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"Of Mice and Men" was very very good! :nod I also loved "The Crucible." (I got to play Abigail in an excerpt we did for drama class :) ) I also fell in love with "The Glass Menagerie" in drama. (And subsequently, fell in love with John Malkovitch while watching "The Glass Menagerie" in drama class! :teeth)
Oh, do I have a Steinbeck story to share... I was placed into AP English in 7th grade. (Keeping in mind I grad High School in '85) So I stayed with the AP class all through high school. So I got to read the majority of the books mention through out this thread... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by AJane
Well the first book they victimized me with was "The Pearl". Which I have to say is the worst piece of crap...ever. So when it was assigned to my charming 7th grade class, we were told it was a required reading for the 10th grade... as if it would make that horrible book an exciting read! Well for the next 4 years of school that stupid book was assigned every year. So when it was handed to me in 10th grade...for the fourth time... I nearly fainted.
The dumb thing is Steinbeck has some wonderful books. Yet teachers force his worse mess onto the young!
Never once did they hand out "The Red Pony". Which I read on my own.. it just ripped my heart out in the end.
I loved Cannery Row...
Yet I got victimized by "The Pearl" year after year.... :ohno
I will skip getting cranked up about Hemingway... and "The Old Man and the Sea".... :lol
I don't think The Pearl was a "piece of crap!" (Funny, I read it in the seventh grade, too, but we didn't have AP English until senior year of high school.) Of all the Steinbeck books I've read (including Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and Grapes of Wrath), I liked Cannery Row the least. I just find it insufficient in many aspects, but perhaps this has to do with the way we analyzed it in class. (Something to do with "balance"... it all seemed like a bit of a stretch to me.)
I'm with you on Hemingway, though! Hemingway's books are sad excuses for real literature.
Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. I just dislike his writing style. A LOT.
IMO, a lot of teachers are just plain lazy. They teach the same crap year after year so they can use all the same assignments and tests. It's the only reason I can figure for subjecting students to Old Man and the Sea and A Seperate Peace for DECADES. :ohno
Has anyone read Somerset Maugham? We did both Of Human Bondage and The Razor's Edge in high school. Loved both of them. :up The movie made from Razor's Edge with Bill Murray is unexpectedly wonderful as well - he proved long before "Lost in Translation" that he's a wonderful dramatic actor. :nod (Sorry for the threadjack there. :teeth)
The only Somerset Maugham book I ever read was "Up at the Villa" A friend told me it was a good book. I didn't care for it that much. It was just meh for me.
Oh wow, this thread is a trip!
Besides my absolute favourites that have already been mentioned, "To Kill a Mockingbird, Of Mice and Men", etc. there are:
Novels:
"Babbit" by Sinclair Lewis
Anything by John Irving. (Are they teaching his works in schools yet? They should)
"Shardik" by Adams. Should be taught instead of "Watership Down" for a change of pace. Love that book.
Stories:
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell. Fun.
Anything by Alistair McLeod. But especially "In the Fall"
Poetry:
Here I could go on and on, so I'll just mention my favourite:
Emily Dickinson. :)
Oh, and "Ryme of the Ancient Mariner" Love that one.
:biglove this thread! :nerd
Ooooh, John Irving! :yay Love his stuff. Last one I read was A Widow For One Year. :up :up :up You're right, Touque, they SHOULD teach his stuff in school. Garp is probably too mature for high school kids (the, ahem, cause of the car accident) but A Prayer For Owen Meany would be a good one for kids. :nod
:teeth Of course. I may have to dig them all out and reread them now. :laugh Did you read Many Waters too? It's about the twins.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucy
I love reading this thread. In my 12th grade English class we also read Beowulf and some of The Canterbury Tales. Obviously, a few of them were too racy for assigned reading. I remember really enjoying the ones we did read though.
AJane, thanks to you, I am now halfway through "A Widow..." :up
Thanks for reminding me I hadn't read it yet; I've been neglecting my reading this summer.
"A Prayer for Owen Meany" was the one I was thinking of, too. :)
Mariner... "Many Waters" is pretty interesting, but the Canterbury tales had me :sleep in highschool.
*gasp* No! I never heard of it! I'll have to go hunt it down. Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mariner
When I was in high school we had to memorize the prologue to the Canterbury Tales, in Middle English, and recite it. :ohno I still remember a lot of it. :nerd We read a few of the more PG tales then, but I also took a whole semester of Chaucer in college. My professor looked like Santa Claus, and he would read some parts out loud, and it was very jarring to hear Santa reciting the Wife of Bath's Tale. :eek :laughQuote:
I love reading this thread. In my 12th grade English class we also read Beowulf and some of The Canterbury Tales. Obviously, a few of them were too racy for assigned reading. I remember really enjoying the ones we did read though.