<p>In my opinion, Asimov is a great idea man, but not a very good prose stylist. As much as I liked Heinlein, teaching his juveniles would probably cause issues as kids read his more adult stuff (some of which is not very good, either). Personally, I might suggest David Brin, but these are all matters of taste.</p>
<p>Ray Bradbury was on the list. I think Asimov and Heinlein should be too. But I’m not an English teacher.</p>
<p>Interesting bit on npr: [Girls</a> May Get More ‘Teaching Time’ From Parents Than Boys Do : Shots - Health News : NPR](<a href=“Young Girls May Get More 'Teaching Time' From Parents Than Boys Do : Shots - Health News : NPR”>Young Girls May Get More 'Teaching Time' From Parents Than Boys Do : Shots - Health News : NPR)</p>
<p>The comments below the story mention some more of our favorite HS works of fiction.</p>
<p>I loved Classics Comics books! I especially remember one for Conrad’s Lord Jim. So exotic! And Ivanhoe, of course, although that book is practically a comic book in its natural state (especially if you had an illustrated edition).</p>
<p>There’s a great contemporary take on that tradition: Martin Rowson’s graphic-novel edition of T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland. It manages to be both a serious (visual) commentary on the poem and a pretty funny joke.</p>
<p>I forgot about Ray Bradbury! One of my kids had to read Dandelion Wine.</p>
<p>So many books, not enough time!</p>
<p>Well if you want to read literary sci fi, I’d recommend Bradbury, LeGuin and Dick. If you want to do a more historical approach you have to read Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke. I’d love to put in a plug for my favorite Lois McMasters Bujold, who knows *exactly *what she’s doing, and talks about it a lot, but because she’s looking at romance novels (including Georgette Heyer, Jane Austen and the Brontes) and mysteries (including Josephine Tey and Dorothy Sayers) for inspiration probably doesn’t get appreciated as a “serious” author.</p>
<p>JHS: My H proposed to me by positioning himself where I would see him in an air port (he was picking me up from a trip to Paris he had to miss because of work commitments) reading Happy All the Time which ZI had lent him.</p>
<p>But then Laurie Corwin died tragically young at 44 with so many books still in her that her own life belied her cheerful message. This makes me want to say, “grim will out”, but I remember my dearest professor saying that no tragedy is truly possible for a Christian. But then, like Bertrand Russell, I am not a Christian.</p>
<p>Ugh. Jude the Obscure. Possibly the most gratuitously tragic book I’ve ever read. I do like some of Hardy, but that one is tough to take. Fortunately, you’re not likely to see it on a high school reading list either, although Tess isn’t much better and that is sometimes assigned.</p>
<p>One factor that I think impacts discussions like this is that books that we remember as being good either (1) aren’t as good as we remember them or (2) are archaic in some way that makes them hard for readers of today to enjoy. I remembered liking James Fenimore Cooper, but when I took a look at one of his books more recently, it was awfully tough going.</p>
<p>Also missed this thread! and will probably only comment peripherally as so much good stuff has already been said.</p>
<p>First have to say that yeah, that scene in Jude! 
My otherwise well-adjusted H adores Hardy and rereads Jude and Mayor of Casterbridge over and over. I seriously don’t get it.</p>
<p>I have now insisted he read Middlemarch, which I recommend to everyone. He’s working his way through, but dang, it might not be grim enough for him.</p>
<p>I was thinking as I looked here what is meant by “grim.” As opposed to “tragic.” I see grim as essentially nihilistic, positing a lack of meaning in life. But as soon as I say that, I have trouble coming up with something that fits that definition, although I know I’ve read books that struck me that way. I think actually I blank on them on purpose.</p>
<p>I’ll have to muse on that.</p>
<p>Ech, I hated “Middlemarch,” too! And it’s way longer than Jude! Personally, I like “Tristram Shandy” the best.</p>
<p>Re: J.F. Cooper. I, too, loved his books when I was a teenager. And then I read Mark Twain’s essay on Cooper, and I could never read one of his books with a straight face again. Twain’s dissection of Cooper’s style is probably one of the most effective bits of literary criticism ever. (OK, OK, it’s not Dante’s apotheosis of Virgil, or Aristotle’s Poetics, or St. John the Evangelist’s reinterpretation of the Old Testament. But it sure deflates Cooper.)</p>
<p>Oh my, JHS! I just googled Twain’s Essay on Cooper and it is laugh-out-loud good as only Twain can be. :)</p>
<p>We read Jude the Obscure in senior English and most of the class liked it.
But I can see the objection to a reading list dominated by dark works. I read Jude again last year and decided to read more Hardy, so I read five more. But they were a bit too depressing to read two in a row, so I alternated with Anthony Trollope novels. A perfect antidote. 
But I sure would not have liked Trollope when I was in high school. </p>
<p>My nomination for uplifting classic = Silas Marner
Non-dark classic = A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</p>
<p>I loved “Portrait,” which was probably why when I got to Finnegan I felt like I needed an ice pick and blow torch to get inside the damn thing. As far as genius’ go, I sometimes wished Becket and Joyce had been able to spend a little bit more time outside playing as children. I read the Brother’s Karamazov the same way my kids ate broccoli. I knew it would be good one day when I was older, but I didn’t love it at all at 17.</p>
<p>I just contacted my D’s principal with my concerns, and she seemed to share my feeling that the darker literature shouldn’t be the primary focus of the class. They were already planning changes to the 10th grade reading list for next year (too late for my D, but a good move IMO), and will review the reading lists for the Junior/Senior classes. I do think it’s important that we speak up. if the school is not made aware that there are concerns, they can’t address them.</p>
<p>I apologize if you’ve mentioned it already and I’ve missed it, but what were the works on your D’s curriculum, shoboemom?</p>
<p>I read Marjorie Morningstar when I was in college and saw it one way; read it 20 years later and saw it completely differently. Not surprising.</p>
<p>I think we all want our kids to learn to appreciate the “classics” (whatever that may mean to different people) both as a common cultural heritage and as a source of good written and spoken English. (I also happen to think reading is an enjoyable pastime.) </p>
<p>If all they do is read blogs and txt each other, they are missing out on a lot and not learning to communicate effectively.</p>
<p>Edit: I just remembered they revamped the Jr/Sr curriculum at our HS to include one semester of something like modern technological communication–not sure at all what it was called, but the idea was to help the kids with online comprehension and not take everything they find at face value. Which is probably a good idea, but more necessary for your Aunt Bess than for kids today, I hope. And the course was not for those in AP English.</p>
<p>
at 17 :eek:
Hurrah for poetgrl!</p>
<p>I didn’t love The Artist as a young man, but at least it was an easy read. I think The Dubliners was too. At least I think I remember writing about it on the English AP. I think the only reason I liked Jude the Obscure was there was a terrific Masterpiece Theater version of it. I tried to read The Mayor of Casterbridge, but ultimately just found it way too depressing. I think *Tess *and *Return of the Native *were the two we did in school. I think James Fenimore Cooper is unreadable, but he makes a great film. </p>
<p>Actually when the Common Core curriculum kicks in I do hope they’ll stick in some of Twain’s essays. His essay on The Awful German language is a kick too.</p>
<p>I read Crime and Punishment while traveling alone in Europe the summer before my senior year in college. I was doing research on low cost housing developments and was in a very depressing basement room of a really cheap B and B. Instant coffee! Stale rolls! Depressing books! Missed my boyfriend! I actually believe I liked it, though I wasn’t particularly tempted to read more any time soon.</p>