Classics for Beginners discussion

Goodreads has a blog post where they list the books that people were assigned that they loved. Is it just me? Or was I never assigned many of these books? Perhaps since I graduated high school in a a conservative community in the Pacific NW? Perhaps it was because I graduated in the mid-80's?

When I looked at the list, here are my thoughts:

Assigned and read in middle school, did not enjoy it:

The Outsiders

Assigned and read in high school, did not enjoy it:

Wuthering Heights

Assigned and read in high school, did enjoy it:

Macbeth

Read and enjoyed in high school, cannot remember if it was assigned:

Brave New World
The Good Earth

Read and enjoyed in high school, not assigned:

Pride and Prejudice

Read more than 20 years after I graduated high school:

The Catcher in the Rye
To Kill a Mockingbird
Things Fall Apart
The Handmaid's Tale
The Picture of Dorian Gray

Never read:

Beloved
A Tale of Two Cities
The Great Gatsby*
The Martian Chronicles
Lord of the Flies*

* These books were assigned in other classes but not mine

Let me know your thoughts!

I didn't like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Catcher in the Rye, The Outsiders, The Grapes of Wrath, or The Chocolate War when assigned them in high school.

Having reread them all, The Outsiders is the only one I would say I "love." But Hucleberry (which for a book I don't like, I've read an astounding 7 times--assigned 5 times, read twice on my own), Catcher and Chocolate I do not like.

I've been in love with reading Shakespeare since I first read Twelfth Night in the 6th grade.

In college, I can't really pinpoint things other than the works of Mark Twain that I didn't care for (and still don't), but I did love the poems of Edwin Arlington Robinson and Moby Dick.

Since college, I've read so many that were mentioned in classes (though not assigned) that I loved it's hard to mention them all, but Lolita, Don Quixote, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, David Copperfield, The Iliad/The Odyssey, and Wuthering Heights are among my favorite books.

Interesting topic. It bothers me that I still can't see the greatness of Huckleberry Finn and Mark Twain after all these years...

I teach middle school. I try to go the route of "strongly encouraged" rather than assigned. Here are the books I push the hardest:

The Outsiders- This usually turns out to be the most popular book of the year.
Anne Frank- Goes reasonably well, more appreciated by girls than boys.
Night- Goes well, but it's so grim that few students name it as a favorite.
The Pearl- Very popular
A Christmas Carol- I read it out loud to them, so they have fun with it.
William Shakespeare- We read it out loud in class, so most students have fun with it. Henry IV and Midsummer Night's were the most successful.
To Kill a Mockingbird- Hit or miss. The book is so long and difficult that it separates the strong readers from the ones who've been skating by.
Tales from the Odyssey, Part 1- The Mary Pope Osborne version is the best abridgment I've worked with. It was successful, albeit long.
Mark Twain- I've tried Tom Sawyer, Prince & the Pauper, Jumping Frog, The Invalid's Story, and On The Decay of the Art of Lying, and my students just don't seem to get into it. I think Twain's use of language is so unique and roundabout that it's hard for the students to get behind.

I generally liked the books I was assigned in school (Watership Down being a major exception) but the ones that I absolutely loved were:

The Diary of a Young Girl
A Tale of Two Cities
To Kill a Mockingbird
1984

Anne Frank and Mockingbird remain my top two favorite books of all-time.

I was assigned to read To Kill a Mockingbird while I was in High School. I loved it then and even more so today. I would think it would be more appropriate for high school rather than middle school. I should definitely be read as a supplement to American History.

I don't remember loving anything I was assigned in high school, but the only thing I remember disliking was The Great Gatsby, and anytime I hear it celebrated I remember exactly why.

I read To Kill a Mockingbird at a young age (probably 9) because my reading interests were often sparked by what my 6-years-older sibling was being assigned and liking. I then read it several more times over the years, though I don't think it was ever assigned, and of course got more out of it each time.

Actually, it gets a little foggy for me trying to remember what I was assigned vs. my sister. I know I had to read Lord of the Flies multiple times, starting in grade school. I know I read The Outsiders; that may have been a case of reading it because of my sister and then being assigned it later. Beloved in college, The Martian Chronicles for my IRL book club, Macbeth and Wuthering Heights on my own in the last 5 years or so. But a lot of the obvious choices my sister was assigned I never was.

The assigned reading I most enjoyed from college was The Iliad. It has so many interesting contrasts between the "glory" and horror of war, and the personalities of Achilles and Hector. The book I think I'd enjoy (even) more on rereading is The Plague; I really need to get around to that one of these days!

My nephew in high school hates reading but loved Frankenstein. Angela's Ashes would be a hit with high school students. I don't know if it counts as classics or not.

I generally liked the books assigned to read in HS, with the exception of Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I had to reread Huck Finn again when I was in college, and had a greater appreciation for it four years later than I did in HS.

Actually, I encountered a lot more assigned reading I did not like in college than in HS, including Moby Dick and The Tin Drum, neither of which I was able to finish.

Heather L wrote: "I generally liked the books assigned to read in HS, with the exception of Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I ..."

Heather, that's how I was with THE GRAPES OF WRATH! It was much more relevant to me in 2008, than it was in 1983. I'm beginning to think classic literature is wasted on the young.

I graduated both HS and college in the '70s so the only ones I remember are those which made a strong impression. One was The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. I went on to read everything she had written. Another book which I selected for independent reading as a senior was Pride and Prejudice and it prompted me to go on and read all of Austen's books as well.

Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "...I'm beginning to think classic literature is wasted on the young."

Kinda like youth, huh? ;)

It probably is, but by exposing them to the classics at an early age isn't always a bad thing. The teenage brain may reject them as boring and unreadable initally, but something will always remain with them; and who knows, they may come back to it. Besides, you may just provide the spark for the next Austen or Hemingway.

But not exposing them to it and letting them learn only what they want to learn (and not what they should be learning as well) might just burden society with another person who put crosses into vats of urine for a living.

The only book I was ever assigned that I loved was Lord of the Flies...

That said, I was assigned but didn't love (until I re-read years later as an adult): Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby...

And then there's the crime of what was never assigned, but should have been :-)

I hated pretty much all the required readings.

I *think* we read Cowboys Don't Cry (and GR has 4 different authors so I've got no idea which is the author I read) in grade 7. I might've read The Outsiders here and I didn't enjoy it.

Grade 8 I think we read The Diary of a Young Girl, and had a (*groan*) group book report to present on a book so every group had a different book. I wanted The Phantom of the Opera but ended up getting Dragonsong (which I enjoyed).

Don't remember grade 9 LA at all.

I know at some point I read To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lord of the Flies. Hated both of them.

Grade 10 I don't recall, other than Romeo and Juliet. I think most students enjoyed this play.

Grade 11 is a blank beyond Macbeth. I didn't mind Macbeth.

Grade 12 we moved and I did Macbeth again. I think there was also some book set in southern Africa somewhere, Johannesburg? I read Dracula outside of class and enjoyed it.

College we didn't have to read an entire literature book. Bits and pieces here and there unless it was short. Lysistrata I think we read the entire thing. We read part of The Inferno of The Divine Comedy and after I got my kindle I got all 3 parts and hated the default amazon translation. Must try again with a different translator. I also read The Phantom of the Opera outside of class finally after waiting 6+ years.

I'm really surprised the education system I was in for 99.9% of public schooling didn't have a 'summer reading list' like many american schools do. But I totally agree that some books are introduced way too young and you end up hating it since it seems so irrelevant to your life.