I am ashamed to say that I have not yet read......

[bookworm 1]

Yes you must read haunting great book.If you have not read it her short stry collection is awsome to.

[srboone]

The Haunting of Hill House byShirley Jackson. Someone's post in their collection thread remeinded me that I had not read this one. And the TBR continues to grow (after I'd whittled it down so far...).

[theenormityofitall]

There are so many books that I haven't read that I don't even know where to begin..I can say I've read Dracula and The Catcher in the Rye. And I haven't read War and Peace, either...don't know if I want to get into that one..

Catcher in the Rye! I remember hearing so much about it I guess after Lennon was shot, and I decided to read it myself and it remains one of the most great novels I've ever read. It's amazing it was written in the 40's and I could relate to the kid in the book 100%. But I don't understand the author? Why did he become some recluse?? I heard he died about a year ago.

[theenormityofitall]

At least at my school it really varied by teacher. Some teachers didn't even do the book reports.

That sounds exactly like the 2 schools I went to lol.

[tweetygirl0606]

There are so many books that I haven't read that I don't even know where to begin..I can say I've read Dracula and The Catcher in the Rye. And I haven't read War and Peace, either...don't know if I want to get into that one..

[TerryE]

At least at my school it really varied by teacher. Some teachers didn't even do the book reports.

I loved my 12th grade English teacher. An English term paper is required for graduation in the state, so we had to do one. however Mr. Fieldhouse understood how busy we were and that he wasn't going to force another "research" paper on us. His plan worked well with his "sped-ed" class (yes, his actual words), so we were permitted to turn in a term paper that was completely made up. Of course it had to have proper foot-noting, quotes, and a properly formatted bibliography even if we did make up the sources. I took my idea from him when he made a remark earlier in the year about how Isaac Asimov could never have written all the books attributed to him. I checked it out and even at that time (1984), Asimov had written well over 300 books. So my report was written in 2020, after Asimov's death and the discover that he was actually a whole society or "Association of Scientists, Inventors, Mathematicians and Other Vocations" who all decided to write under one psuedonym.

[TerryE]

I think what books you read in high school vary by state. I know at our school they cycled the books on a 4 year rotation so everyone was pretty much reading the same thing. Maybe to prevent cheating??

All I remember reading tho was The Crucible, Animal Farm(although I read both that and 1984 in middle school), The Scarlet Letter, all of Shakespeare, and To Kill a Mockingbird. And I graduated in 2002.

All of Shakespeare!!! I see you're in the Baltimore area & I grew up around here too. Back in the 80s we handled one Shakespeare play each year, and they were the more famous/important ones.

Oh, and I just remembered "Of Mice and Men" was assigned in 10th and I read "Grapes of Wrath" in 11th grade.

[Dan Hocker]

At least at my school it really varied by teacher. Some teachers didn't even do the book reports.

[jester05jk]

I think what books you read in high school vary by state. I know at our school they cycled the books on a 4 year rotation so everyone was pretty much reading the same thing. Maybe to prevent cheating??

All I remember reading tho was The Crucible, Animal Farm(although I read both that and 1984 in middle school), The Scarlet Letter, all of Shakespeare, and To Kill a Mockingbird. And I graduated in 2002.

[theenormityofitall]

Well, Enorm, that must be a big difference in our school systems. I graduated the same year that you did (and Squire Boone, too, as it turns out). We had assigned novels every year from at least 8th grade on. We read Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" in 8th grade during our section on fantasy and horror. That was the best for me, as it was when I wrote my first horror story for an assignment. It was a tale heavily inspired by Salem's Lot & Alien which were both fresh in my life.

9th grade included "Great Expectations" and "MacBeth". 10th grade had "Animal Farm", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Julius Caesar", "A Separate Peace" and "The Old Man and the Sea." In 11th we got to pick our own books from a large list, but had to finish 8 of them that year. The ones I remember are "A Tale of Two Cities", "Red Badge of Courage" (which I also used for an American History report), "Catch 22", and "The Fountainhead". Senior year was much more relaxed. All I remember there was "Hamlet", "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (which I couldn't finish) and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

FYI, "In Cold Blood" was non-fiction, but "1984" was science fiction, but definitely an extrapolation of where Orwell thought things were going in the near future.

Damn!! There's no way we read any of those books you mentioned...I went to Wesclin high school until I was a sophmore and finished off my last two years at O'fallon Township highschool, one of the best in the country, whereas Wesclin is one of the worst and both about 15 miles or so from each other in rural southern IL. I do in fact remember reading in English class in 9th grade a lot of books, but not taking them seriously at the time because I was such a goof-off. I don't think I actually read them, just in class certain passages and because I was hanging around with the wrong guys, I took nothing seriously, especially after actually getting the first "F" in that very class. I actually had to take it again even though it was for freshmen only. I got a lot of hell from my mom for that lol, and looking back on it, I defintely wished I had taken school much more seriously than I did. But after that first F, I didn't give a shit anymore and actually had to take a class in summer school so I could graduate with my class. Personal things here, but it was so long ago it doesn't mean much to me at this point. Anyway, because I did so badly at Wesclin my mom moved us to O'fallon and that school was GREAT. I took virtually all history courses, not the easy crap for easy credit. But I can't believe you read all those books in highschool?? I could see that in college, but highschool? I'm not doubting what you're saying, I just mean that really surprises me that books like that were mandatory in highschool, it really does depend on what school you go to I guess. But because I was always so interested in history, I never appreciated the "classics" like I began to do in my 20's.
And as for 1984, you say it's science fiction. It may be labeled that way in what would take place in the future, but I took it as an assault on both Stalin and the evils of totalitarianism. It's also amazing to me that the title of that book was about the same year where mandatory seatbelt laws came into effect in IL and around the country, actually forcing adults to wear them while driving a car, and it's just gotten so much worse since then that I don't even consider this country to be "Free" anymore at all. We're controlled by the government in every way imaginable. And I know In Cold Blood was non-fiction but it was written in the format of a novel.
Oh well, that's enough. Yet another post of mine that was too damn long.

