One of my goals for the next several months is to get caught up on my reading. Unlike just about every other author I’ve ever met, I was not a big reader as a kid. I hated English in high school and very rarely read the required books (and I got grades that matched my effort). I never towed my little red wagon to the library and revelled in the endless possibilities.
When I was 21 I needed a book for a long wait somewhere, and the only thing at my disposal was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The book was required reading in eleventh grade, and I remembered taking tests on the subject, but I hadn’t actually read it. So, at 21, I did, and I loved it, and I pretty much chalk up all of my writing and reading since then to Huck Finn.
Anyway, back to my goal. I’ve decided to catch up on two separate book lists. First, since I didn’t read much as a teen, I’m woefully under-read in classic YA. I read some of the biggies: The Giver and A Wrinkle in Time and that kind of the thing, but there is a TON of young adult fiction that I know nothing about whatsoever.
Second, I want to go back and catch up on all those required high school books that I didn’t read.
So, your job is this: tell me what to read. I’ve compiled a list below of the high school books I remember reading, and a list of the ones I know I skipped, but are there any other books I should add in there? Anything you had to read and you loved? Send me suggestions of must-reads, and if they’re not crappy then I’ll add them to the list.
Books I remember reading in high school:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Romeo and Juliet
The Scarlet Letter
The Odyssey
Great Expectations
Frankenstein
The Grapes of Wrath
Ethan Frome
*incidentally, I think the reason I stopped reading the required books was because I did read Grapes of Wrath and Ethan Frome. I figured, if they’re all like this, then I’d rather be illiterate.
**I admit that I probably ought to give The Grapes of Wrath another chance (though I probably won’t), but Ethan Frome is not deserving of second chances.
***Despite my hatred of Ethan Frome, I actually took a girl on a date once to see the movie version. And let me just say: Ethan Frome = ROMANTIC.
Books I know I was supposed to read, but didn’t:
The Great Gatsby
David Copperfield
The Crucible
A Separate Peace
Beowulf
The Merchant of Venice
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Crime and Punishment
So, again, I need your suggestions: what classic YA do I need to read, and what high school required reading should I read?
Call of the Wild by Jack London.
Any book by Charles Dickens.
Les Miserable by Victor Hugo (but read the abridged version that leaves out all the editorializing about the price of bread).
Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis (the whole set).
Hey, you asked:
The Chosen (Potok, not Williams)
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
A Tale of Two Cities
Fahrenheit 451
Silas Marner
The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword
The Princess Bride
The Hiding Place
Ella Enchanted
My Name Is Asher Lev
The Screwtape Letters
The Great Divorce
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
I Am the Cheese
Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys
Holes
Belle Prater’s Boy
Cry, The Beloved Country
The Narnia series
The Hero (by Ron Woods)
Number the Stars
The Count of Monte Cristo
Bud, Not Buddy
The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Bridge to Terabithia (no, it’s not fantasy)
The Secret Garden and/or The Little Princess
Wringer
Olive’s Ocean
The Princess Academy or The Goose Girl
Contemporary boys’ YA:
The Artemis Fowl series
Alex Rider series
Deltora Quest series (More MG fantasy)
Current dystopian:
Forest of Hands and Teeth
The Uglies series (although don’t both with EXTRAS)
One you’d like ’cause you’re you:
The Eyre Affair (the more literature you’ve read, the more you enjoy it, but it’s got a great sense of humor and is really wacky)
I’ll shut-up now. I could go on.
Skip Grapes of Wrath. Crime and Punishment is good, but Brothers Karamozov is better (although I read those in college, not high school). They do require a good running start (don’t bail at the bridge scene, it gets good after that!). I loved Rosencranz and Guildenstern Are Dead, but you should read Romeo and Juliet first. I also enjoyed Heart of Darkness (used it for my AP essay) and The Mayor of Casterbridge. Oy! lot of heavy reading there. Intersperse liberally with YA to keep your sanity.
