# Required Reading



## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

I know from the What's the WORST book you've ever read?? we all had books that we were forced to read in school and that we hated. But was there any required reading that you ended up loving?


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

One of my favorite books was Alas, Babylon. It's about a family in Florida who have survived a nuclear war, and it had a lot of great characters. It was fun to read an apocalyptic book that was actually a little hopeful instead of all the dark ones that we also read that year.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

As I think about it (it's difficult remembering that many years ago), somewhat curiously, the two that come to mind both have to do with men at sea: _Moby Dick_ and _The Old Man and the Sea_.

And on top of that, I really liked Jack London's _The Sea Wolf_, though I chose to read that for a book report -- it wasn't specifically "required.".


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## pomlover2586 (Feb 14, 2009)

I read the following in High School and loved them.

Poisonwood Bible
Grapes of Wrath
Romeo & Juliet


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## Jane917 (Dec 29, 2009)

In junior high I was required to read Per Hansa and I loved it!


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## RavenclawPrefect (May 4, 2009)

marianner said:


> One of my favorite books was Alas, Babylon. It's about a family in Florida who have survived a nuclear war, and it had a lot of great characters. It was fun to read an apocalyptic book that was actually a little hopeful instead of all the dark ones that we also read that year.


I didn't have to read this as required reading but I still loved it. I usually drag it out every few years for a re-read


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The only required reading I ever read was _Pride & Prejudice_, and I enjoyed it. You would think it would have inspired me to do more required reading, but it didn't. Unless Cliff Notes count?

Betsy


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## Ottie (Aug 31, 2009)

We had to read this for our 12th grade english class



and


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

The only author I discovered in school - and was blown away by the novel - was Jerzy Kosinski's harrowing "The Painted Bird." This was in an English class where we were reading the Bible as literature. And in conjunction with the various books from the Bible we read other thematically related works. When we got to The Book of Job we were given the choice of either reading "The Painted Bird" or Voltaire's "Candide." When the teacher held up the books side by side most students voted for "Candide." It is significantly shorter. Then the teacher offered to read us a few pages from each book to help us decide. When he was done the majority of the class switched their votes to the much longer "The Painted Bird." It's a singular novel. There are images from it that have been permanently branded into my brain. Alas, not yet Kindleized.


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## Maxx (Feb 24, 2009)

Junior year of high school was American Lit. We read many great books including The Scarlet Letter, To Kill A Mockingbird and Huck Finn to name a few, but one I really remember loving was "My Antonia by Willa Cather. I remembered loving it, but couldn't remember anything about it. So, one of my first reads on my new kindle was My Antonia and I love it again.










Maxx


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

marianner said:


> One of my favorite books was Alas, Babylon. It's about a family in Florida who have survived a nuclear war, and it had a lot of great characters. It was fun to read an apocalyptic book that was actually a little hopeful instead of all the dark ones that we also read that year.


I read Alas Babylon on my own in high school, and it is a long-time favorite. I've reread my original copy many times.

I was actually assigned to read "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke in high school, and though Clarke wasn't (and isn't my favorite science fiction author, I was tickled to read it. Hadn't read it before and haven't read it since, though! It isn't available on Kindle, but here is a DTB link:

http://www.amazon.com/Childhoods-End-Del-Rey-Impact/dp/0345444051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263098654&sr=1-1

And believe it or not, I read MacBeth in 11th grade (same teacher who had us read Childhood's End, now that I think about it!) and I liked it very well. I read Hamlet a year later, and enjoyed it, though not as much as MacBeth.

And I've always enjoyed Greek Mythology, wherever I read it. Some stories better than others, of course!


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## Cora (Dec 18, 2009)

In 6th grade I was in honors classes, and had the chance to read _The Giver_ which is one of my favorite books that just stuck with me through my life. In high school, I really enjoyed _The Great Gatsby, Beowulf, Othello_ (and other Shakespearean works, though Othello sticks with me the most) and perhaps _The Bluest Eye_.

College required reading was a bit more varied (especially in specialized English courses). I had already read _The Handmaid's Tale_ before I was required to read it, and I loved Ursula K. Le Guin's short story _The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas_.


