Books that YOU had to read in middle or high school?

[TrixieB]

Jr High & High School:

 

Lost Horizon

Mysterious Island

1984

Animal Farm

All Quiet on the Western Front (I still remember the bloody picture on the cover)

Secret Sharer

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Romeo & Juliet

Julius Caesar

Hamlet

Macbeth

A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Scarlet Letter

Lysistrata

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Chosen

The Crucible

The Mouse that Roared

The Lord of the Flies

The Picture of Dorian Gray

 

I'm pretty sure there was more, but that is all I can remember. It has been almost 30 years since I was assigned some of those titles!

[Laura Corin]

We didn't have to read that many, but each was analysed in a lot of detail.

 

Middle school

Silas Marner, The Tempest, The Woodlanders.... there must have been others

 

High School

Measure for Measure, Wuthering Heights, The Importance of Being Earnest, An Ideal Husband, Keats poems, Our Mutual Friend, Tennyson poems..

 

Laura

[Ester Maria]

We analyzed to death Dante and Manzoni - the former one we studied 3 years (each year one part of the Commedia + we also did Vita nuova and some Latin writings), and the latter one's "I promessi sposi" was a very emphasized work, along with memorizing a LOT of his poetry.

Regarding the classical canon, "Aeneid", "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were each studied a few times.

 

Ovid, "Metamorphoses" - also studied twice (in Italian and in Latin); classical Greek tragedy was studied quite a lot too (Prometheus Bound; Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus; Euripides' Electra; Medea; Alcestis - those are the once I remember for sure); Roman comedy was a part of Latin lessons so I think we only did one Plautus in Italian as well.

 

Boccaccio, "Decameron"

Petrarca, "Canzoniere"

Cervantes, "Don Quijote"

Shakespeare, I've no idea what we read in Italian and what in English, but we certainly studied "Hamlet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Macbeth" and "Othello";

Corneille, "Cid"

Racine, "Fedra" and/or "Berenice"

Moliere, again I'm not sure what was read in Italian and what in French, but we studied "Le Misanthrope", "L'Avare" and "Le Malade Imaginaire" at least

Ariosto, "Orlando Furioso"

Tasso, "Gerusalemme Liberata"

Alfieri, "Saul", "Agamnemnone"

Machiavelli, "The Prince"

Montaigne's essays

Goldoni, "La locandiera", maybe also "Gli innamorati"?

Goethe, "Faust" and "The Sorrows of Young Werther"

Schiller, "The Robbers"

Byron, "Childe Harold"

Balzac, "Le Pere Goriot", "Eugene Grandet"

Hugo, "Les miserables", tons of poetry

Flaubert, "Madame Bovary"

Turgenev, "Fathers and Sons"

Zola, "Germinal", "Therese Raquin"

Stendhal, "The Red and the Black"

Dickens, "A Tale of Two Cities", "Bleak House" or "Great Expectations"

Dostoevsky, "Crime and Punishment", one more that we chose

Tolstoy, "Anna Karenina"

Chechov, "Three Sisters"

Maupassant's short stories

Ibsen, "Nora"

Proust, "Combray"

Verga, "I Malavoglia"

Pirandello, "Il fu Mattia Pascal", "Uno, nessuno e centomila", "Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore"

Kafka, "The Trial", "Metamorphosis"

Sartre, "Nausea"

Camus, "The Stranger", "The Plague", "Caligula"

Ionesco, "La cantatrice chauve", "Les chaises"

Beckett, "Waiting for Godot"

Wilde, "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "The Importance of Being Earnest"

Svevo, "Zeno's Conscience"

Moravia, "Gli Indifferenti", "La Ciociara"

 

I excluded some of the more obscure Italian names (obviously the list was more biased in that direction), I didn't list poetry, and I also didn't list specific readings we had in French/German/English classes (such as more Hugo, or Rousseau's "Les confessions", or Hemingway, etc.), nor the readings we did for philosophy classes. I'm also pretty sure I forgot something :p, but that's the basic scheme we did. Lots of classical stuff, and lots of French stuff. Or at least *I* had the impression of constantly reading French literature.

[edithcrawley]

I don't remember all of what we read, but here is some of it...mostly high school as middle school was a long time ago.

