Help me with my reading list

mahler · 11-02-2008, 09:02 PM

Since I got my e-reader I've been try to compile a literature must read list for my backpacking trip.

I found this list (a MFA prep list). Could someone tell me if this is a good place to start? It seems well rounded.
Are there any books that are missing (or a few I should remove)? If you don't want to openly suggest removing a book, pm me.

Theres a copy of the list below

Reading list for Master's Degree preparation

FIELD #1: MEDIEVAL LITERATURE

Beowulf (in verse translation)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (in verse translation)
Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Selections

FIELD #2: RENAISSANCE LITERATURE

Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I
Shakespeare, King Lear
John Donne, Selections
Milton, Paradise Lost, Books I and II

FIELD #3: RESTORATION AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE

Congreve, The Way of the World
Dryden, “Absalom and Achitophel”;
Pope, “The Rape of the Lock”
Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels
Johnson, “Preface to Shakespeare”

FIELD #4: ROMANTIC AND VICTORIAN LITERATURE
Smith, Elegiac Sonnets #1, #8, and #12
Wordsworth, Selections From
Coleridge, “CristabelÓ;
Keats, Selections from
Eliot, Middlemarch
Tennyson, In Memoriam (selections from the Norton Anthology)
Browning, “Andrea del Sarto” and “Fra Lippo Lippi”

FIELD #5: TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE

Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
W.B. Yeats: Selections From
E. M. Forster: A Passage to India
D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers OR Women in Love
T. S. Eliot: Selections
James Joyce: The Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot

FIELD #6: EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE

Ann Bradstreet, Selections From
Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener”;
Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage
Walt Whitman, Selections
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

FIELD #7: TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE

William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
Gertrude Stein, Three Lives
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Robert Frost, Selections from
Alice Walker, Meridian

BookishDreamer · 11-02-2008, 10:03 PM

How long is this backpacking trip?!

Dreamer

mahler · 11-02-2008, 10:50 PM

I guess the list is a little long, although there seems to be a lot of short stories/poems in there.

The trip is six months, and I'm a heavy reader.

daffy4u · 11-02-2008, 10:55 PM

You could try some of Entertainment Weekly's "New Classics: Books
The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008"

ficbot · 11-03-2008, 12:13 AM

How about this:
http://www.listology.com/content_sho...id.22845/Books

HarryT · 11-03-2008, 03:34 AM

What a peculiar list. How anyone can list 19th century literature and make no mention of authors like Austen or Dickens I just can't understand!

Patricia · 11-03-2008, 08:15 AM

Yes, the Victorian list has exactly one novel and some poetry.
Middlemarch is a fine novel, but the 19th century was the age of the circulating library and the three-volume novel. I would have thought some Jane Austen, some Dickens and a Bronte would feature.
And some Byron in the poetry section would be a useful addition.

HarryT · 11-03-2008, 08:23 AM

It would be interesting to know what it's a reading list for. Some sort of poetry course would be my guess.

Patricia · 11-03-2008, 08:29 AM

Fortunately for mahler, we have a fair number of these texts freely available in our Book Upload section.

mtravellerh · 11-03-2008, 09:34 AM

No George Orwell? Big Brother IS watching you!

No "Moby Dick", no "Ulysses". Peculiar indeed!

BookishDreamer · 11-03-2008, 09:44 AM

A six month trip? Ok, now the length of the list makes sense. I thought you were trying to cram all of that reading into a 2 week excursion.

You might consider picking a few from this list. It offers additional selections from many of the authors on your original list.
http://classiclit.about.com/library/...l-booklist.htm

Dreamer

mahler · 11-03-2008, 06:54 PM

Thanks for helping me out guys, I've been browsing this forum for quite awhile now and finally made a post.

HarryT: It looks like a M.A. in English, heres the link to her description.

Patricia: Austen and Dickens, thanks! A friend of mine is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, I guess it time to read it.

mtravellerh: I just read Moby Dick and 1984. I couldn't get into Ulysses, i'll give it another try.

BookishDreamer: excellent idea!