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## hsuthard (Jan 6, 2010)

marianner said:


> One of my favorite books was Alas, Babylon. It's about a family in Florida who have survived a nuclear war, and it had a lot of great characters. It was fun to read an apocalyptic book that was actually a little hopeful instead of all the dark ones that we also read that year.


I just read that book last year and LOVED it.

I would contribute "To Kill a Mockingbird." I just loved that story.


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## Digital Tempest (Dec 17, 2009)

Cora said:


> In 6th grade I was in honors classes, and had the chance to read _The Giver_ which is one of my favorite books that just stuck with me through my life. In high school, I really enjoyed _The Great Gatsby, Beowulf, Othello_ (and other Shakespearean works, though Othello sticks with me the most) and perhaps _The Bluest Eye_.
> 
> College required reading was a bit more varied (especially in specialized English courses). I had already read _The Handmaid's Tale_ before I was required to read it, and *I loved Ursula K. Le Guin's short story The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas*_.
> _


_

I loved that, too. I read it in my college English class. The textbook paired stories with similar themes to be discussed. The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas was paired with Harrison Bergeron. Both stories stayed with me.

I credit my English class for introducing me to Jane Eyre. I loved that book and still do to this day._


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## libros_lego (Mar 24, 2009)

10th: Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
11th: Huck Finn and Joy Luck Club
12th: Oedipus Rex, All Quiet on the Western Front, and Macbeth


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## mlewis78 (Apr 19, 2009)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> The only required reading I ever read was _Pride & Prejudice_, and I enjoyed it. You would think it would have inspired me to do more required reading, but it didn't. Unless Cliff Notes count?
> 
> Betsy


You just skipped what you were assigned to read in English classes?


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

The one that comes to mind is _Gone with the Wind_. Also, _Catcher in the Rye_, but when I re-read it a few years later, I wondered why I'd loved it so much when I was 16. Opposite reaction to re-read of _Pride and Prejudice_: thought it was just OK when I was 14, but loved it when I re-read it as an adult. Hmmm....maybe I should re-read GWTW and see if I feel differently now.

N


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

marianner said:


> One of my favorite books was Alas, Babylon. It's about a family in Florida who have survived a nuclear war, and it had a lot of great characters. It was fun to read an apocalyptic book that was actually a little hopeful instead of all the dark ones that we also read that year.


I read that and really liked it. In the same unit we also read:

























Clearly we were doing a nuclear war theme and obviously it was meaningful to me, since I remember all the books. Of all these books, it appears that only *The Mouse That Roared *is available for the Kindle.

L


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## LauraB (Nov 23, 2008)

Shakespeare's King Lear was the book I read in college that I really ended up enjoying. I didn't like Shakespeare in high school and my college instructor, because of his enthusiasm was able to make the Bard someone I found interesting.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Leslie said:


> I read that and really liked it. In the same unit we also read:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Just as a side-note for those who may not know, Hersey's "Hiroshima" is non-fiction.


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## Sariy (Jan 18, 2009)

I spent two months in Israel in high school and we had a few books we had to read. One was The Tel by James A. Michener (I can never find it) and the other two were Night and Day by Elie Wiesel.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Do you mean _The Source_? 


One of my favorite Michener books. . . .not available for Kindle, alas.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

I don't remember anything that I read in school. I took 4 years if English, so I expect I read quite a few of these, I just can't remember a single one. 

However, since I'm homeschooling the kids, I read many of the books they're assigned. Hopefully, I'll remember them this time around.


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## Sariy (Jan 18, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Do you mean _The Source_?
> 
> 
> One of my favorite Michener books. . . .not available for Kindle, alas.


That might be it. But I could swear it was called The Tel, or maybe it was the Tel we visited and we had to read _The Source_. It's been so long and I never did read the Michener books. But I read the others.


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## summerteeth (Dec 23, 2009)

_Sula_ by Toni Morrison
_Maggie, a Girl of the Streets_ by Stephen Crane
_One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ by Ken Kasey


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Sariy said:


> That might be it. But I could swear it was called The Tel, or maybe it was the Tel we visited and we had to read _The Source_. It's been so long and I never did read the Michener books. But I read the others.