 

Night by Elie Wiesel

of Mice and Men-Steinbeck

Othello-Shakespeare

Much ado about Nothing-Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet-Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night's Dream-Shakespeare

Julius Caesar-Shakespeare

Things fall apart-Achebe

Brave New World-Huxley

Heart of Darkness-Conrad

All the king's men-Warren

Parts of the Illiad-Homer

Oedipus Rex

Oediupus at Colonus

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Tristan and Isolde

Parts of Canterbury tales-Wife of Bath and some others I don't remember

[FaithManor]

I went to a totally pathetic private school. Literally, my list of "required reading" was:

 

Old and New Testament

The Hiding Place

The Diary of Anne Frank

The Miracle Worker

Uncle Tom's Cabin

Pilgrim's Progress

The Merchant's of Venice

Robinson Crusoe

 

Yeah! That's it....sheesh...it's a good thing I was a voracious reader and our local library believed in the classics. I read all of Shakespeare's plays and most of the sonnets, Dante's Inferno, Illiad and Odyssey, Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, The Federalist Papers, some selections of Edgar Allen Poe & Mark Twain, the librettos from several operas, The Scarlett Letter and The House of Seven Gables, and a huge number of biographies - mostly of scientists, plus a lot of poetry.

 

Faith

[joannqn]

I know I can't remember them all but a few stick in my memory.

 

Les Miserable in 8th grade. I was a big reader but I hated this one. Despite it being assigned and discussed in class, I never finished it.

 

I had the distinct pleasure :ack2: of reading Lord of the Flies in three different schools in three consecutive years.

 

My favorite English teacher had us read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby.

 

I also remember reading The Old Man and the Sea, Hamlet, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, The Scarlet Letter, Oliver Twist (for my senior term paper), The Diary of Anne Frank, Cry My Beloved Country, and a whole lot of excepts in an anthology my senior year.

 

There are so many classics that it seems everyone but me has read.

[nukeswife]

I don't remember having any required reading other than To Kill a Mockingbird until I was in my senior year and took AP English Lit and Composition. Talk about a difficult 1st period class. From that I remember having to read

Macbeth

Hamlet

A Winter's Tale

The Great Gatsby

Jude the Obscure

The Awakening ? not sure that's the full title

 

We also had to read some part of The Canterbury Tales and other poetry that I don't remember.

 

I only liked The Great Gatsby when we had to do our mid year research papers on an author and one of their famous works, my teacher made it a lottery thing so that 40 of the 75 kids in the classes didn't try to pick Poe or Hemingway, we all had to stay after school and as we entered the classroom we drew a number then we started at picking author's according to our numbers. I drew something like 72 or 73. I ended up with Thomas Hardy and my teacher wouldn't let me use Jude the Obscure even though all others that drew authors we had already read something from were allowed to use what we'd read as a class. I ended up having to read Tess of the d'Urbervilles, which I hated because it was almost the same story line as Jude the Obscure. I did manage to get an A on my paper and oral presentation even though I never finished read the book. I've never read anything else by Thomas Hardy since.

 

I never had to read anything by Jane Austin, and after seeing the movie "Becoming Jane" I tried, oh how I tried to read Pride and Prejudice, but it just didn't happen. I just couldn't get into it.

[TracyR]

I barely remember what I did in school. But what I do remember reading is

 

Catcher in the Rye

Brave New World

Great Gatsby

Robert Frost poems

Lord of the Flies

I'm sure some short stories from a reader and that's about all I remember.

[TracyR]

I barely remember what I did in school. But what I do remember reading is

 

Catcher in the Rye

Brave New World

Great Gatsby

Robert Frost poems

Lord of the Flies

Uncle Tom's Cabin( liked this story very much)

I'm sure some short stories from a reader and that's about all I remember.

This is a great list though. Will give me something to read now :>)

 

For my oldest daughter this year I've had her read:

Shiloh

Tom Sawyer

Mid Summer Night's Dream

Singing Down the Moon

Sign of the Beaver

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Sherlock Holmes

Dracula

Where the Red Fern Grows

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Treasure Island

and some short stories from a reader I have here at home...

