The non-reading teenager asked us at supper if we had read The Scarlet Letter. I hoped he wasn't wondering if the A on her chest was an Assumption High School letter. But then, when he casually shared the plot and knew what adultery was, I kind of wished he did think it was a school uniform.
I forget that every generation "grows up" a little faster than the one before. I know some of the plots of the classic novels we had to read baffled me. And granted, quite a few confuse Carter, too. But it made me think of the "classics" we had to read in Mrs. Petersen's high school English class and what I remembered most.
Off the top of my head, the following were some of my classic lit favorites – as in, I read them more than once and maybe more than twice:
- Roots
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Of Mice and Men
- Animal Farm
- Across Five Aprils
- Lord of the Flies
- The Last of the Mohicans
- Little Women
- The Outsiders
- Shane
- Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth
- Where the Red Fern Grows
- The Yearling
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
- Jane Eyre
- Rebecca
- Great Expectations
- All Quiet on the Western Front (too gory)
- Catch-22 (major, majorly confusing)
- The Old Man and the Sea (who cares)
- The Great Gatsby (should re-read it now that I saw the movie, LOL)
- The Grapes of Wrath (too wordy)
- Moby Dick (didn't care)
- The Catcher in the Rye (what was the fuss?)
Of course, with all my life experiences and what I've learned since, I should probably go back and re-read the entire list. I would definitely have a different perspective.
And, like Carter, I might enjoy them more knowing I did not have to write a book report or take a test on them! (No offense, Mrs. P.)
2 comments:
Some of the books on your lists were not from my classes. But many of them are read at different levels at different ages. (Just so you know, you had a few on the lists that I have never read! Did you read those in college--Catcher in the Rye? for example??)
Hmm... I was such a bookworm, I may have just read them out of curiosity :)
Post a Comment