It was more or less about the tel, Megiddo, though I think he gave it a different name. But it had an underground passage to the town well and all. Having read _The Source_ before I visited Israel in 1996 I found our visit to that particular site very interesting. . . .


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## BoomerSoonerOKU (Nov 22, 2009)

Alas, there isn't a Kindle version yet, but this was on the reading list for a history class I took in college. "Bread Givers" by Anzia Yezierska:



It's the story of a Polish (Jewish) family that has immigrated to America. It's a look at "Old World" vs "New World" through the eyes of a young Jewish girl.

It's a quick read, but I remember it being very striking and powerful. In fact, other than philosophy books/novels it's the only required read that I ever went back and read again (outside of the obvious high school classics).


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

My favorite required reading title from high school was T. H. White's _The Once and Future King_.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

Plenty!

Books I liked, though some I'd have liked better at my own pace (and certainly forgetting many):
_Hamlet_, _Romeo & Juliet_, _To Kill A Mockingbird_, _Crime & Punishment_, _The Plague_, _The Great Gatsby_, _Death of a Salesman_, _The Catcher in the Rye_, _Cry, The Beloved Country_, _A Doll's House_, _Huck Finn_, _East of Eden_ (the only Steinbeck I liked... it was also a free-choice book - so not quite required reading), _Brave New World_, _Anthem_, _Night_, _Fahrenheit 451_, _Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead_, _Pygmalion_, etc.

I probably remember most of them more fondly now than in school, but many I know I liked a lot back then.

Ones I disliked,
_The Scarlet Letter_, Anything else by Steinbeck, _Gulliver's Travels_ (A summer reading), _Beloved_ (which still doesn't make sense), _Macbeth_, _As I Lay Dying_ (I liked _A Rose for Emily_, though), _Lord of the Flies_, etc.


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

I should try to get all of these required readings on Kindle! Many should be free on Gutenberg.


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## Prazzie (Oct 25, 2009)

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. Many students were disgusted and shocked by it. Once you accept the premise (a freak-show family where the mother takes poisonous substances during pregnancies to breed more "freaks"), it's quite good.

Not available for Kindle (in my country), but here's a link to the paperback:


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

Have to add _Animal Farm_ and _The Invisible Man_ to the list.

N


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## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

For me there were a few that stood out that I enjoyed although they were required (which I have a stupid knee-jerk reaction of starting out hating anything I am required to read)

The Plague by Camus
A Separate Peace by Knowles (which I know some people on the board hated)


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Required reading led me to some of my favourite books:
The Count of Monte Cristo, Notes from the Underground, The Sound and The Fury, East of Eden

Although, it also led me to some of my least favourite: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, The Scarlet Letter, The Pearl, The Black Pearl, and that book I can't remember the name of about a priest who does some stuff and then dies.


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## Prazzie (Oct 25, 2009)

AddieLove said:


> ...and that book I can't remember the name of about a priest who does some stuff and then dies.


Rofl! Sounds brilliant


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Prazzie said:


> Rofl! Sounds brilliant


Oh, it truly was. By the way, I put the description into Google and found it: The Power and the Glory
Well, technically I put in "Priest Mexico Book" because I remembered something about sand and Mexico.

Although, now I've spoiled the ending ... well ... at least you don't know what type of stuff he did?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

AddieLove said:


> Oh, it truly was. By the way, I put the description into Google and found it: The Power and the Glory
> Well, technically I put in "Priest Mexico Book" because I remembered something about sand and Mexico.
> 
> Although, now I've spoiled the ending ... well ... at least you don't know what type of stuff he did?


I don't know that "does some stuff and dies" is really a spoiler. I mean, that could apply to a Harry Potter book...LOL or the Thorn Birds or even an Agatha Christie mystery (don't they have vicars and don't they do things?). Or Gertie Kindle's favorite writer, Susan Howatch. She has priests who do things....