Edited June 6, 2010 by TracyR

[happi duck]

Sorry if this is a repeat, I haven't read all the replies. Is the story you were thinking of The Island of Dr. Moreau? http://www.gradesaver.com/the-island-of-dr-moreau/study-guide/short-summary/

 

I can't believe I was required to read Deliverance in 11th grade...we even watched the movie :glare:

[Guest Cyrus Long]

We’ve all experienced this one time or another. When we’re forced to read a book or a play, we lose interest in it. That’s what happened with me. I had to read 'Romeo and Juliet' in high school. I didn’t enjoy it much then. Recently I re-read this classic and loved it! Shmoop gave me a fresh take on this book and there’s some interesting trivia there, too. Like in Shakespeare’s times the permissible age for girls to marry was twelve, and for boys, fourteen.

[TechWife]

Let's see, I'm not sure I remember much.

 

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

1984

Flowers for Algernon

The Little Prince (in French)

 

Now, I elected to read a lot more, but the only ones that stand out are Go Ask Alice and Gone With the Wind. I'm quite sure I read a lot of twaddle.

[MyThreeSons]

Death of a Salesman

Our Town

The Crucible

Huckleberry Finn

The Caine Mutiny

 

That's it for high school. I only took one year of traditional English class (sophomore year), and it was more focused on composition than literature. My freshman year I took an experimental class that allowed for independent study -- I designed a house. Junior and senior years I took Journalism. I never had to read even a single novel in all of college; nothing like lit required for my engineering major.

 

I have been exposed to more literature as a homeschooling mom than I ever was as a student.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

It was so long ago, I barely remember, but here goes:

 

The Old Man and the Sea

The Scarlet Letter

Julius Caeser (Did not get it at all, having no history background)

MacBeth

To Kill a Mockingbird

Our Town

The House of Seven Gables

The Great Gatsby

Beowulf

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Le Mort d'Artu

 

That's all that stands out in my mind.

[Pretty in Pink]

I don't remember many books that we had to read. Here's my short list:

 

Animal Farm

The Scarlet Letter

Macbeth (my class never finished this one, though we did watch the movie :glare:)

Romeo and Juliet (we finished this one and watched the film version w/ Claire Danes and Leo Dicaprio)

The Red Badge of Courage

 

We read excerpts of several things such as Beowulf and Hamlet.

 

ETA: I also recall reading A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations. One was assigned and the other I read for fun, but I can't recall which was which.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Pretty in Pink

[TXMary2]

Middle school - I remember:

 

The Outsiders

Lord of the Flies

Shane

The Pearl

 

High School:

 

East of Eden

Mutiny on the Bounty

Grapes of Wrath

Catcher in the Rye

Romeo and Juliet

West Side Story

Macbeth

The Caine Mutiny

Scarlet Letter

Frankenstein

[Farrar]

I was in a pretty academically rigorous high school program. I can't imagine listing all the books, plays and short story collections I had to read here. I think I had to read at least 100 books in the course of 9-12th grades and probably more like 200, honestly, as I took English elective courses like Southern Literature and Psychology and Literature plus I had to read a handful of novels and novellas in French for French literature. Most books I liked or am at least glad I read, some I didn't like, a few I loved and a few I loathed (Heart of Darkness, I'm looking at you!). I remember nearly all of them, I think, though I'm sure I'm fuzzy on the plot points. Actually, I still own many of the editions I had to read in high school. I have trouble letting go of books.

[vonfirmath]

I remember quite a few books from middle school and high school (though by all means not ALL!) One thing I remember distinctly, in HS, is some of those books (Charles Dickens Tale of Two Cities, for one) are things I would NEVER have gotten through on my own but by the end, they were infinitely worth reading and I was glad I had done so. (All the Willa Cather, though, was pretty worthless)

 

After I got out of HS, I have several times wished I could get back into that environment again somehow. To read the classics in an environment where I'd actually understand and thus enjoy them!

[ereks mom]

And I graduated high school in 1978! HA!

 

I posted previously in this thread, but I'm posting again because I've remembered more, but I can't edit my original post. ;)

 

Middle School:

Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies were required.

We also read short stories, including The Ransom of Red Chief, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Most Dangerous Game, Rip Van Winkle, The Gift of the Magi, and more. On my own, I read The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia and more.

