STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

halleybird · Hermes

Literary Nerds

janey831 · Kate Spade

I always hated the Scarlet Letter, although the plot seems exciting enough, I found Hwathorne's writing to be dry and uninteresting. I love love Arthur Miller, i recommend The Crucible also. You HAVE to teach Their Eyes Were Watching God, excellent pick, although it is more or less a 'chick' book. I was also never a huge fan of Hemingway, but I did enjoy a Farewell to Arms. The Great GAtsby is also another great one, i love the 20s and the tragicness of Daisy. I do hope you will get to teach Catcher in the Rye, it is a classic, and kids these days are exposed to far worse than that. I'll get back to you on maybe some other books for consideration...I have to think about it for a minute. Good picks though!!

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

I vote for:

The Grapes of Wrath - I vividly remember this book from HS and I enjoy Steinbeck (East of Eden is one of my all time favorites).

The Great Gatsby - I think your kids will find this very entertaining.

The Scarlet Letter - good book for teenagers.....isolation....alienation...blah...blah...blah

A 4th not on your list - The Good Earth - just because I love this book and I think it was my favorite HS read.

luckylily · Gucci

I put in my vote for anything by Steinbeck and The Great Gatsby. The Catcher in the Rye is my favorite, so I'd pick that one too.

Actually I like almost all of your picks. However, IMHO, Portrait of a Lady is possibly be the most boring book every written. I know many love it, but I have to insert my opinion because I feel pretty strongly about this one.

janey831 · Kate Spade

i also vote for of mice and men, i loved the book and its nice and short. always a plus when i was in high school. hehe.

edit* question: how current can the books be? i loved it when my American Lit teacher in H.S. had one book where we got to pick it from a modern day author (of our choice, she did have to approve it though--i chose snow falling on cedars by david guterson, way b4 the movie ever came out, the book is sooooooo much better), we also read the joy luck club.

-- Edited by janey831 at 19:42, 2005-07-21

HeatherLynn · Gucci

I vote for GG (its my fav book so I guess I am bias!!). I also preferred Of Mice and Men. What about an Bronte novel? I loved Weathering Heights. Most guys in my class seemed to like it as well.

janey831 · Kate Spade

hehe HeatherLynn, Bronte is and English writer

Kel · Coach

I LOVE the grapes of wrath and the great gatsby. When i took english we had to do these huge projects on them which made me have a greater apperication for the books. I hated the scarlet letter, it was such a bore to me. One that i read that i wasen't fond of but it taught a lot was the red badge of courage. It is good in a sense for descriptive writing.

deadlyjane · BCBG

Steinbeck -- Of Mice & Men

Salinger -- The Catcher In the Rye

and a book called the Giver. I can't remember who it is by but when I was 13 or 14 that book really moved me. Old Man in the sea is more high school then jounior high. at least we read it in the 10th grade.

Kel · Coach

deadlyjane wrote:

the Giver. I can't remember who it is by but when I was 13 or 14 that book really moved me.

Was it Lois Lowry?

sage · Dooney & Bourke

They have got to read The Grapes of Wrath!! Great book. My friends and I still say we are t'ard, so t'ard. I would also choose Hemingway but my fave is A Moveable Feast even though it is not the greatest one for class discussion. So, The Old Man and the Sea it is!! And Gatsby always works out well.

Yay for literary nerds!!

-- Edited by sage at 20:52, 2005-07-21

sfclinevandy · Coach

11th Grade was my favorite year of English!

From your list, my 3 favorite are Great Gatsby, Catcher in the Rye, and Of Mice and Men.

Other ideas...

The Crucible by Arthur Miller (if you want to do a play)

The Glass Megangerie by Tennessee Williams (I personally prefer Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but probably not the most appropriate for high school kids)

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (we read this in 8th grade so your kids might have too)

jacL · Coach

It is hard to tell from your original post, but are these students in junior high OR juniors in high school? A lot of these books seem to be high-school level, so I will assume you meant they are juniors in HS.

In school I read "Catcher," and it is still one of my favorites. I think "Grapes of Wrath" is also a good choice, or "Mice and Men" if you are looking for a shorter book. "Huck Finn" and "Scarlet Letter" would also be good choices.

I must say, I absolutely hated hated hated "Old Man and the Sea." So I would not recommend that, but I am obviously biased.

What about having the students choose one of their own classics to read? My sophomore English teacher did that and I read "Crime and Punishment," which is also one of my favorites. She then gave us general questions about the books we read. It made it a lot harder for her to grade them, but it was one of the best assignments I ever had. I know I never would have read it if I didn't have to but I am so glad I did. Hmm, it might be harder to do that with American Lit only...but just an idea.

kahluamilk · Dooney & Bourke

I loved Scarlett letter and Catcher in the Rye..

member · Hermes

Definitely have them read the Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye - those are my two all time favorite books and I loved reading them in high school.

I also agree w/sfclinevandy and think the Crucible would be a good choice.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

hmm I hated American Lit. I found it to be awful. I just didn't like Steinbeck or Fitzgerald.

I did and still do love Hemingway. I thought The Sun Also Rises was a very interesting novel and the best of the ones I read. I got halfway through The Old Man and the Sea before I threw it back on the shelf. I hated it.

The Great Gatsby will be ok if you plan on going through all the symbolism with them. I never understood that book and never got all the symbolism so that may be a difficult book for some if you don't go through stuff with them.

I loved The Catcher in the Rye but I think it is a banned book in most places and I don't know if they would be willing to buy a lot of copies especially if you aren't teaching english next year.

I remember reading Their Eyes Were Watching God but I can't tell you what it was about.

Isn't The Glass Megangerie a play? If you you should include one because most people enjoy reading plays and I remember Junior year was the one year in high school we didn't read any.

jaymiek · Coach

oohhh...junior year English was my favorite in HS! (even though we had to spend the summer reading Moby Dick) talk about torture...I was in Honors English so that's why. hehe, us literary nerds. I loved The Great Gatsby. I got really into it because of all the symbolism. I remember getting extra credit because I found a reference to Gatsby's shirts in the J.Crew catalog. how nerdy is that!?!

I really enjoyed Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath too. I remember reading Of Mice and Men sophomore year so I don't know if that's considered jr. level? Well, regardless, both were great reads.

You should read some sort of play too. I remember my class having lots of fun acting out scenes from The Crucible and Death of Salesman- especially The Crucible.

Hemingway would be cool too. I liked The Sun Also Rises. His style takes getting used to but I love it. We had some sort of contest where we had to write a one page story where we imitated his style.

nunzi182 · Kate Spade

I would definitely add The Crucible to your list...that was one of my favorites and it's a story that kids will be interested in while still having a fun topic.

Also, Of Mice & Men was great.

I read Old Man & The Sea in 8th grade and I love it.

The Sun Also Rises was great also.

Those my opinions. HTH!

BTW, why is Cather In The Rye banned? I never read it.

-- Edited by nunzi182 at 09:11, 2005-07-22

ILoveChoo · Hermes

sun also rises, gatsby, and scarlet letter definately. These are the few books that I actually got all the way through in hish school and LOVED. Sun Also Rises is one of my favorite books.

Also, a little obscure, but the Awakening had a lot of impact of most of my class- we read it in either 11th or 12th grade.

jen · Kate Spade

'Death of a salesmen'

'Catcher in the Rye'

Other ideas: 'An Enemy of the People' or 'A Doll House'

Oh, I also just took an african american lit class and I think some of those writings are SO important to american literature beacause those are the people who literally built America.These authors are good: Hurston, Douglas, Du Bois, Locke, Chestnutt.

-- Edited by jen at 09:46, 2005-07-22