Favorie Books: High School

Not going to lie, this is really going to be more of a "What I did and did not like reading in high school" lists versus an actual favorite.

High school is, of course, filled with classics. 

A few I even loved- The Scarlett Letter, The Crucible, The Poisonwood Bible for starters (what is it with books starting with "The?").

Brave New World was probably my first dystopian novel, and while I never expected to I actually found it really interesting and still have my first copy.

I also remember liking

• The Things They Carried
• The Hobbit 
• The Chosen 

 Along with "The" books, I was also touched by books like Night and Speak.

Now, on to the books I really did not like.

I friggin' despise Lord of the Flies. Maybe it's just that I read it at a bad time in my life- my now-husband/then-boyfriend had just left for basic, there was some family drama, I was a high school senior desperately trying to get into college so I could escape my hometown. And the story of these psychotic boys literally made me sick. I remember watching the movie in class and literally laying my head down like a child so I wouldn't have to watch it. I felt like I was going to throw up- this is still my reaction to any mention of the book today. I don't think any other book has ever had such a visceral impact on my being.

I also read The Great Gatsby, and found it way overrated. The recent craze has made me wonder if I should go back to it...but again, ugh. I also disliked The Awakening by Kate Chopin...it's supposedly this big feminist story and so inspiring...but I found it pathetic and annoying and lame. Man, I really couldn't escape The's back then.

What books did you love or hate while you were in high school?

My View On Classics

 Last year I decided to make more of an effort to read so called classics. 

This is partly because my amazing hubby bought me a starter collection of the Barnes & Nobles classics, which included all the works of Jane Austen (along with Shakespeare, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Homer plus more). They're gorgeous and I wanted to read them (but also keep them pristine). And it's also just due to the fact that I kept hearing about all these books that I have never read, and that's annoying.

I had a general list of books on my mind, and also asked for recommendations. Some things I've read for this purpose are:

• Multiple works of Jane Austen
• A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 
• Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

My least favorite has been Wuthering Heights- because that is a terrible story with awful characters and how in the world anyone classifies it as a love story is beyond me.

My most favorite has been Jane Eyre, because I found the main character intriguing and the love story to be unique.

Here's what I've decided when it comes to classics- they are good, but overall rarely great. 

I'm not sure exactly who decides what makes a classic a classic. The biggest link, if any, I can find is that they are all very distinct voices. Austen, Salinger, Hemingway...they all sound uniquely like themselves.

I think that's why it's so difficult to relate to nowadays, but also exactly why we should still read them. 

In a world where most TV shows and movies are just remakes, and books of the same genre can feel sadly formulaic (lookin' at you, Nicholas Sparks), reading something from a different era or about a circumstance no longer likely to be experienced by our generation helps stretch our minds.

It can be painful. I'm not saying I've enjoyed it, or feel like it's made me smarter/etc. But I do feel like it's helped me be more thoughtful about what I do and don't like, and pushed me to think about situations I wouldn't normally consider.

Maybe that's the point of classics...to make us think. 

I'm starting to sound like an English teacher.

Either way, while I don't like all the classics I've read, I am grateful that I've read them. And I'll continue to work my way through them...slowly.

Have you read a lot of classics, or do you plan too? 

Why or why not?