Favorites from High School

[sarahbooks]

To Kill a Mockingbird. By far my favorite. A classic in every sense and a message that all generations should remember.

[Tomah]

I would've confidently said 1984 or Lord of the Flies if they'd been assigned in class, but sadly I just read them on my own. My classes focused on Portuguese and Brazilian classical literature, and I'll be honest: I don't remember any particularly interesting book. I barely remember anything at all, really. They were interesting as pieces of history that tell a lot about society and literature at the time, but as books? Not super exciting. Don't get me wrong, there are great books among Portuguese and Brazilian classics (one of them is my favorite novel ever), but... I wasn't assigned any of them in high school.

[Kansas City Teacher]

Like DATo said above, I am kind of shocked to say that I don't remember what books we read in high school. We had little choice back then, all of us reading the same book and answering the same questions, and I dreaded Shakespeare. In middle school, however, we read Lord of the Flies (excellent), Flowers for Algernon (excellent) and Where the Legends Die (ok).

[Chelsey Coles]

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

It stood out to me the most. I read it in AP English junior year and half of my class loved it, and the other half hated it because of the brooding main character, Holden. It was the perfect book to read at the time. Young, thoughtful, expressive... just doing things not because they make sense but because you want to, because you want to feel free. What teen doesn't want to feel like that in high school?

[Chelsey Coles]

What is everyone's favorite book they read for class in high school?
Mine was Huck Finn.

I agree. After that I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I love that they have different stories but they're best friends in both.

[Kansas City Teacher]

Does anyone remember Flowers for Algernon? I read this during middle school and loved it.

[April Ruvs]

I really liked sense and sensibility which was of the numerous set books I did it opened a doorway to an era unlike today.

[rssllue]

Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville really struck me for some reason.

[TopaAzul062]

Flowers for Algernon wasn't read till recently as it was a book of the month selection for this reading club I'm in. There were lots of books for mandatory readings and not all made it to the 'oh this is awesome' list. Of the ones that were read I enjoyed: Greek Mythology, The Odyssey, Julius Caesar & Macbeth by Shakespeare, Don Quixote, Of Mice and Men (had to read when I had to take an additional English course to make up for failing the previous year), Beowulf and possibly Canterbury Tales.

Grade 11 & 12 were highly confusing because in 11th grade I remember taking 2 English Courses (Level 2 and Level 3) but there we lost our first teacher along with some of our work and wound up with another teacher. Grade 12 started off okay but I think that involved us going to another teacher when a pre-assigned teacher was a no show. What I do remember is it being a World Literature class.

The only other book I can think of that I enjoyed was Bionicle Mask of Light and that was read for my Physics 1 class because my teacher was bored and was curious to see what book we would pick to write a review for.

[KayseTheAce]

My favorites were The Scarlet Letter and Rappacinni's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I love the imagery and symbolism he used in his works.

[emilyrshifflett]

My high school had a pretty weird reading list but I have to say Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston was a definite favorite of mine, as well as The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

My "love to hate it" book from high school was definitely Watership Down.

[hicksli7]

I LOVED "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"... this title is ultimately what led me towards a Philosophy major later on in college. I also recall flying through "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley.

[jkmalik]

I remember really loving The Little Prince, Hamlet, and Julius Caesar.

[Hina_rehan]

Princess Academy
a really gripping story, spectacular for most readers

[Kayleehall3221]

One of my favorite books from High School is a little bit surprising to most people: The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. Over the years, I have heard a mixed opinion from different people about if they loved, hated, or only felt okay about this book. When I read this book, I felt deeply connected to the main character and I was very surprised by this considering this had never happened to me when reading a classic. Overall, I recommend, if possible, to read this book around the age of fourteen because I think it is a time in someone's life when things are changing and they can relate most to the main character and what he is going through.