What Books Did You Read in High School?

[Heather L]

Lisa Kay: No, have never seen that one. I tried to watch the season premier but just couldn't get into it.

[Jordan]

I had this global studies teacher last year who made us read Animal Farm, on a side note he was an idiot, and we were already scheduled to read it next year, so all my teacher this year did was complain about what an idiot my other teacher was.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

LOL! When I went back for my Masters all the books were the same (as for my BSN) and when the instructor asked why we weren't too enthusiastic about the reading, we told her. She changed things around.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Not that she wasn't pretty P.O.'d about it. But she was n't the type to just complain.

[Ian]

All of this talk of school has reminded me of my school days and some pieces I wrote when I first began writing. If you're interested in life in an English country school in the seventies they're here.

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Those were very touching, Ian. BTW, one of the reasons I like listening to audiobooks and having the hardcover also at hand is so I can see the difference in spelling and pronunciation of some words. Very interesting! I've been mispronouncing ton in Regency Romance books for years!

[Ian]

Lisa Kay wrote: "Those were very touching, Ian. BTW, one of the reasons I like listening to audiobooks and having the hardcover also at hand is so I can see the difference in spelling and pronunciation of some wor..."

Thank you Lisa. These are some of my first pieces and I still love them. They are solid memoirs of my school and home life, where it seemed a safer happier time.

[Jordan]

Was i the only one who had/has insanely weird or abnormal teachers? Because i have had some weirdies!

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

No, I had some weirdies, too, Jordan. Even in college! Or is that especially in college? LOL!

[Heather L]

Jordan: Not so much in high school, but college... There were a few "interesting" characters.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

LOL I had a few "weirdies" or "interesting" characters in high school but more so after I got in college.

[Ian]

Check out my old english master!

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3...

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Ian wrote: "Check out my old english master!

http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/3..."

Thanks for sharing Ian!!! Interesting ☺

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

☺

[Pamela(AllHoney), Fairy Godmother]

Good story, Ian.

I don't really remember too much about my teachers. I do remember a history teacher who used to walk into the class and yell "WOE UNTO YOU WHO...." Very intimidating feller. He never bothered me personally.

[Jordan]

Haha I have a biology teacher who has these weird hiccups and it sounds like she is screaming at us, but really it is just acid reflux.

[B.J.]

Heather L wrote: "I've kept a reading list since HS, so I'm not going to try to link any of these right now, just C&P. I also had a lot of lit classes in college, so if you really want me to, I can come back later a..."

Heather, I LOVE the Witch of Blackbird Pond. It's one of my favorite YA books! Your list also let me longing for your English teachers. We did not read that many books in my high school classes...and we were "honors". :)

[Jordan]

My cousin also read The Witch of Blackbird pond and she agreed it was really good.

[Heather L]

BJ: The Witch of Blackbird Pond was one of my favorite reads, too. I read it a few times, both in class and out. My one sister and I had advanced English through HS (the equivelent of other disctricts "honors" classes, I think), and it always seemed to me that we read a more diverse selection of books, but also greater emphasis on writing and vocabulary.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

I never heard of - let alone read- The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I added it. I was looking all over for a book to read that was set in Connecticut for my 50 State Challenge. (One where I could actually find a copy and wanted to read.) I found one, but I'll mark this one for my next go round. Thanks!

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond several years ago and I liked it ☺ I think you will like/enjoy it LK!

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Thanks, Robin!

[Ian]

Robin wrote: "I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond several years ago and I liked it ☺ I think you will like/enjoy it LK!"

Hi

Like Lisa I've never heard of it. Will look it out. We read The Wierdstone of Brisingamen which I recall introducing me to fantasy writing. Excellent read.

[Jordan]

Yeah my cousin had a strong recommendation of this book. and she never reads! So I knew it was a good book!

[B.J.]

It is one of those books that I have kept on my bookshelf at home. Love the story. Lisa Kay, I think you will enjoy it.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Thanks, B.J.! I hope so, too.

[Joanna]

Shakespeare: R&J, Julius Ceasar, Midsummer Nights Dream, 12th Night, Hamlet

To Kill a Mockingbird

Adv of Huckleberry Finn

The World According to Garp

Animal Farm

Brave New World

and more than I just can't remember...

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Loved To Kill a Mockingbird. My mom read that to us b/f high-school and I think I read it on my own in eighth grade.

