Jen in DE Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Everyone, I would love any suggestions for world literature that is NOT depressing. I have spent the summer reading to prepare for my modern world literature class, and am having a difficult time finding books I love. I am really looking to expose the students to different cultures. Students have already read: Cry the Beloved Country The Hiding Place Red Scarf Girl The Road from Home One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich The Chosen All Quiet on the Western Front I have read far and wide, including many much more modern books. So far, they will read: Mountains Beyond Mountains (doctor who works to change life in Haiti, Peru, Russia) Love in the Driest Season (Aids crisis in Africa, life of a journalist, difficulty adopting in Zimbabwe) - a few graphic scenes of bombing Zeitoun (Arab American who tries to be helpful in New Orleans after Katrina, jailed for being a terrorist - Arab discrimination) The Joy Luck Club ( four chinese american immigrant families in San Francisco who start a majong club) Nectar in a Sieve (India-fictional history of a marriage between Rukmani, youngest daughter of a village headman, and Nathan, a tenant farmer) Books need to be no longer than about 300 pages, or these guys won't get it done. If you really love something, even if it is depressing, let me know. Native American, European, African American experience etc is fine. Any help or input is appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalLynn Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 The Help by Kathryn Stockett Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Some older threads that might have some leads: Suggestions for meaty but not depressing classics for teenagers? Need North American novels that are not depressing!! High School literature suggestions that aren't so dark and depressing... Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 They managed to make it through Cry, The Beloved Country? Good for them! God, I hate that book. Not depressing, huh? How about The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoCalLynn Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I was just looking at my bookshelf and noticed this one, Peace Like A River by Leif Enger. I read it a few years ago and recently pulled it out to read again. I remember it being so beautifully written and the characters and family just wonderful. http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Like-River-Leif-Enger-ebook/dp/B0062A4882/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407781675&sr=1-1&keywords=peace+like+a+river Also, The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Bees-Kidd-Paperback/dp/B008CMNPIM/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407781786&sr=1-1&keywords=secret+life+of+bees Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Hi Everyone, I would love any suggestions for world literature that is NOT depressing. I have spent the summer reading to prepare for my modern world literature class, and am having a difficult time finding books I love. I am really looking to expose the students to different cultures. Students have already read: Cry the Beloved Country The Hiding Place Red Scarf Girl The Road from Home One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich The Chosen All Quiet on the Western Front I have read far and wide, including many much more modern books. So far, they will read: Mountains Beyond Mountains (doctor who works to change life in Haiti, Peru, Russia) Love in the Driest Season (Aids crisis in Africa, life of a journalist, difficulty adopting in Zimbabwe) - a few graphic scenes of bombing Zeitoun (Arab American who tries to be helpful in New Orleans after Katrina, jailed for being a terrorist - Arab discrimination) The Joy Luck Club ( four chinese american immigrant families in San Francisco who start a majong club) Nectar in a Sieve (India-fictional history of a marriage between Rukmani, youngest daughter of a village headman, and Nathan, a tenant farmer) Books need to be no longer than about 300 pages, or these guys won't get it done. If you really love something, even if it is depressing, let me know. Native American, European, African American experience etc is fine. Any help or input is appreciated. North and South (E. Gaskell)--published 1850ish, so just the very tip of modern Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)--also just the tip of the modern era. Dickens' best book IMHO. Their Eyes Were Watching God (ZN Hurston)--deeply affirming of African-American culture. You get the good, the bad and the ugly with this one. You will definitely enjoy most of it and be left smiling. Extremely well written. The Importance of Being Earnest (O Wilde) For fun--Try some Wodehouse. Jeeves and Wooster are SO. MUCH. FUN. The books are well written and laugh-out-loud funny. The PBS shows are great too--not always strictly accurate, but close enough, and definitely in keeping with the spirit of Wodehouse. Superb casting and really really funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Also Father Brown mysteries by GK CHesterton. It could be fun to read both a few mystery stories as well as a few of Chesterton's short essays just to see two sides to his immense talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merylvdm Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe- I guess it is depressing but I think it isn't too long and I want my kids to read it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyDay Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Christmas