Post by irene adler on Jan 23, 2015 13:38:25 GMT -5
Pop culture happy hour (The NPR podcast) had a really interesting discussion this week about required high school reading and the impact it had on the round table members' lives.
What about you? Are there any books that were required reading that stick in your mind?
Their Eyes Were Watching God (HS) and the Outsiders (jr high) both really resonated with me. I think I read them both at least once a year.
Their Eyes Were Watching God and The Chosen (both HS) are two that come to mind right away for me. I'm sure as I think about it more more will come back, but those are the two I thought of right away.
I was a voracious reader from a young age. With four television stations, no close siblings, and living on a somewhat remote farm, probably explains it. I recall absolutely no required reading from school. That said, I'm old since. But that's odd right?
I know what my favorite books from those eras are, but none that were required reading.
Animal Farm the summer before 9th grade, which was totally lost on me. Ditto Watership Down.
Same year, The Agony and the Ecstasy the same year, along with I, Claudius. Man I hated that history teacher.
I loved Rebecca, but that's about it.
I often think of this book when I look out of the windows of my house and see the rabbit(s) in the front or backyard. I feel guilty that I live in their space and not the other way around, even though my house is not new construction. That book scarred me, lol.
I was a voracious reader from a young age. With four television stations, no close siblings, and living on a somewhat remote farm, probably explains it. I recall absolutely no required reading from school. That said, I'm old since. But that's odd right?
I know what my favorite books from those eras are, but none that were required reading.
Post by LoveTrains on Jan 23, 2015 14:07:41 GMT -5
I don't really remember the content of many of the books I read in high school. For example, I can tell you that I also remember reading Their Eyes were watching god, and I can tell you that I think it was written by Nora Zeal Hurston (is that right? i didn't google). And that perhaps it features an african american main character? But that is it.
We also read Hamlet in 12th grade. Romeo & Juliet in 9th grade. Macbeth in 10th grade.
I have this home video I found when cleaning at my parent's house last year. It is of these plays that we made at the end of the year in 12th grade English that were supposed to incorporate all the books we read that year. It was pretty damn hilarious but I have no clue what is going on except that I look like a crazed 18 year old giggling with my friends.
I remember really liking Waiting for Godot in 12th grade. That is it.
I was a voracious reader from a young age. With four television stations, no close siblings, and living on a somewhat remote farm, probably explains it. I recall absolutely no required reading from school. That said, I'm old since. But that's odd right?
I know what my favorite books from those eras are, but none that were required reading.
I am the same way. I didn't live on a farm, but grew up overseas with one english language TV station, and as an only child. I read a ton, but don't really remember loving any of the required reading, or what I was required to read!
I also LOVED (and still do) sci-fi/fantasy, which were never really on the docket for school reading.
But also, in attending an international school for K-7, I missed out on a bunch of common reading for US kids. I've never read To Kill A Mockingbird, or Lord of the Flies, or any of the other common ones I hear about.
The Good Earth, Pride & Prejudice were both summer reading and have stuck with me.
In class reading I only remember Billy Budd because it was the most atrocious piece of literature I have ever wasted my time on.
I don't recall that Jane Eyre was required for any of my classes, but I read it for fun and remember people being SHOCKED that I loved it. Still do love it too.
I was a voracious reader from a young age. With four television stations, no close siblings, and living on a somewhat remote farm, probably explains it. I recall absolutely no required reading from school. That said, I'm old since. But that's odd right?
I know what my favorite books from those eras are, but none that were required reading.
What were your favorites?
Rebecca was probably my all time favorite. I also read Jamaica Inn and The Birds. The Hound of the Baskervilles Agatha Christie's Marple series Flowers for Algernon When I was in grade school, I read every Trixie Belden mystery cover to cover, over and over. Before, Trixie, it was the Paddington books...that started in second or third grade. I can't believe after all this time, there's a movie.
In class reading I only remember Billy Budd because it was the most atrocious piece of literature I have ever wasted my time on.
