Thursday, September 6, 2018

Rereading High School



It's the first day of school here in central New York... the perfect time to share a project that's been in the back of my mind for some time. What would it be like to reread some of the books assigned to me in back high school?

The seed for this idea was planted in 2012 when I reread The Old Man and the Sea  on a whim... you can read that post here. Last year's reread of Flowers for Algernon  turned out to be a highlight of my reading year. That made me wonder, once again, about other high school books I may not have fully understood or appreciated as a teenager. And naturally, a list was made.



High School Books I'd Like to Reread

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I reread this every decade.


Tender is the Night  by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I enjoyed it more than Gatsby back in the day. Would that still be the case? 


The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck is a favorite. I've reread many of his books over the years, but never this one.


The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
A favorite from high school, but would likely have more of an impact now.


For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
Not a favorite at the time...


Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
I have little memory of this book beyond liking it. Recent visits to Asheville, NC have made me curious.


Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
I actively disliked this in 10th grade. Maybe it's time to give it another try? 


1984 by George Orwell
A reread is even more urgent given today's political climate.


Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Another book I was just lukewarm on decades ago, but may appreciate more as an adult.


I've wanted to reread this for years and probably should have put it at the top of the list.


This list is a starting point. I'm not imposing any special parameters or deadlines and, since my high school years were so long ago, I can also add these titles to my Classics Club list! Have you ever revisited any of your high school reading assignments?




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50 comments:

  1. Those titles certainly bring back memories. I reread many of those in college as an English lit major. Right now I am focusing on my to-read list on Goodreads. Catching up with the upcoming Cormoran Strike series and would actually like to get into another series.

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    1. Tina - It seems like I always think about these books this time of year. Hopefully I'll make some progress on this list over the next several months.

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  2. This does sound like a fun project. I reread Catcher in the Rye when my son was reading it in high school, and I disliked it almost as much the second time around. A few of these I've never read. For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of those and I'd really like to read it sometime.

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    1. Susie - I hated Catcher in the Rye in high school, too, and couldn't get through it when it was assigned to my kids. For Whom the Bells Tolls made my list because John McCain recently mentioned it and I had almost not recollection of it.

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  3. Good luck! I’ve read almost all of these (with mixed results). I’ve reread a few books from high school. I hated Catcher in the Rye when I was in 10th grade, but when I had to reread it in college, I “got” it. It’s interesting that a few years can make such a huge difference in reader maturity.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. AJ - Your experience with Catcher in the Rye is interesting. I hated it in high school... maybe I was too young to get it. I tried to reread it when it was assigned to my kids and couldn't. Maybe I was too old by then!

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  4. It's been so long since I've been in high school, I can't remember a lot of what I read. I would like to revisit All the King's Men because I didn't really understand it.

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    1. Kathy - I've never read All the King's Men. Would like to try it one day...

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  5. Not on purpose, but I believe I first read Pride and Prejudice and (maybe) The Portrait of a Lady in 11th grade English (although I think the second is an odd choice for high schoolers...) I also remember reading The Scarlet Letter in 10th grade English. Beyond that, I'm having trouble recalling others...maybe some of yours, though I don't specifically remember them. I may ask my sister (we had the same beloved English teachers, and I remember them very fondly, even if I don't remember what we read!) Anyway, it's a wonderful idea!

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    1. Audrey - Jane Austen was never assigned in high school, but The Scarlet Letter was a 10th grade assignment for us, too. Several of the books above were from a senior year lit elective... with a favorite teacher.

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  6. I've been wanting to reread The Great Gatsby for ages. I did not like it in high school. And I may not like it now but I know I'll have a greater appreciation for it. And I just need to read all things Steinbeck. His writing is entrancing. Good luck!

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    1. Heather - The Great Gatsby was just an okay read for me in high school, but now I appreciate more with every reread.

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  7. What a wonderful idea! We had different books than several of these assigned to us, such as To Kill A Mockingbird and Romeo and Juliet. I often wonder how high school kids can relate to Hemingway, or even some of Steinbeck's work, but I suppose the introduction is what matters most.

    I reread Flowers for Algernon a year or so ago, and I was greatly moved again. And, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest never disappoints. I wonder why the reading I did then remains so crystal clear, and I can't tell you what I read in June...

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    1. Bellezza - Can you believe I missed To Kill a Mockingbird in high school? It was assigned to regular English classes, but not the Regents level class... strange. I remember the pain of reading Romeo and Juliet aloud in class - the teacher randomly calling on someone not paying attention to read. It ruined Shakespeare for me! I'm especially looking forward to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

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  8. It is amazing to me that as a reader I have no idea what was assigned! It can't be just the years because a short time after HS, I remember my college reading like it was yesterday. Must have been poor teaching or boring books! I love Gatsby so much, and I do remember reading a lot of Steinbeck back then but I can't read him now. Too male oriented? Subjects that don't interest me? Who knows.