L


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## Susan in VA (Apr 3, 2009)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I was actually assigned to read "Childhood's End" by Arthur C. Clarke in high school


Wow, I wish I'd had your English teacher!

What I expected to dislike, but didn't: _Frankenstein_, _Tain Bo Cuailnge_, the _Mahabharata_.

Another that surprised me wasn't required reading for _my_ English class but for the one my boyfriend was in (we were high school juniors). He had to read _Battle Cry_ by Leon Uris, and I picked it up one day and read the first couple of pages while waiting for him to finish talking to a teacher. Went and bought my own copy the next day, then proceeded to read all of the author's other novels too. I still think _Battle Cry_ is one of the best, though based on the title and description there's no way I would have bought it, certainly not in high school.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Malweth said:


> I should try to get all of these required readings on Kindle! Many should be free on Gutenberg.


Be careful with the Gutenberg and "Crime and Punishment." Their translation is likely to be Constance Garnett's from 1914. She didn't just translate into English, she rewrote or omitted things she found offensive. A lot of people do like her "interpretation" of Dostoyevsky because it has a certain flow. But what you read won't necessarily be Dostoyevsky!


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## boydm (Mar 21, 2009)

Here were my favorites in high school:

1984
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Lord of the Flies
To Kill a Mockingbird
All Quiet on the Western Front
A Separate Peace (which is doubly cool because I recently discovered that my father went to Exeter at the same time as John Knowles; don't know if they knew each other)


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

AddieLove said:


> Required reading led me to some of my favourite books:
> The Count of Monte Cristo, Notes from the Underground, The Sound and The Fury, East of Eden


The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all-time favorites! I haven't read any of the others you listed, but now I'll have to try them!


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## Sparkplug (Feb 13, 2009)

I never really minded required reading while in school. Some of my favorite books I read for the first time as "required reading" -- _The God of Small Things_ and _A Confederacy of Dunces_ are two that come to mind. There were only few required reading books/plays that I did dislike. Dickens' _Great Expectations_ and Shakespeare's _Julius Caesar_ were two that I despised having to read.


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## Addie (Jun 10, 2009)

Leslie said:


> I don't know that "does some stuff and dies" is really a spoiler. I mean, that could apply to a Harry Potter book...LOL or the Thorn Birds or even an Agatha Christie mystery (don't they have vicars and don't they do things?). Or Gertie Kindle's favorite writer, Susan Howatch. She has priests who do things....
> 
> L


 Well, that's good. I mean, I hated the book, but I would hate to ruin it for someone else if they wanted to try. And there is quite a lot he does between not being dead and being dead. I promise!



dpinmd said:


> The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my all-time favorites! I haven't read any of the others you listed, but now I'll have to try them!


I loved The Count of Monte Cristo so much. I actually read the abridged version in school, so I went out immediately to buy and read the unabridged ... and then became very annoyed when I noticed they had omitted one small scene.
East of Eden is a brilliant book, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed Notes From the Underground (excluding the hasty last chapter) as well. It was the beginning of my Russian author obsession.
As far as The Sound and the Fury, I absolutely adored this book, but there are many who despise it. I liked it mainly because the style was so intriguing and refreshing, but I had many classmates find the book confusing and convoluted.


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## Christopher Meeks (Aug 2, 2009)

This is a fascinating thread--because I'm on the other end of things, assigning books to my college English students, remembering all the books I hated reading when I was in college and trying to find novels that students can connect to and learn from. Students typically aren't excited about reading any novel, but what's so fun for me is certain books have students so engaged, they didn't know reading could be so interesting. Many of them end up reading ahead of the assignments, something I'd never done in college.

For most semesters, I try different books for teaching, either novels I've loved or ones that look interesting and I've meant to read so I'll assign it and thus read it the semester before. I always have two novels, and I make one from a male author, the other, a female. Thus, I've pushed myself, too, rather than staying with the same books semester after semester.

