. I do believe far too many people are put off the classics by being forced to read them while too young so anything that gives the student a chance to make their own choices seems a wonderful thing to me. She won't appreciate the thought, I'm sure, but I really envy your daughter discovering some of these wonderful books for the first time.

ETA - merry10 - I still can't imagine getting through Ulysses, at 50+!

The course notes suggest that this list is for wider reading purposes and not detailed analysis. Students will keep a journal as they read, and keep in mind how they respond to language, imagery and symbolism, any puzzles that appear, what kind of narrator and think about the implied reader. They can also choose novels of literary merit not on the list.

I've had fun dragging books off shelves and piling them into groups with connections, similar themes, etc. I have War & Peace which I haven't read yet, underneath Anna Karenina, close to Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Magic realists are together, then I think of the dystopias and post colonial titles and how they cross link. 3 years ago, I wouldn't have thought like this at all - LT has been a great adventure.

> 10 I'd love to have a go at Ulysses some time. I'll wait though.

11:30pm where we are. I'll pop in tomorrow.

Oooh... that poor teacher. How many are in your daughter's class?

I've read (or remember reading) quite a few of these. Not so much on the Garth Nix end of the spectrum, but.. the ones I haven't read are not things I horribly regret. (Nor do I intend to rectify the situation.)

With a list that long, I think the first book I would choose would be whatever's the most popular. Whatever the greatest number of students is reading. If it's a very big class, I would say whatever her friends are reading. At least part of the purpose of having an English class is that the students can learn to have literate discussions, and that's just not going to happen, if she's in one of the smaller groups (or is a group of one). I would not count on the teacher having read all of the books, so don't expect discussion from that angle.

So... If I had to pick just three more (for a High School student), they would probably be:

1.) Medea, by Euripides. Yes, my degree is in Classics, and yes, my opinion is slanted, but this play has it all... strong female lead, insight into another culture, and even punny jokes. What did the Greek tailor say, when I brought in my pants? Euripides. Be sure your daughter thinks about what the fact that Euripides was writing during war time means.

2.) Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder. It's one of those weird overview books that gives you a little bit of an overview, and maybe a toe hold for later work. In fact, this was on my high school Philosophy teacher's recommended reading list, so I actually did read it at that age.

3.) The Inferno, (depending on the translation.) Because heck if I can figure out how a High School teacher is going to handle it. Never mind popes in hell. What about Mohammed being constantly cleft in twain? If the translation is thicker than she'd like, I'd go with Rebecca. And I'd be sure she does watch the movie, too, because it's Hitchcock, and because he changed the ending for moral reasons. There's a whole censorship issue there for the reading journal.

I also want to mention that there are some books on this list that I would absolutely NOT choose.

I confess that I have only read 18 of them but 15 of those I have to say were excellent. Brave New World and Dune I read many years ago and was unimpressed due to the cultures that they depicts dependence on a drug culture. Lord of the Flies never did anything for me; I am still amazed that anyone ever considered it an important book. Children can behave badly? That is a revelation? Children behaving as irresponsible children has some deep meaning about human culture? In my not so humble opinion the book only represents a lemming like quality in our culture.

I mean no offense to anyone who liked the book. It is only my opinion and I readily accept the possibility that people will disagree and that I could even be wrong.

I have read very few books more than once, 4 of them are in the 18 I have read off this list and two of those are in my anti-recommendations.

I've only read 20 or so of these, but I recommend:
Jane Erye
The Good Earth
Don Quixote (Very long, but very enjoyable)
And Medea (especially if she has not already read it.)

If she has an interest in Science Fiction: Dune and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep are both incredible reads.

Out of the books I've read I'd recommend as books that will keep her interest:
Frankenstein
All Quiet on the Western Front
Nineteen Eighty Four
Lord of the Flies
Like Water for Chocolate
Don Quixote (might be pushing it with this one but it's just too fabulous not to put on)
Labyrinths

Realistically (it is high school after all), I think she should read:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
One of the Allende books
Either Frankenstein All Quiet on the Western Front

Highly un-recommend:
On Chesil Beach
Terrible waste of time this book. Oh look. He pre-ejaculated in the girls hand. She wasn't ready for that. Neither one was ready for it. Just dumb ignorant kids.