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    1. Nan - I think there were a lot of boring books assigned to kids too young to grasp their meaning, especially in high school. We definitely read better books in college!

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  9. I remember reading Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo in school. I've been planning on reading it again but just never got around to it. It was a powerful book and it's stuck with me all these years.

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    1. Vicki - That one was never assigned to me. I did enjoy reading (or rereading) some classics when they were assigned to my kids... think that's where this all got started.

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  10. Sounds like a great idea for you! As for me, well, I pretty much didn't like any of the books I had to read in high school. Or not many of the them. I have very few good memories of high school English. However, I would up for a reread of the books I read for pleasure in high school. Those mysteries and Gothic books I loved. OK, adding them to my list for R.I.P. XIII. Ha!

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    1. Kay - I think I was reading family sagas or Stephen King for fun back then... my mystery reading peaked with Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden ;-)

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  11. This is a super idea. I did something similar. I started about 20 years ago and it took me about 6 years. I tried to read and reread every piece of fiction assigned to me in collage and high school. I found that I got a lot more out it the the second time around.

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    1. Brian - I think most high school kids are just too young to appreciate much of what is assigned. Maybe the idea is just exposure to an author... it seems anthologies and excerpts used much more now.

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  12. I have reread some books from high school; I recently reread Of Mice and Men and The Handmaid's Tale. This is a fun project; sometimes we don't even really remember the books we read all the way back in high school, but there's also the notion that maybe we get more or different things from them as adults.

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    1. Angela - I was blown away by Of Mice and Men when I reread it several years ago... almost couldn't believe it was the same book we read in high school! The Handmaid's Tale came out after my high school years, but I remember reading it in the mid/late 80s. I'm past due for a reread... recently picked it up as a kindle daily deal, so I'm ready!

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  13. I'm super skittish about classics, but I have re-read Great Gatsby and To Kill a Mockingbird in the past few years and loved both. I also read East of Eden for the first tie and thought it was good, but didn't blow me away.

    At this point, I'd like to read (none of these are re-reads...just classics I haven't read) Rebecca, A Room of One's Own, and I Captured the Castle.

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    1. Sarah - I still can't believe I managed to get through high school without reading To Kill a Mockingbird! Finally read it for the first time a decade or so ago. The Great Gatsby gets better with every reread and I loved East of Eden, too. Rebecca would be a great choice for RIP. I've got A Room of One's Own on my shelf... maybe for Nonfiction November?

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  14. These are all books that I read and loved as an English minor in college! I am not sure I can read them again, though!

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    1. Patty - I had chemistry coming out of my ears in college and always wished I could have been reading great books instead, lol! Still feel like I'm making up for lost time ;-)

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  15. JoAnn, this sounds like a great idea. Now you've got me thinking, I don't think I have re-read anything I was assigned at school since leaving. However hopefully that will be changing soon as I recently got my hands on a copy of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Joan Aiken.

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    1. Jessica - I don't think I ever reread anything from school until I'd been away from it for nearly 20 years. Had to look up The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and it sounds delightful! Hope you enjoy rereading it.

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  16. A superlative, engaging post, JoAnn.
    I read many of Steinbeck's works in junior high and high school, but I believe wholeheartedly, hands down, that The Grapes of Wrath is far and away Steinbeck's greatest book. I read it as an older teen during the summer. It was not an assigned read. I wonder why not, when I think of all the Steinbeck books that were assigned. I feel myself bristling... Grapes of Wrath was too...controversial, I believe, for the times in my high school.

    We read The Winter of Our Discontent as 10th-graders. Honestly, I do wonder what our exemplary English teachers were thinking when they assigned that very adult novel to 15-year-olds. I do wonder.

    Look Homeward, Angel was another sophomore high school book. It was our English teacher's favorite novel of all time. But I did not connect with it at all.
    But I liked The Great Gatsby.
    And as a junior I read Tender is the Night and I remember I thought it was interesting, but overly long. I thought it tended to repeat the same content over and over. (Such recollections!!)

    In my sophomore year we also read Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. But you know, it was me. I was just too damn young, at 15 years of age, to relate to an old man's travels across America, to appreciate this book. I don't think I was immature for my age. Why weren't we reading American classics that we had a chance of grasping? Why weren't we reading Carson McCuller's Member of the Wedding? And other coming of age works? I ask you. As a sophomore at age 15 we read the play Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Really??
    I liked reading The Crucible by the same author or playwright. I got that. E

    I could go on. Too many books read too young. It's time to make amends and read them now, but I'd never touch those books again.