A few books that were definitely different but had the students talking were Tim O'Brien's "In the Lake of the Woods" and Will Clarke's "Lord Vishnu's Love Handles." Particularly huge hits have been "The Kite Runner," "The Lovely Bones," The Hours," "The Handmaid's Tale," and "Water for Elephants." I've sensed that literary books with strong stories work best. I ended up making a list of the best books loved by my college students on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/listmania/fullview/R1V0B2EOFDH2MA/ref=cm_pdp_lm_title_2

I haven't used a book that most people hated, but there have been a few books that were not as enthusiastically liked, such as Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five." I love that book, but the students didn't find it funny or particularly telling. (Another semester I tried Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," which did get a great response.) There wasn't a universal love of Walter Mosley's "Little Scarlet" or Patricia Cornwell's "All That Remains." While mysteries have the page-turning quality many like, mysteries don't hold up for rigorous discussions about life as we know it.

Anyway, I come from this with a few more titles that I might try in the future.

--Christopher Meeks


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Chris> I see you include "The English Patient" on your list. It's one of my favorite novels. And I love the Anthony Minghella film. His script for the movie is a work of art. The shooting script is radically different from how the film ended up being. The structure is completely different and there are a few characters who are not in the novel, including Hana's fiance. Because Minghella wasn't dealing with Hana's step-father as the reason she was so devoted to Almasy, Minghella created her fiance as a character and the reason she takes care of Almasy. When she says "I'm in love with ghosts" - it's not a rhetorical statement. Minghella ended up cutting him from the film, but I think it was a mistake. His presence would have enriched the story. I think the script at the following link is the shooting script; I scrolled through it and saw the scenes with the fiance. It'd be a fascinating comparison to do between the novel and the shooting script.

http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/englishpatient.html


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## kamuu (Dec 28, 2009)

I don't remember what I had to read in High School but I do remember my Junior High teachers had me read Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou and Dragon's Dawn by Anne McCaffrey.  Pillars was for a history class extra credit and I loved it in 8th grade, my parents were pissed at my teacher for recommending it to a 13 year old due to some racy depictions and language.  The other two were for the same lit class Maya Angelou was also for extra credit, the teacher was a little wacky, but it was nice not to have to read the classics most of the books she had us read were less than 50 years old at the time.


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## Christopher Meeks (Aug 2, 2009)

DYB--

I loved "The English Patient" a great deal, too, and also showed the movie in class after we'd discussed the book fully (which I did also with "The Hours"), and then I asked the students on the final to compare and contrast the film and the book. This is where I'm often in awe of my students: they take these complicated stories and dive in, considering things they never had thought about. Perhaps the biggest challenge in teaching English is encouraging the growth of their thinking. For many of them, their writing and thinking skills improve over the semester, and finding the right novels for this is something I fret over. Next semester, I'm bringing back "Water for Elephants" and adding John Irving's "A Widow for One Year." I wasn't quite ready to use Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude" yet. Maybe the summer. Then I'll need a contemporary book by a female author. Any suggestions?


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

Chris, I see so many of my favorites on your list, so I can't wait to try some of the ones there that I haven't yet read!

As for a contemporary book by a female author, I don't know if YA fiction is "beneath" your students, but I really LOVED The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Or what about The Help by Kathryn Stockett?


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Chrismeeks said:


> DYB--
> 
> I loved "The English Patient" a great deal, too, and also showed the movie in class after we'd discussed the book fully (which I did also with "The Hours"), and then I asked the students on the final to compare and contrast the film and the book. This is where I'm often in awe of my students: they take these complicated stories and dive in, considering things they never had thought about. Perhaps the biggest challenge in teaching English is encouraging the growth of their thinking. For many of them, their writing and thinking skills improve over the semester, and finding the right novels for this is something I fret over. Next semester, I'm bringing back "Water for Elephants" and adding John Irving's "A Widow for One Year." I wasn't quite ready to use Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude" yet. Maybe the summer. Then I'll need a contemporary book by a female author. Any suggestions?


Just FYI, the shooting script I linked to is very different from the final film!

A contemporary female author... Maybe Margaret Atwood? I've also read some great reviews about "The Dew Breaker" by Edwidge Danticat.


