Reading List E Challenges and Choices
For your own book report, pick a novel from the list and report the
title before the autumn break. Hand in a book report after the
Xmas holidays. You may be asked to present it in class and/or to
discuss it in the oral exam in summer 2015. If you want to choose
a book outside this list, you will want to explain why exactly.
Author
Adiga, Aravind
Angelou, Maya
Atwood, Margaret
Austen, Jane
Beecher Stowe, H.
Boyle, TC
Capote, Truman
Desai, Anita
Fitzgerald, Scott
Gains, Ernest
Garland, Alex
Hai, Yasmin
Heller, Joseph
Huxley, Aldous
Kerouac, Jack
McCourt, Frank
Mitchell, Margaret
Mohsin, Hamid
Morrison, Toni
Orwell, George
Plath, Sylvia
Swarup, Vikas
Twain, Mark
Updike, John
Vonnegut, Kurt
Walls, Jeannette
Wolfe, Tom
Title
The White Tiger
Mom & Me & Mom
The Handmaid’s Tale
Pride and Prejudice
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The Tortilla Curtain
In Cold Blood
Feasting, Fasting
The Great Gatsby
A Gathering of Old Men
The Beach
The Making of Mr Hai’s daughter
Catch 22
Brave New World
On the Road
Teacher Man
Gone with the Wind
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Beloved
1984
The Bell Jar
Q&A
Huckleberry Finn
Rabbbit […]
Slaughterhouse Five
The Glass Castle
Bonfire of the Vanities
Moreover, your teacher may want to have a look at it, too.
The titles in bold print are recommended for students who prefer
simple language. These titles are relatively short.
(3) is supposed to mean ‘demanding’, (1) a relatively easy read.
Comments on ‘tone’ are subjective.
genre
novel
novel autobio.
novel, dystopia
novel
novel
novel
factual fiction
novel
novel
novel
novel
novel autobio
novel
novel, dystopia
novel autobio
novel autobio.
novel
novel
novel
novel dystopia
autobiography
novel
novel
novel(s)
novel autobio.
autobio
factual fiction
123
1
2
3
3
2
2
1
2
3
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
2
1
3
2
3
1
3
3
1
2
3
Tip: Reviews on the internet will help.
The better a book is known, e.g. Gulliver’s Travel, Robinson Crusoe, Huck Finn, or Gone With the Wind, the harder it is to say
something that not thousands of others have said. Your comments should show that you have actually read the book and
thought about it a bit yourself.
subject
adventurous boy makes it in modern Indian
the writer looks back at her formidable mother and a turbulent upbringing
totalitarian Christian fundamentalists run the States
courtship, love and marriage from middle-class women’s point of view
stating the 1850s abolitionist case in the 1850s
immigrants and US citizens side by side and yet worlds apart
gruesome murder, life in rural America
married life, its bliss and its misery, an Indian woman’s view
the American Dream in NY’s 20s
simple folks resist racist lynching in the 30’s South
backpacker looks for tropical paradise and discovers hell
Pakistani girl grows up in London, East and West contrasting
the absurdity of war
happiness is everyone’s duty
NY to San-Fran and back, 50s’ beatniks drugs, crime, jazz
what teaching youngsters in inner city NY means
love story, Southern lifestyle and racism glorified
successful Pakistani in US experiences alienation after 09/11
poetic but poignant take on (post-) slavery’s trauma
gloomy satire on totalitarianism and total surveillance
a promising young woman’s breakdown in US oppressive 50s
gripping adventure story, from the gutter to the top in India
an outcast’s adventures in 1880’s American South
several novels about an American Everyman’s family saga in post-war USe
a US POW survives the Dresden bombing, post-traumatic 50s
most unconventional childhood and success in later life as a writer
American Dream/nightmare in NY’s banking world in the 80s
Seriöse Buchbesprechungen:
The Guardian Book Review – eine reiche Auswahl anspruchsvoller Rezensionen
Hier geben nicht nur die Beiträge selbst, sondern auch die Zuschriften der Leserschaft Beispiele für wertende Stellungnahmen.
Anspruchsvolles zu Aktuellem auch bei NYT
tone
satire exposing reality
emancipation, an insider’s view
demanding but rewarding
acutely observant, hilarious
critical reading required
realistic, satirical
novelist’s crime story
realistic, sad
great literature
simple and powerful
adventure story
excellent insight
hilarious
intellectually witty
a breathless, realistic classic
realistic but comforting
very critical reading required
how “they” see “us”
celebrated work, hard
grim, realistic
lucid, harsh
The film (!) is based (!!) on it (!!!)
critical reading required
racy, insight, takes you back
horrendous but darkly comical
Lily’s daughter & grandchildren
instructive satire
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/books+tone/reviews
http://www.economist.com/culture
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/books/review/index.html