Which book/play should I choose?

Next year we are supposed to do an ISU on a book or a play. The following list are the options we are given. Which do you think would be the most interesting? (I like most genres: thriller/mystery/fantasy, etc.)

I really enjoyed The Crucible, but I hate The Importance of Being Earnest. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is pretty funny. Antigone’s good if you’re into tragedies that don’t make you sad. It’s an entertaining read.

Jane Eyre has some mystery. 1984 has tons, and everyone will expect you to have read it at some point. That’s also the one most of your classmates will choose, I can promise you that. Brave New World might be a better choice if you don’t want to have to compete with them, but still want something in the same genre. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is AWESOME- it’s written from the perspective of a man in an insane asylum and it takes place in the 50s or 60s, I think, when they gave lobotomies and electroshock therapy. The Picture of Dorian Gray is a good one, too, and creepy, and you’d have a lot to talk about. Pride and Prejudice is funny at times, but I don’t know if you like romance. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a great classic. Tolstoy is a brilliant author, so Anna Karenina is a good choice, although it’s more of a drama, and you mentioned that you like thrillers and mysteries.

I don’t recommend Heart of Darkness or The Catcher in the Rye. However, with the former, you’d have a lot of good discussion points about race relations and ethnocentrism, which could be good to explore. For the latter, just watch the South Park episode about it, because it sums it up pretty nicely.

Just think about what you want to talk about. Existentialism? Sensualism? Social issues such as class, race, gender, or disabilities? Implications of big government? Then, Wikipedia the book and check the genre. See if it’s something you want to spend forever researching and talking about.

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