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I have to read 3 books this summer and essays on each. For the first book, I have to read Heart of Darkness. For the second book, I can choose from The Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God, or Ceremony. For my third book, I can choose from The Awakening or The Grapes of Wrath.

I have heard of The Grapes of Wrate, The Awakening, and The Color Purple before. I only know that The Awakening is a book on feminism and The Color Purple is a naturalist novel. Could you tell a few things about each book? It would be greatly appreciated.

By Mrpancake_2000 (Mrpancake_2000) on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:41 pm: Edit

I know nearly everyone I talked to hated GRAPES, but I personally thought it was a great novel. If you can get into the story and dialect, as I did, I found the characters struggle to find work fascinating. A long book, but not necessarily a long read (and that is coming from someone who REALLY DOES NOT LIKE TO READ )

By Njgirl (Njgirl) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 12:43 am: Edit

I thought the color purple was pretty good. The only downside is that it can be frustrating to read at first because it's written in slang but I think most people get used to it after a few pages...(i did anyway) It's probably a book that girls would like more than guys would considering the plot revolves around a slave girl's life. If you like reading about slavery and women's rights..this book's for you.

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Wednesday, July 02, 2003 - 02:51 pm: Edit

I got used to the vernacular in Huck Finn this year so I could probably get used to that as well.

By Shilpa1125 (Shilpa1125) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 09:35 pm: Edit

I've read Color Purple, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and The Awakening. The Color Purple was interesting, The Awakening was okay- there were parts I didn't like, and TEWWG was good too. Their Eyes Were Watching God follows a black woman's life, and her marriages and friendships. If I'm remembering right, the dialogue is completely slang, but I don't think the actual narration is. I'm pretty sure I liked the Color Purple more, but it's been a long time since I've read that so I'm not positive.

By Jje (Jje) on Friday, July 04, 2003 - 10:39 pm: Edit

if you go to http://www.gradesaver.com/classic/title.html
you can get a lot of info on the book. I would give it a try.

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Saturday, July 05, 2003 - 12:04 am: Edit

Yeah, I've been there before.