The Picture of Dorian Gray-by Oscar Wilde--SUMMER READING BOOK 4

Picked up this book in 10th grade: was uninterested.  Picked up this book now (after reading challenging 11th grade English books):  liked it so much more!!!  I now appreciated the themes of beauty, desire, rash emotions, and human nature tremendously after I read The Great Gastsby.  In fact, I enjoyed this book because of its subtle suspense leading up to the dramatic, tragic ending.  This book has helped me to begin a quest to read ever-more mind-provoking books (my next book: This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald).  In The Picture of Dorian Gray, I was captivated and drawn into the tranquil, carefree, innocent backdrop of London in the 1890s, the setting of the story, by Oscar Wilde's magnificent poetic descriptions of the natural world and beauty.  This book was full of paradoxes describing the stark, almost gloomy nature of beauty.  In all, this was a great book to start off a challenging year in 12th grade English.