1. Anne of Green Gables - I had to read this in elementary school and really loved how real Anna was. As a little girl, she seemed like someone I wanted to be friends with and someone I wanted to be more like. (Side Note: as I was looking up this book cover I accidentally typed in "Anne of Green Bagels." It made me laugh out loud. Carry on.)
2. Ender's Game - a little less cheerful compared to Anne of Green Gables, but man, I loved this book. I happened upon it sometime in middle school and read several of the others in the series. I didn't absolutely hate the movie, either. But obviously the book is much better. I think this book (with no small help from the Harry Potter series) sparked my love for sci-fi and fantasy fiction.
3. To Kill a Mockingbird - I'm pretty sure that this book is included in almost everyone's Top Ten. This was great when I read it the first time, but I ended up teaching a unit on this book to 11th graders when I was student teaching. That week happened to fall on the same week as the Trayvon Martin death, giving it much more gravitas for the apathetic and disinterested students in my class. No book is perfect, but this one is close.
4. Fahrenheit 451 - Guys, I'm sort of a Ray Bradbury fangirl. I did my undergraduate English capstone paper on his other collection, The Martian Chronicles. I've even written a song about one of the TMC characters. Yes, a new level of obsession. This book is phenomenal and scary and I could hardly keep myself from devouring it when I read it in high school. Also, THAT BOOK COVER.
5. Julie of the Wolves - Another one I read in elementary school, and it may not be as much of a "classic" as these others, but I loved Julie of the Wolves so very much. I wasn't assigned to read it, but it was in the library and I loved it so much I asked my parents to buy me a copy. On top of being a wonderful story of an amazing young woman, this book gave me hope that I could one day live my dream of living amongst the wolves. This may or may not still be a back-up plan for me.
6. Catch-22 - This book...I really hated this book the first time I read it. Looking back, I assign much of that blame to my 11th grade English teacher. We read it over the summer with no pre-reading preparation. We were all so lost to the genius of this book. After a while, I re-read it and began to really fall in love with the humor. As much as I love humor and comedy, I read very little of it. Although certainly no laugh-out-loud riot with it's black comedy and wartime setting, this book opened my eyes to how cunningly employed humor could be in books.
7. Slaughterhouse-five - Another of the classics that I stumbled upon on my own with some help from my dad. My dad is an English teacher (and taught me in 12th grade advanced placement English class). He loved Kurt Vonnegut and I saw this book under his side of my parents' bed often. I pulled it from the library one day and loved it. Some think KV is overrated and over-read, but I adore him.
8. Invisible Man - This book by Ralph Ellison was one I chose for a project sometime early in high school. It was probably the most difficult of this list to read, but it was well worth it. Such a sad, honest book.
9. Twelfth Night - Finally, the only classic on this list that I read in college. I didn't do a lot of Shakespeare in high school beside the requisite 9th grade trudging through Romeo and Juliet. I read at least one Shx work each year (because it was required) but I just didn't dig plays. Liked his poetry alright as I prefer poetry in general to plays, but I just wasn't a huge fan. And then I met Twelfth Night, or What You Will. I just love this story. It was fun and had so many BAM moments for me. Feste is arguably my favorite character of any literary work ever (with Hermione Granger being a close second). If you don't like Shakespeare, maybe try reading this. The movie ain't bad, either.
10. Dracula - A strange book for the end, yes, but I thought this was the most classic-y of this list. I was assigned this book but found myself zooming through it so see what happened. It's gory, incredibly over-sexualized, and dark but I loved it. I think the epistolary approach really snagged me.
What are your favorite classics? Do you lean towards one genre or type of work?
ANNE OF GREEN BAGELS!!!
ReplyDeleteBut for real, Anne of Green Gables is at the top. Along with any Jane Austin novel, Catcher in the Rye (I cannot wait to present that one to my teenage son once he reaches his angsty years and be like, "What, you think you're all special? Guess what, kid, we've seen your kind before.") and Huckleberry Finn.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way, I saw your green bagels snapchat while I was leaving the orthodontist, and may I say, there was no better way to bring me out of the OMG SO MUCH MONEY FOR TEETH funk than that. Thank you.
Bekah, of course AoGG made me think of you. Had to put it in there. I'm glad my snapchat could help you in your time of need. :)
DeleteI ALMOST put Catcher in the Rye on there but left it out because I only halfway liked it. I think it's great and I eventually came to an agreement that I sort of like it, but I was so fed up with poor Holden as I read it that I couldn't see past his angsty exterior. I look forward to your future son's reaction.
I was assigned to read Fahrenheit 451 for school, but I was so disinterested and the teacher was so lax that I got away with never having read it. I think what really got me was that I was way more interested in chatting with my friends than school. I really regret worming my way out of reading a lot of classics in school! Glad you made it through. :)
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I ate it up. Then again, most of my friends were book nerds, too, so that helped. I'd definitely say give it another try. You could probably make it through in a few hours or less. Thanks for dropping by my blog!
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