What are the best books to read/teach to pass the AP English exam?

In my AP English class we read several independent books that my teacher picked out herself. As far as some well-known literature, I would recommend The Catcher in The Rye or Johnny Got His Gun. Also, The Bluest Eye or anything like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

The books I remember reading in my senior AP class were 1984 by George Orwell (check into Animal Farm as well), Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, a few by Shakespeare like Othello and Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, Pride and Prejudice, Slaughterhouse Five, Heart of Darkness and A Clockwork Orange.

@Vunessuh You must’ve had a very enlightened teacher to get to read A Clockwork Orange. Very jealous indeed!

@tigerlilly2 If I remember correctly, that was one of the books on the outside reading list. :)
Another great one was Fast Food Nation!

Ulysses by Joyce? I think that was one of the one’s i had to tap.

AP Literature and Composition
or
AP Language and composition

What helped me was less of book specificity, but learning how
to quickly craft a solid, timed essay, and how to
analyze the literature. Pathos Logos and Ethos, were
drilled into my head :]

@boxer3 Literature

hmm, Heart of Darkness, Things fall Apart, hmmm, let me think on it

This list is good because, although it has many titles, it tells you which books were used each year. (I would first study the works that have been used most often):

http://homepage.mac.com/mseffie/AP/APtitles.html

the bottom of the page offers a “Most Frequently Cited” section. I would start there