TIME: "The Top 10 Books You Were Forced To Read in School"

[JamesG]

Top 10 Books You Were Forced to Read in School
Friday, Jul. 09, 2010


In honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of Harper Lee's perennial middle-school novel To Kill a Mockingbird, TIME rounds up the classics that have monopolized school reading lists for years.





1. To Kill a Mockingbird
Author: Harper Lee
Published: 1960






Harper Lee's 1960 paean to the South is one of the most beloved American novels ever written. Some of that is due to the 1962 classic film adapted from it, which stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer who also happens to be the most upstanding and sympathetic father ever.


But much of the respect accorded the novel (the author's only book) has to do with its memorable main characters, brother and sister duo Jem and Scout.

With its competing subplots about a black man on trial for allegedly raping a white woman and the children's attempts to learn about their reclusive neighbor Boo Radley, the novel is perfectly structured to provide half a dozen lessons about history and acceptance and injustice and compassion.



No wonder it's the staple of all middle-school staples. Happy 50th, Mockingbird!











2. Of Mice and Men
Author: John Steinbeck
Published: 1937






The Great Depression and the hardship it caused spawned many classics of American literature that have since become fodder for high school English classes across the nation.

Topping the list is John Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men.




The plot traces the journey of George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California farm country. We meet them after they've been forced to leave their previous ranch in a chain of events chalked up to Lennie's odd behavior.

Upon arriving at their new farm, owned and run by a character known simply as "The Boss," George and Lennie once again find themselves in crosshairs. The strong and complicated bond between the pair forces George to take weak Lennie's life into his own hands.



Along the way, their pursuit of the American Dream (and the attendant prospect of land ownership) falls by the wayside, the victim of a harsh economic downturn, a freak accident and mob hysteria.











3. A Separate Peace
Author: John Knowles
Published: 1959






One of the great coming-of-age tales, A Separate Peace is also one of the darker novels assigned to teenagers.



The plot revolves around two roommates at Devon, a New England boarding school, during the summer and winter of 1942. The narrator, Gene, an introverted, studious Southerner, recalls his relationship with his best friend Phineas, known as "Finny," a charismatic, gregarious athlete.

Over the course of the summer, Gene becomes envious of Finny's graceful, easy demeanor and takes part in an accident that ends Finny's athletic career. During the winter, as the country descends into World War II, the boys of Devon wage their own battles against each other to determine whether Gene intentionally harmed Finny.




The novel chronicles the boys' maturation as the war encroaches further and further into their lives.

While Knowles' tale of the journey from innocence to experience has been described as depressing, his capture of youthful emotion, surprising maturity and reactions to life's great tragedies make it a must-read during those awkward teenage years.











4. The Catcher in the Rye
Author: J.D. Salinger
Published: 1951






Published in 1951, Catcher has long been a literary touchstone for alienated high school students.




Main character Holden Caulfield is the ultimate whiner — everyone's a phony, everyone's a crumbum, and the only person who is really worth a damn is his little sister.

Because Catcher is a fairly glum tale about a screwup of a kid who may be going crazy following the death of his brother, it's really easy to forget that it's kind of the ultimate high school fantasy — Holden roams around New York City for a couple of days, gets into bars, dances with older women and gets beaten up while trying to procure a lady of ill repute.

While it may seem like the boy is just drifting, that sounds like living!





For those very reasons, though, many of today's teens are having trouble relating to the book, according to a June 2009 New York Times article. "I can't really feel bad for this rich kid with a weekend free in New York City," said one teacher, paraphrasing some of her students.

But despite the generational gap, this book won't be leaving classrooms anytime soon.











5. Animal Farm
Author: George Orwell
Published: 1945






This classic tale of an animal revolution gone rogue is George Orwell's allegorical take on Stalinism.



Under two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon, a group of farm animals overthrow their drunken human caretaker and establish a new community based on seven commandments, including the tenet that all animals are equal.

Soon after, Snowball and Napoleon engage in a power struggle to control the farm, with Napoleon emerging on top. He quickly turns Snowball into a scapegoat for a failed windmill project and kills any animals who appear to have an allegiance to his opponent.

As time passes, the swine adopt human traits, soon wearing clothes and walking on two legs. Before long, the lowly farm animals can no longer distinguish between the pigs and the people.











6. Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Published: 1954






Prominently featured on the American Library Association's list of the most banned books ever, Lord of the Flies is a complex allegory packed into a tale of struggle and survival.




The book begins when a plane carrying a group of British boarding-school students crashes on an isolated island. The boys (in the truest meaning of the word; the oldest is 13) establish a working society, with Ralph as their charismatic yet humble leader.

Order breaks down as Ralph battles with Jack, the leader of the school's choir, and the entire group slowly descends into chaos. The end, a brutal literal and figurative shattering of humanity, has served as the book's chief teaching point and mark of contention for half a century.




Often seen as a cautionary tale about the breakdown of civilization, the book details "the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart" and the horrific possibilities that lie within us all.











7. The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
Published: 1925






Every school takes a field trip to Long Island, New York, at some point, visiting the Roaring '20s as only F. Scott Fitzgerald could write them.

