The Most Memorable Books I Was Forced To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.

I’ve read a lot of books for school. I can’t remember them all, but there are some that stick. Here are the most memorable books I was forced to read, in the order that I read them.

1. The Girl Who Owned a City by O.T. Nelson is a book I was required to read in sixth grade. It was really interesting and to this day, I wish the author managed to publish the sequel before he died.

2. Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix is a book I chose to read. It was sort of required but I don’t remember if it was on the summer reading list or on a list my teacher gave me for a project.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a classic. It is probably my favorite book I was ever forced to read in on way or another. It’s also the only required reading book that I still personally own.

4. The Odyssey by Homer is the book I hated reading the most throughout all my years I’ve been to school (so far). I love Greek mythology so maybe this bad memory can be blamed more the fact that this is the first book I had to read in high school as a whole, and the first under the guidance of a subbistute teacher (who was teaching it for the first time and had no idea how to teach). ?

5. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe contains a story that I can’t quite remember. Still, it makes the list because of the good memories I have associated with it. Literally, anytime someone who took the course it was required for mentioned this book, someone else would shout “YAMS!”, which never failed to make me smile. I’m pretty sure all the teachers teaching the course were incredibally frustrated with us becasue the only thing we took away from reading Things Fall Apart was yams. YAMS! Ah, immature freshmen at work.

6. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is my favorite Shakespearean play to read. So far. And it probably also has to do with the fact that it is the only comedic Shakespearean plasy I’ve read. I love a nice happy ending.

7. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is another book I was forced to read, but enjoyed doing so. I still remember Gatsby’s story was is unusaul given that I’ve only read it once and that was two years ago.

8. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare isn’t a play I particually enjoyed reading. But it was nice to finally understand some references and know where they come from. (“Et tu, Brute?”) But that’s not why Julius Caesar is memorable to me. It’s the toga party my class had as we were forced to sort of act out sections of the play in small groups. Which basically meant everyone had an excuse to wear a sheet or curtain around and trip over it.

9. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi is the most intersting, twisted, weird, unique retelling of Snow White that I’ve ever read. It was so good that I actually read it page by page instead of just skimming it during my senior year.

10. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is actually one of the last books I was “required” to read for high school. My teacher had us split in to book clubs and each chose a book. As second semester seniors my group picked the obvious choice – the graphic novel with a movie. ? But I actually really enjoyed reading Persepolis and didn’t even need the movie or Sparknotes. Also, a fun fact is that at the same time I read Persepolis for school, Emma Watson’s book club was reading it too.

What are some of the most memorable books you’ve had to read for school?

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