Thread: Must Reads Before the End of High School (?)

I'm starting to create a list of books that I should read before I leave High School. That is, particularly because I'm hoping to be some sort of English major in college.

Any suggestions for my list would be greatly appreciated! Even if it's just "read at least one book by [this author]" or on [this topic]. Etc...

Thanks for your help!

qui sans cesse,
~Natalie Rose

If you haven't read it yet, you should read The Stranger, by Albert Camus. It's translated from French, it's pretty short and it'll be required reading at most schools. It's a pretty good example Existentialism in writing, but more than that it was just a good book. Well written and remarkebly easy to get through for the subject matter.

If you can find it:

The Night Is Dark And I Am A Long Way From Home by Jonathan Kozol. One of my lit. teachers gave me a copy and said "Here. Take from it what you will, and pass it on when you are ready." It's an unkind but sharp examination of how we grow into the world around us. Highly suggested if you have the time to hunt it down. It's not too thick, but takes a while to absorb.

Also, Einstein's work. That man had some unreal insight. It's also impressive to be able to quote the silly bugger from time to time. Passing on those little tidbits to other people has the effect of making them seek out knowledge for some reason. I know it worked on me!

I would say:

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Of Mice & Men - John Steinbeck
Flowers for Algernon - can't remember the author

And there are many more, but I just woke up, so I'm having a hard time thinking of them.

If you're looking to do English at a higher level, I've been told a firm basis in the Classics is good. This means the Bible, works by Homer (the Iliad and the Oddysey) and others of the time. The Bible, I've been told, is a must, because so many books use Biblical imagery of some kind, and many meanings can be lost if you don't know at least some of the religious stories.

Other than that, I think more modern classics are good to read, especially books like 1984, A Christmas Carol, etc. There really is no real list for what you should read, I don't think, but a wide knowledge of literature is good to have before you start such courses.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
The Color Purple - Alice Walker
War & Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Crime & Punishment - Dostoevsky
The Raw & The Cooked - Claude Levi Strauss
The Catcher In The Rye - J.D.Salinger

Those are all the usual classics. Dostoevsky & Tolstoy can be a bit heavy going/boring at some parts but it depends what you like

isabo x

I agree with what midnightmare mentioned on the Einstein books. Some of what he wrote is a little beyond the average mind's ability to comprehend, but a lot of it is accessible to even the mediocre physicist's imagination.

As a corollary to that, read the Stephen Hawking books as well. His A Brief History of Time is a phenomenal book and is relatively easy to comprehend (mainly because he wrote it for the general public and not the science world). Also, Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe is quite good, I've heard. And all of them really help you understand how the universe works.

I would also say that if you haven't read them, any of Ayn Rand's books are recommended. I'm sure that in college you'll discuss her writing and/or her ideologies at least once, and if you read nothing else by her, pick up Anthem. It's quite short, but quite powerful as well.

I would suggest, as well, that you read Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein. Any of his other books (Farnham's Freehold, Starship Troopers, The Number of the Beast) are recommended as well, but SiaSL is an absolute necessity, especially from a sociological standpoint (Farnham's Freehold is another great sociological book by him).

Originally Posted by Chrispian

If you haven't read it yet, you should read The Stranger, by Albert Camus. It's translated from French, it's pretty short and it'll be required reading at most schools. It's a pretty good example Existentialism in writing, but more than that it was just a good book. Well written and remarkebly easy to get through for the subject matter.

Yes, you're right, but I think tehat even better would be Camus' "The Plague". In fact, I wrote about it on my final exams in high school

I can also add:

"Remembrance of things past" by Marcel Proust
"Ulisses" by James Joyce

Although these books might not be the most literarily significant for high school, I would have to suggest my favorite book "The Talisman," by Stephen King. It's not as horror filled as most of his other books. I've read it 6 times, and i'm still in high school.

"The Stand" by him is good too

Brandon

i would have to agree with yad4u when saying that stephen king is a must read. no tbecaus ehe'll get u into college but because he's good for a reader's mind. i must say that if there is any one book by him to read it owuld be Bag Of Bones. that is the first book i ever read by him and since then i havent been able to stop just buying his books let alone reading them. good luck with trying to major in english.

Originally Posted by Aliena

I would say:

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
Of Mice & Men - John Steinbeck
Flowers for Algernon - can't remember the author

And there are many more, but I just woke up, so I'm having a hard time thinking of them.

I tried reading a Tale of Two Cities once. Tried...

I have to nod agreement with several already mentioned, especially "Cather in the Rye" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." If the purpose of this reading is to prepare for college, you likely need to read "Beowulf" and "The Canterbury Tales," as well.

The mention of "Ulysses" made me wince --- not because I necessarily disagree with the choice, but, when tackling Joyce, that's not where I would begin. It's quite a difficult read and, I think, would be more easily digested after you read Joyce's "Dubliners" (a collection of short stories) or "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man."

Poets you should be familar with:

T.S. Eliot ("The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock")
Wallace Stevens
William Carlos Williams
Lord Byron ("She Walks in Beauty")
e.e. cummings
William Butler Yeats
John Keats
Robert Browning

Hope this helps!

DG/aubie84

The ACT study book that I used had a long list in it. I'll try and find it and post what hasn't been mentioned yet.

ooh, ooh: go to your library/local bookstore. go to the fiction section. find the V's. Stop at Vonnegut. Pick whatever you can carry. The best ones are Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions.

I'm also fond of Catch-22. For some reason the author's name escapes me. (I guess I read too much "black humor" but...what can you do?)

a few more:
In the Lake of the Woods or If I Die in a Combat Zone... by Tim O'Brien
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
Black Boy or Native Son by Richard Wright
Huck Finn by Samuel Clemens (AKA Mark Twain)
The Chosen by Chaim Potok
Walden by Thoreau (a good essay is "Civil Disobedience")

Some Plays:
"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
"The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" by two random guys I can't remember...I suck with names

Some knowledge of Shakespeare is definately helpful. You should definately be familiar with Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Othello for tragedy and the Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream for comedy. A history play or two wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Just thought I'd add that in since no one else mentioned the Bard.