 

High School:

Westside Story

Canterbury Tales

Beowulf

The Pearl

The Light in the Forest

Hucklberry Finn

Silar Marner

The Good Earth

The Crucible

Twelve Angry Men

Brave New World

Tobacco Road

Flowers for Algernon

Lots of Shakespeare tragedies:

Julius Caesar

Romeo and Juliet

Hamlet

King Lear

MacBeth

Othello

We also read an anthology of short stories, including The Lottery, The Masque of the Red Death (and other stories by Poe), The Rocking Horse Winner, Lamb to the Slaughter, excerpts from Walden and more.

 

Of all the things we read, the only thing I didn't like was The Good Earth. I have no idea why, but I hated that book. It was so boring!

Edited July 27, 2010 by ereks mom

[Hannah C.]

I graduated public HS in 2007 so this is a very recent list..

 

9th grade - I was homeschooled, but still read Great Expectations. My friends who went to my ps for 9th had to read GE and Tale of Two Cities. I've never understood *why* because I've yet to meet anyone who appreciated them in 9th grade. :(

 

10th grade:

My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok. I loved this book, but had many friends who thought it was boring.

Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Lord of the Flies - and

Animal Farm (hated both)

To Kill a Mockingbird (which I also read for a history class in college)

Plus one or two others

 

11th grade:

Their Eyes Were Watching God - I distinctly remember a fellow student (who happened to be from Bangladesh) having a lot of trouble with the conversations in this book!

Scarlet Letter (we didn't have to read the prologue, hallelujah)

and others...

I TA'd for my 11th grade teacher the next year, and that class had to read The Things They Carried, Native Son, and In Cold Blood. I had a friend who downright refused to read Native Son.

 

12th grade:

We read at least 16 books over the year. This class was harder than my freshman English classes at UD! In no particular order:

Moll Flanders

Crime and Punishment

House of Spirits

Jane Eyre

Wide Sargasso Sea - I strongly disliked this book. It's the story of the crazy wife in Jane Eyre.

Cold Mountain

The Iliad

Catch-22

King Lear

Pride and Prejudice

Our Mutual Friend - the Dickens book which is super-long and has NO sparknotes..to the chagrin of many of my classmates.

Mrs. Dalloway

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - a VERY confusing book

Life of Pi - which was weird and somewhat disturbing

And one or two others.

 

We also had to do a senior research paper on a book. I did mine on Mansfield Park.

[vonfirmath]

I graduated public HS in 2007 so this is a very recent list..

 

9th grade - I was homeschooled, but still read Great Expectations. My friends who went to my ps for 9th had to read GE and Tale of Two Cities. I've never understood *why* because I've yet to meet anyone who appreciated them in 9th grade. :(

 

As I posted above, I appreciated Tale of Two Cities in high school (although I don't exactly remember what year it was. I know it was not 12th. 10th or 11th I expect)

[OhM]

I can't remember much of what we had to read, and I may be getting mixed up, because I read a bunch of classics just for fun, but here goes:

 

The Black Pearl

Cry the Beloved Country

Heart of Darkness

Hamlet

King Lear

excerpts from Romeo & Juliet

Grapes of Wrath

Of Mice and Men (yeah, someone liked Steinbeck)

A Tale of Two Cities (and I didn't appreciate it at the time, but loved it when I re-read it years later)

Crime and Punishment

For Whom the Bell Tolls

excerpts from The Divine Comedy - the Inferno

excerpts from Blake

[Meriwether]

The story you are thinking of is a short story that I think is called The Most Dangerous Game. But it has been awhile since I was a Freshman in high school so I may be wrong.

 

 

ETA: I see I was a little late with this one.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Meriwether

[NicksMama-Zack's Mama Too]

...Oh, books I HAD to read. Gotcha;).

 

None.

 

We read excerpts from The Odyssey and Romeo & Juliet from our textbooks/anthology.

 

My dentist's kids went to school in Fairfax County (highly rated) and read just ONE more book than I did during high school.....

