Required Reading | Books I liked, loved, or hated in school

[@CookieR1272]

Describing Wuthering Heights as extra and not in a good way is why I love your channel.

[@Meimisaki2001]

Books I loved in school: Sweetgrass Basket by Marlene Carvell Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne House of the scorpion by Nancy Farmer The Crucible Liked: Birchbark house by Louise Eldrich Persepolis by Marianne Satripi To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Hated: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe Fools Crow by James Welch

[@lisaj3840]

I read all of those books except Wuthering Heights and The Handmaid’s tale during my high school years too. We read To Kill a Mockingbird and Great Expectations during 10th grade and I credit both of those books with starting my love for the study of literature not simply reading for fun.

[@springintoreading7225]

I agree completely with you in regards to Wuthering Heights! I just recently read that book and its the only Bronte I've read so far. I remember reading: A Separate Peace, Merchant of Venice, The True Confessions of Nat Turner, Power and the Glory, and not much else:) Really liked Nat Turner. Great video!

[@gaildoughty6799]

Thank you very much for calling out Wuthering Heights! Beastly people living narrow, horrible, crazy lives. But what a difference a generation or two makes. We read Merchant of Venice, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and King Lear, one per year. A lucky partnership with a Boston theater meant that we saw each of them live as well. Novels: Tale of Two Cities, Scarlet Letter, Red Badge of Courage, Moby Dick, Gatsby, Jane Eyre, Barchester Towers. Lots of poetry (Scott’s Lady of the Lake in freshman year, which was a challenge), lots of short stories, quite a few essays. And a lot of self-chosen literature, subject to reacher approval.

[@birdsandwords9775]

I read a few of those in school but was also assigned the most random things. The Cay, The Mayor of Casterbridge, A Separate Peace, the plays of Henrik Ibsen. All of which were reasonable choices but I wanted to read what everyone else was reading in their classes! I was never assigned To Kill a Mockingbird in school but I read it as an adult. On my first read I thought it was just OK. But I have read it twice more in the last 20 years or so and now I think it is fantastic. However, I did read The Lord of the Flies in school and tried it twice more as an adult but that one never improved in my opinion!

[@cunitia]

Totally different sort of required reading in Germany...Goethe - The Sorrows Of Young Werther; Wolfgang Borchert - The Man Outside; Max Frisch - Andorra; Heinrich Heine - A Winter's Tale. And I think the first English novel we read was George Orwell's Animal Farm. Well...it's bean a while" Thank you for another great video!

[@bookishshenanigans4769]

I studied To Kill a Mockingbird at school even though I live in England, I liked it a lot but I had an overenthusiastic teacher who spoiled the ending which I hate! I still need to read Things Fall Apart, your review has made m want to read it more.

[@merelevelyne]

Since I went to school in The Netherlands, these were not all required reading for us, but we did read Lord of the Flies, and I rember also hating it so much!

[@LiteraryStoner]

There are only 3 books I remember having to read for school (i'm sure there were more that I don't remember). The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton in 7th grade, Romeo & Juliet in 9th and Julius Caesar in 10th, I think. I hated Romeo & juliet, Caesar went right over my head but I loved The Outsiders! I re-read it last year and still love it, at 28 just as much as 12 year old me did! There are some classics i'd like to read that I have no idea why I never was assigned to read them in school like other people but that's probably a good thing as I might not want to read them now because apart from The Outsiders I hated everything I had to read in school. I might be able to appreciate them more now than I could back then. Great video!

[@julianareads]

Great video, as always! I think I'm one of the few people who really liked Wuthering Heights the first time around, and I'm not sure what that means about me as a person. Worst ones for me were Catcher in the Rye and The Scarlet Letter. East of Eden by John Steinbeck was a keeper, and I loved both Mockingbird and A Handmaid's Tale.

[@myreadinglife8816]

Excellent video! I finally found a book we disagree on! I don't care for The Great Gatsby. Just something about the time period, the excess, the feeling that none of it mattered in the real world... I don't know, maybe I was just too young for it when I read it!

[@gracetaylor7351]

Loved this video very interesting !!! All I know about some I haven’t ever read but I cause I’m from Australia and some of them are America .but I was interesting to know your thoughts and the feels of them you did enjoy and didn’t .

