I always find myself talking to people about what they read in high school. I  think it is so interesting that high schools can be so diverse in their reading material. My small and extremely conservative school read a lot of banned books. Some of those were  Flowers for Algernon, Tuesdays with Morrie (which i hated, but seems to be everyone else's favorite), Brokeback Mountain, Beowulf, the Scarlet Letter and many more.

What books did you guys read?

Did your library have the Harry Potter books? (ours didn't)

What was your favorite and or least favorite?

Hmm, let me think back... we read the Iliad and the Odyssey, Invisible Man, The Scarlet Letter, A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, The Grapes of Wrath, and a bunch of others.  Honestly many of them are slipping my mind at the moment.  I remember generally liking a lot of the choices, but some of them (like those Greek classics or A Separate Peace) were just awful.

I remember having to read at least one Shakespearian play a year (and we'd take a good, long time to read them), some of his poetry, as well as some Poe, Coleridge, Dickens, and Orwell.  I also know that we read Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein, Antigone, and Oedipus Rex.  That's all I remember.

I liked a lot of what we read, especially Shakespeare and the Greek stuff.  It's only now that I've gotten a better appreciation of my English teacher, who was a great guy and taught me a lot about literature and writing.

I thought a Separate Peace was awful.  Can't put my finger on why.  I definitely took as many English classes as I could, but I think some teachers were better than others

 I can't remember reading anything good in High School except a short story called Auto Repair, where some of my favorite quotes come from like, "Easter of the sun, West of the moon" and "Don't squash the poodle."

In Junior High, though, I had some great teachers that really knew how to pick out some good stories. In 7th grade we read The Outsiders, a bunch of Greek myths, and To Kill A Mockingbird. There was another story based on discrimination that we read, but I can't remember the name. In 8th grade, we read Romeo and Juliet, Of Men And Mice (or maybe it's Of Mice And Men, it's been a while since I read it), Parrot in the Oven, and there was another one I can't remember the name of based on a Native American legend. I remember the main character's name was Wask Mani which means Moves Walking.

I think most of the good reading I did in school happened before High School, but I still have to finish Senior Year, so, I'll mention it if that changes.

 I've read a lot since high school, it's been 4 years, so I don't remember everything I read. But I do remember getting extra credit for reading Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, since everybody else ignored my timid teacher's polite demand to read it. We also read The Scarlett Letter, the first 2 Harry Potter books, Dante's Inferno, Beowulf, Othello, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Catcher in the Rye, The Little Prince, Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca, Valerie Martin's Mary Reilly and at least one Holocaust memoir that I can't think of, among others. I remember my brother had to read Elie Wiesel's Night, Tie a Thousand Trees with Ribbons, Pride and Prejudice and the first like, 3 (I think) Harry Potter books, among others.

I never spent any time in our miniscule library except for the rare class trip for class projects.

And my favorite reading material in high school was by far Beowulf. I love Beowulf with a huge passion. I'd buy it for myself but I don't like Seamus Heaney's translation; I like better the one I found in my textbook, because I like the way he translated my favorite verses. The version I read was beautiful, and I wrote down the quote somewhere but I'll be cursing myself forever until I find it. It was something like, "Do not...something something something. With something and dauntless daring, I fight at your side!" That was my favorite, and Seamus Heaney took no care to be approach it delicately and as poetry, and still everybody loves him. My least favorite thing to read was The Scarlett Letter, by far.

I could still write an essay on "To kill a mockingbird", and its been seven years since I had to study it in school. That book is ingrained into my brain, which is not a bad thing as it only gets better the older I get.

On the other side, I wish painful hate on Carol Ann Duffy for her poetry. Nothing personal, but my teacher had the biggest crush on you and we all had to suffer for it as a result. For nearly a whole school year.

I'm about to graduate high school, and this year was probably the only year in which I have enjoyed every selection. Junior year I read, and loved, The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, The Bean Trees, and others that I can't remember.

Senior year, I decided to take AP English, and was slammed immediately with three summer reading books: Return of the Native, Mrs. Dalloway and The Power and The Glory. Return of the Native I hated passionately. The Power and The Glory I couldn't properly enjoy until we discussed it in September. Mrs. Dalloway I sat in bed all day one day near the end of the summer and read (for such a small book, the wording is so thick that you have to wade through to the meaning). I loved it, it was by far the best summer reading book I've ever been assigned.

Since then, it's only gotten better. I love senior English. James Joyce, Yeats, Shakespeare, Somerset Maugham, and the teacher of the course is an amusing little man who enjoys the occasional Mr. T accent when lecturing on the books. He is the main reason why I am confident in writing good critiques on this website, because he taught me the fundamental parts of poetry and stories, and the way to express whether they were hit upon properly.

