top 10 books to read for fourth year

RHunce

hey everyone.. im in fourth year in sec school.. i hae set myself a goal to read ten high quality books from now until my summer holidays.. it will be a change from my usual ross o carroll kelly fad.

i have got 6 must reads so far so could people just throw out a list of four more and give them a rating out of ten please..

i have chosen

1) Animal Farm
2) wuthering heights
3) regeneration
4) the curious incident of the dog in the night time
5) jane eyre
6) blackwater lightship

all of these with th exception of animal farm are on the lc 09/10 so i would be looking for books equal in quality..

greatly appreciated

rhunce

PurpleFistMixer

Animal Farm will take you about an hour to read, I'll tell you that much. : p It's very short. You may as well read 1984 while you're at it, though, if you're going for famous books.
I absolutely adored "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel, it's got some interesting stuff about animals in it. (And religion if you're into that sort of thing.)
I didn't much like the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time... the whole style of it started to grate after a while.
If you like mad stylistic writing, though, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is pretty deadly. (The film of it is also good.)
And while we're talking about good books that were made into good films,
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess are both excellent books. Though the former will have you thinking like a scotsman and the latter will make you use mad russian-ish slang, but those are only good things.

Fad

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

You may as well read 1984 while you're at it, though, if you're going for famous books.

If you like mad stylistic writing, though, Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk is pretty deadly.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

+1 to all of them! (Don't read Haunted by Chuck though, just dont)

Anything by Douglas Coupland, he's amazing, stuff is moving but genuinely moving at the same time, if you're into computers read Jpod or Microserfs, If your not read anything else by him.

Terry Pratchett is always good (I met him )

The later Adrian Mole Books are good (He's in his 30s now)

There's a book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, its not an easy read, and chances are you wont finish it first time round but give it a go, it can change the way you think about things.

John Peel autobiography was one I really enjoyed in TY.

And finally, Battle Royale, really long, really easy to read (its a translation from Japanese so the names can get a little confusing) not really like the manga (in a good way).

zonEEE

I think you would be better off just reading the one you are doing for the leaving and study it like ****! And then read all the other plays you are doing and study them likewise

Fad

strongr wrote: »

I think you would be better off just reading the one you are doing for the leaving and study it like ****! And then read all the other plays you are doing and study them likewise

I'd strongly advise against that, you'll have to read them anyway in 5th year and it'll get unbelievably tedious. Read some books that are entertaining and while you mightn't learn ridiculous amounts, you enjoy them, you learn from them, and eh running out of speech here...... they learn from you?

swimfan22

If you like Regeneration when you read it, it's actually part one of a trilogy; the other two books are Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road. The Ghost Road won the Booker Prize, but all three books are amazing and definitely recommended!

I loved Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, it's a sort of psychological murder mystery and it's really fantastic.

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky is fantastic, set in France during the Nazi invasion.In a similar vein is Louis de Bernieres' Captain Corelli's Mandolin, wonderful book set in Greece, also during the Second World War.

Carlos Ruiz Zafon's The Shadow of the Wind is good fun, and for classics you can't go wrong with Austen; Persuasion and Northanger Abbey are my favourites.

This is my kind of thread: a bookworm one!!

Piste

Aw Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a wonderful book!


If you take PFM's suggestionand read Trainspotting I'd also recommend the sequel Porno.


The Crow Road by Ian Banks is a great book too, it's very dark.

PurpleFistMixer

Fad wrote: »

I'd strongly advise against that, you'll have to read them anyway in 5th year and it'll get unbelievably tedious. Read some books that are entertaining and while you mightn't learn ridiculous amounts, you enjoy them, you learn from them, and eh running out of speech here...... they learn from you?

Second this...
The best way to improve your English skillz is to READ A LOT OF (good) STUFF. Just studying whatever you're doing for the LC will burn you out and won't give you the wealth of vocabulary/stylistic awareness that reading a variety of things will.

Gloom

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Second this...
The best way to improve your English skillz is to READ A LOT OF (good) STUFF. Just studying whatever you're doing for the LC will burn you out and won't give you the wealth of vocabulary/stylistic awareness that reading a variety of things will.

I third this!

Reading various books helps you understand parapgraphs and better stricture. It also helps you with speech and how it should be done. Variety will help you in English Paper 1 as you will have more options to write on. You can be influenced by quotes, names, adjectives, style of writing.

LivingDeadGirl

To Kill A Mockingbird is one of my favourites.

jimi_t

What, no Watership Down? Crazy kids...

First book I'd read would definitely be 'To Kill a Mockingbird' if you haven't already. There's a huge number of accessible bildungsromans out there - try 'Old School' by Tobias Wolfe. Roald Dahls laters stuff is absolutely amazing as well, start with something like 'Switch Bitch' or 'Going Solo'.

Also, obviously you want to be reading Pratchett, Pullman and even C.S.Lewis if you're anyway enclined to fantasy and the like. 'Brave New World' is a great book, I far prefer it to 1984 even though I recognise the concepts explored in 1984 are far more important and relevant. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that 1984 is one of the most important books you'll ever read IF you put some thought into it.

all of these with th exception of animal farm are on the lc 09/10 so i would be looking for books equal in quality

'Quality'? *Cough*.

