Reading List?

Question

Well I've pretty much exhausted our English curriculum this year. It's ones again the first subject that I run out of materials in. This year though I was doing the equivelent of English IV, so advancing to the next level wont happen until I start getting all my comp and lit classes out of the way at the community college. In the meantime, I'd like to read as much as possible. I do most of my reading in audio format, or using a speach synthesizer on my computer, so I figure I'll be able to go through a pretty long reading list by the time the public schoolers get out for the year and I start heading off to camps and conventions and the like (though I'll of course keep reading then as well).

I'd like to know if anyone could reccomend some good books, fiction or nonfiction, for a 17-year old that reads at an advanced level? I'm currently on a bit of a sci-fi kick, but any genre would be great!

Answer 1

I don't really understand, why are you listening to audio books rather than reading?  If you're listening to them, I wouldn't really say you are reading at a high level.  I'm not sure if you have some vison problems that make listening your only option, but I wouldn't reccomend relying on audio books.  When you get to college and have to read 500 pages a week you might struggle after doing most of your reading through audio books.

Books I would reccomend to a 17 year old.  I am sure you have read many of them, but these are all books that broaden your mind.

Sci-fi and Sci-fi-ish

Handmaid's Tale- Margaret Atwood

A Brave New World- Aldous Huxley

Contact- Carl Sagan

Fahrenheit 451- Ray Bradbury

Good Omens- Terry Prachet and Neil Gaiman

Historical Fiction

The Red Tent- Anita Diamant

Pillars of the Earth- Ken Follett

The Posionwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver

Contemporary Fiction

A Prayer for Owen Meaney- John Irving

Where the Heart is- Billie Letts

Song of Solomon-Toni Morrison

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Classics

One Hundred Years of Solitude- Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Pudd’nhead Wilson- Mark Twain

Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen

North and South- Elizabeth Gaskell

The Fountainhead- Ayn Rand

The Clergyman’s Daughter by George Orwell

Non-Fiction

The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that Way- Bill Bryson

Savage Inequalities- Jonathan Kozol

A People’s History of the United States- Howard Zinn

Assassination Vacation- Sarah Vowell

In a Sunburned Country- Bill Bryson

Nickled and Dimed- Barbara Ehrenech

The Spirit Catches you and you fall down- Ann Fadiman

Answer 2

Glad someone is reading!

I have found the E. E. "Doc" Smith "Lensmen" series to be good reading, full of precise language usage, and entertaining, and some interesting ethical questions along the way.  Certain technical parts are a bit dated, but that does not detract from the story, and remembering the past technology is sometimes good...look back and see how we got here from the past.

You might find the books in the "Xanth" series by Piers Anthony interesting, tho they are filled with puns.  Very interesting concepts and story lines.  Generally excellent puns..and a few groaners!

A good book to improve language and spelling skills would be "Crazy English" by Richard Lederer.

One I have especially enjoyed is "Tales from a Dying Earth" by Jack Vance.  It has some exceptionally good use of English, I think, in it.  It is definitely different in concept from most all other books I have read.  It is also available in a combined issue with 3 other books by Vance, also good  

His "The languages of Pao" is a very good study in one branch of linguistics, in an adventure SciFi genre.

You might look at "Left Behind" by Tim LaHaye, and more in the series if you find it of interest.

Asimov's "Foundation" series is good, tho deteriorates near the end.  He got wrapped up in the Gaia theory, and went out on some wild digressions, in my opinion.

If you can find the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, it is good.

"The 7 habits of Highly Effective People" might make interesting reading of another type.  Stephen R Covey

I really highly recommend Robert L. Forward "Indistinguishable from Magic" if you can handle it.  Some very mind-stretching concepts.  His "Roche-World" is also good, and falls on the edge of presently-possible Sci-Fi;  With war put aside, it could be done with present technology, at least most of it.   Good story too.

Anne McCaffrey in her "The Ship that..." series is very very good, and written from from a female slant a bit,  nice change in Sci Fi pace.

So are the "Miles" series by Lois McMaster Bujold.  I have found them excellent reading, and worth re-reading.

"The High Road" by Ben Bova.  Should be on every list of possibility thinkers.

and Scott Adams, "The Dilbert Principle".  Almost too true to be funny!

Finally, definitely read George Orwell's "1984". As an Engineer, I have already installed parts of the equipment he envisioned in the mind control schemes...so we are not that far away technically in the US, and that is frightening, especially considering the political and moral goals of the candidates these days for high government positions.

I could go on a long time on assorted favorites, but I offer my attenuated list for your perusal.

Hope it is useful.  

I think in general the other lists I saw looked pretty good too.

Congratulations on the desire to read and read a good variety.  May it last you through life.

Answer 3

I would suggest going online to some Great Books colleges and perusing their Lit course syllabi.  They will usually list required and suggested reading sources, and many colleges now list their syllabi for public use on their site.

This is what I've done in formatting objectives for some of my son's courses - I go to the schools that he's most interested in applying to when he's older and go through their syllabi to see what will be expected.  That way, I know what skills and knowledge base he'll need to have.

This way, you have a few really great lists at your fingertips that you can choose from - and you know that the reading will be advanced.  Hope it helps!

Answer 4

Project Gutenberg has 17,000 electronic-text titles to choose from. If you want to check out free high-quality text to speech, try YAKiToMe! They have the AT&T Natural Voices for you to use for free.

Answer 5

Science Fiction

I like anything by Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke (City and the Stars, Rendezvous with Rama, Space Odyssey, Childhoods End, etc.).

For a bit of science fiction satire, you might try Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.  Also, Phillip Jose Farmer writes some rather different science fiction - To Your Scattered Bodies Go and The Green Odyssey are considered sci-fi classics.

Have you read the Dune series by Frank Herbert? Much better than the movie version.

Larry Niven's Ringworld and The Mote in God's Eye are great.

Other Genres

Anything by Jeff Shaara or Michael Shaara - historical fiction and it is great.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (one day in the life of a Stalinist political prison camp).

The Road - McCormack - post apocalyptic story - quick read and very weird writing style.  Good book.

You might also find A Brief History of Time, Steven Hawkings to be an interesting read.

The Naked Ape is an anthropologist's study of the "human animal" and is quite interesting.

Future Shock by Toffler is a sociologist's look at what happens when people are no longer able to handle the pace of change and information overload.  Written in the 70's and is rather prophetic.

Just a few ideas for you.

Answer 6

i am in a college english class and we are reading outlander, its a whole series, all books are really long so they should definately take up your time

its a sci fi book and its really good