Favorite picks for English Literature?

[kortney in AL]

I am looking at what books I want my oldest to read for English Lit this fall. I was wondering what some of your favorites are. Here's what I have so far:

A Tale of Two Cities
Three Men in a Boat
The Secret Sharer and Other Stories
Frankenstein
Screwtape Letters

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[Lori D.]

I love book lists, so below are a few more for you. Enjoy! We're going to be doing some British Lit. next year, too. I'll have to start whittling our list down! You might also check out Sonlight Curriculum's Survey of British Lit. for more ideas: http://www.sonlight.com/cp-530.html -- or check out some of the Lightning Lit. packs on British Lit: http://www.hewitthomeschooling.com/book/blight.asp

Warmest regards, Lori D.


- a few of the Canterbury Tales (Chaucer)

- something by Shakespeare
(if you have time for 2, maybe a comedy and a tragedy)

- something by GK Chesterton
(fiction: "Father Brown" mysteries or "The Man Who Was Thursday")
(or non fiction: "Orthodoxy" or "The Everlasting Man")

- a few Sherlock Holmes short stories (Doyle)

- "Life With Jeeves" (Wodehouse)
(funny satire of 1920s dim/useless British upperclass and the wise/competent valet class who are *really* the ones who keep things running smoothly)

- something by Jane Austin
(Emma, Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and Sensibility)

- something by one of the Bronte sisters
(Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre)

[Michelle in MO]

As much Shakespeare as your dc can handle; for a comedy, try A Midsummer Night's Dream; for a tragedy, Hamlet or Macbeth. How about a history? I love Henry V (plus the movie with Kenneth Branagh is magnificent, even if it's a very edited version of the play (at least, that's what I read in Peter Leithart's book---I still like it, though!).

A few of Canterbury Tales would be good. Also Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, followed by a movie showing of the A&E version of the former and Emma Thompson's version of the latter.

I love Sherlock Holmes! Also, a lot of Dickens would be good---Great Expectations, Nicholas (sp?) Nickleby, Oliver Twist, and A Tale of Two Cities.

Maybe not much help, on top of Lori's excellent list, but these are all very good books!

[Faithr]

I'm teaching a British Lit and History course right now to a group of teens. Here's what we're reading (might give you ideas):

Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Canterbury Tales
Hamlet and A Midsummer's Night's Dream
Robert Southwell poetry
Paradise Lost (just Book I)
Gulliver's Travels (we just read the first part but some of the kids read the whole thing just for fun!)
Ivanhoe
Rebecca and Rowena
Pride and Prejudice
Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Byron, Blake and Keats
Mary Barton (girls) Heart of Darkness (boys) I gave the kids a choice and all the girls wanted to read the first and all the boys wanted to read the latter!
Tale of Two Cities
Short stories by Chesterton
Animal Farm
The Four Loves
Poetry of Hopkins and Eliot

I am relying heavily on Lightning Lit and Progeny press guides and used internet resources for the others

The kids also saw Taming of the Shrew and G. B. Shaw's Major Barbara. And they'll be seeing Julius Caesar in April.

[Karen in CO]

Here is our reading and resource list for British Literature this year.

Lightning Lit. British Medieval Lit.
Beowulf
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Tolkien translation
The Holy Grail Monty Python movie

Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings
Lord of the Rings by Tolkien

Hamlet by Shakespeare
William Shakespeare's Hamlet by Bloom
Shakespeare and CO. by Stanley Wells
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead


Paradise Lost by John Milton

The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - we wanted something modern :)

[MelodyInTx]

We will also be doing Brit Lit for next year. I too am looking for suggestions for good reads as well.

For short stories and poetry we will be using Perrine's Structure, Sound and Sense.

So far our reading list includes:
Frankenstein, Jane Eyre, Pride and Predjudice and Slaughterhouse 5.

I am torn between Macbeth and Hamlet. Consider both maybe?
I am also torn between A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.

I had not considered Doyle, Sherlock Holmes. I will add him in. Any other suggestions?

[HollyinNNV]

I am torn between Macbeth and Hamlet. Consider both maybe?


As your list looks a tad "dark" over the long haul, I think I'd do one of the Shakespeare you mentioned (Mac or Ham) and then do a comedy. Personally, I love Midsummer but there are other good ones too.
Holly:001_smile:

[Faithr]

Do you mean Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut? He is an American author, is he not?

[kate in seattle]

You have been given some great suggestions - also for your consideration:
Faerie Queene - Spenser (at least book 1)
Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Stevenson
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - Joyce (or Dubliners)

[MelodyInTx]

As your list looks a tad "dark" over the long haul, I think I'd do one of the Shakespeare you mentioned (Mac or Ham) and then do a comedy. Personally, I love Midsummer but there are other good ones too.
Holly:001_smile:

Thanks for the suggestion. I had not considered that the reads were kind of dark. I would like them to have some fun reads.

[MelodyInTx]

Do you mean Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut? He is an American author, is he not?

Yes, he is American. I had planned on the twins reading him this year, but I don't think we will have time. I want to add something in the Sci-Fi genre and this seems to fit the bill. The kids have already said they don't want to read the Lord of the Rings. Are there some other good Brit Sci-fi reads?

[Carolfoasia]

I am looking at what books I want my oldest to read for English Lit this fall. I was wondering what some of your favorites are. Here's what I have so far:

A Tale of Two Cities
Three Men in a Boat
The Secret Sharer and Other Stories
Frankenstein
Screwtape Letters

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

I just finished A Tale of Two Cities last week! Your list looks more "boy" oriented. Is that true?

[Faithr]

How about H.G. Wells? Or C.S. Lewis' Perelanda series (retelling of Dante's Divine Comedy only in a space trilogy)