Dariane's "Advanced Placement English Recommended Reading"

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Books/Literary Works that are useful to be familiar with before taking the AP English Composition and Literature exams. Well, books that are generally good to read period, whether you’re a high school student preparing to take the AP tests or not.

P.S. As of today (Apr. 3, 2006), I got a hold of the actual list I had in high school, so within the next few days, the list will have more books! And I NEVER expected so many people to adopt this list, so thanks everyone, and happy reading!

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  1. 1.
    A Death in the Family
    by James Agee

    Drag me to re-order


  2. 2.
    Fahrenheit 451
    by Ray Bradbury

    Drag me to re-order


  3. 3.
    The House of the Spirits
    by Isabel Allende

    Drag me to re-order


  4. 4.
    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
    by Maya Angelou

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  5. 5.
    Slaughterhouse-Five
    by KURT VONNEGUT

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  6. 6.
    Watership Down
    by Richard Adams

    Drag me to re-order


  7. 7.
    Wuthering Heights (Penguin Classics)
    by Emily Bronte

    Drag me to re-order


  8. 8.
    The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel
    by Margaret Atwood

    Drag me to re-order


  9. 9.
    The Edible Woman
    by MARGARET ATWOOD

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  10. 10.
    The Blind Assassin: A Novel
    by Margaret Atwood

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  11. 11.
    Pride and Prejudice (Bantam Classics)
    by Jane Austen

    Drag me to re-order


  12. 12.
    The Martian Chronicles (The Grand Master Editions)
    by Ray Bradbury

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  13. 13.
    Jane Eyre (Signet Classics)
    by Charlotte Brontë

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  14. 14.
  15. 15.
    Silent Spring
    by Rachel Carson

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  16. 16.
    The Awakening
    by Kate Chopin

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  17. 17.
    The Power of Myth (Illustrated Edition)
    by JOSEPH CAMPBELL

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  18. 18.
    Heart of Darkness (Dover Thrift Editions)
    by Joseph Conrad

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  19. 19.
    The Great Santini
    by Pat Conroy

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  20. 20.
    The Lords of Discipline
    by PAT CONROY

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  21. 21.
    Great Expectations (Penguin Classics)
    by Charles Dickens

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  22. 22.
    A Tale of Two Cities (Penguin Classics)
    by Charles Dickens

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  23. 23.
    The Sound and the Fury
    by William Faulkner

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  24. 24.
    The Great Gatsby
    by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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  25. 25.
    One Hundred Years of Solitude
    by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

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  26. 26.
    Lord of the Flies
    by William Golding

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  27. 27.
    The Scarlet Letter
    by NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

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  28. 28.
    Catch 22
    by Joseph Heller

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  29. 29.
    A Farewell To Arms
    by Ernest Hemingway

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  30. 30.
    For Whom the Bell Tolls (Scribner Classics)
    by Ernest Hemingway

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  31. 31.
    Sun Also Rises
    by Ernest Hemingway

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  32. 32.
    DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON
    by Ernest Hemingway

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  33. 33.
    The Old Man and The Sea
    by Ernest Hemingway

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  34. 34.
    The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (Modern Library Classics)
    by Victor Hugo

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  35. 35.
    Brave New World
    by Aldous Huxley

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  37. 37.
    A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
    by James Joyce

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  39. 39.
    To Kill a Mockingbird
    by Harper Lee

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  40. 40.
    The Bluest Eye (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Toni Morrison

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  41. 41.
    Beloved
    by Toni Morrison

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  42. 42.
    Animal Farm
    by George Orwell

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  43. 43.
    Nineteen Eighty-four
    by George Orwell

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  44. 44.
    Cry, the Beloved Country (Oprah's Book Club)
    by Alan Paton

    Drag me to re-order


  45. 45.
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    by Erich Maria Remarque

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  46. 46.
    The Catcher in the Rye

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  47. 47.
    Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)
    by William Shakespeare

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  48. 48.
    Hamlet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
    by William Shakespeare

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  49. 49.
    A Midsummer Night's Dream (Folger Shakespeare Library)
    by William Shakespeare

    Drag me to re-order


  50. 50.
    Romeo and Juliet (Folger Shakespeare Library)
    by William Shakespeare

    Drag me to re-order


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This is Dariane's list. Only Dariane can edit it. You can make your own version of this list.
Created by Dariane on Mar 10, 2006.
 

Comments

Pages: 1 2

VintageSinger
Hazel Dell

So far — 11 weeks ago

I have read 15 of these and am in the processes of reading 2 more (Anna Karenina and Invisible Man). I am only an AP junior so I am sure there will be more to come.

Sadly I cannot remember what many of them are about though, because all of this reading has been spread out over the past 5 years (all the way back to The Time Machine in 6th grade!) but I think reading all of them has helped me to grow as a reader and become strong at analyzing text!

Apr 13, 10:34PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

823freckles
Chicago

Interesting list! — 12 weeks ago

In high school I read..18.25 (The .25 is A Doll’s House, but not the rest of Ibsen’s books) and didn’t read 5 of these although they were assigned. We also read a couple you didn’t include by authors on the list, such as Black Boy, Sula, Julius Caesar, and The Importance of Being Earnest. I got 4’s on both tests, so I’m good. :)

Apr 08, 06:28PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

questionablemushroom
San Francisco

awesome — 1 year ago

I read a good many of these in my AP and Honors English Classes and many others that i didn’t see- thats a great list you have there!

Jan 26, 12:41PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

busy91
New York City

Sad — 1 year ago

How sad is this? My son (10th grade honors English) has read more books on this list than I have. I’d better get crackin’.

Oct 27, 01:04PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Betcha40
Lansing

Thanks! — 2 years ago

Thanks so much for posting this, I’ve been looking for this list for quite some time.

May 24, 04:41PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

dushi82
Curaçao

Thanks! — 2 years ago

This is such a great list! I’m always looking for new books to read and now with the help of this list I should be set for a while!

May 22, 11:38AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Ella
Montreal

Untitled — 2 years ago

it’s funny, I’ve read most of the ‘old’ books on this list, but a lot of the newer ones I’ve never even heard of.

Mar 24, 10:29PM | 0 comments | Reply to this

kaffeine
Montreal

I thought I'd read a lot of books — 2 years ago

But it seems that I’ve missed out on quite a bit of recommended reading. (Well, that, and I didn’t pay enough attention to homework when I was in high school.)

Mar 21, 08:09AM | 0 comments | Reply to this

Christopher
Peterborough

Untitled — 2 years ago

I cannot BELIEVE you’ve put The Lovely Bones on here. That book was the biggest waste of my time I’ve ever spent reading; it was the literary equivalent of sugary popcorn. I’d say it’s as much a work of great fiction as The Da Vinci Code. Honestly.

Mar 17, 10:43PM | 7 comments | Reply to this

all our feelings are in our heads
North Charleston

i'm not going to read — 2 years ago

any more of these because it is the only list that i have 43% of right now. :)

Mar 14, 02:45PM | 0 comments | Reply to this


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