Ideas help: I have to do a personal study in English (don’t worry, this isn’t a homework question) - Help.com

Is there one from you syllabus you can choose? Maybe one you have already did some work on?

“The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley.” Note: I don’t know how your school is in the UK so it might be too controversial (I’m in California). The book brings up many topics we are still dealing with, religion, race, crime, violence. I find that there is a resolution — an answer — but then the ending is forced onto us.

alilow wrote:
Is there one from you syllabus you can choose? Maybe one you have already did some work on?

The teacher gave us a list of 120 different texts to choose from but i don’t really know any of them. Would you like me to post some of them?

‘The Book Thief’ by Markus Zusak is a good one. Not only can you write about the actual story content, it also has a very unique style and narrative.

Anonymous wrote:

alilow wrote:
Is there one from you syllabus you can choose? Maybe one you have already did some work on?

The teacher gave us a list of 120 different texts to choose from but i don’t really know any of them. Would you like me to post some of them?

That may be useful. I think it is a good idea to use suggested texts and you are sure that they meet the required criteria.

alilow wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

alilow wrote:
Is there one from you syllabus you can choose? Maybe one you have already did some work on?

The teacher gave us a list of 120 different texts to choose from but i don’t really know any of them. Would you like me to post some of them?

That may be useful. I think it is a good idea to use suggested texts and you are sure that they meet the required criteria.

Yeah, i just don’t know which ones are any good!

1. Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart
2. Brian Aldiss, Hothouse
3. Martin Amis, Money
4. Kate Atkinson, Behind the Scenes at the Museum
5. Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye
6. Jane Austen Any book from Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion,
Pride and Prejudice
7. Paul Bailey, Old Soldiers
8. J G Ballard, Empire of the Sun
9. Ian Banks, Crow Road
10. Pat Barker, Regeneration
11. Julian Barnes, Talking it Over
12. Dee Brown, Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee
13. Bill Bryson, The Lost Continent
14. Albert Camus The Outsider
15. Albert Camus The Plague
16. Joyce Cary Mister Johnson
17. Len Deighton Bomber
18. George Eliot The Mill on the Floss
19. Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary
20. John Fowles The Collector
21. John Fowles The French Lieutenant’s Woman
22. Robert Graves Goodbye to all that
23. Norman Mailer The Naked and the Dead
24. Martin Middlebrook The First Day on the Somme
25. Arthur Miller The Crucible
26. Terry Pratchett Mort
27. Alan Spence Its Colours they are Fine
28. Robert Louis Stevenson Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
29. Donna Tartt The Secret History
30. Robert Tressell The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists

sorry, thats quite a lot =S

That is a great list and there are some great books in there.

If you like amusing and whimsical booked then I would recommend ‘Mort’.

I think you could write plenty about ‘Empire of the Sun’ and ‘The Collector’. ‘The Collector’ would be a good choice as it is fairly short and precise. It is a well written book and can be read in so many different ways. There are only two characters, one is keeping the other one prisoner in his house. Character interaction is quite electric and I found it a page turner.

‘Secret History’ is a well written and considered book, but it is long and there are periods where nothing much happens. Having said that I did enjoy reading it and it does stick in my memory.

I don’t think there are any ‘bad books’ in this list. Everytime I look at it another one jumps out at me.

I’m a big Camus fan so that’s where I would go. His novels were always like journeys for me. Existentialist journeys, but journeys nonetheless.

wow, thank you =)

Talking it Over by Julian Barnes is also worth a look. Quite quirky, minimal characters and their differing perspectives of the same situations are interesting and funny.