AP English Literature Reading List
(Geis)
Please choose one of the novels
from below and complete all of
the packet material. (15 pages)
Tinkers (2009)
The Goldfinch (2013)
Paul Harding
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Donna Tartt
______________________________________________________
Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness (1968)
The Executioner’s Song (1980)
Edward Abbey
______________________________________________________
Norman Mailer
Great Expectations (1861)
______________________________________________________
Charles Dickens
______________________________________________________
Jane Eyre (1847)
Oliver Twist (1838)
Charles Dickens
______________________________________________________
Catcher in the Rye (1951)
Charlotte Brontë
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One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962)
Ken Kesey
______________________________________________________
J.D. Salinger
______________________________________________________
Slaughterhouse Five (1962)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967)
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
______________________________________________________
Gabriel García Márquez
______________________________________________________
Catch-22 (1961)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
Joseph Heller
______________________________________________________
James Joyce
______________________________________________________
A Farewell to Arms (1929)
The Grapes of Wrath (1939)
Ernest Hemingway ______________________________________________________
John Steinbeck
The Kite Runner (2003)
______________________________________________________
Kahled Hosseini
______________________________________________________
The Heart of the Matter (1948)
Graham Greene
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Jane Austen
________________________________________________
All the Pretty Horses (1992)
Cormac McCarthy
_______________________________________________
AP LITERATURE AND COMPOSITION
NOVEL STUDY
Assignment: For each novel or play you read (at least three), you are required to write
your own novel study guide. In this packet you will find several worksheets to help you
with each component of your study guide. You must complete all sections of the study
guide with your group or individually. Then you are each responsible for assembling
and publishing your own study guide. Make sure it is reader-friendly and sets aside
space for additional notes and reflections.
Your study guide must include the following sections:
1. Plot
2. Character
A. Protagonist
B. Antagonist
C. Characters and conflicts.
D. Influential minor characters, both seen and not seen
E. Character foil relationships
3. Setting
4. Historical and cultural context of the novel and influences on the author
5. Themes and symbols
6. Significant quotations from the book
7. A sample first paragraph for a hypothetical essay about the book.
Plot Notes
Directions: In an essay, you want to avoid writing a plot summary, but it’s still
important to remember what happens—and why. Chapter by chapter and scene by
scene, make notes on what happens, but focus on the major conflicts of the book. This
helps you remember the specific chronology of the narrative. Thinking about the larger
conflict puts the story into perspective.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Directions: Complete this bubble map to understand the antagonist character. Put the name of the character in
the center bubble. Add as many bubbles around the center bubble as you can, each with a word (adjective or
adverb) that describes the character. Then complete the items in the corners. Use this to write a character analysis
on the next page.
SO WHAT?
SO WHY?
ANALYSIS OF PROTAGONIST
Using the information from your first bubble map, write a complete description of
your book’s protagonist (main character) in about 100 words.
ANALYSIS OF ANTAGONIST
Now, do the same for the antagonist, using your second bubble map.
Directions: In the central circle, identify the protagonist or main character by describing
his/her background, internal and external conflicts, what he/she wants, and how he/she
changes as a result of these desires, hopes, and fears. In the orbiting circles, identify the
secondary characters and how they relate to the main character. In the diamonds, identify
influential, but rarely (or never) seen characters and how they influence the characters and
plot.
Description
Desires, Hopes, Fears
Conflicts
How he/she changes
A foil is a person who contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist but not always)
in order to highlight various features of the main character's personality: to throw the character
of the protagonist into sharper focus. Identify below, a character foil relationship in your book.
Explain how the contrast is created and how it accomplishes its function.
Setting can be defined as the time and place in which the story occurs. Often the
setting can suggest a theme or symbolic element to the reader. It also may,
because of historical, geographical, cultural, political, or traditional elements
influence the plot or character relationships. Describe the setting of your book and
its significance as vividly as possible below, using quotations from the book
wherever possible to illustrate your points.
Title of book:
Theme in center circle
Support for theme in outer circle
Theme Statement:
What is it?
Directions: Write an
important symbolic
object, person, place, or
gesture in the center
circle. In the outer circle,
write examples from the
book that support your
interpretation of the
symbol
What does it
symbolize?
On this page, using the ideas from your circle map, write 150 words explaining the
theme you chose and how you know it is a theme.
Symbol
On the lines below write a description of the symbol you identified on your circle map.
Explain what it symbolizes and why it is significant, using the details from the book you
recorded in the outer circle. Write 150 words.
On this page, identify at least one theme of the novel (there should be several) and
explain how the theme is expressed with specific references to plot, character,
setting and tone of the narration.
On the second page, do the same for a central symbol in the book. Remember,
these are two separate elements of the book; thus write two separate pieces
explaining them.
_____
All literature is created within the context of the political, social, artistic, and
general historical period in which the author is writing. In addition, the events of
the author’s life and his or her personal challenges may influence the novel, whether
directly or indirectly. In the spaces below, using research, summarize the factors
which provide some context to the novel and help us understand the author’s
perspectives on the story he or she tells.
Author's Life
Historical
Influences
Social Concerns
Artistic/Cultural
Influences
In the shapes below, write significant quotations from your book. Identify the
speaker (whether narrator or character), the context of the quotation, and the
reasons why it is significant. Hint: Memorable quotations are often found at the
beginning or the ending of the story.
…this would be my first paragraph. Underline your thesis statement. Be sure you
specify three ways you would support your thesis in the body of your essay.