Gwib Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 All those Russian ones: - Anna Karenina by Tolstoy - Fathers and Sons by Turgenev - A Hero of our Time by Lermentov Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmeraldaa Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 mm interesting. and Gwib, you and I have almost the same HL & SL set-ups..i always wondered if someone had the same as me how are you finding Chemistry so far? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NaaPuchho Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 We're reading The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald at the moment. I have no idea what else is planned... It's the first real book we're reading (after Othello by Shakespeare). This is for A2, by the way. And I am enjoying the novel. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esmeraldaa Posted September 7, 2008 Report Share Posted September 7, 2008 Oh cool! We read both of those books last year in 10th grade. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heronumbazero Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 I'm doing English A1 HL. We are reading (or are going to read)- The Outsider by Camus-The Metamorphosis by Kafka-Siddartha (I didnt spell that right) by Hesse-Crime and Punishment-Death of a Salesman-Hamletand some poetry of course... Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heronumbazero Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 oh yea, here are my thoughts on the books so far:-Outsider - wierd. -Metamorphosis - even wierder.Siddartha- LOVE IT.crime and punishment - still working on it...havent read the other two yet Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
djshah Posted September 8, 2008 Report Share Posted September 8, 2008 My books are-Outsider by Alber Camus-Like water for chocolate Laura esouivel- Things fall apart by chinua achebe- Woman at point zero by Nawal el Saadawi- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley-OthelloOutsider and like water for chocolat are seriously the most boring books I have ever read. Like water for chocolate is just a silly book. The rest were preety interesting. Still studying Othello. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilia Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 My ToK teacher said that he got a minor depression from reading the "wrong" books and a lot of these books are on our lists. Also the theme for Part 4 is "murder" and that is rahter depressing. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeBlake Posted September 13, 2008 Report Share Posted September 13, 2008 Pt IThe Outsider by Camus (god...as soon as we started exploring the imagery and the symbolisms, i swear a little bit of me died inside)The Metamorphosis by Kafka (even worse than Outsider, although the sexual connotations were pretty interestingOne Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (i actually never got to finish it...it was one day...and the book is how long?)Pt IIMacBeth by ShakespeareKing Lear by ShakespeareElliot/Yeats poemsHandmaid's Tale by AtwoodPt IIIMaster Harold by FugardWaiting for Godot by Beckett (umm...it's about two people circling a tree waiting for Godot...)Glass Managerie by Williams (haven't read it yet)House of Bernarda Alba (that book was interesting, but it drained the life source outta me)Pt IVThe Wars by FindleyWuthering Heights by BronteThe Dubliners by Joyce (that book was HARD...)Cassandra by Wolf Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubii Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 (edited) our school picked relatively depressing books too! im doing SL A1and HMSChocolate i hav almost the same Part I books as yours!!Part I: (WL coursework)Sophocles: Oedipus Rex - freaky text. Camus: The Outsider - i didn't like it, lol.Suskind: Perfume - it's scary, but one of the most fascinating books ive ever read . loved it Part II: (IOC)Morrison: The Bluest Eye - racism, quite a good book thoughShakespeare: Othello - kill me man, im like PRAYING desperately I get a bluest eye extract, NOT OTHELLOOO PLEASEEEEE T^TPart III:we're doing poemshaven't started yet Carol Ann DuffyPablo NerudaEmily ****insonPart IV: (IOP)Carter - The bloody chamber and other short storiesWilliams - A streecar named DesireDai Sijie - Balzac and the little chinese seamstree Edited October 14, 2008 by rubii Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rrswong Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Well, this is what I'm doing. I'm only doing SL, by the way.Part 1House of the Spirits - Isabel AllendeLike Water for Chocolate - Laura EsquivelParadise of the Blind - Duong Thu HuongPart 2Much Ado About Nothing - ShakespeareShort Stories - Edgar Allen PoePoems - DawePart 3Jane Eyre - Charlotte BronteWide Sargasso Sea - Jean RhysA Tale of Two Cities - Charles ****ensPart 4Stolen Children: Their Stories - Carmel BirdOodgeroo - Kath WalkerSardines and Oranges - Tayeh SalibMost of it's okay, but our Part 4 theme is on the stolen generation of the Aborigines, which is a little depressing. A Tale of Two Cities is apparently pretty boring as well.. hm.I read Death of a Salesman earlier this year for Pre-IB and.. most of our grade didn't like it. O.o Personal opinions I guess. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leen Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Well, our A1 texts seem to have a recurring sexual theme in there somewhere.Firstly we started with A Streetcar Named Desire, then we went on to Wide Sargasso Sea, after that Heat & Dust, then Therese Raquin. Basically all of them had some er.. interesting sexual themse, Therese Raquin was depressing, heat and dust was the worst book I had ever read in my whole life, serious.Then the texts got a little less sexual and a little happier (not so much though). Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
