I haven't "had" to read a fiction book in forever. I was going to say, since undergrad, but there was one semester of graduate school where I took a course in Romantic literature, and let me tell you...I loathe Romantic literature. The archetype of the idle rich, Byronic hero? Please, just stick a knife in my temple and let me end it all now.
Anyway, it's been forever since I was made to read a fiction book, from cover to cover, that I didn't want to read in the first place. Which in a way is a relief, as it means I won't have to read anything like Lord of the Flies again. But it also puts the burden of expanding my horizons upon me. Which really meant that, until this year, when I joined the Nest Book Club, I wasn't going to be reading anything new, without really being prodded.
It really makes me appreciate those high school teachers who assigned books I had no interest in reading...and made me read them. And makes me appreciate those books that I didn't want to read, and ended up loving.
The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan. This piecework of short stories about a quartet of Chinese immigrant ladies living in San Francisco and their struggles to raise their daughters with a proper mix of American lifestyle and Chinese heritage is really a gem. I had to read one of the short stories in it -- "Two Kinds", about the teenager Jing-Mei and her mother's futile attempts to turn her into a child prodigy -- and promptly took the whole book out of the library. I've read it several times in the last twelve years of my life.
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles. This book is difficult to get into -- the first chapter is all descriptive paragraphs, with no dialogue at all -- but once you get past that, this book is an absolute tear-jerker. It's a tale of two boys attending an expensive preparatory school in the eastern United States, at the dawn of World War II, and a jealous rivalry that sets in motion a tragedy that will change their lives forever. You can read it dozens of times, and still find something, some symbolism or hidden gem, that you'll swear you never noticed before. I remember recommending this book to my younger sister, after I finished it for school, and she ate it up and loved it even more than I did, if that's possible.
The Giver, by Lois Lowry. When I read the opening passage of The Hunger Games, I thought immediately of The Giver, the tale of a futuristic world where there are no colors, no memories, and nothing belongs to anyone else. Where a small 12-year-old boy named Jonas is handpicked to train under the Giver, a citizen of supreme importance who opens Jonas' eyes to what is right, what is wrong, and what he is truly missing. I've been a fan of Lois Lowry since childhood (if you like The Giver, please do yourself a favor and go out and find Number the Stars, which would be on this list if I hadn't picked it up for pleasure reading rather than a school assignment), and a hundred years from now, this will be the book she is remembered for.
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. (You knew this was coming, didn't you?) Though I know such people exist, in my twenty-seven years I have not yet found one person who read To Kill a Mockingbird and thought it was garbage. Harper Lee's "simple love story" as she referred to it, of the Depression-era South as seen through the eyes of an innocent tomboy, Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, is moving and completely unforgettable. Scout's father, widower and lawyer Atticus Finch, has voluntarily taken up the defense of a black man charged with raping a white woman, and this unheard-of breach in social order sets fire to the little impoverished town of Maycomb, Alabama. This book was not entirely forced upon me -- it was indeed summer reading but I was happy to read it and plowed through it in two days. This is one of my all-time favorite books, and Atticus Finch is my all-time favorite book hero.
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger. The end-all, be-all, of adolescent literature. There are some people who hate this book (to my surprise, but you know, there are people who love Twilight, much to my shock, and I certainly won't judge someone on their literary preferences). There are some people who are obsessed with this book (just check out the reviews on Goodreads, you'll see a few Mark David Chapmans in there, which is just scary as all hell). I'd like to think I fall in neither category, but in the much larger "middle" section -- the group of people who think this is just a damn good book and are really grateful that their schools ignored the Banned Books List and put this on their syllabus. Love him or hate him, Holden Caulfield invented jaded adolescence, and he's never had an equal.
What are some of your favorite books that you were "forced" to read?
Anyway, it's been forever since I was made to read a fiction book, from cover to cover, that I didn't want to read in the first place. Which in a way is a relief, as it means I won't have to read anything like Lord of the Flies again. But it also puts the burden of expanding my horizons upon me. Which really meant that, until this year, when I joined the Nest Book Club, I wasn't going to be reading anything new, without really being prodded.
It really makes me appreciate those high school teachers who assigned books I had no interest in reading...and made me read them. And makes me appreciate those books that I didn't want to read, and ended up loving.
What are some of your favorite books that you were "forced" to read?
I need to read the full Joy Luck Club, I've read a lot of excerpts but not the whole thing, but I've always liked them. I didn't mind the Giver either, surprisingly, and I LOVE To Kill a Mockingbird. Not sure about the others though.
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