[@TravelingBibliophile]

I still have all of the books I bought for AP literature in Grade 12 [Sr. Yr] although I had to repurchase 1984 last year because I somehow lost my copy and couldn't find it when I went looking to reread it last summer. We read Wuthering Heights (which is decidedly NOT a love story I am not sure why people keep insisting it is), The French Lieutenant's Woman, Pride & Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, Gulliver's Travels, Aristotle's Poetics, Sophocles Theban Plays, we also read a bunch of Shakespeare plays, our Canadian content was Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel, I seem to remember that my lit teacher either personally knew and didn't like Atwood, or she didn't know her at all and was just friends with Margaret Lawrence so that is why we read it both for Honours English Lit 11 and AP Lit 12. We had to read Lord of The Flies for Honours English in High School . While it was definitely not my favourite book, I think, in its time, it may have been a more interesting, or at least possibly relatable , for those Public School boys of 1940's & early 1950's England, in terms of the social hierarchy contained therein and how it may transfer to a society without the rules and order (all of course implemented and maintained by the boys' fathers and their fathers' social equals).

[@PatAndBooks]

We didn't really have any required reading for our classes back in the Philippines. Aside from the the same 4 Filipino literature we were required to read, that is. I think we only had one for our English class which was Lord of the Flies. I remember being fascinated by this book because I had always been interested with survival-type books and how it can affect the behavior, decisions and schema of a person. It's been years since I read the Lord of the Flies but I still remember how horrified I was at the events. I wouldn't say I liked the book but it was something I still remember how strongly I felt about it.

[@someonerandom8552]

Not so much required reading, but I recall my grade 6 teacher gave me this book to read outside of class. (I kind of assumed it was because I was in trouble but couldn't figure out what I did wrong. Turns out she was just remarkably helpful lol.) I can't quite remember the name, but it was about a 12 year old Polish girl living during WWII and all the shenanigans she gets up to. I remember actually staying up all night just to read it because I was that hooked. I actually read Wurthering Heights based on the sheer reputation it had alone back when I was like 15 or 16 I think. Luckily my cousin happens to be a High School English teacher. So I just went to him and had a slightly drunken impromptu English class of sorts. So I had a much better experience with it, even if I wasn't entirely sober. Make of that what you will. Incidentally I had an English teacher who loved confusing us with the pun, but Wurthering Heights is so Romantic. Though we were never actually assigned it. Ahh High School days. Reminds of me of trying to think of excuses for not attending detention.

[@Nataliecj]

I think To Kill a Mockingbird is required reading for schools across the world, we had to read it when I was 15 (I'm Irish) and I can remember really liking it but I haven't reread it since then, so I'd like to give it another try to see if I still like it. My favourite required reading books were Much Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, Holes by Louis Sachar, Northern Lights by Philip Pullman and Animal Farm by George Orwell. We also had to read quite a lot of poetry, I really liked Keats and WB Yeats. I actually ended up liking most of what we read in school!

[@LynxieDove]

Much Ado About Nothing is my favorite Shakespeare play!( Read it on my own in my 20's) And the movie (With Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson is really good.)

[@e.abebooks]

i loved Night. it was so gut wrenching.

[@karenbird6727]

I love To Kill a Mockingbird. I rarely re-read books, but this is one book that I re-read every few years. What I loved about it most is the sense of place it gives me. I feel as though I am right there with the characters in Maycomb. "A day was twenty-fours long, but seemed longer. There was no hurry, for there was nowhere to go, nothing to buy and no money to buy it with ..."

[@RadioGirLF]

Most of these were not on my required readings list in school (I'm from the Balkans) but I definitely agree with you on Wuthering Heights and To Kill a Mockingbird - dry, boring, tedious. My favorite required readings in school were Crime and Punishment, The Great Expectations, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Master and Margarita and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

[@ConnorOBrien]

This was such a good idea! I haven't thought about the books I was supposed to read for school in a while. I didn't care for To Kill a Mockingbird much either!

[@reginagannaway5714]

Loved this topic. Some of these I also read in high school and now I feel like my young mind wasn't ready for so many of those "classics" that I read. Some of them, I have read again and see them with fresh eyes. I plan to re-read more of those classics and expect I will appreciate them so much more. I would love to see a list of books you think *should* be part of a modern high school curriculum of books now. I am working on my own list for that too.

