Carrie, Cash, and I went to Ron and Erin's house on Friday evening. Erin had a co-worker over also who, like Erin, is a 9th/10th grade English teacher. The topic turned to book lists as Erin's co-worker explained that she's about to start a unit on Cormac McCarthy's "The Road." We all agreed that that was an equally ambitions and badass book choice.
It got me thinking: "What books did I read in high school that I loved or that I hated?"
Here is what I came up with (leave your list in the comments):
Books I was forced to read in high school that I loved:
Fahrenheit 541
Brave New World
To Kill a Mocking Bird
1984
The Grapes of Wrath
The Old Man and the Sea
The Pearl
The Red Badge of Courage
Slaughterhouse-Five
Of Mice and Men (the first book ever to make me cry)
Books I was forced to read in high school and HATED:
The Great Gatsby
The Crucible
Beuwolf
The Joy Luck Club (the worst book in all of literature, as far as I'm concerned.)
10:4 is a pretty good ratio. Some of the books I loved are still some of my favorites of all time.
PS: Looks like I completed 14 assigned books in through four year in high school. I feel like that is a pretty decent amount considering there were probably some I didn't finish and others I forgot about.
Novel 4!
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Desert Divide is live and out in the world! What a great week it has been.
The book was published Monday. Since, I’ve confirmed one book signing in
August,...
4 years ago
7 comments:
To be honest, I can't remember all the things I was forced to read in school. Mostly we were given lists of books and told "choose one" That happened every year of high school. But of the ones I can remember...
Loved:
Fahrenheit 451
To Kill a Mocking Bird
1984
All the King's Men
The Inferno
The Invisible Man
The Great Gatsby
Waiting for Godot (does it count as a book even though it's only a two act play? Either way, I really enjoyed it)
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hamlet
King Lear
Frankenstein
Thought were average:
Oedipus the King
Don Quixote
The Scarlet Letter
Death of a Salesman
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Hated:
Wuthering Heights
Tale of Two Cities
The Iliad
The Odyssey
Beuwolf
The Catcher in the Rye
And I know that there were a few more, but I can't remember the titles.
The only four that I actually completed in H.S. were: To Kill a Mocking Bird, 1984, The Great Gatsby, and Of Mice and Men. The Great Gatsby was probably the first book to ever grab me. I think it was because I can still vividly remember seeing pictures in my brain of what was written. When I got to choose what I read I always read a Craig Lesley book. The first was Sky Fishermen. Then I read Winterkill and Riversong; which were about the same characters. Eventually I read The Storm Riders. I would suggest checking out his books.
Oh, and Craig Lesley is an Oregon resident:)
First off, how can both of you like The Great Gatsby? Everyone loves that book and it sucks!
Second, and this is just to Ashley: how did you not like Cather in the Rye?!? It is probably in the top five books for me of all time. Have you read it recently? That's gotta to be a re-read for you!
Third, Andrew, never heard of Craig Lesley, but I'll add him to my book queue.
I made it a point to see how well i could on papers and tests without actually reading them. I think the only book i finished in its entirety during High School was Slaughterhouse 5. I did a report on Portrait of Dorian Gray my senior year that i didn't read a single word of. Got an A.
I read Farenheit and Animal Farm in middle school and loved them, but i didn't read a whole lot else that i was supposed to. I think i'll take your list to the library and try and read them now.
Adam, I did that quite a bit as well. I also read Animal Farm in middle school and loved it a ton. The Portrait of Dorian Gray is actually a really facinating read, so I think its worth your time as well. Let me know which ones you're reading and I'll go back and re-read them and we'll have a good conversation about it.
I'm not sure why I enjoyed the Great Gatsby, I read it in 10th grade and there was just something about the story that grabbed me.
Catcher in the Rye just didn't do it for me. I chose to read it because I had heard so many great things about it and how everyone loved it, but while reading it - it took everything in me not to throw it across the room. I wanted to repeatedly punch Holden in the face. It was just rough to get through.
BUT, I do plan on re-reading most of those books. The only one's I've re-read since I graduated are 1984, The Inferno, Waiting for Godot, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Frankenstein. The rest are probably subject to change (except Wuthering Heights, I hated that crap).
Actually, my goal is to read 100+ books this year (I missed the goal by 30 or so in 2007..boo) so I'll probably squeeze Catcher in there sometime soon.
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