Thanks to its evocative setting, rich themes and masterly prose, The Great Gatsby has secured its standing as a reading-list staple as well as one of the greatest American novels ever written.




Here, the moneyed East meets the modest Midwest, and Fitzgerald's memorable characters — Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker — perpetuate a lavish lifestyle that, alas, doesn't offer much of a life.

The enigmatic Gatsby has the best parties, but it's Daisy he really wants. He may have no shortage of party guests, but he's sorely lacking in funeral attendees.

Narrator Nick Carraway is witness to the glitz that ultimately reflects emptiness, not success.











8. A Farewell to Arms
Author: Ernest Hemingway
Published: 1929






When Ernest Hemingway combined his "consciously bald" style with his experiences as a World War I ambulance driver, the resulting novel was an immediate success.

Published in 1929, A Farewell to Arms not only revisits the conflict that had ended just a decade earlier; it also tells of romance.




Sadly — not that dutiful American-lit students would expect to be cheered up by Hemingway — the love story isn't any less tragic than the war.

Lieutenant Frederic Henry and English nurse Catherine Barkley have to face the fact that death can make its presence known off the battlefield as well as on.











9. The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Published: 1850






Nathaniel Hawthorne's best-known work opens in Puritan Boston, with young Hester Prynne on trial for adultery.

Because she refuses to name the father of her infant daughter Pearl, Hester is ostracized by the community and forced to wear a scarlet piece of cloth in the shape of an "A" on her chest — an enduring symbol throughout the book.

This central conflict is the basis for all the themes the novel examines: sin, repentance, moral purity, forgiveness.











10. Macbeth
Author: William Shakespeare
Published: 1623






As high school students, we may have been drawn to Macbeth because it's known as the shortest of the Shakespearean tragedies. But the tersely written play spares no human frailty — and few characters — on the battlefield of 11th century Scotland.




Whereas decisiveness, the lack thereof and revenge drive the other Great High School Shakespearean Play, Hamlet, ambition and personal morality are at the center of the plot of Macbeth.

The play's title character finds himself pitted against a fellow lord, Banquo, when the two are made privy to a series of prophecies from a trio of witches. The toiling witches forecast a future royal line, and the will to power is soon unleashed.

Upon losing his wife in the fray, Macbeth delivers his epic "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy, which captures the sensation of despair as well as any other verse in the English language:


Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing ...

http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...002842,00.html

[catlover79]

Yup, I had to read most of those.

[sunshinefizzy]

The only ones I read for school were Mice and Men, MacBeth, and Lord of the Flies.

I read Mockingbird, Rye, and Gatsby on my own and I'm glad cause these were great books and I just hate it when people force me to read something,

[HuntingtonM15]

To Kill A Mockingbird, Of Mice And Men, and Animal Farm are the ones I had to read from that list.

[catlover79]

The ones I read in high school from that list:

To Kill a Mockingbird
Catcher in the Rye
A Separate Peace
Macbeth

[HuntingtonM15]

Unfortunately for me, in my senior year of high school, I had a teacher who was obsessed with Lord of the Rings. We had to read two of the books in his class. Even though that genre has a lot of fans, it certainly doesn't appeal to many people, including myself. I had a really hard time making it through them.

[JamesG]

For me the majority of these books were my in-class reading throughout high school; Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby go back further to 6th and 7th grade.


The ones that I did not read for school were A Farewell to Arms and The Scarlett Letter.

[JamesG]

Originally Posted by HuntingtonM15

Unfortunately for me, in my senior year of high school, I had a teacher who was obsessed with Lord of the Rings. We had to read two of the books in his class. Even though that genre has a lot of fans, it certainly doesn't appeal to many people, including myself. I had a really hard time making it through them.

One of my summer reading books going into sophomore year was The Hobbit.

[MickeyMac]

I too had to read most of those when I was in high school. The one on that list I liked the best was The Catcher In The Rye

[Zoneboy]

Luckily, I never had to read any of those when I was in school.

[Mr. Television]

I read Lord of the Flies, The Scarlet Letter and MacBeth from that list.

[Marvo301]

The only book from that list that I had to read in school is "To Kill a Mockingbird". It's a great book and also a great movie.(I own it on DVD) I recently purchased a copy of "The Scarlett Letter" and it is next up on my reading list.

[Retro4Life]

I read about seven of those. Never read Farewell to Arms, Animal Farm, or Catcher in the Rye.

Loved The Scarlet Letter. They must have dropped it from a lot of curriculum's, given the responses here. It's a wonderful book, full of vivid and lush descriptions which will stay with you forever, beautiful prose and themes that still resonate today. I highly recommend it.

[ZeldaGilroy]

I have not read The Great Gatsby or A Separate Peace. I read all of the others in highschool My favorite of all of those is To Kill a Mockingbird. It is an amazing book.

[Number 9 Dream]

I haven't read The Great Gatsby, Farewell to Arms, or A Separate Peace, but the others, with the exception of The Scarlet Letter (which I found boring), were fantastic. Some of my favorite books of all-time are on that list.