Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge discussion

In the discussion for the prompt "Book you should have read in school, but didn't", Gabriella posted the following comment that I found so interesting:

"Since I am from Italy I know I haven't read what an average American student has to read in school. So what would you say is a book I must absolutely read? Also, if any of you are at a loss why don't you look at what people in other countries have to read in school? I am willing to give suggestions on what we have to read in Italy and I know there are a few other members from other countries ...."

What would you recommend as essential reading? I love this question since it seems all the books I absolutely love aren't "school books". What comes to me off the top of my head is to Kill a Mockingbird since it is wonderfully written, has a fantastic plot, and says a lot about a particular period in America. What do you think is canonical -- in a (/n American English) high school way? And what is considered required reading in countries other than America?

In my (British) high school the books/plays we had to read were:
- To Kill a Mockingbird or Of Mice and Men
- The Merchant of Venice or A View from a Bridge

I know that there's recently been a revamp of reading lists to focus on British authors such as Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, Mary Shelley and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as well as Shakespeare plays

Heidi, in British high school you guys didn't read Shakespeare? Or did you mean in the states? In my school, there was a lot of emphasis on Shakespeare and Dickens, at least in the advanced English literature track.

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare(liked it)
Lord of the flies by William Golding ( i actually did not read this)
The Pledge by Friedrich Dürrenmat
the physicsby Friedrich Dürrenmat ( it was surprisingly good)
the visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
The Odyssey by Homer (i really can`t remember if i liked it)
Next we are going to read Nathan the wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.

This are the books i can remember and that are somehow known.


In middle school we read horrible books. the plot usually goes something like this: A Teenager smokes one cigarette and then his life falls apart. he starts taking drugs and ends up dead. or A Teenager drinks alcohol. He suddenly has an drinking problem. suddenly he is homeless and has no future. all these kind of addiction books. That are so over the top. No one gets addicted to alcohol because of one sip of a beer.

My little sister had to read the first Percy Jackson book in fifth grade. It`s now one of her favourite series. She also had to read the thief lord by Cornelia Funke. A friend of mine had to read the boy in the striped Pajama by John Boyne.

Leah wrote: "Heidi, in British high school you guys didn't read Shakespeare? Or did you mean in the states? In my school, there was a lot of emphasis on Shakespeare and Dickens, at least in the advanced Engli..."

I did read a Shakespeare play (The Merchant of Venice) but mine was the only class in my school year that did (I was in the 'top set' class which was given different books to the rest of the classes). That was it for Shakespeare, and we didn't read any Dickens at all.

(I went to a British High School, although I only studied English literature until I was 16)

We actually only had 3 compulsory reads: one of the novels I mentioned, one play I mentioned and then a novel of our choice written within a certain time period (I chose 1984)

I'm italian and I attented Classical Lyceum.
The books that my class had to read were:
- In "quarta ginnasio" (the first year): "The Baron in the Trees", by Italo Calvino; "The House of the Spirits", by Isabel Allende; "La chimera", by Vassalli.
- In "quinta ginnasio" (the second year): "The Nonexistent Knight", by Italo Calvino; "Romeo and Juliet", by Shakespeare; "Me and you", by Niccolò Ammaniti; "The Setting-free of Words", by Gianrico Carofiglio.
- In "prima liceo" (the third year): "Gorgia", by Platone.
- In "seconda liceo" (the fourth year): "Plauto", by Aristofane; "Medea", by Euripide; "Discourse on the Method", by René Descartes.
- In "terza liceo" (the last year): "The Communist Manifesto", by Marx and Engels; "On Liberty", by Mill; "I Malavoglia" (The House by the Medlar Tree), by Verga; "Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis", by Foscolo; "La Coscienza di Zeno", by Svevo.

This are the books that you have to read by yourself and to "schedare" (analyze, comment...). There are professors that give many books to read, other that are not affected.
Anyway, during the high school, in Italy, every class has to read, in class, some chapters of some books (classics):
- the first year: Iliade, by Omero; Odissea, by Omero.
- the second year: The Betrothed, by Manzoni; Eneide, by Virgilio.
- the third year: Inferno, by Dante Alighieri.
- the fourth year: Purgatorio, by Dante Alighieri.
- the fifth year: Paradiso, by Dante Alighieri.
We have to study them.

Would people consider Of Mice and Men a plausible choice for this? I didn't have to read it in school but I really want to read it this year and I'm trying to find a prompt it could fit. Like someone else who was also in the same situation, I went to school up till university in Italy and since I don't really remember any of the books I was assigned I was thinking of going for something off the U.S. curriculum. So, Americans, is this a book commonly read in school?

Cate wrote: "Would people consider Of Mice and Men a plausible choice for this? I didn't have to read it in school but I really want to read it this year and I'm trying to find a prompt it could fit. Like someo..."

It was one of the books assigned to some classes in my school :)

Thank you girls, exactly what I was hoping to hear! :)

Cate wrote: "Would people consider Of Mice and Men a plausible choice for this? I didn't have to read it in school but I really want to read it this year and I'm trying to find a prompt it could fit. Like someo..."

I remember reading Of Mice and Men in my Senior English class. Other required reading: The Great Gatsby, The Illiad, Kafka's Metamorphosis and Shakespeare's Othello.

Here are a few links on this topic, too:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...

http://entertainment.time.com/2010/07...

Alot of people talk about "The Scarlet Letter" as one they read in high school. I was never told to read it when I was in school, but I may use it as my prompt since it one that I probably should have read regardless.

Changed my mind. Going to read "All's Quiet on the Western Front". Saw it on the link Ann shared (thanks by the way), plus I just got it at a flea market 2 weeks ago.

Here is a helpful list of required reading it has almost all of the books we were required to read & then some!

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4...