There are a bunch of high school titles I didn’t like, but I remember liking a few (granted it’s been awhile):
One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
The Scarlet Letter
Hound of the Baskervilles
The Sun Also Rises
The Princess Bride
Of Mice and Men
The Taming of the Shrew
The Scarlet Pimpernel
1984
I’m assuming you’ve read The Lord of the Flies by the description of your new book. Or maybe you’re just guessing.
If you think Anette has given you quite the assignment list, wait until you see the one I’ll post for you next week. It will take me that long to put it all together!
YA suggestions: Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander; The Dark Is Rising series by Susan Cooper; Riddle-Master series by Patricia McKillip; anything by Jane Yolen.
Wow, Annette just hit all of them.
I’d add
Of Mice and Men.
Summer of the Monkeys
The Great Brain series
White Mountains (series)- John Christopher
And I’d read all of Les Miserables. There are parts you can skip, but there is some incredible character development that always gets left out of the abridged versions.
I’d be curious to see which ones you settle on. In fact, let me know what you’re reading and I’ll try to keep up. I feel like I’m in the same boat. I need to catch up on the genre.
Two YA series come to mind right away:
1. Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising
2. Alexander Lloyd’s Westmark
In terms of classic literature, it all depends on what you are looking for. Are there any particular national literatures/time periods/literary forms (or even novel types) that you want to be sure to check out?
Lists that long aren’t as useful as they should be; you don’t want a landslide of titles to remind you how ill-read you are, you want an actual recommendation of what to read next. Start with The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and we’ll go from there.
Annette stole some of my answers. The nerve.
The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham.
I loved Annette’s list and I can’t wait to print off Lu Ann’s list.
One of my favorites from high school was “The Outsiders”. I also have enjoyed reading:(I know some of these have already been mentioned)
-Holes
-The Giver
-Treasure Island
-White Fang
-The Call of the Wild
-The Last of the Mohicans
-A Wrinkle in Time
-Island of the Blue Dolphins
-Number the Stars
-Hatchet
-Tuck Everlasting
-The Secret Garden
-Gathering Blue
-The Chocolate War
-The Westing Game
-I Am the Messenger
-The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle
-Wild Magic
-Roll of Thunder Hear my Cry
-Over Sea, Under Stone (Dark is Rising series)
-Watership Down
-Among the Hidden (Shadow Children series)
-My Side of the Mountain
-A Wizard of Earthsea
-Summer of my German Soldier
Of course there are so many “modern” YA books/series out there that I am reading and liking a lot. I can’t wait to see what everyone else suggests to you.
Dan, I’ve already read Heart of Darkness. (I borrowed it from you, in fact.)
Annette, Krista and Sheila: Holy crap. Thanks! Mind narrowing that down a bit to a couple must-reads?
William, I’m not looking for anything in particular with the high school list. It’s more an issue of catching up on things I should have read. So, I guess the best definition might be: I’m a published author; what should I be embarrassed to not have read already?
As for YA suggestions, I tend not to like middle grade much at all, so I’d appreciate older YA stuff as much as possible.
I just finished a book last night that I immediately thought would be required reading for high school students were I a high school teacher. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it or not, but “Looking for Alaska” by John Green is the ultimate required reading sort of material. Minus the boredom, of course.
Rob,
I can pretty much reinforce what’s been mentioned: Princess Bride (there is terrific trivia that surrounds the book itself, too), The Hatchet (inspired me to go camping in the wilds of Idaho for a week, by myself, aged 15, with a hatchet, and nothing to eat), The White Mountains Series left a huge impression on me–I read it in the 4th grade and loved it. I read it again as a freshman and still loved it. All of the Narnia series (plus Screwtape). Tolkien was big for me in high school and so was the Dragon Lance Chronicles (whose author is incidentally LDS and borrowed somewhat from LDS “mythos”–trusting you understand that term–but nevertheless thought it was a very entertaining trilogy). Tuck Everlasting was a nice piece on immortality.
Anyway…that’s a smattering…
Josh
Okay, if I were to pick 2 out of my list, they would be:
One Flew over the Cukoo’s Nest, because it was gutsy and profound, and
Princess Bride, because the humor is sharp, quick, and though the movie is great, the writing is better.
