I am older now; I have more than what I wanted, but I wish that I had started long before I did

[primroseburrows]

When I was in high school, we had to read things like Flowers for Algernon and other depressing fare.


Kids have it better in today's English classes.

What books did you have to read in school? Did you find books you'd read forever? What books did you hate? What about books from the outside? Is there one book that forever defines your youth? Is there one book you WISH your English teacher had used in his/her curriculum?

I really, really wish there'd have been more SF and Fantasy, but. Books like I Never Promised You a Rose Garden still haunt me. I don't know how many times I read it as a teenager, and I first discovered it (along with Go Ask Alice and Lisa, Bright and Dark) in my school's Resource Room (where I used to hang out, geekily, because d00d, teh Books).

Geez, it's no wonder I'm a psych nurse, with what I read as a kid. Of course, I also read Helter Skelter so many times that at one point I had memorised the first few paragraphs. *ponders*

Comments

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

We had to read the standard 'canon'-fare, I would say. I hated Wuthering Heights, and I hated Jane Eyre. We had to read the latter in 10th grade, and the former in 12th grade. I still haven't figured out why they thought we needed to have TWO Brontes inflicted on us.

But. We also had to read Brave New World and 1984 and The Handmaid's Tale. And we read The Things They Carried, which is, IMO, one of those books that eludicates a time and a mood very very well. We read Pride and Prejuice, which I re-read at least once a year. And other books we read, I don't re-read them, but I think it was good that they were required. The Awakening, for examples, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. We read, for whatever reason, a fair amount of Holocaust lit... I think in some cases it would have been more impactful (is that a word?) if we had read less (Diary of Anne Frank in 7th grade, Night one year in high school, The Bread Givers...).

I can't really complain about my high school lit, though. They didn't force us through Moby Dick or anything. ;) And I did decide to keep most of the books I had to buy... so obviously they haven't totally scarred me.

(I keep being tempted to get rid of the Brontes, though.)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Well, I at least own 1984. I bought it for mr_t00by and neither of us has read it yet.