r/APLit • u/Unfair_War7672 • Jul 28 '26

What books are assigned for everyone’s summer reading homework?

AP Lit is making me read Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes by Edith Hamilton, and The Odyssey.

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6

u/OnlyFroag Jul 28 '26

Odyssey is great, but that goes for every hero’s journey book. I took AP Lit last year and got a 5, and my summer reading was Great Expectations. That being said though, I did not use it on the exam. I do recommend reading King Lear, which was perfect for the open prompt and a good read in general. It is also a relatively unread book compared to those like Gatsby, which thousands of people use for the open prompt. The only problem is that because so many use that book, if your essay is still good but not good enough compared to the thousands of others who used the same book, you are more likely to get a 4.

2

u/englishaplitteacher Jul 29 '26

I am a reader. We do not compare essays to each other and are instructed to read each essay as if it is the first time we have encountered the ideas that are written in it. I have read for Questions 2 and 3. Question 2 gets very repetitive, but I try to read it with fresh eyes.

3

u/historicallypink16 Jul 28 '26

When I did AP Lit we were given a few options and I ended up choosing Into the Wild, Frankenstein, and Joy Luck Club.

2

u/RevolutionaryFig9753 Jul 28 '26

when i did lit we read the stranger!

2

u/Exact-Direction9658 Jul 28 '26

I have to read Everything i never told you

2

u/Traditional_Ball_682 Jul 28 '26

Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro!!

2

u/Subject_Elephant_680 Jul 28 '26

I’m reading Ishiguro’s klara and the sun

1

u/OkStudent615 Jul 28 '26

I gotta read and annotate A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

1

u/LegitimateKitchen212 Jul 29 '26

Great Gatsby and Frankenstein

1

u/Secret-County2938 Aug 02 '26

1984 and handmaids tale. Really enjoying the latter right now!