Unusual Books I Read In High School

Happy Tuesday y’all! It’s time for another TTT from Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s theme is Bookish Memories. I wanted to share some of my childhood favorites, but I only had four books when I tried to make a list. Now books I read in high school that was easy to put together, which is impressive to me, as I graduated from high school almost 30 years ago. So I am sharing some of the more unusual books I read in high school.

For me, high school started in 8th grade (when I turned 13 years old). That isn’t the norm in most places, including my former high school, as we were the last 8th graders in the high school. I was also fortunate enough (??) to be in AP English throughout my high school career and AP US History and Government in 11th and 12th grade.

I decided to narrow down the list some, as I read around 40 books in my high school career, and will be sharing some of the more unusual books I read in high school. Many of these books would be books that most people haven’t read while in high school.

Book 1: Hiroshima by John Hersey

Synopsis from Goodreads:

On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was destroyed by the first atom bomb ever dropped on a city. This book, John Hersey’s journalistic masterpiece, tells what happened on that day. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful, and compassionate document has become a classic “that stirs the conscience of humanity” (The New York Times).

My Thoughts:

This book was one of the books assigned to me for my first ever summer reading. I was a meager 12 years old while reading this highly descriptive book. While it is a non-fiction piece and one that people should read. It’s not one I would recommend to someone so young. I had nightmares for weeks after finishing the book.

Book 2: Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

Synopsis from Goodreads

Written in 1955 by the then-junior senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage serves as a clarion call to every American.

In this book, Kennedy chose eight of his historical colleagues to profile for their acts of astounding integrity in the face of overwhelming opposition. These heroes, coming from different junctures in our nation’s history, include John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, and Robert A. Taft.

Now, a half-century later, the book remains a moving, powerful, and relevant testament to the indomitable national spirit and an unparalleled celebration of that most noble of human virtues. It resounds with timeless lessons on the most cherished of virtues and is a powerful reminder of the strength of the human spirit. Profiles in Courage is, as Robert Kennedy states in the foreword: “not just stories of the past but a book of hope and confidence for the future. What happens to the country, to the world, depends on what we do with what others have left us.”

Along with vintage photographs and an extensive author biography, this book features Kennedy’s correspondence about the writing project, contemporary reviews, a letter from Ernest Hemingway, and two rousing speeches from recipients of the Profile in Courage Award.  Introduction by John F. Kennedy’s daughter Caroline Kennedy, forward by John F. Kennedy’s brother Robert F. Kennedy.

My Thoughts:

While I don’t remember much about this book, I remember how it struck me as odd that this book was assigned to us to read over the same summer as Hiroshima.

Book 3: I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier

Synopsis from Goodreads

Adam Farmer is on a journey – he has to get to Rutterburg with a parcel for his father. But as he travels, he starts to remember the events leading up to this point, memories which are also being prised out in grueling psychiatric interviews. What is the secret of Adam Farmer? And what will happen when he finds out?

My Thoughts

This book left me feeling so lost and confused. It was the first thriller that I remember reading, and again it was in the summer leading up to 8th grade. I do remember that the title comes from the nursery rhyme Farmer in the Dell. I remember the difficulty we had in finding the book, as our little library didn’t have a copy, nor did the library where I spent that summer. We had to visit several bookstores before we could find it.

Book 4: Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe

Synopsis from Goodreads

Born and abandoned in Newgate Prison, Moll Flanders is forced to make her own way in life. She duly embarks on a career that includes husband-hunting, incest, bigamy, prostitution and pick-pocketing, until her crimes eventually catch up with her. One of the earliest and most vivid female narrators in the history of the English novel, Moll recounts her adventures with irresistible wit and candor—and enough guile that the reader is left uncertain whether she is ultimately a redeemed sinner or a successful opportunist. 

My Thoughts:

I think I read this book the summer before 11th grade, the year we focused on British literature. My biggest issue with the book was that it was written and published without chapters or page breaks. I know, a trivial problem! But when you are expected to write summaries that include characters and settings, the lack of chapters makes that problematic.

Book 5: Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Synopsis from Goodreads

The classic novel of despair, forbidden emotions, and sexual undercurrents set against the austere New England countryside

Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious, and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena’s vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.

