Outside reading is an integral part of the British Literature course at Ridge. For Term I, you will have the option of reading one of the works below independently. As you read, select one of the activities at the end of the list to complete during your reading. In addition, an in-class essay test will be given on the selected text.
Select one of the following for your outside reading.
An asterisk (*) after an author denotes a twentieth century writer.

Adams, Douglas*     The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (humorous science fiction) You may select
                                this if you didn't use it for summer reading or you may use the sequel, The
                                Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Austin, Jane             Northinger Abbey (gothic romance)
Barker, Pat*             Regeneration (based on true story of Siegfried Sassoon in WWI who changed
                                from a war hero to trying to avoid battle)
Bronte, Charlotte     Jane Eyre (love story with a twist)
Burgess, Anthony*         A Clockwork Orange (violence, futuristic)
Defoe, Daniel                Moll Flanders
                                      Robinson Crusoe (marooned on an island)
Drabble, Margaret*      The Millstone
Follett, Ken*                 Pillars of the Earth (Chaucer’s time period)
                                     The Eye of the Needle (Spy novel)
Fowles, John*               The French Lieutenant’s Woman ( a contemporary version of a Victorian
                                      romance novel)
Forster, E.M.                 A Passage to India
                                      A Room with a View
Greene, Graham*          Our Man in Havana
                                      The Power & the Glory
Gunesekera, Romesh*   Reef (coming-of-age novel set in South Asia)
Hardy, Thomas             The Return of the Native
James, P.D.*                  Death of an Expert Witness (all murder mysteries)
                                      A Black Tower
                                     Cover Her Face
                                     A Certain Justice
                                    A Taste for Death
                                    A Mind to Murder
Lively, Penelope*         Moon Tiger ( a love story, blood, death)
McCullough, Colleen*   The Thorn Birds (romance across three generations in Australia)
More, Sir Thomas         Utopia (the original “utopian” philosophy set forth)
Murdoch, Iris*             The Bell
                                    The Severed Head
Rhys, Jean*                 The Wide Sargasso Sea (story of Jane Eyre from the point of view of the first wife)
Roy, Arundhati The God of Small Things
Scott, Sir Walter         Ivanhoe (Chivalry, romance, jousts and distressed damsels, Robin Hood and
                                    Richard the Lion-Hearted)
Spark, Muriel*            Memento Mori (murder mystery)
                                    The Girls of Slender Means
                                    Loitering With Intent (romance, WWII)
                                    The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
                                    The Battle of Pecham Rye
Stewart, Mary*           The Crystal Cave (modern writer deals with Arthurian legends)
Stoker, Bram               Dracula ( the original blood-sucking vampire)
Tey, Josephine*          The Daughter of Time (historical detective fiction- who killed the princes in
                                     the Tower of London?)
Walpole, Horace         The Castle of Otronto (the first gothic novel)
Wells, H.G.                 The War of the Worlds
Wilde, Oscar               The Picture of Dorian Gray
Woolf, Virginia*         Mrs. Dalloway
                                    A Room of One’s Own

You have approximately four weeks to read the book. You will need to interact with the text in one of the following ways as you read. This will help you to focus on an important aspect of the work and augment the type of analysis we do in class. Whenever possible, we encourage students to buy these books so that they can write in them.

Option #1: Highlight and make marginal notes in the text. Some possible areas to highlight are characterization, key plot revelations, themes, symbolism. Make marginal notes to remind yourself which category the highlighting falls into or to add your own opinions and comments. Highlighting must occur regularly throughout the book and go all the way to the end of the work.

Option #2: Journals following the format of summer reading journals may be used. Fold the notebook page in half lengthwise. Copy a quotation and page number on the left and respond to it on the right. As directed above, look for characterization, key plot developments, symbolism, themes. There should be roughly one journal entry for every 10 pages of text read.

Option #3: Post-it notes are OK when using a library or school text. Make the post-its large enough to write significant notes on and respond to the same areas suggested above. There should be one post-it for every 10-15 pages read.

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