The Book Thread Book • Page 129

what did you cover last year?

 

might be a bit more appropriate for seniors but my suggestion is The Things They Carried

 

My favorite classic German actual novel we had to read in high school was this one:

Effi Briest - Wikipedia

I have since become a big fan of Fontane’s work.

 

Well, last year I actually didn't get to teach any full works because of the pandemic. I had to rely on short stories, articles, excerpts, etc.

My first few years I taught Night, The Laramie Project, and Frederick Douglass for 10th grade.

I really, really want to teach The Nickel Boys if I can get my hands on a class set.

 

Nickel Boys is a good one. I read Gorilla, My Love by Toni Cade Bambara and immediately thought it would make a great HS english book

 

This one is pretty literary and has some explicit material/might be better for college age, but On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong begs to be taught in a classroom.

Some others that come to mind are:

• The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (Member of the Wedding is also good)
• The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
• Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
• The House on Mango Street - Sandra Cisneros
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

and if you're teaching poetry, I could give some more recs and maybe you can fit my book in there somewhere

 

Looking back, I would have loved to have read Zadie Smith in high school. Either White Teeth or On Beauty.

 

Their Eyes Were Watching God is an excellent choice always.

 

damn right it is. I was thinking of starting Dust Tracks on a Road at some point soon, since it's been on my shelves for awhile, but I'm weirdly anxious it won't live up to Their Eyes.

 

White Teeth is a great idea

 

I love the cover art for your book!

 

It's a little messier than On Beauty, but there's just something about it

 

thanks so much! the cover and illustrations are from my insanely talented friend. so proud i was able to feature his work alongside my poems :)

 

it really is great

 

So I had a look at those plays @OotyPa

Emilia Galotti - Wikipedia
Don Carlos (play) - Wikipedia
Danton's Death - Wikipedia

Thomas Mann is also always a good choice if you're looking for novels.

 

thank you friends. if you ever want a signed copy with a complementary bookmark, just hit up ya boi.

 

Only book / story we read in high school English class was Romeo and Juliet. Literally nothing else. No idea what we did the remainder of the semester lol.

In middle school social studies we read Jurassic Park for some reason. And not even all of it, the teacher had us bounce around to different chapters which made no sense. I don’t even remember an English class in middle school, which probably says a lot about my home town lol.

I legit never even heard of Brave New World, Catch-22, etc. until I started reading in my late 20’s. Seemingly the only things people read or even mentioned reading in high school were Harry Potter and LOTR and that was strictly because of the movies.

there’s a reason bookstores haven’t been in my hometown since like 1995

 

Bummer! In middle school, we read things like Lord of the Flies, The Giver, and The Outsiders. I think for a summer project I read The Chocolate War which I remember absolutely loving. All pretty dope books in retrospect.

 

I’m about halfway through The Stand and Harold is up there with King’s scariest characters. Might even be The One.

Can’t wait for that subplot to end so the nightmares can stop!

 

All you need is that big orange book of his short stories, he really wasn't much of a novelist

 

gotcha. thanks

 

Really enjoying Mrs. Dalloway. Man, Woolf just creates these long flowing sentences that build and peak at these epiphanic breathtaking highs and it’s so great being deep in another one of her books. I’m admittedly not as starstruck as when I read To the Lighthouse but it’s similar and still amazing.

 

she was brilliant

 

Finished the red rising trilogy. Didn't know there were two more. Will have to pick them up.

 

Recently finished Roethke’s Words for the Wind which I thoroughly enjoyed. His weird nature / existential purpose poems were my favorites of the collection.

Now reading William Maxwell’s They Came Like Swallows, about a family during the 1918 Spanish Flu. I’m really loving its use of POV and voice so far. We start following an 8-year-old, then move to the other family members as the story progresses. Honestly, this framing device is one of my fave in all books.

I’ve read Maxwell’s The Folded Leaf a year or two ago and adored it and this seems no different