16 "Assigned-Reading" Books You Loved in High School

Ours was Macbeth. Thankful for the teacher I had back then. She made it so easy to understand back then. Not sure if I'd still be able to understand the language now...but I do remember SOME of the story...more than 20 years later.

It is interesting how our list was different. In czech republic the mainly picked non-czech books were:
1. Romeo and Juliette (or something from Shakespeare)
2. All quiet on the western front
3. Antic literature - Euripidés
4. Robinson Crusoe
5. French classics - Victor Hugo, mainly Hunchback from Notre Dame, Guy de Maupassant, Moliére
6. Russian classics - Balzac, Puschkin, Zola, Gogol
7. English classics - Wilde, Austen, Stevenson, Doyle, Shaw, Hemingway, Orwell, Tolkien
8. US - Steinbeck, Bradbury, Salinger (nothing else)
9. Little Prince
10. Catch XXII

Some of schools are also adding new books to the list, J.K.Rowling, G.R.R.Martin, Nesbo or Coelho. Anyway, it gets us to around 3 similar books. I wish to read some of the one listed here, but I think that pics in US and UK schools are not very assorted. Everytime I watch some american series or movie where someone is visiting High school, all you can see is: Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliette, How to kill mockingbird, The catcher in the rye and Lord of flies. That is all :D

I remember loving Of Mice and Men (I think I read it twice, actually, since I got so caught up in it that I finished it the day it was assigned and had to re-read it along with the class so I wouldn't forget what had happened). I didn't care much for Steinbeck's long descriptions of the setting, but the characters were so lifelike and heart-wrenching.

The Lord of The Flies was also been a favorite of mine; it manages to be both a thought-provoking social commentary and a brilliant horror story.

I also read Moby Dick this summer, and I absolutely adore it. I'm possibly the only student who feels this way (all my friends hate it with a passion) but despite all the insufferable encyclopedia-y bits, it made me laugh more than any other book I've had to read for school.

Well, most of these books I read on my own, but I remember reading The Color Purple, Go Ask Alice, A Christmas Carol and Little Women, for school.

Asagi wrote: "At school I had a lot of Gabriel Gracia Marquez books, like two for year (and I didn't like any of them)."

We didn't and that's a shame, because I absolutely loooove everything that he had written.

But you didn't and that is ok, because de gustibus non est disputandum

Being Italian, most of m assigned books in high school were Italian too XD Among them, the ones I remember with more fondness are:

The Bethroted by Alessandro Manzoni
I Malavoglia by Giovanni Verga
The Late Mattia Pascal by Luigi Pirandello
Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo
The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino (one of my absolute faves)

As far as foreign literature goes, the ones I was assigned that I liked best were:

The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe
The Confusions of Young Törless by Musil

(I see a pattern there)

I've read many of these books, but relatively few were on my high school reading list.
I didn't like Catcher in the Rye in the least. The Ray Bradbury book we had was Fahrenheit 451, not The Martian Chronicles.
Of Mice and Men was on the list and I liked it. The Lord of the Flies, a powerful book, was on the list as well.
Interesting topic.

I don't think I had any of those in school (though I loved Pride and Prejudice. And people really have Bradbury at school? Sounds weird to _have_ to read SFF). As for my favorites... I liked Pushkin's 'Eugene Onegin', Griboedov and 'War and Peace'

Actually there's quite a lot of books I read as entertainment, time-wasters instead of school program, and later learned that in other countries these are 'classics' and school students grumble at reading them - like Three Musketeers, Sherlock Holmes, Gone with the Wind (which I first encountered as a romance book), SFF like Bradbury and The Day of the Triffids... I'm still surprised someone studies that at school and struggles with it and gets tired or bored...

Shawna wrote: "I think my school is doing it wrong, because we only read Macbeth."

I love MacBeth, but it's a very different experience from reading classic novels.

'The Old Man and the Sea' was my favorite. Also read 'The Pearl' in grade 9... loved that one as well.

Got to admit that my yr 9 teacher (Mr Holt) was a far better English teacher than my yr 10/11 teacher (Mrs Roberts) was.

Mr Holt didn't mind what you read (as long as it wasn't a comic like the Beano) and you could discuss the good / bad points about the plot. He was the one who instigated the "reading hour" during our English lessons - where you could bring in your own book that you were reading. I remember not having a book to read, so I borrowed my Mum's Arms of Krupp, 1587-1968 - which was really interesting.

Mrs Roberts was determined to get us reading things like Silas Marner, and I am afraid to say that it put me off George Elliot for life.

Wuthering Heights is still my favourite book, I think.

There is something about that book that still reels me in today even if I'm reading it about the umpteenth time...

I loved "The Old Man and the Sea".
"Outsiders" wasn't required reading - everyone was reading it for fun, and all her other books too (and that gorgeous superstar cast for the movie!).

I loved the Handmaid's Tale, I enjoyed the Great Gatsby and Rebecca (which didn't make this list because it was on the pre-AP curriculum).

I remember reading The Scarlet Letter as well. Some of the books listed we didn't have to read but I remember a few of these. My English Lit class was always my favorite.

The Scarlet Letter & The Odyssey were two of many that I enjoyed, but those stand out the most because the teacher was an absolutely loathesome creep and I apparently focused my energies on getting what little joy I could out of the class that semester.

Ethan Frome has stuck with me for the 40+ years since I read it. And I've now read The Grapes of Wrath three times.

I remember Silas Marner by George Elliot and The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - I loved reading them then and, though I haven't read them in many years, I'm sure I would enjoy them just as much, maybe more, now.

