I'm a grade 11 student, I need a good fiction book that's not too long to read for my english class.?

Question

I like political fiction, but I'm open to anything as long as it's great.

haha, yeah, I should've added I've read the usuals like 1984, Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, Butterfly Revolution etc.

Answer 1

Try The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway. It can be read in less than a day but will stay with you forever.

Answer 2

The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
Alfred's life is going nowhere fast. He's a high-school dropout working at a grocery store. His best friend is drifting behind a haze of drugs and violence, and now some street punks are harassing him for something he didn't do. Feeling powerless and afraid, Alfred gathers up the courage to visit Donatelli's Gym, the neighborhood's boxing club. He wants to be a champion--on the streets and in his own life. Alfred doesn't quite understand when Mr. Donatelli tells him, "It's the climbing that makes the man. Getting to the top is an extra reward." In the end, he learns that a winner isn't necessarily the one standing when the fight is over. Teens and adults alike will be knocked out by this powerful story of how a frightened boy becomes a man.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forees
In 1943, with America deeply embedded in the worst of World War II, author Esther Forbes wrote a tale that touched on the founding of America itself. Since its publication, "Johnny Tremain" has remained one of the best known children's books ever written. It won the 1944 Newbery Award and is still read by schoolchildren everywhere. Heck, even Bart Simpson was lured into reading it in a "Simpsons" episode (Marge tells him that it's about a boy with a deformed hand and he' intrigued). Newbery award winners come and go. Sometimes they're remembered (ala "Caddie Woodlawn") and sometimes they're rightfully forgotten (ala "Daniel Boone"). "Johnny Tremain" is different because even reading it today the book remains readable, thoughtful, and interesting. It deserves its praise.

Answer 3

The Inside Ring---Michael Lawson
General Andy Banks, the Secretary of Homeland Security, is nursing a guilty conscience. Only days before an assassin's bullet winged the president and took the life of the president's longtime best friend, Banks had received a note with a dire warning: "Eagle One is in danger. Cancel Chattooga River. The inside ring has been compromised. This is not a joke." The message-on Secret Service stationery-was signed, "An agent in the wrong place." Banks immediately passed the note on to Secret Service Director Patrick Donnelly, who proceeded to ignore it.

Even after the supposed assassin is found dead, Banks is determined to dig a little deeper. He turns to Speaker of the House John Fitzgerald Mahoney. Mahoney has the perfect under-the-radar, go-to guy: Joe DeMarco, an honest lawyer with a sordid family past who owes his career to the Speaker. After one meeting with Banks, DeMarco realizes he's in way over his head. But Mahoney finds the prospect of taking down Donnelly irresistible, and sets DeMarco on a trail that twists through the Secret Service, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, and snakes all the way back to one of the more enduring mysteries of the 20th century.

Brimming with unparalleled authenticity-the kind that only a true insider can deliver-The Inside Ring marks the debut of a major new talent, and introduces a complex, intriguing character with many more cases ahead.

Answer 4

Try The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. It's a political dystopia, like 1984. It's set in a world that's obviously meant to be the USA once it's become a Christian theocracy in the near future. Women are not allowed to work (except as domestic help), own property or to read. Many are barren, so some women are classified as handmaids. Handmaids are walking wombs for rich men - their job is to produce offspring for the men they work for. The protagonist, Offred (handmaids aren't allowed to have names; they are "Of" + the name of their owner - Offred has a friend of sorts named Ofglen), remembers what life was like before - she was married and had a daughter and a job. She and her family tried to escape but failed and she hasn't seen them since. She's failed as a handmaid so far, and if she doesn't produce a child for her new employer then she will be exiled. She doesn't know who she can trust, since there are spies everywhere who try to root out traitors. The world that Atwood creates is frightening and very realistic, especially given the current political climate. It's a really good book that raises a lot of current issues.

Answer 5

Ned Vizzini writes awesome high school books. Check out Be More Chill or It's Kind Of A Funny Story.

IKOAFS is a little on the long side and you would probobally be better off with Be More Chill.

Be More Chill is a book about character Jeremy Heere who want's to be good with girls and be cool. He finds an unorthodox way and has some funny adventures throughout the year. I highly recommend it for a High School student. It's funny and a little serious but all around entertaining. Good luck and happy reading!

Answer 6

If you want political fiction, try "1984" by George Orwell.

J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" is also very popular, particularly with young people your age, and it's not very long.

If you're allowed to read plays, I found John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" to be really good (and if you have trouble visualizing some of it, Kenneth Branaugh and Emma Thompson did a very good TV performance of it that you could probably find on Netflix).

Answer 7

Confedaracy of Dunces

The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test-Tom Wolfe

On the Road- Jack Kerouac

In Cold Blood-Truman Capote

Anything by Hunter S Thompson-this isn't fiction but it's amazing writing.

Answer 8

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a good read. It's more medium-length, not "short," but the language isn't too difficult so it should be fast.

George Orwell.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

Lord of the Flies? But you probably read that in 10th grade.

Any sci-fi book by H.G. Wells. He wrote War of the Worlds, Invisible Man, The Island of Dr. Moreau.

Also... The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Answer 9

The Man Without a Country isn't too long and involves politics/US history. It's under 100 pages. Here's a summary from amazon:
"The Man Without a Country," written by Edward Everett Hale in 1863, tells the story of Philip Nolan, a young lieutenant in the United States Navy, who, at his court martial for treason, damned the United States and cavalierly wished that he might never hear her name again. Nolan's sentence was to have his wish fulfilled. For fifty-five years he was kept at sea, being repeatedly transferred from ships that approached land to those that were headed out to sea. Although Nolan was not treated like a prisoner, a unique protocol was developed that kept him from hearing or seeing any news from home.

Answer 10

Try something out of the ordinary.

The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell by Jorge Amado
Aura by Carlos Fuentes
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

Answer 11

To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee.

Interview With The Vampire by Anne Rice.