Texts I’m Studying at A Level English

I do English Literature and Language at A Level. I started my second year in May, and I’m enjoying it more than ever. I definitely prefer the Literature side, but I do enjoy both. I re-read The Handmaid’s Tale recently, which is what inspired me to write this post. We’re studying three texts that will show up on our exam, so I thought I’d write a post about what I like about them.

1. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This book is definitely disturbing, but I like that Atwood doesn’t shy away from anything. In an interview, she actually said that everything in the book is based on events in real life. For example, there is a part where the daughters are being married off to angels/guardians. They had their husbands selected for them, which is very similar to the  Unification Church and Moon choosing who was married. This book was written in the 80’s, but there have been comparisons to present time, which I can see, too.

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

There are also a lot of hard-hitting themes in this book, but again, I like how Hosseini doesn’t sugar coat them. He writes the truth… There are awful things that are happening in the world, and I admire Hosseini for bringing awareness to them. The plot of The Kite Runner is also very engaging, and although there are times when I couldn’t stand the main character, I did connect with him.

3. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

I haven’t read all of this yet, as we read it as a class and we broke up for the Summer Holidays before we could finish it, but I have been enjoying it so far. I find some of the characters annoying (Stanley and Blanche) but the plot has been interesting so far, so I’m excited to finish it when we go back in September.

What books do you like that you read at school, if there are any?

-Books&Belle xx