[@bookwalk1]

I have read several of these books but only one, Great Expectations, in school. I have read The Great Gatsby and The Handmaid’s Tale. Have liked all three of these. No interest in reading Lord of the Flies and tried but didn’t like To Kill a Mockingbird. Read lots of Shakespeare’s, Tale of Two Cities, Red Badge of Courage, The Scarlet Letter. I actually liked all of these. I also was a big reader from very young. I was never exposed to the Brontes in school but am starting to read these and others of that time period.

[@calliopeblink]

Were you in AP English? In that class we read Wuthering Heights and Things Fall Apart, although we did read Jane Eyre first. I never had to read Lord of the Flies in school and I am so okay with that. I didn't read The Handmaid's Tale til about 4 years ago, but we read Alias Grace by Atwood in school and I loved that one too. I love discussing books that are required in school, especially since a lot of districts are moving away from teaching the canon. P.S.- RIP Border's

[@karenkeay9624]

Great video! I was in high school in the early 70s in Scotland and we had to read To Kill Mockingbird which I loved and The Great Gatsby which I loved also. I didnt read Lord Of The Flies but the other class did! Hamlet , Twelfth Night and Macbeth was also required reading. But my favourite was Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.

[@ShakespeareandSuch]

I could NOT AGREE MORE about Wuthering Heights... it was also my first Bronte novel (why??) and I just remember loathing absolutely everyone except perhaps Nellie? Just absolutely toxic and unlikeable and certainly not romantic. It’s even more painful because I read that one by choice, not by requirement. To Kill A Mockingbird was one I definitely sparknoted in high school but reread fully last year and loved so much! It’s definitely interesting how how old you are and where you are in life can effect your enjoyment, or even just your interest, in a book. I also so strongly connect my required reads to the teachers I had to read them for! Thankfully mostly in a positive light 😂 I’d have to say my favorite requires reads for school where The Outsiders (in middle school), Dante’s Inferno, Romeo and Juliet, and The Grapes of Wrath.

[@angelaluz405]

I was required to read a few of these. I got Great Expectations in junior high, but only really remember Miss Havisham. It may be time for a re-read. I loved Wuthering Heights. I didn't care for Gatsby at all. I liked Of Mice and Men enough that it led me to read East of Eden on my own, which I LOVED. The book we read that I absolutely hated, however, was The Good Earth. I can't pinpoint 30 years later why I hated it, but I did hate it...and am not about to make myself suffer through it again to re-discover why I hated it. There are too many others I have not gotten around to yet to revisit one I didn't enjoy. Wuthering Heights, however, was actually the book that got me interested in classics.

[@LynxieDove]

You could try reading a synopsis of The Good Earth, maybe that would you remember what you hated...:) The only Steinbeck novel I read was the Red Pony, which I think I liked. It was a book that my Mom suggested after I red and enjoyed Black Beauty.

[@MaryAmongStories]

Loved this video so much! And now I need to read Night ^^

[@gdandrews]

From your list above ‘Night’, ‘Lord of the Flies’, and ‘The Great Gatsby’ were required reading at my Australian high school. The first two were covered in my early high school years and I liked them but didn’t love them. I studied Gatsby in my Literature extension class in Year 12 (I think your equivalent is Senior year?), and unfortunately I loathed it! We deconstructed that book to the point that I feel we lost touch with the real themes and it was sadly an unenjoyable, somewhat torturous experience! I still have my school copy on my bookshelf and have actually been tempted to re-read it in the hope that I might enjoy it when just reading for pleasure rather than study.

[@saraho4092]

I had to read most of the books you reviewed in school, but I also remember reading Shakespeare, Beowolf, The Outsiders and Animal Farm as well.

[@LooseLeafLiving]

What a fun video!! Loved hearing your thoughts on all these books!

[@katelyn9484]

I did one of my senior projects (we had to do one per semester)on the same topic and still have my copy of The Handmaid's Tale I bought for it too. We had to present our papers, write a short piece of fiction inspired by our book/paper topic, and make a visual aid representing the book that could also hold our paper. So weird. I remember taking a basket from the local apple orchard and wrapping and stapling red and white tissue paper to it during homeroom the day of my presentation. I thought I would flunk that section of the project, but for some reason my teacher loved it and put it in the display case along with the incredible cardboard couch that my classmate made for his project on Metamorphosis. I was actually embarrassed seeing them next to each other. But my mom still has that basket 8 years later. Maybe everyone else saw something I couldn't, and I'm actually an artistic genius. 😉😂

[@Thespian32]

I remember reading Of Mice and Men at School and Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth for Shakespeare - Never really "got" Shakespeare at school but found a deep passion for him later (probably due to my Theatre hobby)

[@adriennegarcia6628]

Great idea for a video !