uummmdonuts1 Posted October 7, 2008 Report Share Posted October 7, 2008 ooooooo im doing tess of the durbevilles and the handmaids tale, hate them both, but both depressing as hell as well. not a gd combo Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tania V Posted October 8, 2008 Report Share Posted October 8, 2008 I don't really think the books we have are depressing. Although it's obvious they all "have to" deal with some social/moral issue, I am very strong that it depends on the teacher whether the class is going to be depressing or not. My English A1 syllabus is this :Part 1a. Flaubert, Madame Bovaryb. Zola, Therese Raquinc. Ibsen, A Doll’s HousePart 2a. Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrewb. ****inson, Poems (17 poems)c. Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letterd. Woolf, A Room of One’s OwnPart 3a. Sam Shepard, True Westb. David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross c. Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesmand. Ibsen, Henrik Hedda GablerPart 4a. Melville, Herman Bartleby, A Story of Wall-Street; The Town-Ho Storyb. Crane, Stephen The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky, and other storiesc. London, Jack The Son of the Wolf and other storiesd. Strindberg, August Miss Juliewhich isn't any exceptional choice of books but still it is my favorite class because of the teacher(he is v.educated and interesting) and the concersations we make it class.On the other hand, my Modern Greek A1 class is horrible! Although the curriculum is supposed to be alike in all A1 classes and the texts we read are quite interesting, it has no connection to my English class, since the teacher never really promotes any further thinking;she just asserts with any answer and doesn't ask any intriguing questions to make us go deeper in the story. Even the last novel we read-which is this joyful story about life-seemed extremely boring and even annoying after 3 classes of saying the same stuff over and over again.Anyway, what i believe is that it is mainly the teacher and the way the lesson is concucted that determines whether the class is going to be depressing or not. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruan Chun Xian Posted October 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 Well my English teacher was great but you can't say that the themes for my books weren't depressing. Wow you did a Shakespeare COMEDY! Everyone usually do the tragedies... Though you know I've noticed all the Vietnamese books on the WL list are either banned/was banned. Probably why the only people who ever do these books for WL are people from schools outside of Vietnam...too sensitive to study here, even in international schools. I think Paradise of the Blind is still banned. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cubz Posted October 9, 2008 Report Share Posted October 9, 2008 All of ours end in death/suicide/crappy lives for all involved.First sess we did Oedipus Rex - you know the one where the guy accidentally marries his mother and like sticks needles in his eyes or somethingThen we did Things Fall Apart - which was basically about yams and suicideThen Poems by Judith Wright - Which were so boring that it made my life crapThen House of the Spirits - Which was allright, but not particularly pleasantChronicle of a Death Foretold - Again DeathHamlet - Self Explanatory reallyThe GOd of All Small THings - Which is really just messed up, lots of deathWHY THE HELL DO THEY CHOOSE THESE BOOKS FOR US?!?!?! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monica Posted October 13, 2008 Report Share Posted October 13, 2008 It's strange, I had never thought about by A1 books as being depressing but I guess there's still time for me to change my mind.I'm Romanian SL self-taught, and when it came to choosing my books, the teacher realized there's no recommended list of Romanian literature. So I pretty much got to choose my favourite books for the Romanian part. So there we go:Part 1: 1. Hundred years of solitude, Marquez 2. Death of a salesman, Miller 3. The wild duck, Ibsen (I'm not including this one in the comparison because I really hated it)Part 2: 2 Romanian books you wouldn't know (a play and a novel)Part 3: Another two Romanian ones (novels) Metamorphosis, KafkaPart 2: .... Things fall apart, Chinua AchebeNow I notice that all the world literature books have something sad about them, but I still love them (except for the wild duck)Is anyone else doing their mother tongue self-taught ? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanda(Not Alvin) Posted October 17, 2008 Report Share Posted October 17, 2008 Just finished reading "Fugitive Pieces", and my God, it is AWFUL. We made "found poetry" out of photocopied pages from it, and they were better than the original writing. It's pretentious. Also, it touches upon the Holocaust (on account of the protagonist's family being killed by German soldiers) yet it fails to be depressing. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
[m a a r i.] Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 well. since doing a month of IB. we're still on our first text merchant of venice. but our teacher started telling us to read our second bookwhich is Joy Luck Club i find it good and interesting and we're doing perfume. and other booksbut now find it okay.. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mane Posted October 18, 2008 Report Share Posted October 18, 2008 hahaha im also doing oedipus rex, macbeth, and death of a salesman =Poh well, i guess seeing the tragedy in other people's lives makes u realize how blessed u truly are Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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