Since today is also Tuesday, that mean's it's Top Ten Tuesday. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic, in honor of that blog also celebrating their one year anniversary this week is:
- July 19: Top Ten Books You Believe Should Be Required Reading For Teens (contemporary, YA, adult fic, whatever you fancy) -
Let me get something said before going into my list: I hated the idea of required reading. I didn't have it in high school (we had lists that were "required" but nothing happened to you if you never ready any of them, but in middle school we had a number of required books (all fiction from what I remember) which I always hated, even though you didn't have to read all of the books on a list.
Nevertheless, these are books I'd strongly recommend teens and even adults, to read even if you haven't. By teens, I'm generally thinking older teens say in high school or early college students. Please note, this list is not in any particular order.
1. Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson: It's actually best not to say what this book is actually about, since that's a bit of a spoiler, but it's also an apparent favorite of book bloggers, so I'm guessing a number of you know of it or have already read it. The book revolves around a young teenager who for some reason has lost all of her friends and seems to be dealing with something that happened before the start of the novel, but the reader doesn't find this out until the end of the story. I reviewed this book earlier and the post can be found here.
2. Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream - Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, & Jeff Speck: Already ten years old, this is a fairly easy-reading book on how America became a nation of suburbs rather than large cites and the effects this has had on the country and society. Its an amazing book. An updated edition apparently was released earlier this year, but I have yet to read it.
3. Hiroshima – John Hersey: Hersey's was a journalist and fiction writer who traveled to Hiroshima after the bombing and write the story of six different survivors of the atomic bombing at the end of World War II. It's a powerful narrative.
4. The Art of War - Sun Tzu: Despite its origins as a manual on how to properly win battles and wars, Sun Tzu is well known read in many colleges and for professionals. Its worth reading as long as you take it figuratively, of course...
5. The Trial – Franz Kafka: What exactly The Trial is about is debatable, but it's a power book with themes injustice, corruption, and with possible antisemitism/anti-minority undertones.
6. Maus - Art Speigleman: While a quick read, this is a pretty acessable book on part of the Holocaust.
7. The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins Gillman: A short story dealing with depression and madness. Optional related reading: Herland by the same author.
8. The Conscience of a Conservative - Barry Goldwater: I'm adding this here only because, while it was written in the 1960s and I'm not a conservative, this book (mostly) seems in line with the conservative/"tea party" politics of the current political cycle. It could be considered one of the most important "political" books of the late 20th Century, at least in the US. Two somewhat-companion books were later written, both titled The Conscience of a Liberal. One was by the late Senator Paul Wellstone and the other by Noble Prize winning economist Paul Krugman. Either of those should also be on this list for balance.
9. Homer's Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tall, Or How I Learned About Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat - Gwen Cooper: Probably one of the lighter books on here, it's a story about a blind cat and her owner. Very good reading.
10. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling: Ok, this is a softball. Not only are they great stories, but they also deal with issues such as racism, friendship, and need I go on.
What would be on your list? Did I leave anything off mine I should have included?
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3 comments:
The Yellow Wallpaper is one of my favorite stories.
+JMJ+
I like your list! =) I also think Suburban Nation and Hiroshima are more complementary than they seem.
But I have to comment on one thing you said about Harry Potter. Yes, it's true that the books take a strong stand against racism, but Harry and his friends are some of the most prejudiced characters I've ever encountered when it comes to students in other Houses of the same school. And Rowling seems to go along with it. Yes, in the end, we see that a Slytherin was the bravest one of all . . . but there's a kind of -ism in Harry's inability to make any lasting friends who aren't Gryffindors.
Laura B: It's a great story. I need to reread it sometime soon.
Enbrethiliel: I don't know if I see them as prejudiced. I don't find it that unlikely that Potters two best friends are from the same house since it seems they spend a lot of time with members of the same house. He also is friends with Ravenclaws (most so Luna) and Hufflepuffs get mentioned as well and Sludgehorn is a Slythern.
I just don't see it as prejudice.
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