Winter 2016 Reading Ladder – Beginning December 1st and so far ending at January 21st
This Reading Ladder is a work in progress.
In Order of Least to Most Recent
- “The Tracery of Trees” – Various Authors (392 pages)
- “Leaves of Grass” – Walt Whitman (507 pages)
- Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe (209 pages)
- Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad (239 pages)
- A Thousand Splendid Suns– Khalid Hosseini (372 pages)
- Saving CeeCee Honeycutt – Beth Hoffman (306 pages)
- “The Hollow Men” – T. S. Elliot (5 pages)
- “The Love Song of Alfred J. Prufrock” – T. S. Elliot (5 pages)
- A Secret Kept – Tatiana de Rosnay (330 pages)
Total Pages Read So Far: 2,365 pages total. 2,365/7 weeks of reading = 338 pages per week. 338/7 days a week = approximately 48 pages per day.
My Winter Reading Ladder has just begun but I must say I am pleased with how much I have been able to get through, considering that Musical Theatre performances were December and that exams were January, meaning I haven’t had much time to read. However, over the Winter Break, I immersed myself completely in books, which was a wonderful feeling considering that while school is in session I am unable to do so. I hope that after exams are finished, I will be able to read more and once again lose myself in reading. Overall, I am happy with how my Winter Reading Ladder looks so far (considering that these last two months have been hectic), and look forward to tracking my progress as I move forward.
Top Three Books: Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), Heart of Darkness (Joseph Conrad), and Saving CeeCee Honeycutt (Beth Hoffman)
- Things Fall Apart: This was a really important book for me. Author Chinua Achebe writes about the life and
culture of the Ibo people in Nigeria from the perspective of Okonkwo, a clan leader. Being able to see a different way of life was fascinating for me because all the other books I had read about European Imperialism were written from the perspective of the Europeans. However, being able to see the native perspective was really interesting, though tragic because as their way of life began to fall apart beneath the pressures and changes brought about by the Europeans, the unity of their culture was lost. I also really loved the themes that were woven throughout this book, and I was fascinated by the idea of the protagonist, Okonkwo, being ruled by a fear that drove him to act and be a certain way, even against his better judgement. While the style of the writing wasn’t particularly to my taste (I prefer detail and lyricism to straightforwardness) I still loved this book because it taught 
me things and it made me think. - Heart of Darkness: I would say that this is one of the best books I have read so far this semester. I really enjoyed the read and I appreciated Conrad’s writing style; he used detail, metaphor, and symbolism in such a way that it was both meaningful and engaging. While I know that most people do not like this book, I even preferred it to Things Fall Apart, because with the detail I could immerse myself more completely in the environment. Heart of Darkness is about terrible things and though it is arguably racist, it is also honest in its portrayal of the time period. I also really liked the frame narration, because it allowed the readers to gain a more thorough understanding of the content by being able to contrast the two settings and the different perspectives in the two layers of narration.
- Saving CeeCee Honeycutt: This book is one that I read in my childhood, and I have always loved it because it is about love and about finding oneself. Though it is a “candy read”, it has also been a significant novel for me because its subject matter has inspired many a writing piece. As well, I think that it is important to read something beautiful every now and then to remind you of the basic goodness of people. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt does remind me of what it means to be human, and that might be why I love this book so much.
Currently Reading: The Bean Trees – Barbara Kingsolver
Goal for next term: I will get through all of the required readings for Advanced Placement English, and in addition at least seven novels and three plays by the end of Term 3. These novels, short stories, and plays may be selected as the term progresses or may be chosen from the following list: I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai), The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini), Anthony and Cleopatra (William Shakespeare), The Bean Trees (Barbra Kingsolver), All The Light We Cannot See (Anthony Doerr), Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte), Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury), Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain), The Hero’s Walk (Anita Badami), The Tempest (William Shakespeare), The Cellist of Sarajevo (Stephen Gallaway), The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (James Thurber), On a Rainy River (Tim O’Brien),The Glass Roses (Aldan Nowlan), Flowers in the Attic Series (V. C. Andrews), Shawshank Redemption (Stephen King), and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Ken Kesey).
Citations:
Caio. “Book Photos.” Free Stock Photos of Book · Pexels. N.p., 15 Aug. 2015. Web. 30 Dec. 2016. <https://www.pexels.com/search/book/>.
“Robot Check.” Amazon. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017. <https://www.amazon.com/Saving-CeeCee-Honeycutt-Beth-Hoffman/dp/0143118579>.
“Heart of Darkness -.” Heart of Darkness –. Weebly, n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017. <https://msu.edu/~jungahre/transmedia/heart-of-darkness.html>.
“Ithaca Reads Things Fall Apart.” TCPL – Ithaca Reads Things Fall Apart. Tompkins County Public Library, 28 Aug. 2016. Web. 21 Jan. 2017. <http://tcpl.org/community-read/thingsfallapart/index.html>.