That said, if you're looking for similar books why not look at last years/the previous years courses? We had 'Death and Nightingales' if I remember correctly. Hated it myself but I'm sure you'll find something.

Marvinthefish

Hey RHunce,
I attempted something similar during the summer of 2006, ie read as many "famous" and high quality books as possible. Here's the list of books I read and I put an octothorp beside the ones I recommend!

1) Sync by Steven Strogatz
2) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley #
3) Gulliver's Travels by Jonathon Swift #
4) Coming Up For Air by George Orwell #
5) Amsterdam by Ian McEwan #
6) A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
7) Starter For Ten by David Nicholls
8) Amongst Women by John McGahern
9) Alice in Wonderland/ Through the Looking Glass/ Alices Adventures Underground {All in one volume!} by Lewis Carroll
10) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
11) Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
12) Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen #
13) Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham

As you can see I didn't stick religiously to my starting goal and I read whatever book that I thought would interest me. Also, while it is commendable to seek out the "high quality" books, often you can learn as much from reading a terrible book and can explain why you didn't like it!

manicmonoliths

Animal Farm is excellent, a really good choice and quite short too.
1984 is ok, but I don't know after all the hype I was kind of expecting more.

One of my new favourites is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, it's a bit odd but it's quite unique because of it.

I'd also recommend Catch-22, I was put off reading it for a good while because I thought it was kind of a war book, but really it's one of the best books I've ever read and it's really funny too.

Other suggestions off the top of my head :
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Holes-Louis Sachar
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

lala00

The Kite Runner is an amazing book as is Middlesex by Jefferey Eugenides.
Jane Eyre is also an great choice.

Jay P

Jane Eyre? *shudder* Whatever you're all into, but after English Papaer 2 in June, I won't give it a sidewards glance again....

I just finished A Clockwork Orange. An amazing book, hard to get into at the start though. Fantastic really...
I'm in the middle of the Lord of the Rings, which is also fantastic.
Breakfast at Tiffany's I found was entertaining.
Nineteen-Eighty-Four is also brilliant. I was reminded of it when I was reading A Clockwork Orange. It's terrifying though if you think about it a lot.
Finally, The Godfather. That was excellent too.

Bar LOTR, I don;t know how these compare to the movies, but I've heard good things about most of them....

Fad

Jay P wrote: »

Bar LOTR, I don;t know how these compare to the movies, but I've heard good things about most of them....

I found the movie of A Clockwork Orange to be a BITTER dissapointment, I loved the book, then watched the film, and was all, this isnt very good

Time Magazine

Globalization and Its Discontents - Joseph Stiglitz
Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Friedman
No Logo - Naomi Klein
Fooled by Randomness - Nicholas Nassim Taleb
The End of History - Francis Fukuyama

I dare you to try and understand the world.

Malmedicine

Catcher in the Rye is a must, excellent book.
I kinda enjoyed Silas Mariner as well.Maybe try reading one classic followed by a modern novel and see how it goes. Pretty sure the BBC did a 25 of the greatest books maybe have a look at that list and see if you fancy any of them

Piste

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a great book to read in 4th year too.

deleriumtremens

Not sure if its a relevant book but the selfish gene by richard dawkins!! Itl change the way you look at the world and at life!:eek:

Peleus

if you read Trainspotting you should read Junk. it's really good. I could never read a book thats been made into a film. Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan is really good. Sorta physicsy.

Permabear

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donegalfella wrote: »

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Challange!

Recommending that to someone in TY! WOAH

Permabear

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donegalfella wrote: »

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Theres so much wrong with what your saying, its ridiculous, referencing people who dead for so long. I understand that you may be of the opinion that the youth of today should be able to wade through these titles, but would the existence of "Young Adult Literature" make it clear to you that teenagers today just aren't at that level anymore.

Now while my ability to articulate English may not be fantastic, but I'd consider myself fairly decent reader, and even with that confidence, I wouldnt touch Milton.

This guy/girl who requested a couple of titles to read during TY, not something that is written in such and archaic fashion that it would take weeks maybe months to read.

PurpleFistMixer

Fad wrote: »

Theres so much wrong with what your saying, its ridiculous, referencing people who dead for so long. I understand that you may be of the opinion that the youth of today should be able to wade through these titles, but would the existence of "Young Adult Literature" make it clear to you that teenagers today just aren't at that level anymore.

Does the existence of remote controls lead you to believe that people are incapable of standing up and walking to a television? : p
It's a bit of a harmful generalisation to say that about young people tbh. It might be more correct to say that young people in general are too lazy to bother to read difficult works. However, since the OP is going out of their way to try and find "good" literature to read, I don't see the problem with recommending those books. The style may not be for all (now the only one in that list I've read is Lolita so I can't really say what they're like - Nabokov's style is so flowery you feel like you just ate a bakery afterwards, but it's not hard to read, anyway) but well, that's always going to be the case. If the OP enjoys archaic language, these may have been excellent recommendations. We don't know, and I don't think it's fair to say the OP isn't intellectually up to it.