    Junior year was much better. I read TONS and loved most of it. Maturing a bit??
    Then Senior year I read World Literature with such appetite and overwhelming desire. I aced my advanced English class, because at age 17, I had matured as a reader and writer.
    s


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    1. Judith - We have similar thoughts on Steinbeck. The Grapes of Wrath was assigned in a senior year elective and must have been a controversial choice, though I don't remember any complaints. Assigning The Winter of Our Discontent has long puzzled me. How in the world were high school juniors supposed to understand those themes? We read The Pearl and The Red Pony in 9th and 10th grades and I read East of Eden on my own one summer - loved it!

      Look Homeward, Angel is another novel from that senior year elective, but I don't remember much about it. Recent visits to Asheville have renewed my interest in the author.

      Death of a Salesman was a struggle and reading The Crucible aloud in class was painful. Maybe I'll take another look at those, too.

      That senior year elective was when I finally starting appreciating some of the novels we read. At the end of the year, the teacher gave me a copy of An American Tragedy... which I finally read just a few years ago. Dreiser has fallen out of fashion, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and appreciated the local connection.

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  17. Our Michigan high school had censored so many books I never heard of Catcher in the Rye. Our books were Billy Budd by Melville, Scarlet Letter and Old Man and the Sea. I don't remember any others we read. All of these will continue to rest in peace. 🤠🐧

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    1. Pam - We read Old Man and the Sea and The Scarlet Letter, too. For some reason Melville was never assigned... not in a hurry to try him either ;-)

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  18. Very intriguing idea! I did go back and reread “The Scarlet Letter” a year or so ago, and found it pretty interesting. I don’t remember having any reaction to it at all in high school! I read a lot on my own, including some E.M.Forster, Virginia Woolf, Tolstoy, and Salinger. All not on the curriculum.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. Mae - I reread The Scarlett Letter almost ten years ago and thought it was a much better book than I did at 15, but doubt I'll pick it up again. I'm impressed you were reading such quality literature on your own. I was mostly reading Stephen King for fun, lol!

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  19. What a great project! I think you're going to have a great time doing this and of course would love to hear how it goes. If there was one book from my high school reading that I would love to re-visit it's probably The Scarlet Letter and as far as as a writer is concerned, I think I'd choose Hemingway. I hated everything I read by Hemingway in high school but I would like to see what I would think now.

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    1. Iliana - I detested Hemingway in high school, but was very surprised when I reread The Old Man and the Sea a few years ago. I went on to read A Moveable Feast and enjoyed it more than expected. We'll see how For Whom the Bell Tolls goes. I also have a copy of The Sun also Rises on my shelf.

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  20. This is a great project. I haven’t been systematic about it, but over the past few years have consciously reread high school lit works, including A Separate Peace, East of Eden, and Silas Marner, all of which deserve the classics label. I’ve got Grapes of Wrath on my list for a reread as well. It’s interesting how so many are so much better given the intervening years, but I am glad I was exposed to them when I was.

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    1. JaneGS - I'm glad I was exposed to these authors back then, too. Maybe that's the real goal because I don't think many high school students truly understand or appreciate the books. I should a A Separate Peace to my list.

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  21. This is a great idea. There were so many HS books I enjoyed. A Separate Peace and Les Miserable were favorites.

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    1. Diane - I'm impressed you read Les Mis in high school. Think I read it in my late 20s, but it was a slog in parts... could have been the translation I chose. I meed to add A Separate Peace to my rereading list.

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  22. Good luck with the project - I think it is great and sounds like a lot of fun.

    Often times when books are assigned, we definitely read them differently to how we read for fun/recreational purposes. It'll be interesting to see if thoughts have changed and such.

    Happy reading!

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    1. Reading with Jade - That is so true! It's much easier to relax and enjoy a book if there isn't a test or essay when you're done.

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  23. What a great idea! I look forward to reading your thoughts on those rereads!

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    1. Thanks, Robin. It'll be interesting to see what several decades of 'life experiences' do to my understanding of these books

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  24. Nice post & idea! I have re-read The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, On the Road, and To Kill a Mockingbird (all big high school novels) not too long ago so I like returning to such reads to refresh my (aging) memory. I like your list. Grapes of Wrath would be a good one for me to re-read ... and perhaps a Mark Twain book?

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    1. Susan - On the Road was never assigned to me in high school and I've never gotten around to reading it... probably the time to appreciate it has passed. I wasn't a fan of Mark Twain way back when, but have never tried to read him again. Might have to add Tom Sawyer to my list.

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  25. Rod and I were just talking about rereading The Grapes of Wrath! We saw an exhibit in a Route 66 museum that prompted our discussion about the book and I read it in 10th grade (many, many years ago!) and loved it. I've recently read East of Eden and enjoyed it a lot, so I think I'll be happy revisiting The Grapes of Wrath.

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