[@ruthsoz]

Great video topic! I loved The Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter, which I was assigned in 8th grade. I'm certain that one reason I loved it so much is because my family had taken a trip to Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh was great!) the summer before, and we had coincidentally seen a lot of the places where the book takes place. I recently read the companion novel (A Country of Strangers) which felt eerily relevant in today's political climate.

[@jbc103085]

I, too, loved Night. But, it was summer reading for the summer before my freshman year. So that was 1999. 🙈 I’ve been thinking it’s time for a re-read the last couple months. Just need to remember to grab it next time I’m at the library. Great video!

[@natashalast9688]

My required reading was very similar. We read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and I fell in love 😍

[@jaimeharris2569]

Remember being required to read The Grapes of Wrath, Animal Farm, The Scarlet Letter, and Tess of the D'urbervilles.... some may have been selected from a reading list but I loved them all. 😍

[@bhargavilawbookskettlebells]

I agree with you so much on Wuthering Heights - I loathed that book so much! Toxic is an understatement! I never understand people who think it a romantic novel. But then, much as I adore Jane Eyre, I don't think of that as a romantic novel either. A great novel, yes. Romantic, no. Mr. Rochester is all kinds of messed up and manipulative. Yass to Great Expectations and the Handmaid's Tale. Adored those. We don't have the concept of required reading books at high school in my country, so I'm always fascinated by these kinds of videos.

[@sheilahowes5435]

Was play reading and poetry also part of your required reading? It certainly is in the British system. I have fonder memories of the play reading than any of the others. The only one of yours we also had as required reading was Lord of the Flies, and I think it's still required reading now!

[@LauraFreyReadinginBed]

Okay, warning, I am an Emily Bronte stan, and Wuthering Heights is my favourite classic. I was assigned to read it in grade 11, and had you asked me at the time, I may have said yes it's romantic and it's a love story, but now of course I can recognize just like you said, that it is not, it is profoundly dysfunctional. But I think I just recognized more of an emotional truth in it, because I was in my first serious relationship at the time, which, again, now I recognize was emotionally abusive, so something about Heathcliff and Cathy spoke to me. I only came to read the rest of the brontes much later, I wish I'd had the chance to read more of them when I was younger because they really do make such an impression. I know a lot of people who read Jane Eyre at a much younger age took to it in a very profound way which I just didn't, having read it in my mid-30s. The other books that stand out to me that were assigned, which probably weren't as common in the States, are The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence, and One Hundred Years of Solitude. I didn't read Lord of the Flies, The Great Gatsby, or Things Fall Apart until I was an adult.

[@someonerandom8552]

Wurthering Heights is not romantic, it's Romantic. Emily Bronte was a devotee of the philosophy of Romanticism. The Romantics believed that the true aesthetic pleasure derived from art comes from emotions, in literature this was often expressed by the characters themselves. Which is why everyone in WH is such an emotional train wreck and arguably why greed is not really a motivating factor in the rivalries, even though there is clearly a lot of money to be had by the victor. (Romantics were considered a little naive when it comes to avarice or extreme greed for wealth.) It's also why Ems waxes lyrical whenever she describes the moors. Romantics were not fond of the more scientific depiction of nature that was fast becoming mainstream at the time and sought to recapture the true raw beauty of it through their various works. Though I'll admit to not being a fan of the Romantic movement in general, I find people are a little bit unfair towards Wurthering Heights. That could be because of how they're taught it, but still.

[@LisaK1075]

Ugh we had to read A Tale of Two Cities and Macbeth and at the time I hated both. Have you read either? Should I try them again? You had such good picks in school!

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorites and I just recently reread it. Its always a relief to hear people who aren't in love with To Kill a Mocking Bird, because I read it when I was 10 (I chose to read it and it wasn't a school read.) and have no urge to reread. I feel guilty that I don't, but people saying they didn't love it eases my guilt. Thank you for bringing up Things Fall Apart. I have been trying to remember that title for years now! The ones we had to read for school that I loved were The Great Gatsby, The Crucible, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Maus, A Rose Called Emily, Fences, and Julius Caesar. I remember reading Of Mice and Men and I want to reread, because I barely remember it.