[TerryE]

Well, Enorm, that must be a big difference in our school systems. I graduated the same year that you did (and Squire Boone, too, as it turns out). We had assigned novels every year from at least 8th grade on. We read Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" in 8th grade during our section on fantasy and horror. That was the best for me, as it was when I wrote my first horror story for an assignment. It was a tale heavily inspired by Salem's Lot & Alien which were both fresh in my life.

9th grade included "Great Expectations" and "MacBeth". 10th grade had "Animal Farm", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "Julius Caesar", "A Separate Peace" and "The Old Man and the Sea." In 11th we got to pick our own books from a large list, but had to finish 8 of them that year. The ones I remember are "A Tale of Two Cities", "Red Badge of Courage" (which I also used for an American History report), "Catch 22", and "The Fountainhead". Senior year was much more relaxed. All I remember there was "Hamlet", "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" (which I couldn't finish) and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead".

FYI, "In Cold Blood" was non-fiction, but "1984" was science fiction, but definitely an extrapolation of where Orwell thought things were going in the near future.

[theenormityofitall]

I'm not 100% sure when I actually read those books. I graduated in 2005 if that helps. I know I read All Quiet on the Western Front for a writing class in college.

I think it actually does help...because of this: what surprises me is not just that in the 2000-2005...they would still consider these novels masterpieces and not somehow politically incorrect the way things are nowadays. I know Orwell was supposedly a socialist, but he at least had some common sense and tried to tell the world of the evils of Stalinism, but I would think nowadays the teachers/professors would say Orwell was a nut criticizing the great mass murding Stalin simply because socilaism/communism is supposed to be so wonderful nowadays in so called "academia"....I have to watch it, getting into the political stuff again. But in the 80's there was no such thing as that idiocy. But what also surprises me is how young you are. 2005!! Man, that's makes me feel like the old man with his sea lol.

[Dan Hocker]

One more thing....Terry said he read Animal Farm in highschool and The Old Man and the Sea and you Dan, said you read Animal Farm but those other books too....can you guys tell me what years that was? May have nothing to do with that but just depends on the school or teacher, but I graduated in 1984 funny enough. Funny kinda because of the famous sorta "true novel" or "non-ficton novel" by the same name. At least I saw it as being non-fiction written in a novel format (I know people will disagree with me on that but it was obvious the entire book was about what was taking place in the world when he wrote it just like Animal Farm), in almost the same way of Capote's In Cold Blood (excellent book).

I'm not 100% sure when I actually read those books. I graduated in 2005 if that helps. I know I read All Quiet on the Western Front for a writing class in college.

[theenormityofitall]

One more thing....Terry said he read Animal Farm in highschool and The Old Man and the Sea and you Dan, said you read Animal Farm but those other books too....can you guys tell me what years that was? May have nothing to do with that but just depends on the school or teacher, but I graduated in 1984 funny enough. Funny kinda because of the famous sorta "true novel" or "non-ficton novel" by the same name. At least I saw it as being non-fiction written in a novel format (I know people will disagree with me on that but it was obvious the entire book was about what was taking place in the world when he wrote it just like Animal Farm), in almost the same way of Capote's In Cold Blood (excellent book).

[theenormityofitall]

I think I remember reading Animal Farm in high school as well (maybe middle school, can't remember). I also had to read The Jungle, Watership Down, and All Quiet on the Western Front. All books that I probably never would have read if I didn't have to, but once read I feel like they are probably books everyone should read at some point in their life.

It's very odd now that I think of it, but I only remember doing one single book report in my life. I was either a junior or senior and I guess the class was either English Lit or American Lit since I know the book was Flowers in the Attic. It was a book I had read years earlier because my mom had read that one and I think 2 more were written?? Anyway, another odd thing is that I had to go up to the teacher's desk and remember feeling embarrassed answering questions about the brother and sister's incestous relationship. Books like Animal Farm and the others I mentioned I don't recall ever hearing about in those days. Too young I guess. Besides, I was at that time and way before then, reading those big non-fiction books Reader's Digest used to put out about true mysteries and supernatural stuff, etc (I loved those things and still have them).
But as for reading The Old Man and the Sea and being able to read in one sitting...I doubt I could do that unless I was in the proper mood simply because it's a novel. And something else that's odd is that I can seemingly only read at night, same with movies. But can any of you guys tell me what you consider to be the top 3 best works of Mailer and Hemingway?? I get tired of horror novels and short stories all the time, even by Lovecraft and Poe. But I've read just about everything they wrote anyway (the best horror writers in history of course).