[Jordan]

To kill a mockingbird was also a favorite of mine. I really wasn't expecting to like it but I fell in love with it after the first chapter.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Yeah, I've been meaning to re-read it via audio. My library has it on CDs and Sissy Spacek narrates.

[Jordan]

Yeah we read it on tape in class because the kid who always wanted to read thought it would be funny to read it in a British accent every time.

[B.J.]

I saw a stage production on a channel like A&E once with Helen Hunt doing twelfth night. Ever since then, it has been my all-time favorite Shakespeare play. But, Joanna, I have never heard of the World According to Garp. What is that one about? Did you like it?

[Jordan]

What is that about? I have heard maybe one or two people say some thing about it (The World According to Garp) but I have yet to know what it is about.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Some people really liked it. There is a movie of the book staring Robin Williams and, I think, Glenn Close. I didn't like it too much. **shrugs** Maybe that was just back then; I might like it now.

[Jordan]

The books are always better. I find myself also hating the movies, especially after loving the book. It is really sad, actually.

[Margaret]

I liked 'Ring of Bright Water', though it became very sad...

[Sandra]

School in the 70's in Aus:- A Shakespeare play every year

Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice, Julius Ceasar, Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, Macbeth

The Hobbit
Animal Farm
1984
The Great Gatsby
Tess D'Ubervilles (Hate, hate, hate)
Diary of Anne Frank
Antigone
Oedipus Rex
Pride & Prejudice
John Steinbeck's The Pearl
The Crucible

That's all I can remember from so long ago.

[Jordan]

You know what is really weird? We haven't read Pride and Prejudice, and I don't think we will. And I find this weird because my teacher is into all those kinds of books, like Wuthering heights.

[Lisa Kay, Tinker Bell]

Sandra, I went to high school in the seventies, too. I'll check-off what I read:


Twelfth Night, ✔ Merchant of Venice, ✔ Julius Ceasar, ✔ Taming of the Shrew, ✔ Hamlet,
✔ Macbeth

✔ The Hobbit - My whole family read this and the rest of the series together...
✔ Animal Farm
✔ 1984
✔ The Great Gatsby
Tess D'Ubervilles (Hate, hate, hate) - Thank goodness, I didn't have to read it! LOL!
✔ Diary of Anne Frank
Antigone
✔ Oedipus Rex
Pride & Prejudice - Read it on my own... I think in college.
✔ John Steinbeck's The Pearl - We read most of his stuff.
The Crucible

[Jordan]

I read Taming the Shrew on my own last year.

[Sandra]

I've read The Tempest on my own and loved it :)

[Jordan]

Oh wait maybe it was the Tempest I read. Hahahaha it was! I too enjoyed it!

[B.J.]

I read The Tempest in college loved it. Did you know Cinemark Movie Theater is advertising a one night only airing of the play on some theatrical stage? I forget what famous actor plays the main character.

[Jordan]

Really? That would be awesome to go see! I hats trying to interpret poems or Shakespeare and then going online to a site like Sparknotes and finding out I was totally wrong!

[Marilyn]

Required reading for me in H.S. (best I can remember) was The Good Earth (10th grade), 11th grade (blank), 12th grade was MacBeth. Also, in 12th grade my teacher made all of us do a term paper just as is required in English 102 so I was fully prepared. On my own I read Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo and that's it as far as the classics go.

[Jordan]

I read Pride and Prejudice on my own, because my teacher promised we would read it last year and we didn't.

[Pamela(AllHoney), Fairy Godmother]

We're doing a little housecleaning here in the Happily Ever After Cafe!

Because some threads get lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday posting, we're giving them permanent homes.

This thread has been moved to the Chatting and Recommendations Folder.

[Kit★]

I can't remember even close to all of them, but a few that stick out in my mind are
Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet (which I had to go buy Cliff's Notes for that one, lol), Lord of the Flies (loved!), The Great Gatsby (also loved), Girl, Interrupted (liked quite well), and The Scarlet Letter (hated with a passion!). I know there was many, many more, but those are the ones that stick out in memory...

[Melissa]

My High School LA teacher seemed to be more into poetry that books so we read a lot of Emily Dickenson and other poetry book.

I remember reading Great Expectations and a lot of Edgar Allen Poe as well.

[Maggie the Muskoka Library Mouse]

I remember a few books we read in high school. Not all of them, but definitely some.

Lord of the Flies
The Wars
A Complicated Kindness
A Separate Peace
To Kill a Mockingbird
Twelfth Night
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
Cue for Treason
Hamlet
Brave New World