[@TheNovelSanctuary]

I also loved The Handmaids Tale and I still have my copy of every book I enjoyed during high school (and even some I didnt but deem it an accomplishment to have read it and so have kept it like Les Mis)

[@amusicalbookworm]

This is such a good video idea! I had to read several of these too...I am ashamed to say that I was “too busy” to read the Great Gatsby in high school and I sparknoted most of it! I definitely need to go back and reread that one. And yes, I hated Lord of the Flies too!!

[@LynxieDove]

It's definitely worth it, and then watch the movie (The Robert Redford one, not the newer one, Yuck!)

[@jenniferhughes3071]

Similar sentiments about these books except I'm on the "other side of the tracks" in regards of To Kill A Mockingbird. Curious, have you read One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest?

[@paperback_cat]

Hmmmm... now I'm trying to remember what books I had to read in school - but, other than Shakespeare, I can only remember 2! I know I must have read more! Maybe I just blanked the others out because I didn't like them :P The ones I remember are The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, which I did find quite interesting to read alongside Plath's poetry and a history of her life. And Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt, which I then went away and read the rest of the series in my own time because I liked it so much.

[@brittabohlerthesecondshelf]

You always have such great ideas for video's! Loved this. (Despite me disagreeing wholeheartedly with you on Mockingbird, but what do you expect, I'm a lawyer...)

[@SixMinutesForMe]

Me too! 🙈

[@sarahcmeikle]

Hi Olive! I read to Kill a Mockingbird in high school and must admit like so many others I adore this book. I recently read The Handmaid's Tale for the first time and I really enjoyed it. I'm surprised it was required reading for you in high school as it's so dark and at times sexually explicit so it's interesting they deemed high school students mature enough to read it as I doubt my class would have been! Love your content, keep doing your thing!

[@chelseamiller4415]

I remember reading and enjoying Night, Enders Game, and the Giver. The absolute worst one I ever had to read was A Tale of Two Cities. It was a summer reading assignment, and though I was excited about being able to read at my own pace when it was assigned, I ended up taking so long to finish it that I don't even remember the story. It was painfully slow.

[@orelsa82]

I read most of these same books in high school. I also remember reading The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, Heart of Darkness, The Stranger by Camus, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Romeo and Juliet, 1984, Animal Farm, Farenheit 451, Macbeth, and The Crucible, among others. I was never assigned literature outside of English class, and now I feel cheated.

[@BookishTexan]

OMG YES! The idea that _Wuthering Height_ is a romantic love story has driven me crazy for decades. Thank you. "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

[@RealVincent1989]

yes it is romantic love story and yes , it is toxic. These 2 things can coincide

[@dianagalluzzo4599]

The two books I was required to read in high school that you didn't mention were Lives of the Saints and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

[@LynxieDove]

Loved the Great Gatsby in high school, and soon I am going to try some of Fitzgerald's other works, maybe along side reading his biography. Some of my other favorites from Middle school and HS: Little Women,That was then, This is Now by S.E. Hinton Where the Red Fern Grows, Fahrenheit 451, Ivanhoe, Julius Caesar. Beware The Ides of March! lol. My least favorite was Izzy Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voigt. About a girl, who while on a date, gets into a car accident (Her date was drinking, I believe.) and she subsequently loses 1 or both of her legs. The book was well written and engaging, I did somewhat enjoy the lead character, but it was so "After School Special'. But, that didn't stop me from speeding thru the book and asking if I could have all of the chapter questions. When we read in class, I was allowed to do whatever I wanted, which was usually read something else. I also didn't care much for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn...I just couldn't connect to it. Out of curiosity...you didn't mention anything about Shakespeare, or maybe you were saving that for a video of it's own?

[@janedunster5156]

I do like Wuthering Heights, although you are right about Cathy and Heathcliff not being romantic role models! I didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird, but I was 12 and British and we were taught it without any real context - I knew nothing about racism, really, let alone the civil rights movement. Reading it with my Book club as an adult was much more fulfilling and enjoyable, although it is never going to be a favourite. In the lower secondary years we did things like Hobson's Choice and Joby and a Dog called Nelson (all Northern English) as I moved further up the school there was a lot of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen, both of which I loved.

