Independent Reading Assignment for Third Nine Weeks: World Literature
This nine weeks you will be reading a work of world literature and completing a few small research projects to bolster
your understanding of the text, the author, and the role culture plays in literature. Refer to the list of texts on the back of
this assignment for your options. You must choose a book and have it with you in class by Tuesday, January 19th.
Throughout the nine weeks, you will be completing small tasks associated with this reading, as well as reading the book
itself. It is up to you to police yourself! The book and final assignment must be finished by March 9th.
1. Due January 26th: Write a 250-word report on the author of your novel. You may include biographical
information of any sort – historical, professional, artistic, personal, etc. – whatever you find and deem interesting.
You need to consult at least two sources to complete this assignment. Write the report in your own words, but
quote each of your sources at least once, and use appropriate MLA parenthetical citation. A Works Cited page
must also accompany the report.
2. Due February 16th: What country does your author come from? What country or culture is explored in the
story? If there are multiple answers to these questions, consider how each culture affects the story. Write a 350word research report on the country or culture(s) that shaped this novel. In your report, give some history of the
country/culture, the main structure(s) that shape it (government, ethnic groups, religions), and key ideas that are
central to it. In addition, explain how you see evidence of this culture/country in the novel. Again, you must use at
least two sources and you must cite each of those sources at least once. A Works Cited page must accompany the
report.
3. Due February 23rd: What historical time period is your novel about? What was going on in the world and in the
culture at that time? Write a 350-word research report on the key social, political, military, religious, and/or
environmental issues that shaped the historical era reflected in your novel. In addition, explain how you see
evidence of those issues in the novel. You must use and quote from and cite at least two sources and must include
a Works Cited page.
4. Due March 1st: To what genre or genres does your novel belong? In order to answer this question, you may need
to research as well as make an educated guess. Once you have answered this question for yourself, write a 350word research report that accomplishes the following:
a. Define and explain the genre of literature (with at least one parenthetical citation). Why/how did this
genre develop? What are its characteristics?
b. Briefly explain/justify why you know your text belongs to the genre.
c. Pick a passage from your text that exemplifies some features of the genre. Write a paragraph analyzing
the text of that passage, using at least two direct quotes from the text.
d. Include a Works Cited page.
5. Due March 9th: Choose one of the previous assignments that sparked your interest (author bio, history, culture,
or genre). Construct an explanatory essay (minimum 500 words) about your book that uses your research about
that topic to help you analyze your novel. For example, you could choose to write about how Charles Dickens’
own life influenced his writing of Tale of Two Cities. If so, you would craft a thesis claiming that, and then use
specific information from your research and from the novel to explain and illustrate your point. Some sample
thesis statements:
a. Author’s life experience influenced novel
b. Novel reflects culture or nation in an important way
c. Important historical events are a good background for events of the novel
d. Novel’s style is effective in telling its story
e. Your choice
You must include a minimum of 4 direct quotes from your research and from the novel. Please include a Works
Cited page at the end. Feel free to use research from more than one of the above topics if it helps you write an
amazing paper!
Title
A Tale of Two Cities
Author
Charles Dickens
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
Annie John
Jamaica Kincaid
Bless Me, Ultima
Rudolf Anaya
Breath, Eyes, Memory
Edwidge Danticat
Candide
Voltaire
Cry, the Beloved Country
Alan Paton
Don Quixote
Miguel de Cervantes
Dreaming in Cuban
Christina Garcia
Dubliners
James Joyce
In the Time of the Butterflies
Julia Alvarez
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro
Obasan
Joy Kogawa
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Purple Hibiscus
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Siddhartha
Hermann Hesse
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Lisa See
Stones From the River
Ursula Hegi
The Alchemist
Paolo Coelho
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Amy Tan
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy
The Good Earth
Pearl Buck
The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende
The Inferno
Dante Alighieri
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini
The Namesake
Jhumpa Lahiri
The Plague
Albert Camus
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
The Trial
Franz Kafka
What Is the What
Dave Eggers