For this week's topic I went with 10 Books I Was Required To Read in High School. Making this week's post was a reminder of why I hated to read in high school. I can only imagine what it would have been like to have YA section and required reading list. Back in my high school days we didn't have YA.
Here are a few of the books that I was required to read in high school (aka, the required reading list that ruined reading for me):
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Odyssey by Robert Homer
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Animal Farm by George Orwell
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- MacBeth by William Shakespeare
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare
- A Yellow Raft in Blue Water by Michael Dorris
- The Crucible by Arthur Miller
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Making this list brought back some horrible memories. This list made me hate reading so much, that I didn't start reading for fun until after I had kids. Now, not all the books were bad. I loved reading Star Wars, and a couple of other books like, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Grapes of Wrath got me thinking. When I was in college I ended up appreciating reading a few of these books, but still, this list ruined reading for me, and I was a kid who grew up loving to read.
I can only imagine what my reading for 'fun' would have been like had I grown up with Harry Potter, or any number of the YA books that exist now. If your list looked similar to mine, I feel for you. Thank goodness we have books out now that fuel of our love of reading. What are / were some of your required reading books that you loved (or hated) reading in high school?