So I (25F) went to a private school and didn’t read all the classic “I read that in high school” books. We only read one Shakespeare play- Julius Caesar- we read animal farm and did a whole thing on Edgar Allen Poe… that’s pretty much it though. We never even read To Kill a Mockingbird! I really feel like I’m missing out lol. We also covered a few plays like Our Town and 12 angry men. What books am I missing out on? I want to catch up on “required reading” so to speak- also if anyone knows where I can watch or listen to a lecture about literature I’d love to do that too
by FlightTraditional717
10 Comments
We also read Lord of the Flies! And I did read a few on my own like The Great Gatsby, The Giver, The Outsiders, maybe a few more that I’m forgetting
Flowers for Algernon, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Outsiders, and Rebecca were the ones I can remember. All great reads!
One of the books we read in high school that I really enjoyed reading and still reread till this day is The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I also love every book by Jane Austen.
Catcher in the Rye is my all time favorite. It gets a lot of flack because people think teenagers read it and their takeaway is that the main character is edgy and misunderstood, and they also want to be edgy and misunderstood. In reality its a really incredible story of coming of age and the significant fear it can come with, and IMO seeing someone go through a mental health crisis in real time. It is a fantastic read as an adult.
*Slaughterhouse-Five* by Kurt Vonnegut and *Catch-22* by Joseph Heller
I went to high school in the US and I remember very distinctly reading at least one Holocaust centric book a year. Apparently kids aren’t required to read things like that anymore? Night by Elie Wiesel is one I’ll never forget. We also read Hiroshima by John Hersey, and the Color of Water by James McBride. All three did immense rewiring to my young adolescent brain.
Books I remember reading in high school in addition to some of the ones you mentioned are 1984 and the Odyssey.
Flowers for Algernon. Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Animal Farm
__*Brave New World*__ and __*Fahrenheit 451*__