I don't recall that Jane Eyre was required for any of my classes, but I read it for fun and remember people being SHOCKED that I loved it. Still do love it too.
PS: I am going to look for this podcast, it sounds interesting!
I LOVE it! They talk about books, TV, movies, music, comic books, the Internet--it has a very wide range of interests. I'd love to see one of their live tapings someday
I forget if I read Romeo and Juliet in 7-8th grade or the beginning of high school. I know we went to see the play, and when "dead" Juliet started stirring behind Romeo when he was lamenting her death, some idiot kid from another school started loudly complaining about what a bad actress she was because she was supposed to be dead. Read the story, numnuts.
Most of grammar school reading was excerpts in those big textbooks.
Johnny Tremain ... I remember reading that. And The Red Pony and The Pearl. I don't know if I read From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler on my own or because it was assigned.
High school: Hamlet (we had to recite Hamlet's third soliloquy from memory in order to pass senior year English class) Lord of the Flies The Catcher in the Rye Acts of Faith The Crucible Inherit the Wind The Scarlet Letter The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (we had to read this aloud in class ... awkward ...) The Canterbury Tales The Great Gatsby Pygmalion Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead Waiting for Godot (UGGGHHHH) The Glass Menagerie Animal Farm April Morning The Red Badge of Courage A Tale of Two Cities As I Lay Dying Death of a Salesman Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Every year we had to read a Shakespeare play, and then an acting troupe would come in and perform it. Senior year was The Tempest, and one year was Othello. I think the other two may have been The Taming of the Shrew and Macbeth, or maybe Julius Caesar? I know I had to read all of those. (Hamlet was not performed, it was just required reading on top of that for seniors.)
Post by orangeblossom on Jan 23, 2015 15:57:47 GMT -5
I don't remember any from middle school. Here are some that I remember from High School
Cry The Beloved Country The Metamorphosis Lady Chatterly's Lover The Importance of Being Earnest Scarlet Letter The Stranger To Kill a Mockingbird Romeo and Juliet Othello Julius Caesar MacBeth Animal Farm
I'm sure there's more, but these are what I remember.
Post by alleinesein on Jan 23, 2015 16:55:30 GMT -5
Did no one else have to read Great Expectations by Dickens?? Horrible horrible book to require kids to read in 9th grade.
The only required reading I recall from HS is Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. We only had 6 semesters of 'standardized' english classes and the reading material was different based on your track (G, CP and HP) and then we had a ton of English electives so I also took a semester of Mythology, Shakespeare, English Novel and American Novel in addition to the required classes.
Did no one else have to read Great Expectations by Dickens?? Horrible horrible book to require kids to read in 9th grade.
The only required reading I recall from HS is Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar. We only had 6 semesters of 'standardized' english classes and the reading material was different based on your track (G, CP and HP) and then we had a ton of English electives so I also took a semester of Mythology, Shakespeare, English Novel and American Novel in addition to the required classes.
Animal Farm is the only required reading longer book I remember really resonating, but that was middle school.
Short stories always had a bigger impact on me in high school for whatever reason. The Lottery and Hills Like White Elephants I remember reading over and over and over. Where are you going, Where have you been also really stuck with me.
Post by imojoebunny on Jan 23, 2015 19:16:20 GMT -5
As I Lay Dying by William Falkner.
That book made me realize more than any other that there are a lot of people who don't think like me, and they somehow made that book a classic.
Chapter 19: "My mother is a fish". WTF? And if there is an explanation WTF does a sane person care?
One I loved was The Decameron was one that actually did change my thinking a bit. It was written in the 1400's. It's pretty amazing that it was written 600+ years ago about rich young hipsters. We sometimes think we invented certain social conventions, but we didn't.
Post by tacosforlife on Jan 23, 2015 19:23:01 GMT -5
Things that stuck with me: Fahrenheit 451 The Scarlet Letter Their Eyes Were Watching God Slaughterhouse-Five The Inferno Grapes of Wrath The Shipping News
Basically things that gave me a new perspective on life and made me step outside of my sheltered suburban upbringing.