Now for me to browse a the lists and add to my list.

=X= · 11-04-2008, 02:28 AM

I don't think Beowulf is considered medieval literature, are you just using this term loosely?

For medieval
I'm surprised you don't have Dante. Some consider it religious text but it is true literature.
There is a copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight here, not sure if that is what your looking for. If it's not be kind, I'm the one that uploaded it

For the Renaissance age
Don Quijote (although this might take you the whole 6mo)

And for the 20th
I'm really surprised you don't have any of Steinbeck works listed. Have you already read most of his works?

As for Shakespeare? King lear is good, but so is MacBeth, Othello, Henry IV (my personal favorite). Richard III (also good), and Hamlet. Any reason why you picked King Lear? More curious than anything.

=X=

HarryT · 11-04-2008, 03:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

For medieval
I'm surprised you don't have Dante. Some consider it religious text but it is true literature.
There is a copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight here, not sure if that is what your looking for. If it's not be kind, I'm the one that uploaded it

For the Renaissance age
Don Quijote (although this might take you the whole 6mo)

And for the 20th
I'm really surprised you don't have any of Steinbeck works listed. Have you already read most of his works?

If it's an MA in English literature, then you wouldn't expect Dante or Cervantes to be included, since the first is Italian and the second Spanish. Even Steinbeck might be considered rather dubious - such courses often concentrate solely on British authors, considering American literature to be a distinct genre.

Richard Herley · 11-04-2008, 05:57 AM

mahler, these great plans never work out. Download all those titles by all means, but just read the ones you enjoy. Reading is an adventure -- you go from one book to the next in a kind of bagatelle-ball trajectory which is unique and unrepeatable, because your tastes and interests change and mature during the reading process.

But I'm glad to see you rate The Faerie Queene : try this PG edition, which I edited under my real name some 20 years ago. Reading that book certainly changed my tastes and interests!

11-04-2008, 02:28 AM	#13
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	I don't think Beowulf is considered medieval literature, are you just using this term loosely? For medieval I'm surprised you don't have Dante. Some consider it religious text but it is true literature. There is a copy of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight here, not sure if that is what your looking for. If it's not be kind, I'm the one that uploaded it For the Renaissance age Don Quijote (although this might take you the whole 6mo) And for the 20th I'm really surprised you don't have any of Steinbeck works listed. Have you already read most of his works? As for Shakespeare? King lear is good, but so is MacBeth, Othello, Henry IV (my personal favorite). Richard III (also good), and Hamlet. Any reason why you picked King Lear? More curious than anything. =X= Last edited by =X=; 11-04-2008 at 02:33 AM.

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11-02-2008, 09:02 PM	#1
mahler Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Vancouver Device: PRS-500	Help me with my reading list Since I got my e-reader I've been try to compile a literature must read list for my backpacking trip. I found this list (a MFA prep list). Could someone tell me if this is a good place to start? It seems well rounded. Are there any books that are missing (or a few I should remove)? If you don't want to openly suggest removing a book, pm me. Theres a copy of the list below Reading list for Master's Degree preparation FIELD #1: MEDIEVAL LITERATURE Beowulf (in verse translation) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (in verse translation) Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Selections FIELD #2: RENAISSANCE LITERATURE Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book I Shakespeare, King Lear John Donne, Selections Milton, Paradise Lost, Books I and II FIELD #3: RESTORATION AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE Congreve, The Way of the World Dryden, “Absalom and Achitophel”; Pope, “The Rape of the Lock” Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” Swift, Gulliver’s Travels Johnson, “Preface to Shakespeare” FIELD #4: ROMANTIC AND VICTORIAN LITERATURE Smith, Elegiac Sonnets #1, #8, and #12 Wordsworth, Selections From Coleridge, “CristabelÓ; Keats, Selections from Eliot, Middlemarch Tennyson, In Memoriam (selections from the Norton Anthology) Browning, “Andrea del Sarto” and “Fra Lippo Lippi” FIELD #5: TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITISH LITERATURE Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness W.B. Yeats: Selections From E. M. Forster: A Passage to India D. H. Lawrence: Sons and Lovers OR Women in Love T. S. Eliot: Selections James Joyce: The Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot FIELD #6: EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE Ann Bradstreet, Selections From Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener”; Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Stephen Crane, The Red Badge of Courage Walt Whitman, Selections Henry David Thoreau, Walden FIELD #7: TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises Gertrude Stein, Three Lives Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land Robert Frost, Selections from Alice Walker, Meridian Last edited by mahler; 11-02-2008 at 11:30 PM. Reason: Added Copy of Reading List