[@AmyPool]

I feel as though I am the only person who didn't read The Great Gatsby in high school (and still haven't). There are several books that I remember reading in high school and really not enjoying Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath are at the top of that list but I feel as if they deserve a reread from me, as I have grown, so have my reading tastes. But the pinnacle of my hatred still is The Good Earth, I don't think it's possible to even convince me to touch it let alone reread it lol!

[@someonerandom8552]

I didn't read the Great Gatsby in HS either. But perhaps that is because I'm not American and thus our classes had to also squeeze in classics from my own country (Australia.)

[@WayOverBooked]

I love this video so much t_t great Gatsby was amazing to me. I cried when I read it the first time my sophomore year. On a side note you inspired me to start my own channel. Idk if it's similar content but thanks for the inspiration 💕☺️

[@SunriseFireberry]

What do you think about educators' use of proscripted books in general? Good idea? Bad? Neutral? I got Gatsby 2X (& therefore overanalyzed) & Lord of the Flies. No use for Flies. Orphan trope run amuck & dark view of humanity & triggering for bullying. I had 10s of proscribed lit books as I took 2 different English classes during 3 years of my high school. Macbeth was dark & kinda cool. Importance of Being Earnest got a pass: O that Vic. hypocrisy. Huck Finn got a pass 'cause I had already read it on my own & liked it. I had little use for Catcher in the Rye, Power & the Glory/Greene, The Tempest, Glass Menagerie, Long Days Journey into Night (overly proscribed & analyzed-gutted), The stone Angel/Laurence, any novel by W.O. Mitchell, & 95% of poetry. Lots of books got a C from me: Hardy novels, Tin Flute/Roy, Midsummer Night's Dream, Desire under the Elms, Miss Julie/strindberg, too many to mention.

[@danecobain]

I was lucky in that I enjoyed everything that we had as required reading :D I was the only one, though!

[@BaileeWalsh]

Prepare yourself for a long comment :) The most memorable year for required reading in English class was my junior year of high school because it was full of books I either loved or hated. We did read three plays but I'm pretty indifferent on those: Antigone, Cyrano De Bergerac, and A Doll's House. A Doll's House was definitely the one I liked the most and found most interesting to discuss. For the books we read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- one of my least favorite books ever! I didn't mind it while reading it, but I was so angry at the ending, it completely ruined it for me. 1984, I also didn't like very much. It's not a book I think I would have picked up on my own anyway. Part of why I didn't enjoy it though is because the two weeks we read it was the same two weeks I had a French exchange student staying with me. My family and I were trying to make sure his experience and first time in America was great, so we did a lot after school and on the weekends, which left me not a lot of time to do my homework and I always saved the reading for last and couldn't keep up with it. I ended up using sparknotes a lot and asking classmates about it to make sure I could do well on the pop quizzes. On the other hand we read The Catcher In The Rye, The Great Gatsby, and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, which I loved. I had previously read The Catcher in The Rye on my own a year or so earlier, so that was actually a reread for me. I liked being able to analyze it more and discuss it, especially knowing the full story unlike my classmates who hadn't read it before. It was an immediate favorite the first time I read it and still is one of my favorites. I really like The Great Gatsby but I love how layered, symbolic, and meaningful it is more than the actual story. Additionally, I'm a fan of Fitzgerald's writing, and keep meaning to pick up more from him. There's a reason why this is widely read for assigned reading. The only thing is, I remember when my teacher announced that it was the next book we were going to be reading so we could go out and buy our own copy, and suddenly the class erupted into yeses and woos and I understood the excitement but like no one had read the book, yet, so calm down. That's what I was thinking. As much as I really like it, I do think it's overrated. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest surprised me the most and is probably the most memorable positive reading experience at least for that year of high school. I knew nothing about it beforehand and I don't think I had even heard of it, or at least hadn't connected it with the famous film adaptation. I really like books that take place in a mental institution, it's sort of an aspect I'm drawn towards, so in hindsight I can see how it became my favorite book of that year. There were also a few books that year that we had to read but weren't SPECIFICALLY assigned. So there was the summer reading book that we chose from the five listed. I chose A Thousand Splendid Suns and found it interesting but because we ALL didn't read the book I didn't get to discuss it as much as I would have liked, which also would help me in remembering it more now. Then there was a book we had to read over the Christmas break. My teacher made a list of books that worked well for the prompts that we would be given after break to write an in-class essay on. I ended up choosing Jane Eyre and liked it but I have a fonder memory of it now because of being able to expand my understanding and thoughts on it, mostly through booktube. Finally, we had a final project after the AP test, where we had to choose a book of literary merit, read it, and do an oral presentation on it. This was a partner project and my friend and I chose to read Atonement. This is another book I consider to be an overall favorite. But I distinctly remember the conversation I had with my friend after we finished it. Both of us ended up watching the film adaptation (which is SO good in so many ways) and NEITHER OF US had fully understood what actually happened, which we realized upon watching the film adaptation. So thankfully we watched it! I'm being vague here in case you haven't read it or anyone reading this hasn't read it. But, I remember saying to her, "I didn't get that that's what happened at the end of the book until I watched the movie," or something like that and she was like, "Same!" And those are just the books I read as assigned reading my junior year.

