the suspects

Before I set off reading these books, it would probably be good to make a list. Not so that I can see it and say, "Wow! How on earth did I graduate from high school?!" or "Ha! I graduated without reading all of those books!" Actually, yes, that's exactly the effect I'm going for. That and something like, "Look at all the choices!" Because, as mentioned, I don't particularly like being told "Read this book and read it now!"

So prepare to be amazed. No really.

Freshman Year

• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Sophomore Year

• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Okay, so those first two years, I did pretty well. Things start to go downhill from there though. Which is ironic considering these last two years I was allowed to choose my English classes, effectively choosing what books I was going to read "read" each semester.

Junior Year

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (note: I actually read this book "for kicks" my sophomore year of college and loved it. My cat's even named after it.)
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (another note: I did read Alice's Adventures, but didn't touch Through the Looking Glass.)
• The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde
• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Told you.

Senior Year

• The Odyssey by Homer (note excuse: in my defense, I did read a watered down version of this in both eighth and ninth grades. I was kind of over it.)
• The Inferno by Dante
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• Growing Up by Russell Baker
• When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip

And I'm fairly certain something here is missing, because they apparently now read Beowulf in AP English, which we most definitely did not. What we did read escapes me. Obviously it wasn't that great if they felt the need to replace it.

So this is what I'm up against. Eighteen (possibly nineteen, if I can find the place in my brain the name of that last book is stored) books causing misery to students everywhere. Let's get started...tomorrow!