Better?
Life of Pi, Speak, Their Eyes were Watching God, Frankenstein.
The Chosen
The Count of Monte Cristo
Oh, you guys went all high brow on me. I came over here to suggest anything by Christopher Pike or Scott Westerfield but … yeah… these all look good.
As you were.
The White Mountains are a must, including the prequel, but read that as the fourth book.
I loved Christopher Pike and L.J. Smith in high school.
Also when I got into Stephen King. Carrie, Four Past Midnight and Different Seasons are my favorites from then, got into the Dark Tower series when I got older.
Chronicles of Narnia is all ages. I got into Tolkien as an adult.
As to high school reading, I dug A Tale of Two Cities even if Dickens is a bit dry, and Watership Down is another good one, though some assign it too young.
Still trying to get through a lot of the classics myself, currently it’s Faulkner, Republic and Anne of Green Gables, a YA classic and fun for girls and boys
.
I agree with the screwtape letters, it is amazing. Lord of the flies is another must, along with ‘the prince’ by Machiavelli
More to get you started, Rob!
Classics:
White Fang – London
Romeo & Juliet – Shakespeare
Hamlet – Shakespeare
MacBeth – Shakespeare
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare
Fahrenheit 451 – Bradbury
Brave New World – Huxley
Silas Marner – Eliot
The Scarlet Letter – Hawthorne
The Scarlet Pimpernel – Ozrsky
The Old Man and the Sea – Hemmingway
The Great Gatsby – Fitzgerald
Slaughterhouse Five – Vonnegut
As I Lay Dying – Faulkner
Dracula – Stoker
The Odyssey – Homer
To Kill a Mockingbird – Lee
A Christmas Carol – Dickens
Chronicles of Narnia – Lewis
The Lord of the Rings – Tolkien
The Hobbit – Tolkien
The Outsiders – Hinton
Where the Red Fern Grows – Rawles
Summer of the Monkeys – Rawles
Catcher in the Rye – Salinger
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry – Taylor
Island of the Blue Dolphins – O-DEll
My Side of the Mountain – George
Julie of the Wolves – George
The Dark is Rising – Cooper
The Chronicles of Prydain – Alexander
Redwall – Jacques
Contemporary MG/YA:
Deathwatch – White
Holes – Sachar
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Rowling
Downriver – Hobbs
Stargirl – Spinelli
Hatchet – Paulsen
The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 – Curtis
Mississippi Trial 1955 – Crowe
Alex Rider series – Horowitz
The Lightning Thief – Riordan
Among the Hidden – Haddix
Monster – Myers
A Long Way from Chicago – Peck
Speak – Anderson
Crispin – Avi
Walk Two Moons – Creech
Witness – Hesse
The Willoughbys – Lowry
Because of Winn-Dixie – DiCamillo
Esperanza Rising – Ryan
Dystopian/Steam Punk/Vampiresque:
City of Ember – DuPrau
Uglies – Westerfeld
Leviathan – Westerfeld
The Hunger Games – Collins
Life As We Knew It – Pfeffer
Shiver – Stiefvater
The Dark Divine – Despain
The House of Scorpion – Farmer
Sorry if they are repeats, I only have two suggestions:
Watership Down – Richard Adams (make sure it is Watership Down and NOT Tales from Watership Down, two very different books) This book is one of my all time favorites from my childhood.
My Name Is Asher Lev – Chaim Potok
As much as *I* like Witch of Blackbird Pond, don’t read it. You’ll hate it. But Crime and Punishment is really good, as is Les Miserables and the Count of Monte Cristo. Dad and I also love the Pern books, but I don’t think you ever got into those.
Allison, why wouldn’t I like Witch of Blackbird Pond?
I’ve read Les Mis and Count of Monte Cristo. My only real beef with the Pern books is that I don’t like series that never end.
The Pern books have story arcs within the world of Pern that end. Why should the series end completely when there is always another aspect of the story to tell?
I am with Allison. I loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond but I am not sure you would like it. Give it a try though.