[@heatherj406]

I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird and was the only one who didn’t like it. I’m glad it wasn’t just me. I also had to read Wuthering Heights and didn’t like it either. I was so excited to read it and then very disappointed in it.

[@SixMinutesForMe]

Olive I absolutely adored this! Such a great idea for a video! Though I’m with Britta on To Kill a Mockingbird (again, probably because I’m a lawyer 😂 but also it’s one of the few books my dad ever recommended I read, and he isn’t a reader at all!) I loved Great Expectations, and even went on to also study Jack Maggs (a spin off by Peter Carey looking into Magwitch’s narrative)

[@carole5648]

you mean, you didn't read ahead if the assignment said "ch 1-3"? I was that person who would just read the whole thing, if it was interesting, and then forget where everyone else was and just doodle during the discussion so i didn't accidentally spoil anything, though i'm sure there were times when i did spoil stuff for the other students. its a bit strange that i was never required to read lord of the flies or great gatsby in school, and i did feel like i should read lord of the flies so i'm glad you mentioned that it was dumb because i think that's the only feedback like that i've heard about it.

[@mmcs889]

I had Night assigned for an honors English class. I don’t remember what we discussed about it, but it did leave a big impression on me. I remember being really taken with it. I didn’t read Wuthering Heights. I couldn’t get through the first two chapters. I don’t remember how I managed to squeeze it the essay I had to write on it, but I definitely faked it, lol. I have a very different experience of The Great Gatsby. I hated it. 😬 I couldn’t connect to it at all. I got really annoyed with the narrator. You might be the first person I’ve met that also did not enjoy To Kill a Mockingbird. I hated it so much, just couldn’t get into it at all. I really didn’t like Scout, and that made it difficult for me to get through. Great Expectations wasn’t a good read for me, but I suspect that might have had more to do with my English teacher. She was awful, and the way she taught this story made it seem so boring. Teachers really can make or break it. I didn’t read The Handmaid’s Tale until I was in college, but I really liked it. It really left its mark on me as a powerful piece of social commentary.

[@LynxieDove]

I didn't enjoy Mockingbird either, I think I got 2-3 chapters in. It was a after hs read, maybe I would have been able to finish if it was a school assignment.

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

How do you feel when you watch film adaptations of the books you did in school?

[@rose_and_thorns]

Lord of the Flies is one of my most hated books ever. OMG it's so gross and heavy-handed, and even now looking back I really wonder what the hell schools think we're supposed to get out of it. I'm SO GLAD to hear you love The Great Gatsby, though - I feel like that's a classic that so many people seem to love saying "Well ACTUALLY it sucks and I hated it" and I'm just like, how can you hate it?? It's such a lovely read.

[@LynxieDove]

Maybe as a example of how society can breakdown? IDK, Thankfully wasn't one that I had to read. Though it was probably on that 'Recommended Reading' list that they handed out for every summer.

[@audreyh7892]

I loved “To kill a Mockingbird”, “The Scarlet Letter”, and “The great gatsby” was ok. I despised, hated, abhorred “Animal Farm” and “The lord of the flies”, and “Great Expectations”.Took me years to read anymore Orwell or Dickens. “Romeo and Juliet” was meh.

[@bigalbooksforever]

As an English teacher I find videos like this (and the comments) to be so fascinating! Mind if I make a video response? You're lucky you got to read so many classics in school! The only pre-20th C content I got was Shakespeare. Also, I am not a fan of Lord of the Flies either. Didn't like it back when I read it in high school and still didn't care for it when I had to teach it recently. It is an overly simplistic (and pessimistic) view of humanity! Plus the writing style is abysmal!

