Books from your high school reading lists

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Sabo
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Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Sabo »

This is a riff off Johnnie's post in the Autumn Reading Thread since he brought up Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.

What books did you read from your summer high school reading lists? I don't remember all of mine, but these are the ones I remember:

The Thread That Runs So True by Jesse Stuart
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Silas Marner by George Eliot

I enjoyed the first four books in my list, and Silas Marner is probably my favorite piece of classic literature. I don't remember much about A Passage to India or Jane Eyre other than I thought they were boring as hell. I hated The Great Gatsby, and any Charles Dickens book is a piece of trash in my eyes.

The Crystal Cave is the first book of a trilogy about the magician Merlin. I enjoyed it so much I read the rest of the trilogy (The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment) on my own. I'm a little surprised some Hollywood producer hasn't made movies based on the books. With the current CGI technology, I think those books would truly come alive in a movie form.

So, what books were you forced to read during the summer, and would you read any of them again?
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Pruitt »

We were never assigned reading over the summer. Which really doesn;t make much sense...

I remember these books as being part of the high school curriculum:

Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Once And Future King by T.H. White
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Mordecai Richler
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Lots of Shakespeare

Many others lost to the mists of time. Some famous Canadian authors there. I developed a lifelong allergy to Margaret Atwood in grade 11 - Surfacing is a book that all Canadian English teachers get either hard or moist over. Unfinishable as far as I was concerned.

I reread a few of them, and while I have read a ton of books since those days, a few of them - the Margaret Laurence, the Steinbecks - are seared in my mind.

A good place to hype Mordecai Richler - my favourite author of all time.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Johnnie »

I remember at least 3 books per summer per year of high school for summer reading, but I'm having a hard time remembering all of them.

I hated reading in high school with ferocity. I couldn't concentrate while reading and would routinely "come to" about after a dozen pages of "reading" when something caught my attention.

I skipped summer reading, winged the tests, and made up the grade during the first quarter grade period. Seriously, high school was more about finding loopholes and coming up with creative ways to cheat on tests than learning.

I do remember a few books though.

Jurassic Park
The Hot Zone
Night
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Steve of phpBB »

I don't think we were ever assigned summer reading. If we were, I ignored it. (Which is why I have to read all those books now, I guess.)
And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by A_B »

Steve of phpBB wrote:I don't think we were ever assigned summer reading. If we were, I ignored it. (Which is why I have to read all those books now, I guess.)

Same. I mean, I read like crazy but it wasn't because I was told to read something. I'd usually grab 4-5 books from the English teacher at the end of the semester and bring them back in the fall. From what I remember having to read in class it was a few Shakespeares (Romeo, King Lear) and then we just had textbooks that basically had a bunch of abridged stuff in it or short stories. I certainly don't recall every having to buy a book to read, like my kids do at least 3-4 times a year nowadays.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Giff »

The only ones I remember:

Lord of the Flies (before 12th)
The Chosen (before 9th)
A Separate Peace (before 10th)
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by duff »

I remember being assigned A Separate Peace and Lord of the Flies. I am sure there were others, but it was mainly abridged versions in the text books and Shakespeare.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by The Sybian »

Johnnie wrote: I couldn't concentrate while reading and would routinely "come to" about after a dozen pages of "reading" when something caught my attention.
I still have that problem. The only solution is audiobooks. It takes me forever to read a real book. Inability to concentrate on reading isn't the best trait to get through law school.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Johnnie »

Ah, yes. A Separate Peace was one of mine too. Along with Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The Sybian wrote:
Johnnie wrote: I couldn't concentrate while reading and would routinely "come to" about after a dozen pages of "reading" when something caught my attention.
I still have that problem. The only solution is audiobooks. It takes me forever to read a real book. Inability to concentrate on reading isn't the best trait to get through law school.
Listened to the second book from A Song of Ice and Fire. Even that was difficult to pay attention to when driving. My mind wanders too much.

It wasn't until into my mid 20s that I had to learn to imagine the scene in my head and read along as a self narrator to start to understand how to read properly. But doing that means I read slow.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Steve of phpBB »

Johnnie wrote:Ah, yes. A Separate Peace was one of mine too. Along with Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The Sybian wrote:
Johnnie wrote: I couldn't concentrate while reading and would routinely "come to" about after a dozen pages of "reading" when something caught my attention.
I still have that problem. The only solution is audiobooks. It takes me forever to read a real book. Inability to concentrate on reading isn't the best trait to get through law school.
Listened to the second book from A Song of Ice and Fire. Even that was difficult to pay attention to when driving. My mind wanders too much.