My favorite book that I have read in school would have to be The Dubliners by James Joyce. My least favorite? Return of the Native. Eugh, Eustacia Vye.

 It shames me to say I was never in a real english class in high school (which explains why my grammar and spelling suck) I spent most of my time Selling my drawings and instrumentals to who ever i spotted skipping class in the halls as well. later i devised a way of typing cheat sheets small enough to smuggle into bic pens and sell those for a dollar (yes i was butt poor back then) any way back to the topic i remember reading at one time in high school a sound of thunder,

 I severely handicapped myself by avoiding English classes in high school.  Probably stemming from the fact I was severely traumatized by A Tale of Two Cities.  I just can't abide Dickens, he's so tedious.  My most beloved books didn't come my way until after college.

Uglyboxer! For shame! Dickens is The Man! Read a short story, any short story, and try not to approach it in a "man, this guy is tedious" way. Try to approach it as if he is - gasp! - amusing. This man is a literary genius, and even though A Tale of Two Cities is a pretty boring book, I heartily agree, don't let it turn you away from the people who burst into flame in Great Expectations and Bleak House. Great Expectations is something I read in school, and I hated it then, but when I read it outside of school I loved it completely. He's incredibly funny, if you really let his writing hit you. He's quite sarcastic and playful in his writing. It's wonderful. You should give him a second chance! I think you got off on the wrong foot.

 I agree with Circus dickens is the man he's one of those authors though, that people either really love or really hate. But as writers for us his stuff is literary legend.

Wow, that's quite the vocal defense of Mr. Dickens.  I will whole-heartedly acknowledge that Dickens has a place of honor in world literature.  However, there are many more great books out there, than I will ever have time to read.  So, if I have something to pare down my choices (however misguided or unfortunate it may be), I'll grasp it and consider myself lucky.  I'll agree to give one of his short stories a whirl, but I won't feel bad if it doesn't consume me. 

  If it does, I promise I'll report back with all do credit to you.  Thanks Circus and Richard.

p.s. Any suggestions?

Wow, that's quite the vocal defense of Mr. Dickens.  I will whole-heartedly acknowledge that Dickens has a place of honor in world literature.  However, there are many more great books out there, than I will ever have time to read.  So, if I have something to pare down my choices (however misguided or unfortunate it may be), I'll grasp it and consider myself lucky.  I'll agree to give one of his short stories a whirl, but I won't feel bad if it doesn't consume me. 

  If it does, I promise I'll report back with all do credit to you.  Thanks Circus and Richard.

p.s. Any suggestions?

 When I was in high school, I didn't read as many books as my classmates did, partially because we didn't all have the same classes. But I read Oedipus Rex, All Quiet on the Western Front (which I hated with a fiery, burning passion), To Kill a Mocking Bird, Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the Flies, Dante's Inferno, Night, Geography Club (which I highly recommend, if you're looking for something fun to read), and a ton of others I can't seem to think about. Night, I think, was the best book out of all of those. It's really amazing, based (or mostly so) on a true story, by Elie Wiesel. Truly amazing.

My high school reading was The Scarlet Letter (and I went to an all girls Catholic high school); The Great Gatsby,  some Mark Twain, and plays from Shakespeare -- Hamlet, Othello, Richard III.  My junior year English teacher was really great and made everything interesting.  Senior year, the teacher was sooooooo boring.  That's why I'm now re-reading many of the classics now -- I think I'll have a better appreciation for them now.

Wow, I have been gone for a while and I see that this board has been fairly popular. I would have to agree with everyone that you have to give Dickens a chance. My all time favorite Dickens book is Great Expectations.  Good book, lots of stuff to keep your attention.

I find it interesting that schools can vary so much on their reading material. Some schools are so anti-banned books. My teacher was pretty out there for a small town school but we would have never read Harry Potter.  Probably the most far fetched this we read when we were young was I can't remember the name of it, everyone has read it though. It's about a boy in a society that doesn't question anything. It's all black and white until he starts going against the norm..I want to say the keeper or something along those lines. For a young adult book it was a pretty interesting thing to have us read. Once we were able to pick our English classes the ethical books pretty much went out the window. I loved the thought provoking books, kept things interesting in our little school. Has anyone read Nickled and Dimed. At my college (also had quite interesting reading material for a catholic school) we have a required text that every English class reads. This was the text we read this year. Very interesting, really makes you think about our society.

 yeah! barbara ehrenreich (?)'s 'nickel and dimed'! great book--the last chapter, her summary, had me fired up. the true heroes of this society are the millions who slog to work every day, two or three different jobs, just barely making ends meet. they hold this country (usa) up, keep it going. there is a nobility in that.

wow--i read that book when it first came out. good choice!