[piraterose]

What I remember from middle school:

Where the Red Fern Grows

The Girl Who Owned a City (optional for those who finished WTRFG early)

O'Henry short stories

Great Illustrated Classics comic books

Lots of greek/roman Mythology

 

 

what I remember from high school:

 

9th grade:

lots of "passages from..." in 9th grade

story by Horatio Alger, Jr. (not sure which one)

more greek mythology - story of Peresphone comes to mind

 

10th grade

Anne Frank

Night

Julius Ceasar

Romeo and Juliet

Robert Frost poems

 

(took Journalism junior year so no books per say)

 

AP English senior year:

Wuthering Heights

Grapes of Wrath

1984 (enjoyed)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Next (enjoyed)

Native Son (hated - I don't think I finished)

Lord of the Flies (enjoyed)

Crime and Punishment (hated)

Hamlet

King Lear

Antigone (enjoyed)

[74Heaven]

Out of the original poster's list, I think there were maybe 4-5 that I had to read.

 

And that sums up the required reading in my high school. I really can't believe the great literature that is out there - that we didn't have to read. I only really remember reading and being deeply moved by a few, including Dante's Inferno and To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

I am pretty sure I took English/Comp all 4 years and I was an avid reader who actually loved reading and read anything quickly. I am thoroughly enjoying reading as many as possible of the classics on my children's lists.

 

Can anyone tell me, was it the "era" I spent in high school? 1976-1980?

 

Lj

Edited July 28, 2010 by 74Heaven

[Kirch]

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Crucible

Various works by Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Julius Caesar for sure)

The Scarlet Letter

Wuthering Heights

Crime and Punishment

Of Mice and Men

Various works by Poe

The Diary of Anne Frank

A Farewell to Arms

Oedipus Rex

Antigone

Selections from Canterbury Tales

 

Much more, I'm sure . . . it's been a while, and I've read lots since then!

[emubird]

9th grade:

one short story by Poe

after that we watched movies and wrote about them

 

10th grade:

We got to choose our own books:

The Plague

Dr. Zhivago

Farewell to Manzanar

The Source

and were required to read:

Catch-22

 

11th grade:

The Scarlet Letter

Huckleberry Finn

Sister Carrie

Babbitt

parts of Walden

 

12th grade (AP):

Tom Jones

Wuthering Heights

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Invisible Man

As You Like It

King Lear

Waiting for Godot

some poetry

[Laura in CA]

Some book about two Jewish friends, one boy was from an Orthadox family, while the other family became Zionists & went to help found the Nation of Israel....I can't remember the name of it.

 

Must be The Chosen by Chaim Potok. I read it on my own in high school and LOVED it.

 

~Laura

[LibraryLover]

Middle school 7th & 8th grade--

 

The Witch of Blackbird Pond

The Diary of Anne Frank

To Kill a Mockingbird

Helen Keller's biogrpahy

Little Women

The Hiding Place

Summer of My German Soldier

The Red Badge of Courage

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Robinson Crusoe

The Pearl

ETA: I just remembered The Hobbit & I know we did and some Sherlock Holmes (which I think was 6th grade; my mind is fuzzy) and the Three Musketeers. We also discussed Dante's Inferno, which our teacher read (parts) to us. Robert Frost was really big in Jr high as well. I can still recite at least 3 of his poems. lol And you guessed it: Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Good Fences, and The Road NotTraveled. lol

 

I know there were more, but these are the ones coming to me at the moment.

Edited July 28, 2010 by LibraryLover

[ereks mom]

 

Can anyone tell me, was it the "era" I spent in high school? 1976-1980?

 

 

Nope. I was required to read a LOT in high school, and the "era" I spend in high school was 1974-1978, so I was right there in it with you. ;) However, I guess it's possible that my high school was the odd one and most were like yours.

[RoughCollie]

I had to read A Separate Peace in the 9th grade and I thought the end was shocking and that it was unsuitable for people my age. I was really mad about that.

 

Also read To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, several books by Ernest Hemingway, Wuthering Heights and Romeo and Juliet.

 

The rest of the time, we just read the stories in our literature books, which were great and led me to read some great books. I always read the lit book during the first week of school.

 

I've always loved to read, so I didn't really care whether the school assigned books or not.