[@abookolive]

I would LOVE if you did a response video!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts :)

[@LynxieDove]

Do you have to follow a set syllabus of what to teach the kids? If so, does the school system do that, or the princepal? I hope you don't mind my asking...:)

[@bigalbooksforever]

@@LynxieDove Where I teach we don't have any books that are official requirements! There are no specific texts mentioned in our English Curriculum, so there is technically a lot of freedom in choosing which texts we use to teach. Usually the head of the English department (in consultation with the teachers) will decide which texts are used so that there is continuity between the courses. A lot of teachers are moving away from the class novel study approach as well, so it will be interesting to see how the concept of required reading will change over the years as we start to offer students more options!

[@sharon152]

I love Wuthering Heights but not because it is romantic because it absolutely isn’t! I love psychology. Why do people do certain things? What makes them who they are? I would not want Heathcliff as a partner, too tumultuous for me! The only possible redemption for the story is young Catherine and Hareton But we don’t know how their early experiences affect them long term.

[@tawallah77]

If I didn’t like you before, that you feel the same way about Wuthering Heights would make me over the moon about you. I thought I had the wrong book since I kept hearing about the romance is so great. Such a toxic relationship. And I never finished Lord of the Flies for school. Never.

[@cheryllovestoread]

Oh how I hated Lord of the Flies. What a dreadful book! One that was required reading me was Farewell to Manzanar. Such a terrible thing done to our fellow citizens! A local high school history class recently set about finding the surviving Japanese Americans from our community who never received their high school diplomas because of their internment. They had a special graduation ceremony for them where some spoke. What a great living history lesson for our local students!

[@joneubanks9686]

Lord of the Flies is a masterpiece tho

[@tifftargaryen490]

i hated that most of my teachers would make us read then answer essay questions & if it wasnt exactly what they wanted we would basically fail. we wouldnt discuss till after test were graded ad they would explain how most of class was wrong

[@chopinsurn1052]

OMG, we have exactly the same taste 👀😱

[@RashmikaLikesBooks]

I was wondering for anyone reading these comments, did any of you read Chimamande Ngozi Adichie for school? The great irony in my high school is that some English classes read To Kill a Mockingbird and then Purple Hibiscus by Chimamande Ngozi Adichie the following year. 😂The funny thing is that in post-apartheid South Africa, I wonder why schools study American books about racism and prejudice when we can find books on our own doorstep.

[@RashmikaLikesBooks]

I was going to comment, "it's so cute that you did your English homework in high school. And you say you weren't a good student. 😉" But then I remembered that education is different around the world. South African English class is quite something. 😂

[@LynxieDove]

English class was the only academic I liked all through school, so I would say that I usually loved doing my English homework, but the rest...not so much.

[@CarolMarieReads]

I would always be so frustrated when we had to read along in class to ensure that everyone got the reading done. I was that person who always read or who read ahead so I was so over high school a few months into my freshman year lol. Wuthering Heights is my favorite from high school - so much ridiculousness lol. I feel like I’m in the minority though. I also think the teacher plays a huge role in whether or not you like the book.

[@someonerandom8552]

OMG same! I loathed class read alongs!!! Even in Primary (Elementary) school. I wasn't like an avid bookworm or anything like that. I just have this weird thing where I have to be in control of my own reading pace. Although I didn't mind the occasional audio book they used to play to us in younger grades. As long as I didn't have the book in front of me at the time. Also I agree about a teacher making or breaking a book.

[@TheTasneemali]

❤

[@tabithaspear1097]

I adore Wuthering Heights, but the people that consider it a love story... Not saying anyone’s opinion is wrong, but they certainly aren’t right.

[@kadamowicz68]

I hate that schools require reading in a measurable way. Reading is seen as a punishment and creates negativity. Literature circles, deep discussions...those would make for reading interest. Yet they get tested and are forced to ingest a lot of crap. Classics are great....except when they suck. Which so many of them do.

[@jaymelynnway]

YAS. I hated Lord of the Flies. God awful pretentious writing.

[@fernandaguidotti6328]

Maybe fiction is just NOT your genre.

[@abookolive]

I like plenty of fiction books.

[@SunnyBurnsAll]

Wuthering heights is not a book that should be required reading.

[@LynxieDove]

Actually, I think it should be, as an example of a toxic relationship.