My high school didn't really teach literature.  The teachers I had showed movies and we read snippets of books from a text book.  The only books we read in their entirety were Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies. 

My high school sucked.

I'm not quite out of high school yet, but I've been made to read some really great stuff there so far.  I really enjoyed Lord of the Flies (really really really a lot.  I love that book), The Great Gatsby (HOW is F. Scott Fitzgerald just so great all the time?), Gilgamesh was alright, and I liked the Odyssey fine. 

Umm, let's see.... Oh! I loved Othello, but really thoroughly disliked the Tempest.  Next year's Shakespeare is Hamlet, so we'll see about that, I guess.

We read several short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne which I LOVED and went out to buy a complete collection of his work.  Also, the Yellow Wallpaper is my favourite short story of all time, which we read junior year.  If you haven't read it yet please do so right now.  I also really liked the Poe we read.  The Raven wins favourite poem for me (I'm a sucker for well used literary devices and poetical structure).  We also read collections of poetry from Whitman and Frost.  Loathed Whitman, loved (loveloveloveloveloved) Frost.

Some things I didn't like as much were Sophie's World, Nectar in a Sieve, The River Between, The Tempest (as previously mentioned), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and My Antonia.

OHMYGOOSHNESS!!! I almost forgot to mention Chronicle of a Death Foretold! That thing was amazing!  A bit graphic, but amazing.

The only thing I didn't like that I had to read was Scarlet Letter.  DULL DULL DULL DULL DULL.  Though I'm tempted to re-erad it now and see how it is.

I liked most of the books I've had to read for high school.  Especially Zodiac, which I read for environmental chemistry last year. 

Taylor, you didn't like My Antonia?!! I'm actually a huge fan.

Let's see... I remember reading 1984 (surprised no one mentioned that one so far), a whole bunch of Shakespeare (Hamlet, Othello, Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, etc), Things Fall Apart, House of the Spirits, The Things They Carried, The Road, Life of Pi, The Awakening, Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick (also surprised that no one mentioned), The Blind Assassin, Once and Future King, On the Road, Great Gatsby, Importance of Being Earnest, Waiting for Godot, All Quiet on the Western Front, Night, A Separate Peace, To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies - bah. that's the furthest my mind stretches back.

In particular I enjoyed school readings - can't say that for Moby Dick and Scarlet Letter - I guess they're classics, but they weren't exactly fun.

Natalie, You went to a cool school.  I read Life of Pi, 1984, and Once and Future King on my own (well, I'm in the middle of Once and Future King).  They never offered to read those in school...

And, as for My Antonia... It just never really caught my attention.  also I had to write an essay about it and it was pretty intense.  I didn't dislike it as thoroughly as other things, though. 

My English classes were always pretty intense on the reading, which was great. I also took an Advanced Composition/Literature class on the side, though, which is where we did most of the more interesting readings.

I can see how My Antonia wouldn't catch your attention... I guess I wouldn't classify it as particularly exciting . and definitely having to write any essay on a book usually makes me like it less... it's kind of ironic because a lot of books I read for school I really liked but started to like less after the teacher's beat every single possible meaning out of it over and over and over again.

But then again, I'm an English major now so I guess I should stop griping.

I loved the Great Gatsby but hated To Kill A Mockingbird. I can't even force myself through the movie. I imagine when I'm older I'll be able to appreciate it, possibly, but at this point in time I have an undying hate for it.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe was one of the best books I've ever read. I laughed and cried and hated what happened to the entire tribe.

I had to read Hamlet, Oddessey, Iliad, Mid Summer Nights Dream, Frankenstein, Lord of the Flies...

I moved a lot so I had to read the books from every different school. I read about 3 or 4 times more than most high school kids are required to lol

 you didn't like 'to kill a mockingbird'? really? *blink blink*

@ Stewart: Ha!  The Scarlet Letter...oh boy. I remember trying to plow my way through that one.  At the time I absolutely hated it.  Then I went to college and had a teacher who wouldn't shut up about the symbolism and how interesting it was that the author used words like further instead of farther....and I hated it even more.  A couple months ago, I opened it again out of curiosity...still hate.  But I'm of the opinion that our perspectives change more than our tastebuds, so if we can try much detested foods every few years to see if we suddenly like them, there's nothing wrong with giving books a few more chances...still...I think it'll be awhile before I crack that one open again.

@Laurie

Yes, I truly despised To Kill a Mockingbird.

I still do. =(