Edited July 28, 2010 by RoughCollie

[Kareni]

My memory is not my strong feature sadly; however, I do recall the following from junior high:

 

The Lottery

The Lady or the Tiger (which I loved)

A Tale of Two Cities (I remember being amazed at how wine spilling foreshadowed catastrophic events to come)

The Grapes of Wrath

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Impish]

Romeo and Juliet

Taming of the Shrew

MacBeth

Some weird one about a smart rat, and a guy who are in an experiment that makes them both smarter, but its a short lived intelligence.

Handmaid's Tale

Stone Angel

Diary of Anne Frank

To Kill A Mockingbird

King Lear

A Man For All Seasons

 

Thats what I can remember off the top of my head...Seems like there was another Margaret Atwood and Margaret Lawrence in there somewhere...

[Laura in CA]

Some weird one about a smart rat, and a guy who are in an experiment that makes them both smarter, but its a short lived intelligence.

 

That jogged my memory! Flowers for Algernon? That was a very sad short story. When the man is made smarter, he realizes everyone is making fun of him ... but it's short lived, like you said. He's as trapped as the rat but doesn't know it ... We read it in junior high.

[elegantlion]

Out of the original poster's list, I think there were maybe 4-5 that I had to read.

 

And that sums up the required reading in my high school. I really can't believe the great literature that is out there - that we didn't have to read. I only really remember reading and being deeply moved by a few, including Dante's Inferno and To Kill A Mockingbird.

 

I am pretty sure I took English/Comp all 4 years and I was an avid reader who actually loved reading and read anything quickly. I am thoroughly enjoying reading as many as possible of the classics on my children's lists.

 

Can anyone tell me, was it the "era" I spent in high school? 1976-1980?

 

Lj

 

I graduated in 85 and sadly never took a lit class. I took every creative writing class I could though. I spent time writing my own stories. :lol:

 

I do remember reading A Separate Peace (liked it), The Pigman (loved it) as required reading.

 

I read a lot on my own, but generally sci-fi, fantasy, or non-fiction. I'm currently going back and reading the classics. I'm sure I'm getting more out of it than I would have in high school.

[Tenaj]

I honestly can't remember what we read in high school - I don't think we ever read complete books, just portions which probably explains my memory loss!

 

The one book that I will always remember as required reading was from eighth grade. We studied and analyzed this book for months. I remember having to list all flora and fauna found in this book, all similies and metaphors, we had to underline, highlight, read, and discuss. What book was this wonderful, in-depth analysis done on, you ask? Jaws II.

 

Yep. That was considered classical lit for our class in 1978/1979. Of course, the highlight of the months of reading was to go on a field trip to actually watch the movie :)

[emubird]

 

"9th grade - I was homeschooled, but still read Great Expectations. My friends who went to my ps for 9th had to read GE and Tale of Two Cities. I've never understood *why* because I've yet to meet anyone who appreciated them in 9th grade."

As I posted above, I appreciated Tale of Two Cities in high school (although I don't exactly remember what year it was. I know it was not 12th. 10th or 11th I expect)

 

I read Tale of Two Cities in 10th grade and enjoyed it. My daughter read Great Expectations in 9th grade and thought it worth reading -- although she suggested a bit of editing in the middle.

[TKDmom]

I was just telling my DH last night that I have always envisioned "Classics" as dry, boring books that no one wants to read. I've always felt like I should read more classics, but I've never been too successful at making myself do it (except for Jane Austin novels).

 

Last night I read The Prince and the Pauper and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. As I have read through this thread there are several books that others mentioned that they hated reading in HS, but I read them on my own and loved them. Here's my list of what I can remember from HS. I know there were more. I think I disliked most of them (it's funny how being required to read causes all this resentment).

 

King Lear

Antigone

Crime and Punishment

MacBeth

Hamlet

Romeo and Juliet

The Great Gatsby

Various Edgar Allen Poe

The Scarlet Letter

The Fountainhead

To Kill a Mockingbird

Death of a Salesman

Lord of the Flies

 

Hmmm, I know this is less than half. Maybe the Non-Shakespeare ones I liked got put in the category of free reading in my mind? :tongue_smilie:

 

I loved my 11th grade English teacher that made us memorize Shakespeare. I can still remember bits of speeches to quote to DH at appropriate moments ("Out, out d*** spot..."). It's given me an appreciation for how important and enjoyable memorization is. I need to incorporate more memory work into our homeschool. Sigh.