My Reading List

[in_excelsis_dea]

So back in my first semester, we were told that by the end of our fourth semester, we have to read 20 different authors from our reading list. These are my 20 authors. Need I mention how much I dislike "Classic" literature?

I have until the end of June to read these all, by the way. This is going to be so much fun...

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The

Comments

[astaraelweeper]

If it makes you feel better, I read five and a half of the books on that list at SAMO, for English classes, and a few of the poems and short stories. Could have read as many as seven books, if I'd made one different choice on outside reading books (where we were given a list and options--I didn't pick Invisible Man, though I really wish I'd read it in place of O Pioneers, which was on the same list and which I did not much like), and if I'd actually read all of The Awakening. So you can think of this as filling in for a lot of what you missed in English classes by moving to Germany, if that helps.

(I really wish I'd read more/all of The Awakening, actually--it seems like a fabulous book, I just forgot about it and then totally ran out of time, so read the first quarter of the book, one chapter in the middle, and the final three chapters. Which I'm really glad I didn't admit to anyone in my class, because we had a timed writing on it and then Ms. Yarber picked my essay for the whole class to read as an example of what we were aiming for, and it was utterly mortifying.)

Also, be grateful that you don't have any Steinbeck on the list. Very grateful. I'll take anything on that list over Grapes Of Wrath, any day of the week.

[in_excelsis_dea]

Actually, Steinbeck is on the list. The list is actually five pages split into six literary periods (we have to choose 3) and at least ten texts per period. There are certain rules of what we can and can't pick (at least five authors per period, at least two poets and three playwrights -- or the other way around, can't remember), etc. In theory, it isn't so bad, because these are all books, or authors, that we have at least touched upon in class and if I actually did my "required" reading the last three semesters, there's a lot of overlap. But...I didn't. And I'm just starting on the list now.

I have a knack for torturing myself. I actually read O'Pioneers when I was in the states, but I don't think it was at SAMO. Lincoln, perhaps? I was quite disappointed, because my grandmother is a fan of Willa Cather's and yet I couldn't stand the book. Some of these I have read or sat in class while they were discussed to the point that I don't necessarily need to read one (I can discuss "The Yellow Wallpaper" in length, because it has come up every single semester, but I didn't actually read it until this March).

Right now I'm trying to gather up courage to just start on the list (well, I already have. I read "Rue Morgue" on Sunday, and I'm trying to get through Catcher in the Rye, which is not bad, but I cannot concentrate on it. I'm hoping that publicly posting the list and actively striking through the works I've gotten through will motivate me more. In any case, it's good for my 50bookchallenge numbers...

Which I'm really glad I didn't admit to anyone in my class, because we had a timed writing on it and then Ms. Yarber picked my essay for the whole class to read as an example of what we were aiming for, and it was utterly mortifying.)

*laughs* Oh, lovely. It's always brilliant when that happens. And also makes everyone hate you if they figure it out...

I tried reading Grapes of Wrath in 12th grade. For fun. Needless to say, I didn't make it through a chapter before giving up. I really do hate Steinbeck.

[astaraelweeper]

Yeah, simply hated O Pioneers. Fucking over-written, with way to much beat-you-over-the-head naturalism. Unfortunately, I felt much the same about the Scarlet Letter. Though that was in large part because of how fucking slowly we read that one (it was the first in-class book for 11th grade AP, and the pace, as always for that first book, was glacial).

No one figured out that I hadn't done the reading for that one book, in that English class. Thank God. Definitely taught me a positive lesson about the virtues of keeping my mouth shut. Especially painful because it was better received (and graded better) than most of the essays on books I had read.

We had to read Grapes of Wrath for summer reading before 11th grade, and I detested it. Luckily my 8th grade class wasn't one of the ones that read The Pearl, so that was the only Steinbeck I ever read. We also did Huck Finn in 11th, which I didn't much enjoy. I like shorter Twain, but I'm not a huge fan of either Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn. Or at least wasn't in middle/high school, and haven't tried him since.

When I took English in college, I took modern British fiction, for which none of the novels we read were written before 1896. I liked a number of the books, though there were a few I couldn't stand. But I loved at least as many as I hated.

Also, seriously saluting you for the 50-book challenge, here. I'm at 21 for the year so far, and it's mid-June. I'll be lucky if I hit 40 this year, honestly.