My Thoughts

I believe I read this book the summer before 10th grade, the year we focused on US Literature. I don’t remember much about this book other than the fact I struggled to read it. My mom read it alongside me, and she struggled to answer my questions about the book. I do remember feeling uncomfortable reading about the relationship between Ethan and his wife’s cousin. It just felt wrong, especially to 14-year-old me.

Book 6: The Awakening by Kate Chopin

Synopsis from Goodreads

She grew daring and reckless. Overestimating her strength. She wanted to swim far out. Where no woman had swum before.

The Awakening was particularly controversial upon publication in 1899. Although the novel was never technically banned, it was censored. Chopin’s novel was considered immoral not only for its comparatively frank depictions of female sexual desire but also for its depiction of a protagonist who chafed against social norms and established gender roles. The novel opens with the Pontellier family vacationing on Grand Isle at a resort on the Gulf of Mexico managed by Madame Lebrun and her two sons. With the summer vacation over, the Pontelliers return to New Orleans. Edna gradually reassesses her priorities and takes a more active role in her own happiness.

My Thoughts

The biggest thing I found surprising about this book was the subject matter and the fact the main character so openly had an affair. The ending of the book was also a surprise, especially to a group of impressionable 10th graders.

Book 7: A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

Synopsis from Goodreads

“A Doll’s House” is the story of Nora Helmer, who has secretly borrowed a large sum of money to help her husband recover from a serious illness. Nora, who has borrowed this money by forging her father’s signature, soon discovers the value of the relationship she has with her husband, Torvald, when he becomes the director of the bank that employs the man, Nils Krogstad, who has lent the money to Nora. When it is discovered that Nils has committed a forgery himself, Nils threatens to reveal Nora’s secret to her husband if she does not convince Torvald to allow Nils to keep his position at the bank.

My Thoughts

We read this play in 12th grade, which was the year we studied University level literature. What that means is that we focused more on “mature” subjects. I don’t remember much about this play, other than it was one of the first translated works I had read.

Book 8: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

Synopsis from Goodreads

Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex has never been surpassed for the raw and terrible power with which its hero struggles to answer the eternal question, “Who am I?” The play, a story of a king who acting entirely in ignorance, kills his father, and marries his mother, unfolds with shattering power; we are helplessly carried along with Oedipus towards the final, horrific truth.

My Thoughts

This is another play that I read in 12th grade. None of us were prepared for this reading. While we had all heard of the Oedipus Complex, we never truly understood what that was until reading this. Again, it was one of the first translated works we had studied.

Book 9: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Synopsis from Goodreads

One of the most powerful, provocative, and enduring novels to expose social injustice ever published in the United States, Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle contains an introduction by Ronald Gottesman in Penguin Classics.

Upton Sinclair’s dramatic and deeply moving story exposed the brutal conditions in the Chicago stockyards at the turn of the nineteenth century and brought into sharp moral focus the appalling odds against which immigrants and other working people struggled for their share of the American Dream. Denounced by the conservative press as an un-American libel on the meatpacking industry and condemned for Sinclair’s unabashed promotion of Socialism and unionization as a solution to the exploitation of workers, the book was championed by more progressive thinkers, including then-President Theodore Roosevelt, and was a major catalyst to the passing of the Pure Food and Meat Inspection act, which has tremendous impact to this day.

My Thoughts

The Jungle was one of the few books I read in high school that was not for English class. Instead, it was for AP US History in 11th grade. I don’t remember much about the individual parts of the story. What I do remember was being disgusted at the way the meat-processing industry used to be run. I was so turned off of processed meat for a while that I had trouble eating things ranging from hot dogs to pepperoni, from lunch meat to sausage. After reading this book, I struggled to eat much meat that I couldn’t identify its contents for a few months.

Book 10: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Synopsis from Goodreads

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization, the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin, and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued.

My Thoughts

This is the only book on my list that many people have read, primarily for school. And in discussing it with them, we all had the same thought–what the heck! I read this in 9th grade and remember thinking that there is no way people could be such savages. Ah, such pure innocence I once had!

And there you have it, some of the more unusual books I read in high school. Have you read any of these? Did you have to read them for school, or did you pick them up on your own?

Looking for some more ideas to read? Check out my monthly reading wrap-ups. Also, check out some of my other Top Ten Tuesdays posts in my Bookish Lists section.