Outside Reading Suggestions for Pre-AP Literature Students and Parents
(parental discretion advised—titles may include adult themes, language,
situations)
Note: This is a work in progress, and is by no means a complete list. I welcome
suggestions!
Classics
Alice's Adventures/Through the Looking Glass
All Quiet on the Western Front
Animal Farm
Bless Me, Ultima
Count of Monte Cristo, The
Crime and Punishment
David Copperfield
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Dracula
Emma
Fahrenheit 451
Great Expectations
Gulliver's Travels
Hard Times
Hound of the Baskervilles, The
Hunchback of Notre Dame
Invisible Man, The
Jane Eyre
Kidnapped
King Lear
Lord Jim
Midsummer Night's Dream, A
Mrs. Dalloway
Old Man and the Sea, The
Oliver Twist
On the Beach
Once and Future King
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Passage to India
Pearl, The
Picture of Dorian Gray
Pride and Prejudice
Rebecca
Return of the King
Robinson Crusoe
Room with a View
Schindler's List
Sense and Sensibility
Separate Peace, A
Silas Marner
Streetcar Named Desire
Tale of Two Cities
Tess
Things Fall Apart
Time Machine
To Kill a Mockinbird
Tom Sawyer
Treasure Island
War of the Worlds
Wuthering Heights
Modern Fiction
Anything by Dan Brown, Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman, Ken Follett, Tracy Chevalier, Clive Cussler, Michael
Crichton, John Grisham, Steven King, Dean Koontz
Angela's Ashes
Atonement
Bel Canto
Book Thief, The
Chocolate War, The
Chosen, The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, The
Dogs of Babel, The
Edgar Sawtelle
Elegance of the Hedgehog, The
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
Help, The
History of Love, The
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
In the Time of the Butterflies
Joy Luck Club
Lacuna, The
Last Town on Earth: A Novel, The
Lesson Before Dying
Life of Pi
Little Bee
Lovely Bones, The
March
Memory Keeper’s Daughter, The
Namesake, The
Old School
Poisonwood Bible, The
Road, The
Run
Sarah’s Key
Secret Life of Bees, The
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The
Things They Carried, The
Thousand Splendid Suns, The
Time Traveler’s Wife, The
Tuesdays with Morrie
Unaccustomed Earth
Water for Elephants
Weight of Water, The
Yellow Raft in Blue Water
Modern Non-Fiction
Any biography, especially historical
Audacity of Hope, The
Blink!
Fast Food Nation
Flags of our Fathers
Freakonomics
Glass Castle, The
Helter-Skelter
Long Way Gone, A
Mountains Beyond Mountains
Omnivore’s Dilemma, The
Outliers
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers
Stumbling on Happiness
Three Cups of Tea
World is Flat, The