It wasn't until into my mid 20s that I had to learn to imagine the scene in my head and read along as a self narrator to start to understand how to read properly. But doing that means I read slow.
I have a real problem listening to an audiobook or podcast while driving. My mind wanders, too, like occasionally paying attention to traffic. I think paying attention to a podcast or book while driving distracts me more than talking on the phone.
And his one problem is he didn’t go to Russia that night because he had extracurricular activities, and they froze to death.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by sancarlos »

I read a lot in high school. I remember:

Several by Kurt Vonnegut
A couple by John Irving
A couple by John Steinbeck
A couple by Tom Robbins
Anthem by Ayn Rand
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by howard »

We were not assigned summer reading. Cuz they were kinda communist, but not that communist. There was baseball to be played. (Also, summer school was pretty popular, knock off one class in six weeks to have more free time during the year.)
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Shirley »

My kids get suggested reading lists. And they are hippie stuff nobody has ever heard of - typical of my kids' school.

My summer reading was assigned and we were tested on it in the fall. It's hard to remember for sure which was summer and which was regular school year, but I'm pretty sure about the following:

A Separate Peace - John Knowles
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
A Farewell to Arms - Ernie
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Deliverance (I didn't even know it had been a movie at the time) - James Dickey

And a bunch more that I'm obviously forgetting. We read a lot of the other classics (Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.) during the year.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by The Sybian »

To make this thread more useful, how about people recommend the books that I should go back and read. We never had summer assignments. Catcher in the Rye is one classic I enjoyed. a friend mentioned his HS English teacher told him to read it every 5 years, and it will take on new meaning. I've revisited several times, and I definitely get it on different levels each time. I'm way overdue. Didn't quite grasp Gatsby in HS. I don't think I paid attention reading it. My wife loves the book, so I read it again, and it just doesn't do much for me. I didn't get Shakespeare in HS, and haven't read any since. I think I could get into watching a live play, but I don't have the patience for it. Loved All's Quiet on the Western Front, probably should read it again as a jaded adult who sees through the bullshit of nationalism and war. Loved To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.

One thing that stands out is discussing The Old Man and the Sea. My English teacher hated me, never fully understood it. Maybe because I slept in her class everyday, and got straight As boom.* I missed the symbolism in the book revolving around the number 3. She was so pissed and thought I was fucking with her. She was dropping hints about Christianity, and I just didn't connect it to the Holy Trinity. As you all know, I still can't wrap my head around the Trinity no matter how many times it's explained, and I don't think it was ever explained to me at that point. I must have missed that day at Hebrew School.


* I'm sure I told the story many Swamps ago about the time she saw me working at Wegmans. It was the summer between HS and college. She waited behind my register until I finished with a customer, then derisively said, "nice to see you doing something with your life." The customer was horrified and trying to console me, but it was fucking hilarious. Just a shocking surreal moment, and I wasn't able to get a response out. I can't remember her name, but I still remember what her fuckawful dogshit breath smelled like.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by sancarlos »

The Sybian wrote:* I'm sure I told the story many Swamps ago about the time she saw me working at Wegmans. It was the summer between HS and college. She waited behind my register until I finished with a customer, then derisively said, "nice to see you doing something with your life." The customer was horrified and trying to console me, but it was fucking hilarious. Just a shocking surreal moment, and I wasn't able to get a response out. I can't remember her name, but I still remember what her fuckawful dogshit breath smelled like.
Bit of a thread jack, but that reminds me of a teacher I had in college that I hated. She had it in for me (although in retrospect perhaps I deserved her scorn, due to my poor work ethic in her class.) I'm not proud of what I did, so perhaps this belongs in the Confessions thread. But, she was a bitch in any case.

I had a part-time job my last year of school, as a desk clerk at a decent hotel in town. I graduated in December and left the job. A couple days before I left, she phoned to make a multi-room reservation for the following May. I took down all her information, and mentioned who I was right before we hung up. Then, I proceeded to throw her reservation information in the trash instead of booking it. Several months later, I ran into a friend who had worked at the same hotel, and was manning the desk in May when she tried to check in. My name was cursed loudly by her that day, as she surmised what had occurred.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Moreta »

We had suggested summer reading lists every year but they weren't required. I tried to read Bradbury's Dandelion Wine the summer before 9th grade and I couldn't even finish it. I was a voracious reader and that was the first book I can remember putting down and not picking back up. Just awful. I should probably give it another chance.

We read Madame Bovary in... 11th grade? I think I lost 3 copies of that book.
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Re: Books from your high school reading lists

Post by Sabo »

The Sybian wrote:To make this thread more useful, how about people recommend the books that I should go back and read.
The Thread That Runs So True by Jesse Stuart
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart
The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Silas Marner by George Eliot

And seriously, fuck Charles Dickens.
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