Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
Mrs. Bretherick – 2012-13
The required summer reading for this course consists of the following:
 Life of Pi, by Yann Martel: a grand saga of an Indian teen boy whose physical, spiritual, and emotional survival
on a lifeboat generates a variety of themes and evokes the question: Which story do you believe? (Note: The
Harvest/Harcourt edition is the lowest price at $7.99 for a new copy; however, used copies are available on
Amazon.com for $6.00 as well as in the Kindle version)
 The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde: the British playwright’s only novel, a Gothic melodrama
illustrating how sad and vain human beings can become, especially as age supercedes wisdom. (Note: An online
version is available at www.upword.com/wilde/dorgray.html; Kindle edition available at Amazon)
 The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver: a rare coming-of-age story about a boy from a broken home who is cast
into a cultural, political, and sociological drama unfolding at a time when Communism emerges and art
modernizes—and both begin to cross borders and challenge hearts. While the reader will encounter famous
real life personalities like artist Frieda Kahlo and Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, the root of the
story depicts Harrison Shepherd growing into a more aware and less solipsistic human being.
(available in new/used paperback, hardback, and Kindle versions!)
 How to Read Literature Like a Professor, by Thomas C. Foster. What does it mean when a fictional hero takes a
journey? Shares a meal? Gets drenched in a sudden rain shower? Often, much more is going on in a novel or
poem than is readily visible on the surface—a symbol, maybe, that remains elusive, or an unexpected twist on a
character—along with that sneaking suspicion that the deeper meaning of a literary text keeps escaping you. In
this practical and amusing guide to literature, Thomas C. Foster, Professor of English at the University of
Michigan, Flint, shows how easy and gratifying it is to unlock those hidden truths, and to discover a world
where a road leads to a quest; a shared meal may signify a communion; and rain, whether cleansing or
destructive, is never just rain. Ranging from major themes to literary models, narrative devices, and form, this
book is the perfect companion for making your reading experience more enriching, satisfying, and fun. (Note:
used copies of this available for $3.99; new copies can be found as low as $10.49; Kindle edition is also
available. If you Google the title you’ll find some study guides used by college professors that may be helpful in
guiding your reading, but the tone is conversational—hence, relatively easy reading.)
A tip from past students: read this last! Highlight and take notes as you read!
We will be using the first three texts as the basis for an essay that will be written in class during the first week
of school. As you read, use your highlighting and note-taking skills to familiarize yourself with
characterization, plot development, themes, imagery, and any other literary devices (especially noted in Foster’s
work) that become apparent to you in your reading. Literary analysis is the foundation for this course!
Also required, but not until mid-September, so you decide if you want to read this over the summer, wait until
closer to the due date, or both:
 Mythology- Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes, by Edith Hamilton: the quintessential resource for all allusions
mythological! The accompanying handout will get you started taking notes on this text, but it is imperative that
you enhance your background of mythology in preparation for other pieces of literature we will read and use
throughout the year. I have copies of this text available that you may borrow for the summer; however, if you
wish to highlight and take notes in your own copy, purchase the Grand Central Publishers edition: cover price
is $7.99 new. This will become a permanent part of your personal library!
In addition, the following titles are suggested reading for you to broaden your literary horizons.
These titles appeared on the 2007 A.P. Lit. & Comp. exam in the essay section:
Absalom, Absalom!