Merry, I think your grouping of books by style, time period, etc. is a great place to start. Perhaps she could pick one that she likes and explore that in depth. I am an English teacher myself and I am very envious of the teacher who can allow students so many choices. My own district has a reading list dictated and, sadly, I really don't get any time at all for independent reading. Of the books you have listed, the following are on our curriculum: Gulliver's Travels, The Iliad, Fahrenheit 451, Things Fall Apart, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, Nineteen Eighty Four, All Quiet on the Western Front and Lord of the Flies. For the most part, I think these are all great books and I have enjoyed teaching almost all of them. There probably will also be group reads, so you might want to check into that. Of the others, I would suggest: The Good Earth, A Clockwork Orange, A Farewell to Arms, Brave New World, and The Color Purple. In any case, great list!

This is in addition to certain set texts?

I don't think I'd inflict Don Quixote, Crime & Punishment or Ulysses on a 16-yr-old. Have mercy! Five bricks of that order, in addition to whatever books she has to deal with in class, will surely inculcate a lasting distaste for reading.

Aim for the accessible. Stuff that's faster-paced, topical, or funny, but still gives some scope for interpretation. Stuff that might actually be interesting to a 16-yr-old.

Maybe....
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Catch-22
The Handmaid's Tale
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
The Quiet American

On Chesil Beach - Terrible waste of time this book. Oh look. He pre-ejaculated in the girls hand. She wasn't ready for that. Neither one was ready for it. Just dumb ignorant kids.

I agree with un-recommending this one, but not because I didn't like it (I did). I just don't see it as having anything interesting to say to a 16 year old. Does she care about pre-marital angst of two repressed Brits in the 1960s? I certainly wouldn't have.

Wow, that's quite a list! I've read 35 of them and own a handful more.

It really does depend on your daughter's tastes and reading ability. I know some 16 year olds would love Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Tess and Anna Karenina, but I wouldn't have been one of them (although I now love all four).

Based on what I've read, I think she should give these a try: The Handmaid's Tale and Cat's Eye, Farenheit 451, Nineteen Eighty-four (a book I think everyone should read), Alice in Wonderland, Rebecca, Like Water For Chocolate (just because I love it so), and Siddhartha. I also really loved Anil's Ghost, but I'm not sure how much appeal it would have to a teenager.

Hope that helps. Let us know what she reads.

I wonder why they included Paul Coelho between such classics. Here in Brazil uor universities just ignore him. Everything he wrote wont last. I think that Crime and Punishment despite its number of pages would interest your dauther as well as all the Russian authors mentioned on the list, especially Nikolai Gogol. Wuthering heights is my favourite book from the English Romantism. The others I recommend are The Outsider by Camus and The Great Gatsby. I love Borges but I think that is impossible for a girl of sixteen to find any interest on it.

#20 re Paulo Coelho. Not just in Brazil, diadorim - here in my house too! I must admit I was also a little distressed to see that schoolchildren are actually being encouraged to read such twaddle.

An effort at diversity? "Ooo, let's have somebody from Brazil!"

What gets me is the welsh book on the list (the Malcolm Pryce book). It's the third in a series.

(edit to clarify) Not in welsh - set in Wales;)

Darn, only 4 or 5? That's an awesome list- I'm going to have to make use of it! Being not to far off from HS myself, and currently teaching HS literature, here's what I'd personally go with:

Rebecca- great book for imagery, Gothic elements, and mystery/suspense.
Pride and Prejudice- a true classic! The teacher in me wonders what your daughter's 16 year old mind would make out of Lydia's behaviour and the way it affects her whole family.
Fahrenheit 451- I waited way too long in my life to read this- it's wonderful. A world without books; what a horrible prospect.
Things Fall Apart- I just had the honor of listening to a lecture about this book by a friend of Chinua Achebe's. This book is important to Nigerian culture, so I enjoyed my little glimpse into their world.
Great Expectations- a longtime favourite of mine. There are so many themes to explore, but mostly I enjoy looking at the varying ways friendship is portrayed throughout the story.

So, there you go- for what it's worth! Really the whole list is wonderful. I didn't see any that I thought "no, no, don't read that!" (with the exception of The Great Gatsby. I've taught it to countless teens who summarize it as 'the book about nothing'. Anyway...).

edited because my brain is fried *sigh*