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## Christopher Meeks (Aug 2, 2009)

dpinmd said:


> Chris, I see so many of my favorites on your list, so I can't wait to try some of the ones there that I haven't yet read!
> 
> As for a contemporary book by a female author, I don't know if YA fiction is "beneath" your students, but I really LOVED The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Or what about The Help by Kathryn Stockett?


Funny you should mention YA. I also happen to teach Children's Literature, and that's a whole other list of books I have created. Each semester, we read over a dozen books in that class, from picture books through YA, and the first Harry Potter book is where we start. Right now "The Giver" is the YA book I'm using because I'm so stunned at how rich it is, and when I learned that sixth through ninth-grade teachers often use that book, I'm wondering if much of the book goes over kids' heads. Still, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is often used for the same age group, and that's an emotionally complex story, too. It shows that students want honest experiences, and a class discussion can bring out many of the subtle issues at work. I'll look at your suggestions as I'm also swapping books out to keep the class interesting for me.


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## Christopher Meeks (Aug 2, 2009)

DYB said:


> Just FYI, the shooting script I linked to is very different from the final film!
> 
> A contemporary female author... Maybe Margaret Atwood? I've also read some great reviews about "The Dew Breaker" by Edwidge Danticat.


There's a published version of the shooting script, too, of "The English Patient" that I thought I had but see I don't. If I remember right, it has short essays in it. The book is out of print, but Amazon has it for one cent (plus $3.99 shipping). I used to collect screenplays to my favorite films--actual scripts with brads--and I liked to see the early drafts to see how the final version of a film differed from what was written. Now I spend my time with novels as I'm no longer writing screenplays. There's so much more in novels.

As for my class, Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale," was a huge success, and I've read other of her books, which I've thoroughly enjoyed, but none has hit me as a story a college class might get into. I always use at least one of her short stories in my Introduction to Literature classes. I'll keep looking at her novels for just the right one. I'll now check out the two books you suggested--many thanks! Now that "The Handmaid's Tale" has Cliff Notes for it, I won't use it again. I happen to think Cliff Notes' points are often quite good, but too many students would only read the Cliff Notes and not the book. What my students don't get at first is I'm not a high school teacher testing to see if they read the book or not. I assume they are, and I want them marking up their books with favorite lines highlighted, questions they have, turns that surprise and more. I want them to be engaged and active readers. I want their thoughts.


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## DYB (Aug 8, 2009)

Chrismeeks said:


> There's a published version of the shooting script, too, of "The English Patient" that I thought I had but see I don't. If I remember right, it has short essays in it. The book is out of print, but Amazon has it for one cent (plus $3.99 shipping). I used to collect screenplays to my favorite films--actual scripts with brads--and I liked to see the early drafts to see how the final version of a film differed from what was written. Now I spend my time with novels as I'm no longer writing screenplays. There's so much more in novels.


I don't think that the published version of the script is the shooting script. I think that is simply a transcript of the movie.


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

Chrismeeks said:


> Funny you should mention YA. I also happen to teach Children's Literature, and that's a whole other list of books I have created. Each semester, we read over a dozen books in that class, from picture books through YA, and the first Harry Potter book is where we start. Right now "The Giver" is the YA book I'm using because I'm so stunned at how rich it is, and when I learned that sixth through ninth-grade teachers often use that book, I'm wondering if much of the book goes over kids' heads. Still, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is often used for the same age group, and that's an emotionally complex story, too. It shows that students want honest experiences, and a class discussion can bring out many of the subtle issues at work. I'll look at your suggestions as I'm also swapping books out to keep the class interesting for me.


Hmm, I'll have to look for "The Giver." That's another one I'm not familiar with, but "stunning richness" is definitely a great recommendation!

Oh, and because my previous post was not particularly clear on this point, The Hunger Games is YA fiction (and is the first book in a trilogy, the third book of which is not yet released). The Help is adult fiction.


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## Sparkplug (Feb 13, 2009)

Chris, I really enjoyed perusing your listamania list. There were a lot of books that I love and a few that I know need to put on my personal "Books to Read" list (which contains a lot of "required reading" books on this thread.)

