anthaCsam Posted June 3, 2008 Report Share Posted June 3, 2008 So far, most of the texts we've studied contain themes such as: the oppression of woman, death, entrapment, media, religion, societal influence.....The first few texts took a while to get used to, lots of sick, twisted and vulgar actions... The first IB text I had to read after summer was BRUTAL! It had this magical ability to send me to sleep on the instance of reading it, where ever! That was great, I just take it to the spa/on the school bus/to the lesson and i'll doze off >< as did the rest of the class!Texts so far:The handmaid's tale The lost honor of katharina blumThe sailor who fell from grace with the seaOedipus RexThe house of bernarda alba(2 other texts i forgot ><)-Poetry of John Donne, Gwen Harwood and someone else..they suck the life out of me : ( IOP in 2 hours, haven't really started preparation! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
emikaijuin Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 So far, most of the texts we've studied contain themes such as: the oppression of woman, death, entrapment, media, religion, societal influence.....The first few texts took a while to get used to, lots of sick, twisted and vulgar actions... The first IB text I had to read after summer was BRUTAL! It had this magical ability to send me to sleep on the instance of reading it, where ever! That was great, I just take it to the spa/on the school bus/to the lesson and i'll doze off >< as did the rest of the class!Ha same here... our texts so far are The Wild Palms- just... gives me a kind of no feelingThe President- an extremely oppressive government in what is assumed to be guatemala. depressing.Death of the Maiden- girl has been raped raped raped tortured and is taking revenge on the manAntigone- like the first post said, its harder to get more depressing than oedipus unless you read antigoneThe Tragedy of Othello- its a tragedy, so...i think we read something else but i cant remember it for the life of me...anyone else read the president? what did they think of it? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cokesandcokes Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 stuff we've read/are going to read:Things Fall ApartFifth BusinessThe House of the SpiritsMadame BovaryThe Sorrow of WarThe Turn of the ScrewThe Power and the GloryThe God of Small ThingsSiddharthaMacbethVirginia WoolfKeatsYeatsPlath (FTW) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLSmash Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom StoppardIn the Skin of a Lion by Michael OndaatjeThe House of Spirits by Isabel AllendeLike Water for Chocolate by Laura EsquivelOdyssey by HomerHamlet by ShakespeareOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr SolzhenitsyFun fun fun. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamani Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 So far, in our A1 book list, there seems a patern, Racism mostly... I am guessing that this was meant to be? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rentle Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 As for our schol, we have mostly got boring old-school literature. No emotions, no hooks - just a typical drill of the words. Maybe this is only my humble opinion, but books like Sophocles "Antigone" or F. Kafka "Metamorphosis" give nothing more than a depressed mind with a lot of "deep thoughts" left to consider. Anyway, don't think that I like only chep childish books, but that style, offered by our IB's A1 is just amazingly plain and depressing.p.s. Hamani, your A1 list's pattern sounds interesting. ;] Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
haha83191 Posted August 11, 2008 Report Share Posted August 11, 2008 it is so cool how you all remember all this...i can remember what my paper was about last year and i spent like months on it nonstop Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
adityakumar Posted August 23, 2008 Report Share Posted August 23, 2008 (edited) Year one:The Poisonwood BibleDeath of a SalesmanBelovedOedipus RexMadame BovaryA Doll HouseThe House of the SpiritsUplifting I know. Edited August 23, 2008 by adityakumar Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
imaginelifeless Posted August 23, 2008 Report Share Posted August 23, 2008 i thought my school was the only dumb school doing one day in the life of ivan denisovich. that has got to be the dryest book i've ever ATTEMPTED reading. and to think, i wrote me WL1 with it. in no particular order: ivan denisovichdoll's houselike water for chocolatemeasure for measure mr. hyde and dr. jekylllord of the fliesmedeamacbethmeasure for measurepygmalia (how do you spell that?)top girls gothic poetrywilfred owendubliners Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KLSmash Posted August 24, 2008 Report Share Posted August 24, 2008 i thought my school was the only dumb school doing one day in the life of ivan denisovich. that has got to be the dryest book i've ever ATTEMPTED reading. and to think, i wrote me WL1 with it.After reading 20 pages, I gave up for a while. I sparknoted the beginning a few days later, and began reading through it again and I managed. I liked the book, it isn't that bad as long as you understand what's happening and don't drift off.Which usually happens to me. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
zicrayfish Posted August 25, 2008 Report Share Posted August 25, 2008 From the top of my head,Of mice and menThe house of spiritsThe merchant of veniceone day in the life of ivan denisovichthe outsidersiddhartathe leopardmargret scott poemsseems pretty good to me, although we have the slowest and most lenient teacher ever. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted August 25, 2008 Report Share Posted August 25, 2008 So far, in our A1 book list, there seems a patern, Racism mostly... I am guessing that this was meant to be?Funny. Our pattern seems to be "loss of innocence" or sex/death. In no particular order:The Moor's Last SighLike Water For ChocolateNegotiating with the DeadDeath and the MaidenLysistrataAccidental Death of an AnarchistHamletKing LearThe General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales + The Wife of Bath's Tale-ChaucerThe Handmaid's TalePoetry by Adienne Rich, Pablo Neruda, S.T. Coleridge, Dionne Brand Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerox Posted August 26, 2008 Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 I saw a thread saying "How depressing are your A1 texts?" and i just started thinking about my languages in general.They are so depressive, seriously ever novel we read is so damn pessimistic and boring (atleast so far)some examples, The great gatsby, Crime and punishment, Like chocolat like water (i think that would be the english title, swedish title is ****ed up anyways like no connection to the book)The picture of dorian grey, etc all those books are so DEPRESSIVE... is the IB trying to say something to us or?Damn hate languages.... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cereja Posted August 26, 2008 Report Share Posted August 26, 2008 *It's Like Water for Chocolate btw.I couldn't agree more. I read all those book plus metamorphosis, scarlet letter, chronicle of a death foretold, and other quite depressing ones. Last year we had a big discussion on that and we came up with a reason - IB wants us all to turn into hookers/criminals Seriously though, our teacher said they need to pick books that have a common theme, and apparently in this world, death, crime, and failure rate high among the great writers. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 "Loss of innocence" = death, crime, failure, sex Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Shiver Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Well, Lysistrata and Accidental Death of an Anarchist were pretty funny. And The Great Gatsby wasn't really about loss of innocence either.And I think we're doing Oryx and Crake instead of The Haindmaid's Tale. No King Lear, either, because IB doesn't allow more than one book by the same author in the same group. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Well, Lysistrata and Accidental Death of an Anarchist were pretty funny. And The Great Gatsby wasn't really about loss of innocence either.There was death, nonetheless, so nyah nyah nyah. Oh, there was also adultery. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmeraldaa Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 (edited) I was just curious as to what book people from around the world are reading right now in HL English A1/A2. I live in New York, and in my HL English A1 class, we are currently reading "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver. Personally, I find this book to be cleverly written and a fun read because I'm african so it's funny to read the authors perspective on the continent and also because I love the way that she chose to structure this book. Now it's your turn. What book are you reading and is it a good one? Edited September 7, 2008 by Esmeraldaa Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilia Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 The English A2 people in my school are reading Enduring Love written by Ian McEwan and I've heard that it's good. I have no idea about what the A1s are reading... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
moneyfaery Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Hamlet, but teacher gave out Oryx and Crake which I just finished. Good book. Ending is a bit surprising though. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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