Carol Jane Austin Sherlock Holmes James Herriot Cranford Mark Twain don't forget poetry too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 What do you want "World Literature" to cover? Some call anything non-American "world literature", others, only non-English literature in translation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmama Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 How about adding in some short stories? The ones below are very good and not depressing (IMHO). You can probably find most of them online. These writers have lots of good short stories. “The Necklace†by Maupassant “The Three Hermits†by Leo Tolstoy “A Slander†by Anton Chekhov “The Passover Guest†by Sholom Aleichem “The Secret Miracle†by Jorge Luis Borges “The House of Asterion†by Jorge Luis Borges “Dead Men’s Path†by Chinua Achebe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen in DE Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Thank you to everyone who has submitted ideas so far. I can only use books for this co-op literature class, no short stories or poetry. I am willing to consider anything that people have liked. I also need one american lit book - preferably an African American experience book, but really open to anything even remotely uplifting. I picked up Secret Life of Bees yesterday and Things Fall Apart. Forgot to say we read Herriot, Austen, Importance of Being Earnest. Thanks again for any more suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanna Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 The Color of Water: a Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride - an autobiography in which the author recounts being raised by a Jewish mother and a Black father in the mid-20th century. He also came from a large family. This was a remarkable account of an extraordinary family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoo Keeper Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 The Chosen, by Chaim Potok is very thought provoking, as is My Name is Asher Lev by the same author. Both have tension between parent/child/culture (modern day mainstream America and traditional Jewish). Not depressing, but thoughtful. For some fun, I would highly suggest Wodehouse, or To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttichen Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 I was just looking at my bookshelf and noticed this one, Peace Like A River by Leif Enger. I read it a few years ago and recently pulled it out to read again. I remember it being so beautifully written and the characters and family just wonderful. http://www.amazon.com/Peace-Like-River-Leif-Enger-ebook/dp/B0062A4882/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407781675&sr=1-1&keywords=peace+like+a+river ^ Yes! I LOVE Peace Like a River. Also, the Book Thief, which is sad, but I wouldn't call it depressing. It's long, but it's a fairly quick read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. There's some sexuality but it's an enchanting picture of a world and I didn't find it depressing. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 If you want to do any mysteries, I'd suggest a Lord Peter Wimsey. To Kill a Mockingbird might be good if they haven't done it already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 Death Comes for the Archbishop (Willa Cather) It's shorter than My Antonia, but it has the same plot of a character doing the best they can with limited means/circumstances and doing better than ok in the end. It's in the US, but in an area that was only recently annexed at the time of the book. It focuses on a French archbishop who is surrounded by Spanish, Native Americans, and some white Americans. (I think there's also a black slave who was never freed despite the Civil War? I can't remember exactly now). I found the juxtaposition of cultures to be interesting. Zora Neale Hurston is also popular these days in lit courses. I think she was a grad student of the same professor that was Margaret Mead's advisor? And did a lot of folklore collection in the American South (if I'm remembering this right). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 "Exodus" by Leon Uris. This might be longer than you want, but I think it comes in 'just under the wire' IIRC. "The Bean Trees" by Barbara Kingsolver "Ishi in Two Worlds" by Theodora Kroeber "So Big" by Edna Ferber "Giants in the Earth" by Rolvaag These are all books about progress or pioneering, various takes on it. They all have overall positivity and are very well-written. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 If you want to do any mysteries, I'd suggest a Lord Peter Wimsey. Much as I like DLS, I don't think I'd assign one for high school literature. Oh - Candide is fun. L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted August 13, 2014 Share Posted August 13, 2014 I would take a look at what you want to cover WRT literary periods/movements --I'm sorry, I can't think of the right word. I mean I would choose books I could use to compare and contrast. For example, (using Am Lit) the whole "man is born corrupt vs man is born innocent and society corrupts" theme--I'd contrast Scarlet Letter and Lord of the Flies, or, Huck Finn or Moby Dick and....well, something else. (The mind is mush tonight--I hope you are getting my point.) THEN I'd look for more gentle/less disturbing examples of books that would illustrate what I want to teach, if that were a goal. So, what sorts of themes or literary elements or whatever are you looking to teach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.