As for contemporary female writers, what about The God of Small Things? I read that in a college literature class, and we all really enjoyed it. Or maybe The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver? Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (which might be really intersting if your students are studying Philosophy), Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks also come to mind. I saw The Time Traveler's Wife included on your list, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay seems to be of a similar caliber.

For Young Adult literature, The Book Thief is one you should check out, if you haven't already done so. My book club loved it when we read it earlier this year.


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## Melonhead (Jan 1, 2010)

Lorna Doone in the 8th grade. Jane Eyre in the 10th, I think.

In college I took a fluff current literature class and read  Bech a Book, and Portnoy's Complaint. Yes I am very old.


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## dpinmd (Dec 30, 2009)

Sparkplug said:


> Chris, I really enjoyed perusing your listamania list. There were a lot of books that I love and a few that I know need to put on my personal "Books to Read" list (which contains a lot of "required reading" books on this thread.)
> 
> As for contemporary female writers, what about The God of Small Things? I read that in a college literature class, and we all really enjoyed it. Or maybe The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver? Elegance of a Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (which might be really intersting if your students are studying Philosophy), Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, and People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks also come to mind. I saw The Time Traveler's Wife included on your list, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay seems to be of a similar caliber.
> 
> For Young Adult literature, The Book Thief is one you should check out, if you haven't already done so. My book club loved it when we read it earlier this year.


Eek, my "wish list" grows every time I open this thread!! I loved _The Poisonwood Bible_, _The Time Traveler's Wife_, _Sarah's Key_, and _The Book Thief_. Your other suggestions are now on my list... (I see that you recommend _Interpreter of Maladies_ -- have you also read _The Namesake_ by the same author, and if so, did you prefer _Interpreter of Maladies_? _The Namesake_ is another "wish list" book for me -- several friends have recommended it -- but I'm wondering if I should put her other book above it on the list if it's better.)


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## Sparkplug (Feb 13, 2009)

dpinmd said:


> Eek, my "wish list" grows every time I open this thread!! I loved _The Poisonwood Bible_, _The Time Traveler's Wife_, _Sarah's Key_, and _The Book Thief_. Your other suggestions are now on my list... (I see that you recommend _Interpreter of Maladies_ -- have you also read _The Namesake_ by the same author, and if so, did you prefer _Interpreter of Maladies_? _The Namesake_ is another "wish list" book for me -- several friends have recommended it -- but I'm wondering if I should put her other book above it on the list if it's better.)


I love both books; "The Interpreter of Maladies" just happened to be the first that popped into my mind.


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## askenase13 (Mar 1, 2009)

My senior year in High Schoo, my English course was on Creative Writing.  I'm not much of a writer, but I do love drama.  So, my first suggestions would be Eugene O'Neill plays (especially his later plays "Desire Under the Elms" and "Iceman Cometh".)  Also, that year we read "Les Miserables", by Victor Hugo.  I'm sure it was abridged but I have since read the complete book., I loved it but do NOT recommend it for college students.  But it is a great book.


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## Author Eyes (Nov 26, 2009)

I can't remember if it was required reading or if I just read it on my own, but in my first year of college, I read a couple of books by Hermann Hesse that I greatly enjoyed.


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## magyarbill (Dec 20, 2009)

For fun I took a course in 20th Century American Literature in college and loved most of the required reading - but I must admit that I just could not stand Faulkner.

Some of the ones I loved:

The Octopus by Frank Norris - part of the triology of the wheat

U.S.A. by John dos Passos -  a triology that is a fantastic historical novel of America in the first part of the 20th century (unfortunately no Kindle edition but available in ePub format)

Babbit and Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis - both books could have been written today - Babbit about business boosterism and Elmer Gantry about religious shysters

In high school I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and Othello among others.


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## chipotle (Jan 1, 2010)

The first book I was assigned to read in school was The Hobbit. I loved it so much and it was also the first time I realized homework could be really fun. I had a great Bible in Literature class in high school - my favorite book from that class was Steinbeck's East of Eden. 

I continued enjoying reading books for class until college when we read Ulysses.


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