Books to read for English class?

Question

I'm in grade 10 english, and this year for our final summative project, we have to choose our own book to read and evaluate for themes, setting, etc etc.

It can't be a book that's already been made into a movie (otherwise I would have done Harry Potter!), and has to have important messages.

I'm thinking of doing Catcher in the Rye, because it's one of my favourite books, but I'd like to do something I haven't read yet.
So does anyone know any good novel recommendations that are kind of like Catcher in the Rye (and by kind of like, I mean good books, not those stupid vampire/werewolf crap on shelves these days. Maybe Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, etc, but I've read most of the classic novels).

Thanks! :)

Answer 1

I remember reading a book in high school that really affected me. I will warn you it is not a pleasant book, but it's important. It's Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. It's about the meat packing industry in Chicago.

Answer 2

Remember most teachers it a lot more IF it was a classic novel the student pick. Don't know about your teacher. So how about any of these books,



2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke



The 39 Steps by John Buchan



The Merchant of Venice (Folger Shakespeare Library Series) by William Shakespeare



The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett



Brave New World by Aldous Huxley



War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells



The Time Machine by H. G. Wells



For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway



The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway



Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell



The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck



Sayonara by James A. Michener



Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle



Sherlock Holmes: The Sign Of Four by Arthur Conan Doyle



Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie



The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry



Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne





Remember these authors's work, teachers don't consider them to be classic novels when they are good stuff. They will say it ok and not wrong to read it on your own time:

Tom Clancy

John Le Carre

Piers Anthony

Anne McCaffrey

Jeffrey Archer

Dale Brown

Robin Cook

Tess Gerritsen

Anthony Horowitz

Charlie Higson

Raymond Benson

J.K. Rowling

Mercedes Lackey

Philip Pullman

Terry Brooks

George R. R. Martin

James Rollins

Dan Brown

Robert Crais

James Patterson

Vince Flynn

Matthew Dunn

Robert Littell

Daniel Silva

Suzanne Collions

Sandra Brown

Thomas Harris

Catherine Coulter

W.E.B. Griffin

Charles Cumming

Robert Harris

Anne Rice

Stephen King

Jackie Collins

Answer 3

Hunger Games was a great book, and there is no movie (until March).

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding.

The Great Gatsby,

Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen.

Answer 4

If you want to make a good. Impression I suggest 'Unbroken' by Lauren Hillenbrand. Its was a Top Seller for weeks! And its a great amazing story, based on actual events. And it'll be a movie soon nicholas cage and leo dicaprio are working on it as we speak...

Answer 5

Take a look at 'Freedom' by Jonathan Franzen. It is very contemporary and well written