11-02-2008, 10:03 PM	#2
BookishDreamer Cultural Artist Posts: 1,128 Karma: 12829 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Georgia Device: Sony 505, Kindle 2	How long is this backpacking trip?! Dreamer

11-02-2008, 10:50 PM	#3
mahler Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Vancouver Device: PRS-500	I guess the list is a little long, although there seems to be a lot of short stories/poems in there. The trip is six months, and I'm a heavy reader.

11-02-2008, 10:55 PM	#4
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	You could try some of Entertainment Weekly's "New Classics: Books The 100 best reads from 1983 to 2008"

11-03-2008, 12:13 AM	#5
ficbot Wizard Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App	How about this: http://www.listology.com/content_sho...id.22845/Books

11-03-2008, 03:34 AM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	What a peculiar list. How anyone can list 19th century literature and make no mention of authors like Austen or Dickens I just can't understand!

11-03-2008, 08:15 AM	#7
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Yes, the Victorian list has exactly one novel and some poetry. Middlemarch is a fine novel, but the 19th century was the age of the circulating library and the three-volume novel. I would have thought some Jane Austen, some Dickens and a Bronte would feature. And some Byron in the poetry section would be a useful addition.

11-03-2008, 08:23 AM	#8
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	It would be interesting to know what it's a reading list for. Some sort of poetry course would be my guess.

11-03-2008, 08:29 AM	#9
Patricia Reader Posts: 11,504 Karma: 8720163 Join Date: May 2007 Location: South Wales, UK Device: Sony PRS-500, PRS-505, Asus EEEpc 4G	Fortunately for mahler, we have a fair number of these texts freely available in our Book Upload section.

11-03-2008, 09:34 AM	#10
mtravellerh book creator Posts: 9,657 Karma: 3856660 Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Luxembourg Device: Kindle Scribe	No George Orwell? Big Brother IS watching you! No "Moby Dick", no "Ulysses". Peculiar indeed!

11-03-2008, 09:44 AM	#11
BookishDreamer Cultural Artist Posts: 1,128 Karma: 12829 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Georgia Device: Sony 505, Kindle 2	A six month trip? Ok, now the length of the list makes sense. I thought you were trying to cram all of that reading into a 2 week excursion. You might consider picking a few from this list. It offers additional selections from many of the authors on your original list. http://classiclit.about.com/library/...l-booklist.htm Dreamer

11-03-2008, 06:54 PM	#12
mahler Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Vancouver Device: PRS-500	Thanks for helping me out guys, I've been browsing this forum for quite awhile now and finally made a post. HarryT: It looks like a M.A. in English, heres the link to her description. Patricia: Austen and Dickens, thanks! A friend of mine is obsessed with Pride and Prejudice, I guess it time to read it. mtravellerh: I just read Moby Dick and 1984. I couldn't get into Ulysses, i'll give it another try. BookishDreamer: excellent idea! Now for me to browse a the lists and add to my list.

11-04-2008, 05:57 AM	#15
Richard Herley Author Posts: 203 Karma: 1164907 Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	mahler, these great plans never work out. Download all those titles by all means, but just read the ones you enjoy. Reading is an adventure -- you go from one book to the next in a kind of bagatelle-ball trajectory which is unique and unrepeatable, because your tastes and interests change and mature during the reading process. But I'm glad to see you rate The Faerie Queene : try this PG edition, which I edited under my real name some 20 years ago. Reading that book certainly changed my tastes and interests!