Of course that said I don't believe in reading difficult/boring for the sake of having read "high-brow" work, but well, if you want recommendations of good books, well-known classics are probably a good place to start.

Fad

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

It's a bit of a harmful generalisation to say that about young people tbh.

To be honest thats what I was going for when your man turns around ands says Freud read X, Y and Z when he was 8, kind of a useless thing to point out.


It'd be nice if the OP actually responded

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donegalfella wrote: »

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Oh no, I get what you mean totally SOME might want something a little more high brow (In fact I dont think I've ever read something classed as a YA Novel, that said once I find something by John Green, that fact will change), but not many 16 year olds are going to sit down and read Paradise Lost cover to cover

Hardly intimidated by it, I have a strong enough interest in the subject matter, just the format and sheer age of the text, puts me off, until I have serious serious amounts of time to do it justice..........Retirement maybe?

Watching TV?

Permabear

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donegalfella wrote: »

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Whenever the word epic is used, I know the length will be sizable :P

How long is it?

degausserxo

Fad wrote: »

+1 to all of them! (Don't read Haunted by Chuck though, just dont)

and +1 to that!

Permabear

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donegalfella wrote: »

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Yeah, I think I shall leave it until I have a good bit of time on my hands.

yay_for_summer

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is absolutely beautiful.

If you can. avoid reading the text you're going to do for the leaving.Yes, you'll be prepared, but you'll be sick of it soon enough when doing it in 5th or 6th year. Being bored during the first time of going through it, never mind the second or third, is a bad idea.

I agree with Paradise Lost being a very difficult book. I started reading it a few years ago, only to put it down after a few dozen pages. I'll return to it soon though, as I imagine it'd be extremely rewarding to finish.

Anything by Graham Hancock is brilliant, especially Fingerprints of the Gods and Heavens Mirror; they're not novels, just factual(ish).

Oh, if you have any interest in Maths or Physics, start reading Feynmans Lectures on Physics. The three volumes will take a long time to finish. But, reading them will almost guarantee you at least 3 A1's in the leaving.

Insulting_Bitch

if you are still interested i have a few in mind but they have nothing to do with the levaing cert but they are awesome books

1- A clockwork orange - anthony burgess
2 - Choke - Chuck Palahnuik (to be honest anything by him especially choke, invisible monsters and lullaby)
3 - the dice man - Luke Rhinehart


And Ross O' Carroll Kelly is fine quality reading.....it's a sociological look at the youth of today HA HA HA HA

PurpleFistMixer

Noo, Choke is one of Chuck Palahniuk's worst books! Fight Club, Invisible Monsters (though as that was his first it's a bit rough around the edges), Lullaby and Survivor are the best. Well, I haven't read anything after Haunted so I can't comment on them.

Fad

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Well, I haven't read anything after Haunted so I can't comment on them.

Probably a good reason for that

First story *Shudder*

Maybe it's less painful for members of the fairer sex?

I started Survivor, didnt really enjoy so I left it, went back to Coupland (Remarkably there's books he wrote I still havent read)

PurpleFistMixer

Fad wrote: »

Probably a good reason for that

First story *Shudder*

Maybe it's less painful for members of the fairer sex?

I started Survivor, didnt really enjoy so I left it, went back to Coupland (Remarkably there's books he wrote I still havent read)

Should mention I didn't read Haunted, either. : p Well, I've read Guts which I believe is in Haunted, but am just immune to it now. (I was at a reading of Guts too, actually. Nobody fainted, alas.)

Fad

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Should mention I didn't read Haunted, either. : p Well, I've read Guts which I believe is in Haunted, but am just immune to it now. (I was at a reading of Guts too, actually. Nobody fainted, alas.)

It is, and no matter how many times I read, I still cringe, next time I attempt to read it, I'm skipping that story.

Reading? I hate you.

I still have one up though! (I met Terry Pratchett )

PurpleFistMixer

Fad wrote: »

It is, and no matter how many times I read, I still cringe, next time I attempt to read it, I'm skipping that story.

Reading? I hate you.

I still have one up though! (I met Terry Pratchett )

Hm... when he came to Trinity the other week?
Though, at the reading I met Chuck Palahniuk and he put a fake hand on my friend's boob, and we photographed it, which was fairly awesome.

(And Guts is amazing. Somewhat over the top, but I love the bit where all the ingredients for his "carrot cake" are rolling down the conveyer belt in the supermarket and he speculates how the girl on the till thinks he's going to put a carrot cake up his ass now.)

Twinkle-star15

jimi_t wrote: »

Roald Dahl's later stuff is absolutely amazing as well, start with something like 'Switch Bitch' or 'Going Solo'.

+1

What about Oscar Wilde? The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as some of his plays- The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windemere's Fan. And some of his short stories.

You could also try some poetry- there are some really good general anthologies out there. Try not to read them from school books though, something about school books just makes me want to hate the poems :P.

Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility are great too. And anything by Roddy Doyle.

Are you only reading classics, or are you interested in other things too?