The Grapes of Wrath.

MAN, that book was NOT what I thought it would be.

The Outsiders.

I read it twice in school, 5th and 7th grade. I loved that it was written by a teenager for teenagers. It taught me that everyone struggles, everyone is fighting something, and outside appearances are nearly always deceiving. Some of the toughest looking people out there are the most sensitive and kind.

I don’t think I would have been as open minded about different ‘cliques’ as a teen if I hadn’t read it, and that translated into being more accepting of people from all walks of life as I became an adult.

I also loved To Kill a Mockingbird, and I mention it because I took away a lot of the same lessons as well as a stronger sense of justice and integrity through the story.

A collection of short stories. Can’t recall what the actual title was called, but the book was just a collection of short stories by different authors. The different writing by each and the adoration that my professor had for each one just drew me to the stories even more. Can’t say I’m a big fan of literature like he was, but I definitely respected that.

best was definately the wizard of earthsea. An interesting bit is I hated romeo and juliet and would complain about it in comparison to macbeth. After college though I substitute taught a bit and had a class doing romeo and juliet and it was kinda funny how I could appreciate the literary analysis at that point.

i hated every single book i was forced to read in school and that shit put me off reading for years after.

Lord of the Rings and The Magician’s Nephew

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I read The Giver in the sixth grade and it blew my mind a little bit. I think it was the first time I was exposed to the concept of a dystopian society and it was very interesting to me. Then later in 10th grade I read Catch-22 for a book report and that is definitely up there too.

The Truce, by Mario Benedetti. I was 13 or 14, and it’s the first time I cried while reading a book. I finished it seated on a park bench, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, maybe I’m really afraid about old age.

Of Mice and Men. Reading this very much shaped what I enjoy out of a book ever since.

The Great Gatsby. Its last page makes a killing, pun intended.

Probably Fahrenheit 451.

The way that book predicted and depicted streaming as a vapid activity that will make you numb is what stuck with me most both then and now.

I quite liked the short stories with illustrations in the textbooks.

Specifically the spooky ones. Illustrated by the guy who did the covers for “scary stories to tell in the dark”. Stephen Gammell I remember reading them over and over.

The ones that look like runny black ink. Terrifying.

As for high school level. Honestly I remember a few required readings and not liking them.
Middlesex , thought it would be interesting but it was just like listening to someone’s mental train of thought and was super boring. And catcher n the rye. Super boring about an incel. I probably would have liked the Great Gatsby then, but I only read it after high school.

I was super into fantasy and horror in high school so I didn’t care much for anything else.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, something about it made me feel a profound sadness that still sticks with me today. I red this all the way back in high school as part of class reading. The fact I still think about that book today means my teacher was cooking, I hope he knows he made an impression on me, I wish I could tell him.

Great Expectations. I actually developed a liking of Dickens from school, I don’t get the “sentimentality” arguments people make about his writing, a lot of his stories are rawand visceral critiques of Victorian Britain.