HS Book Project: ReReading My High School English Reading List


On my little trip I noticed something I seem to forget about airports. There are always those lil over priced stores and kiosks with a random assortment of novels, usually consisting of the next best title & the classics I can't remember reading in high school. The high school books always call to me and catch my wandering eye. I can slightly remember the plots from the cliff notes and the films I know I watched but alas I know I didn't read the whole book for a lot of them. 

For some reason lately this has been bothering me more and more...

My husband and I watch Jeopardy and the questions I seem to always get wrong are the classics. Those dreaded high school books I couldn't give a chance. I remember loathing "Animal Farm", I was never assigned to read "Cather in the Rye", I'm still not sure what "The Good Earth" is about and "The Cantebury Tales" was so hard to read I didn't even try. 

 Silver Linings Playbook

I do remember enjoying some of them...

I can honestly say I've read almost every version of Wuthering Heights there is out there. I've read the original of course, the vampire version, the erotic version, and listened on repeat the Pat Benatar song "Wuthering Heights". It was an obsession of mine for a while. Another obsession was The Great Gatsby. My mother and I will randomly quote some obscure lines from this novel on a regular basis. It was so powerful to me. 

Mulling over the good ones and the bad ones has made me ponder...

~ What if I choose to read these books of my own choice? ~
~ What if I read them without having to answer 10 multiple choice questions about the protaganist?  ~
~ How would I feel about the subject matter as an adult? Not as a 13 year old just watching her grades?? ~ 
~ What if I read that at my own pace? ~ 
~ What if I read the classics my high school did not assign?? ~ 

Over the next few months I'm going to try and put down my usual smut I love to read and re-read some of the classics I left behind all those years ago. I've especially noticed these books seem to be cheaper as ebooks and possibily I can pick up a couple at some book sales for cheap! =) 

Some of the classics I will be choosing from my memory: 

Ethan Frome // The Scarlet Letter // To Kill a Mockingbird // Macbeth // Beowulf // 
Lord of the Flies // The Old Man and the Sea // Watership Down // A Portrait of an Artist as a Young  Man // The Stranger // Jane Eyre // The Diary of Anne Frank // Death of a Sales man // 
The Tale of Two Cities // Great Expectations // The Great Gatsby // The Poisonwood Bible 

What Did You Read in High School English Class?
What Books Do You Remember Skipping Over? 
Did You Have Any Favorites? 
  
 The Great Gatsby

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5 comments

  1. Oh my goodness this is such a great idea!!!

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  2. Such a great idea! I remember totally skipping over Tom Sawyer and Swiss Family Robinson - whoops! I really want to read The Great Gatsby now though <3
    Green Fashionista

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  3. Oh God, don't even let me go there. We read a lot of Lithuanian authors which may I add aren't very good at books in my personal opinion. I couldn't skip many as we always did a test from those books. I remember reading 'The Diary of Anne Frank' and 'The Stranger' by Camus.

    -Leta | The Nerdy Me

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  4. What a cool idea to re-read these books! What a great selection too! I remember loving The Wars - I can't wait to read that one with my daughter!

    Thanks for sharing (and for linking up to the #SHINEbloghop).

    Wishing you a lovely Easter weekend!
    xoxo

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  5. Great idea. My favorite was All Quiet on the Western Front. I changed high schools from Junior to Senior year and ended up reading it twice and loving it both times.

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