Long Day’s Journey into Night
All the King’s Men
Lord Jim
The American
Middlemarch
Atonement
Moby Dick
The Awakening
The Moor’s Last Sigh
Beloved
Mrs. Dalloway
The Blind Assassin
Native Speaker
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Obasan
The Cherry Orchard
A Passage to India
Cry, the Beloved Country
Persuasion
Death of a Salesman
The Piano Lesson
An Enemy of the People
Ragtime
Ethan Frome
A Separate Peace
Fifth Business
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Fixer
The Tempest
Great Expectations
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Great Gatsby
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The House of Mirth
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Jane Eyre
Wuthering Heights
The Kite Runner
These titles appeared on the 2008 A.P. Lit. & Comp. exam in the essay section:
The Age of Innocence
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Alias Grace
Invisible Man
All the King’s Men
King Lear
All the Pretty Horses
The Kite Runner
Anna Karenina
The Misanthrope
Billy Budd
The Piano Lesson
The Brothers Karamazov
Pride and Prejudice
Catch-22
Pygmalion
Cold Mountain
Reservation Blues
The Color Purple
The Sound and the Fury
Don Quixote
A Streetcar Named Desire
These titles appeared on the 2009 A.P. Lit. & Comp. exam in the essay section:
As I Lay Dying
The Kite Runner
The Awakening
Lady Windermere’s Fan
Beloved
Macbeth
Bleak House
Madame Bovary
Cat’s Eye
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter
The Cherry Orchard
Moby Dick
The Color Purple
The Namesake
Crime and Punishment
Nineteen Eighty-Four
The Crossing
Our Town
The Crucible
The Plague
A Doll House
A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man
Equus
A Prayer for Owen Meany
A Farewell to Arms
A Raisin in the Sun
Fences
These titles appeared on the 2010 A.P. Lit. & Comp. exam in the essay section:
The American
Obasan
Angle of Repose
The Odyssey
Another Country
One Day in the Life of Ivan
Denisovitch
As You Like It
The Other
Brave New World
Paradise Lost
Crime and Punishment
The Poisonwood Bible
Doctor Zhivago
A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man
Heart of Darkness
The Road
Invisible Man
Robinson Crusoe
Jane Eyre
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are
Dead
Jasmine
Sister Carrie
Jude the Obscure
Emma
Sula
Equus
A Tale of Two Cities
Frankenstein
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Glass Menagerie
Tom Jones
Henry IV, Part I
Wuthering Heights
Reservation Blues
The Glass Menagerie
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Golden Bowl
A Streetcar Named Desire
The Grapes of Wrath
Things Fall Apart
The Hairy Ape
Waiting for Godot
Heart of Darkness
Wise Blood
Invisible Man
The Women of Brewster Place
Jude the Obscure
Sister of My Heart
King Lear
Snow Falling on Cedars
The Little Foxes
The Tempest
Madame Bovary
Things Fall Apart
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Women of Brewster Place
My Antonia
Wuthering Heights
These titles appeared on the 2011 A.P. Lit. & Comp. exam in the essay section:
All the King’s Men
All the Pretty Horses
Antigone
Atonement
Beloved
The Blind Assassin
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
Crime and Punishment
The God of Small Things
The Grapes of Wrath
Invisible Man
King Lear
A Lesson Before Dying
Light in August
Medea
The Merchant of Venice
Murder in the Cathedral
Native Son
No Country for Old Men
Oedipus Rex
The Poisonwood Bible
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are
Dead
Set this House on Fire
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
The Stranger
Things Fall Apart
A Thousand Acres
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Trial
See attached the “Guide to Multiple Readings” as a method of practice for approaching literature in
this course, and make use of it this summer. Have a great summer! I’ll see you on August 21st.
Guide to multiple readings
Read a story more than once??? For heaven’s sake—why would anyone want to do that??? Well. . . in
order to be successful in Advanced Placement Literature & Composition, you’ll find that this is not only
necessary—it’s NECESSARY! Here’s the approach:
The first reading:
•
What is the setting? At least determine a reasonably close time/place.
•
Who are the characters? Which are major; which are minor?
•
How does the setting influence characters, their actions/reactions, and/or their development?
•
Who is the narrator? What do we learn about the narrator’s voice?
•
What is the conflict? Does the story have more than one conflict?
The second reading:
•
Try to identify the major conflict. How does it determine plot development?
•
Do minor conflicts change the course of the plot?
•
Is the narrator reliable or unreliable? How does this affect the story’s development?
•
How does tone affect the narrator’s voice?
•
Are the characters round or flat, static or dynamic?
•
What complications occur that enhance plot development?
•
Is suspense a factor in plot development?
•
Does symbolism play a role in the story?
•
What is a possible statement of theme?
The third reading:
•
What details/implications of details enrich the concepts that emerged in the second reading?
•
Does the story have a specific denouement? If so, what is it? If not, why?
•
What values emerge from our understanding of the story’s characters, plot, and/or theme(s)?
•
What other devices (i.e. irony, allegory, parody, satire, etc.) affect the development/outcome of the
story?
Not every story will contain answers to every question posed; however—using this approach—the three
readings give the reader an opportunity to delve deeper each time and to reach greater understanding of
what literary lessons can be gleaned from the author’s purpose.
Advanced Placement Literature and Composition
Mrs. Bretherick – 2012-13
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