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Question: I need a recommendation of a book by a nonamerican author appropriate to teach high school students!?
I have been hunting online for hours now trying to decide on a book i want to read for my advanced english studies class, and it HAS to be appropriate for high school students!. The reason i say this is because i was wondering is "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" is appropriate because after doing research i''m concerned is going to have descriptive se scenes!. if not i would love to know!!! it looks like one hell of a read!.
but if you have any suggestions i am just looking for something i haven't read before, is by a non ANGLO writer (so no americans or english), and is something i could make lesson plans for!.
before i get rude comments, leave them at the door!. I am just curious and have done my own homework and i am in an english bachelor's program so i am aware of many great nonamerican writers!. waste someone else's time!.
other than that!.!.!. i want and need so much help!Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Hmm!.!.interesting question!. I do think that The Unbearable Lightness of Being has some inappropriate scenes!. In face, I am 100% sure you do not want to pick this book!. You should read it though!.!.!. a great book, but not appropriate for high school kids!.

As far as some of the other suggestions go, I would probably not recommend Russian authors!. I personally really enjoy them, and Crime and Punishment is one of my all time favorite novels!. If any of them, I would choose One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Solzhenitsyn because it is short, absorbing, and fairly easy to relate to!. It is stark though, having been set in a Siberian concentration camp!.

I saw a mention of Garcia Marquez!.!.!.and I think that the magical realists might be a good option!. 100 years of solitude is good, although fairly long!. It might also be difficult teaching them about it!. I know I would find it tough!.

One of my favorite authors is the Japanese Haruki Murakami!. His best novels (for me) were Kafka on the Shore, and The Wind-up Bird Chronicle!. I don't recall if there were inappropriate scenes though!. The would certainly enjoy reading his books if anything, which is the first step to success I think!.

Franz Kafka's metamorphosis might be an interesting choice!. Thomas Mann's Death in Venice and other stories (but make sure to get a good translation), are also wonderful, although there are some odd homosexual undertones that may not come across too well!.

I don't think I'd go with any heavy classics like Madame Bovary, although Joseph Conrad might be an idea!. They would probably quite enjoy Heart of Darkness!. I find the fact that he wrote in his third language surprising!. I think they would probably really enjoy Dumas who wrote The Count of Monte Christo, The Hunchback of Nottredam, and the Three Musketeers, but I can't imagine what you would teach them about the books!.

Alright, enough rambling, as much as I enjoy it :P Www@QuestionHome@Com

Hmm!. The only ones I can really think of are authors who have been translated from Spanish!. Gabriel Garcia Marquez comes to mind!. I didn't particularly like him, but I've heard of a lot of people who do!. And he was on my reading list freshman year (A hundred years of solitude)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende ( it has one small sex scene, but not graphic!.)

The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi

Miramar by Naguib Mahfouz

The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer

The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir

So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal el Saadawi

My Name is Red by Orhan PamukWww@QuestionHome@Com

Fyodor Dostoevsky is the author for you

Crime and Punishment- most studied
The Idiot- perfect novel to study I highly recommend
The Brothers Karamazov- considered his masterpiece!. May be slow especially with the christian imagery!. I highly recommendWww@QuestionHome@Com

The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay

Www@QuestionHome@Com

the stranger, by albert camusWww@QuestionHome@Com

I would recommend something they might not encounter otherwise (i!.e!., not a "classic" they might encounter in other literature classes like Dostoevsky or Tolstoy)!. Give them something fun and original!.

I think either The Cyberiad or Hospital of Transfiguration by Stanislaw Lem would be perfect!. He also wrote Solaris, which has been made into a movie twice (one directed by acclaimed Russian director Tarkovsky, the other starring no less than George Clooney)!.
He is Polish science fiction, philosophical, and satirical writer!. The Cyberiad was even turned into an opera and Douglas Adams' works (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) have been compared to it (Cyberiad came first)!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Stanislaw_L!.!.!.

The Cyberiad:
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/The_Cyberia!.!.!.
"The vast majority of characters are either robots, or intelligent machines!. The stories focus on problems of the individual and society, as well as on the vain search for human happiness through technological means!."

Hospital of Transfiguration:
"Hospital of the Transfiguration is the pensive story of Stefan Trzyniecki, a directionless, despairing young doctor who takes a job at a provincial Polish mental hospital at the outset of the war!. There he confronts the absurdity of life through events that occur both inside and outside the asylum walls!."

Solaris:
http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Solaris_(no!.!.!.
"While the narration suggests that humans study the planet, the opposite seems to be the case, where the titular alien planet, Solaris, examines the secret and often guilty thoughts of human beings!. These secrets and thoughts are given physical form on the space station which orbits the planet!. The novel is pervaded by a powerful and moving poetic sense of remoteness and loneliness!."


I also like Unlikely Stories, Mostly or Lanark by Alasdair Gray!. Lanark is a rare classic and Unlikely Stories is a collection of interesting short stories!. I think they are all clean, though it has been a while since I read it!. admittedly, he is Scottish, but most Americans have yet to discover him!.

http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Alasdair_Gr!.!.!.
Lanark: http://en!.wikipedia!.org/wiki/Lanark_(boo!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com