Books most of us had to read in high school
April 2, 2017 1:30am CST
Speaking from a small town in Maine I say "most" because I'm not positive.
Of Mice and Men: the dramatic piece of literature by John Steinbeck.
Romeo and Juliet: if you didn't have to read this you're lucky, it's one of my least favorite plays by William Shakespeare
To kill a Mockingbird: A classic 100% classic, by Harper Lee
Night: a Holocaust survivors story of what it was like in two of the history's worst concentration camps, Elie Wiesel's story is beyond tear jerking, he recently passed away in 2016
Midsummer Nights Dream: a fantasy play about fairies, and non fairies, and love lots of love, by William Shakespeare
The Crucible : 1692, Salem Witch Trial; the play by Arthur Miller
The Great Gatsby: 1920s love triangle, double love triangle, deathly good. F. Scott Fitzgerald dedicates this to his wife Zelda, per usual
Catcher in the Rye: at one time looked down at by parents as it has prostitution in it, mind you Holden our mentally ill protagonist never used her sexually, JD Salinger challenges the struggles of Holden a delinquent who runs away and ends up in a mental hospital, in a creative and captivating way.
The thing they Carried: a half fiction half non story about one man's journey after he was drafted into the Vietnam war.
9 people like this
13 responses
@Jon2071 (256)
• United States
2 Apr 17
Believe it or not I did not have to read many of those books. I did have to read Romeo and Juliet as well as some other Shakespeare Poems. I had to read Grapes of Wrath and Wuthering Heights...which in my opinion was a morbid and depressing book. I did like Jane Eyre though which was written by Charlotte Bronte. We also had to read Flowers for Algernon and the Red Badge of Courage. Of course we were required to read poems by Dickenson, Poe, Frost, Longfellow, Whitman and many more. I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" on my own after High School.
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@sherryericha (1806)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3 Apr 17
I remember The Red Badge of Courage 
. Haven't thought about that book in years!
. Haven't thought about that book in years!•
2 Apr 17
I was in high school 2012-2016 :) I didn't read those, they probably switched a lot of them
@abhinalstrikr (4111)
• India
2 Apr 17
Will go through all of these ,its nice you put up,i think Julius Cesar play should also be there in your mention
1 person likes this
@abhinalstrikr (4111)
• India
2 Apr 17
@Illusionalgalaxy ok but i will do read these its luring me
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@Morleyhunt (21744)
• Canada
2 Apr 17
I was in high school in the '70s long before your time. The Great Gatsby was the only book on your list that we reas. Canadian Literature was our focus...one year...Shakespeare plays we studied, Hamlet, Merchant of Venice, and Macbeth.
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, Wuthering Heights by Bronte, Who has Seen the Wind, by Morley Callahan, Portrait of an Artist, by James Joyce, Two Solitudes, by Hugh McClellan, are some of the books I remember.
@BarBaraPrz (47611)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
2 Apr 17
I was in high school in the 60s, so that's even before your time. 
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@PopcornPop (123)
• South Africa
4 Apr 17
Hi Emily, I'm from South Africa and read many of the same books ...Midsummer Nights Dream, Great Gatsby, etc classic titles ... Interesting topic !
@ponderingoe (51)
• United States
2 Apr 17
The required reading that I remember having to do was in Junior High, or, Middle School I guess they call it today. Grades 7 and 8, in other words! This took place in the mid 70's for me. I remember reading Steinbeck's "Of Mice And Men" and at that time, they required us to read a book called "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, which was later made into a movie with a lot of big-names in it before they became big-names. I preferred the book over the movie, as is usually the case when I read a book that is later made into a movie.
@BarBaraPrz (47611)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
2 Apr 17
Two books inflicted on me in high school were The Mayor of Casterbridge (Thomas Hardy) and Maria Chapdelaine (Louis Hémon).
Talk about dreary!
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
2 Apr 17
I had read most of them or had seen the movie versions, add Ernest Hemingway's " The old man and the sea" and some of those written by Willam Faulkner
@imravi (2337)
• India
2 Apr 17
My favourite is catcher in the rye.I have read To kill a mockingbird too...
@sherryericha (1806)
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
3 Apr 17
I think I read most of them except [/i]Of Mice and Men[i] . Fitzgerald and Salinger were my favorites.
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
2 Apr 17
No Dickens? We had to read Great Expectations in high school.
@CaseyRoss9966 (4056)
• United States
3 Apr 17
From this list, I have read Of Mice and Men in the 9th grade ( I loved this book & we watched the film too), Romeo & Juliet (not in high school but still read it, Night ( also in 9th grade, same class as Of Mice & Men), Midsummer Nights Dream (read that in high school but also last semester in my college American Lit class. One of my favorite quotes comes from it), The Crucible (which is terrible & I hated the entire book. Had to do a whole project on it and I had broken my leg so I was doing school work from home because it was easier than trying to use crutches in an overcrowded high school), The Great Gatsby (one of my all-time favorite books. I loved it before it was a trend and everything. Fitzgerlad is one of my favorite authors, though. I own the book and both versions of the movie. This is the only book that my entire class enjoyed and didn't mind reading).
I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird or Catcher in the Rye and I have never heard of The Thing they Carried. In addition to your list, we read Jane Eyre which I love and Flowers for Algernon. One of my favorite books of all time as well. We read Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer which I also hated. It was so boring and long. We read Lord of the Flies. I loved this book really shows us how easily our society can go to hell without some time of government or someone making laws and enforcing them. Also, read the Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan which I also enjoyed reading. I discovered that Amy Tan is the creator of one of my favorite childhood shows Sagwa: The Chinese Siamese Cat. We read a lot more as well but I don't remember them all. I was in high school from 2010 -2014
