AP CHOICE NOVEL LIST: 20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND
READING GUIDE
Name: ____________________________________________
Period: ____________
Title of novel: _________________________________________ Author: _____________________________
Publication Date: _______________________Total Pages: ______________ Pages per Section: ___________
HIGH FREQUENCY AP TITLES
LOWER FREQUENCY AP TITLES
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Light in August by William Faulkner
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora N. Hurston
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Native Son by Richard Wright
Cry, The Beloved Country by Alan Paton
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
Sula by Toni Morrison
All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Obasan by Joy Kogawa
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor
Atonement by Ian McEwan
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
A Gesture Life by Chang-Rae Lee
Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards
Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao
The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by A. Solzhenitsyn
One Hundred Years of Solitude by G. G. Marquez
Out of Africa by Isaak Dinesen
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The Plague by Albert Camus
Pocho by Jose Antonio Villarreal
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Typical American by Gish Jen
Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
TITLES NOT CITED ON THE AP EXAM
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garciz Marquez
A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
I. DIALECTICAL JOURNAL: Read and keep a dialectical journal. Set up your journal like this:
SECTION 1 Pages _________________
Page#
Quote/Example
Observations/Analysis/Contextual Insight
You may type your journal or keep it in a notebook, but be prepared to turn it in with your final
presentation. You should keep extensive notes as you read. Find important quotes in the novel that
demonstrate the author’s development of the following:
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Crucial plot development
Point of view and shifts in point of view
Narrative structure
Characterization
Figurative language, imagery, word choice
Symbolism, allusions
Flashback, flash-forward, foreshadowing
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Irony, satire
Motifs
Themes
Setting
Social-political commentary
Philosophical ideas
In your observations, be sure to explain the quotes that you select, as well as the significance to the overall
development of the novel. This journal should be like a conversation with the author. You are pointing out
what you are noticing about his/her craft. It should also represent a culmination of your literary skills for
the year so SHOW ME WHAT YOU KNOW! I will be checking your journal from time to time, so do not
procrastinate!
II. BOOK TALK PRESENTATION
You may work alone or with a partner. If you choose to read the same book as a partner, you will be
responsible for more coverage and depth when you present your book. Both of you should contribute
equally to the presentation.
The presentation should include the following:
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Author Background
Context/Setting
Plot Synopsis
Character Analysis
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Motifs/Themes
Major literary/rhetorical devices
Passage analysis with a prompt
Visual (such as a Power Point)
III. FINAL NOVEL REVIEW HANDOUT
READING SCHEDULE
Divide your novel into three parts, and be prepared with your dialectical journal on the following dates:
Section I Pages _______________: April 3rd
Section II Pages ______________: April 9th
Section III Pages ______________: April 16th
FINAL NOVEL REVIEW
NAME: _________________________ TITLE: ____________________________
Setting/Context: Describe the setting and its significance to the book.
Plot Synopsis: Include an outline of the main events.
Ending: How does the novel end? Does this ending provide resolution? Explain. What does the ending suggest on a more
symbolic or thematic level?
Turning Points: What were the most important scenes or turning points in the novel? Explain why these were crucial
scenes.
Characters: Choose two main characters. Discuss how both of these characters develop throughout the course of the
novel. How do they begin and end their journey in the book?
Title: Explain the significance of the title and how this develops in the novel.
Motifs and Symbols: What have been some important symbols and motifs throughout this novel? Explain their
significance.
Literary and Rhetorical Techniques: Identify any strong techniques the author uses, such as a unique point of
view, narrative structure, shifts in point of view or narrative structure, dialect, foil characters, allusion, or an
extended metaphor. Give examples from the novel where these techniques are used.
Discussion Questions: Write down at least three reflection/discussion questions based on the whole book. Think about
these questions as good writing topics for your novel.
Themes: What themes developed in the novel, and what is the main theme that seems to stick with you? Explain this
theme in more detail. Give examples from the novel where this theme appears.
Quotes: Choose two important quotes and explain the significance of each.