Required Reading in High School
A list of books that you were required to read in high school.
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VALERIE
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Sep 21, 2008 09:23AM

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Shattered by Eric Walters
Zack by William Bell
and we just finished reading Romeo and Juliet (just started watching the movie today)

Yeah, the list is "Required High School reading" although, I agree with you. This is probably why most kids hate to read. lol


I'm from Slovenia and I want to study drama at a university in London so I think it’s important for me to know a lot of English literature. I would appreciate it if someone answered me if I have to read them all and if not, which are the most important.

Then again, there are a few on this list I've never heard of and a number that my brother had to read for high school that are simply not listed here.

This is really some comprehensive list! I think the title is fair, though one detail might help: "A List of Books that many American High Schools require - what did you read?"
Considering that there are only 9 months in a school year, and one title might take a month ... you get the idea. In my high school we did read Julius Ceasar, Romeo and Juliet, Inherit the Wind (GREAT book!), Johnny Tremain (I didn't get it), and parts of Walden. We didn't read Our Town but I did, and saw at least three performances of it (great writer! Good play!) In College we read Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist, the Metamorphosis, and others ... I think many, many of the books that High Schools present can't be comprehended by High School youth. Walden should wait until they are out on their own!!!
During High School, some books I read on my own,and recommend: the wonderful All Quiet On the Western Front, Grapes of Wrath and the Pearl by Steinbeck, and all of Mark Twain.
Cheers!

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Oh, and in reply to Megan: Not all kids don't like reading. I personally LOVE reading, just saying.


Same hahaha xD

This is really some comprehensive list! I think the title is fair, though one detail might help: "A List of Books that many American High Schools require - what did you read..."
Actually, back in the dark ages when I was in 6th grade, we were given a reading list by our AP English teacher that had over 800 titles on it arranged into American, British and World literature categories. We were to choose 9 books from the list and read one book a week. I would love to have that list today - I'd love to try to plow my way through it as sort of a "bucket reading list," if you will.







Oh please, you should appreciate this list and be glad you didn't have to go through the polish required reading :D.



I believe you're thinking of Midnight Is a Place :)



Nah, it's just that these are the common ones across schools. We all had to read some of them. The ones I was assigned from this list, in highschool: Romeo and Juliet, The Great Gatsby(didn't read lol), Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Animal Farm, 1984 and The Crucible.

I can't help but feel most of them will be soon forgotten.

Old post but I absolutely loved The Things They Carried in high school. I wasn't what you'd call a great student either but this book was life changing for me. Originally published in 1990, I think, which makes it fairly recent. It's gotta be better than having kids slog through Shakespeare.
So funny as half these books were NOT even around when I was in high school!


Still, I'll probably return to this list for inspiration. I'm thinking of reading more of the classics, so this would be a good start, I reckon. (I was homeschooled, so I didn't have "required reading". Most of Shakespeare I watched, in movies and broadcasts of plays. I also saw a really good documentary about the theory that Shakespeare's plays were really written by Christopher Marlowe, but I can't remember the name of it.)

I know my niece read The Fault in Our Stars for her English classes a few months ago.

I know my niece read The Fault in Our Stars for her English classes a few months ago."
Oh, cool! I didn't know it was being read in English classes.

I'm Dutch, and so is my niece :-) But the book was part of the school library, which is why she read it.




"There is nothing new under the sun."


I'm from Slovenia and I want to study drama at a university in London so I think it’s impor..."
I can't speak for American or British High Schools, but in Australia I know for a fact you don't have to read ALL of that. We didn't even have to read a portion of that list. And there's loads of other things we did read that aren't on this list either. Just find something you're interested in reading and read it through. You're not going to be judged by whether or not you've read all of Edgar Allan Poe's poems. But since you're interested in studying drama, I'd recommend you at least look into some of Shakespeare's more popular stories like Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. You don't have to memorise them word for word, but you should at least have a look at what they're about, and research the guy himself a little, because I can guarantee he'll be relevant. You can find copies of his works pretty much everywhere, so you wont have trouble tracking them down, but aim for copies that have contemporary translations of his old-timey speech, or you'll be stuck constantly looking up what the text is saying.

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