The Hiding Place. You have to read the whole thing through before you can pass your judgment. There is a good reason I love this book.
A Tale of Two Cities. I am with whoever it was that said “anything by Dickens”. I love the way Dickens sounds. I could read Dickens without trying to comprehend it and still be satisfied. Of course comprehending it is even better.
I am so glad you are doing this. I can’t wait to read and reread along with you. How lucky am I to live with you.
Several people have suggested the Artemis Fowl series. While I enjoyed them, I thought a newer Colfer book called The Airman was leaps and bounds better, although it’s quite different (no magic, mythical creatures).
Classics:
Definitely To Kill a Mockingbird
Of Mice and Men (to partially redeem Steinbeck for Grapes of Wrath. I think I actually cried.)
Silas Marner (it really surprised me)
Sherlock Holmes
A Tale of Two Cities
Anything by Jack London
Red Badge of Courage
All Quiet on the Western Front
Don’t bother with:
Anything by Hemingway (except The Old Man and the Sea)
Robinson Crusoe
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Last of the Mohicans
Jules Verne (he had an incredible imagination but the stories have nearly non-existant plots. I’d say the same for H.G. Wells)
Hard Times (I love Dickens but don’t but don’t waste your time with this one)
The Great Gatsby
YA:
Treasure Island
The Jungle Books
The Princess Bride
Holes
Hatchet
My Side of the Mountain
Start with:
1. Gatsby (Gets a bum rap in places but it’s so quintessentially American that it needs to be read. Plus it’s a short book. Almost a novella. Which is why it’s good. Fitzgerald sucks at writing novels) or As I Lay Dying or both. In spite of his influence on 20th century short story writing you can skip Hemingway. And in fact some of the short stories of Raymond Carver would be better for minimalist realism.
2. Notes From Underground (This is to ease you in to Dostoevsky. Depending on how things go you should either read Crime and Punishment or skip straight to The Brothers Karamazov).
3. Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. And, of course, you should also read my translation of A Country Doctor.
4. For Shakespeare, skip straight to either Hamlet or King Lear.
5. And then read at least the first half of Don Quixote.
6. In terms of one meaty, difficult novel (all the above should be fairly easy to get through). I’d say either Anna Karenina by Tolstoy or The Portrait of Lady by Henry James. Understanding the 19th century novel is critical, imo, to being able to appreciate 20th century fiction. So do that before you hit, say Beloved by Toni Morrison or 100 Years of Solitude or Remains of the Day, etc.
7. Emma by Jane Austen.
For YA, you must read either the Westmark series or the Chronicles of Pyrdain series (or at the very least The Black cauldron) by Lloyd Alexander.
I’d also highly recommend (as I have already and so have others) The Dark is Rising series by Susan Cooper and A Wrinkle in Time.
And then for early genre work, I’d suggest Frankenstein and A Woman in White (by Wilkie Collins, which is an early suspense/psychological thriller novel).
I managed to type a response and never posted it. Wow, I’m brilliant. Unless you beleted it. Rude.
One of my absolute favorite books ever: My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. Read that. The Chosen is great, but I love this one even more.
Another of my favorite’s was Ender’s Game. I didn’t ever really love anything else by Card, but I love this one. I’m sure you’ve probably read it though.
So I’m a bit late to the game, but wow, no one mentioned Wuthering Heights? And forget all the Twilight dither about it, this was probably the only book I read in high school that I liked. What’s not to like about crazy people doing everything they can to make each other miserable?
Hey Gina,
I haven’t read Wuthering Heights, but I saw the movie. That counts, doesn’t it?
“Stranger in a Strange Land” & “Tunnel in the Sky” (an early teen survival novel) by Robert Heinlein
“City” by Clifford Simak (probably the best SiFi book ever written)
Just finished reading all the comments. Odd, that no one mentioned “Stranger”. It was nearly a cult when I was in college. Must have bought at least 25 copies – no one would give it back.
“The Castle Keeps” by Andrew J. Offutt
Available on Amazon – still one of my favorites. People are missing out on some of the GREAT older books