I have to read a college bound book for my english class, please HELP!!!?

3 Comments

1. CAD says:

   July 23, 2010 at 10:48 pm

   Are you open to other suggestions? How about The Awakening by Kate Chopin?

   Or, this website has a good list:
   http://als.lib.wi.us/Collegebound.html
2. Robert says:

   July 23, 2010 at 11:21 pm

   I would suggest “Tom Jones” (not about the singer) by Henry Fielding, “The Count of Monte Cristo” unabridged by Alexandre Dumas, “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Gogol, “A Tale of Two Cities” by Charles Dickens, “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck, “Black Like Me” by John Howard Griffin, “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth or, last but not least, “A Confederacy of Dunces” by John Kennedy Toole.

   Any of these (and countless more) would make great choices, but I think if you want to accomplish both wowing your English teacher and learning that many classics were written after Queen Victoria, you might consider one of the 20th century novels starting in my list with Steinbeck. Although “Tom Jones” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” are tied as my favorite books, and I’ve read everything by Steinbeck as well as Ernest Hemingway (who didn’t make the list) and personally consider them masterpieces, your project might call for a bolder choice.

   Only you can judge your teacher’s taste and sensibilities, but I know college professors watch for students who stand out with their choices of atypical books or sources, depending on the course. “The Grapes of Wrath,” despite being perhaps the best novel written in the century past, borders on the expected.

   That leaves “Black Like Me,” the true story of a white writer who dyed his skin black in order to go undercover for two months from late 1959 into 1960 to try to understand what it was like to be a second class citizen in America; “Portnoy’s Complaint,” the hilarious life story of a neurotic Jewish man who was raised by a dominant mother and a weak father, and “A Confederacy of Dunces,” a brilliant, satirical comic tragedy set in 1960s New Orleans and describing the outrageous life and concerns for his piloric valve of the hero, Ignatius Reilly. Published in 1969 due to the author’s mother’s persistence, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for Toole, who committed suicide before his only book saw print.

   Surf the Internet a little and see what you think of ALL the titles. You be the judge.
3. Ace says:

   July 23, 2010 at 11:44 pm

   My first choice would be Pere Goriot because of the intrigue and the realism of characters.
   The Time Machine is the easiest to read.
   Heart of Darkness is a little dry, but also a great book and thematically brilliant. If you don’t read it now for class, I would still recommend you read it eventually.
   I haven’t read Artemio Cruz