During high school I was assigned to read Catcher in the Rye 3 times. Let it be known because of this I absolutely hate the book. On the other hand when given a chance to choose any classical book, I went to Fahrenheit 451 and fell in love with it.

Sonia wrote: "During high school I was assigned to read Catcher in the Rye 3 times. Let it be known because of this I absolutely hate the book. On the other hand when given a chance to choose any classical book,..."

My eighth grade teacher let us choose any book and I chose Catcher in the Rye. I had to get a note from my parents to read it because of language.

I read The Rhime of the Ancient Mariner. I also read it to my mother while sitting outside in the backyard. I also read Gone With The Wind, loved it! It's also one of my favorite movies. Also read The Canterbury Tales and The Good Earth.

To Kill a Mockingbird was my favorite. But I also loved Catcher In the Rye, Of Mice and Men and Lord of the Flies. I hated Great Expectations and The picture of Dorian Grey...just couldn't get into them

I cannot say that there is one book that stands out that I loved. I read extensively so many of the assigned books I had already read.
But, I did not like Heart of Darkness. Also did not love Ulysses.

Only four of those were on my high school list!

In Canada Alice Munro (Bird in the House), Timothy Findley (The Wars), and Margaret Laurence (Stone Angel) are required readings at many high schools.

Colleen wrote: "I swear I was the only kid who loved Heart Of Darkness."

You might still be the only person who loves it - LOL!!! I plowed through it hating it, and figured I would understand it when I was older, but I am older now and I still can't get what it's about, or how it's any good . . .

Nicole wrote: "I remember loving Of Mice and Men (I think I read it twice, actually, since I got so caught up in it that I finished it the day it was assigned and had to re-read it along with the class so I would..."

Wait, Moby Dick is funny? I completely missed that part!

I liked Cyrano De Bergerac, To Kill a Mockingbird. Diary of Anne Frank{ this one got me very interested in reading about the Holocaust} to mention a few.

My 11th grade year I had an American Authors class and we read Ender's Game, Shards of Honor, and Tom Clancy's Patriot Games. The only other books I remember enjoying in H.S. were Brave New World and The Canterbury Tales.

I had to read The Outsiders in 7th grade English, which I loved and have since re-read multiple times.
In 9th grade I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies, and The Good Earth. I only liked To Kill a Mockingbird.
In 10th/11th grade I had to read The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby, Macbeth (& Hamlet), Wuthering Heights, Things Fall Apart, The Handmaid's Tale, Brave New World, plus at least 5 more not on this list. We didn't get to A Tale of Two cities in 11th grade because we ran out of time. I really like The Handmaid's Tale, and Macbeth (& Hamlet). I kind of liked Things Fall Apart, Brave New World, and Wuthering Heights. I disliked the rest from the list.
By the time I got through high school I had read 3 times as many books outside of class as I had read required reading. Some of the books were recommended to me by those who had to read them for other English classes.

Ginny wrote: "Colleen wrote: "I swear I was the only kid who loved Heart Of Darkness."

You might still be the only person who loves it - LOL!!! I plowed through it hating it, and figured I would understand it w..."

There is at least another one =P

"Of Mice and Men"
"The Old Man in the Sea"
"Lord of the Flies"
"The Cantebury Tales"

Kris wrote: "It is interesting how our list was different. In czech republic the mainly picked non-czech books were:
1. Romeo and Juliette (or something from Shakespeare)
2. All quiet on the western front
3. An..."

Balzac and Zola are French classics, not Russian.

I am from Germany and there we read things like Wilhelm Tell, Woyzeck, Galileo Galilei, Faust, The Trial, Brave New World, The Trial and soon we will read a Shakespear drama.
Once in my english course we were able to chose a book ourselves and I picked To Kill a Mockingbird, the only one from this list!

Vanda wrote: "My eighth grade teacher let us choose any book and I chose Catcher in the Rye. I had to get a note from my parents to read it because of language."

Hah, here in many schools students read Unknown Soldiers around that time and one can only imagine how much soldiers swear at war and what kind of languages they use in general. No notes are asked.

The Grapes of Wrath was one of my favourites, and I've read it a couple of times since, too.

Also, The Stone Angel led me to a lifelong love of Laurence.

"The Diary of Anne Frank" - stunning, difficult and such a powerful book - every student (& human) should read this one.

Ginny wrote: "Nicole wrote: "I remember loving Of Mice and Men (I think I read it twice, actually, since I got so caught up in it that I finished it the day it was assigned and had to re-read it along with the c..."

Herman Melville seems to have a kind of dry, quirky sense of humor, although it does get bogged down in all the encyclopedic descriptions of whaling. There were a lot of sly jabs at different historical figures (and I'm sure more that went over my head) and I thought a lot of the dialogue was quite funny.

Sonia wrote: "During high school I was assigned to read Catcher in the Rye 3 times. Let it be known because of this I absolutely hate the book. On the other hand when given a chance to choose any classical book,..."

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Catcher in the Rye (great book, insufferable narrator). I can't imagine having to read it three times, though.

The recently departed Elie Weisel's Night, Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw & Romeo & Juliet

Sasha wrote: "Only four of those were on my high school list!

In Canada Alice Munro (Bird in the House), Timothy Findley (The Wars), and Margaret Laurence (Stone Angel) are required readings at many high schools."

I read The Stone Angel within the last few years, and really liked it. As I remember, I found it on a list of "women authors you've never read" or something like that.

What about The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier? Did no one have to read it???