This is kind of tough. I feel like some of my should bes probably already are (though weren't during my school days) plus my own required reading list was quite odd. But here goes:
1. The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury - any Ray Bradbury, to be honest, but in this case I just remember all of the agonizing short stories that we had to tread through in school. Ray Bradbury's shorts are great reads and I think would have been more appropriate (age and entertainment wise) in a lot of ways and could set a great appreciation for shorts and sci fi in young readers!
2. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - some cool schools may have this on their lists, but mine certainly didn't.
3. Something by Wilkie Collins - we spend so much time on Dickens but I think his contemporaries, certainly the inventor of detective fiction, should get some attention as well.
4. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - I know this one is a little tough with all the world building but how better to put the "classics" in a new light for readers?!
5. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris - I adore this story. Harris's writing is exquisite and the dual narrative (flashback) works brilliantly. The incorporation of history makes the book one of my all-time favorites. (Part of this one concerns France during WWII.)
Pairings:
6. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman - I thought Beauman did a brilliant job continuing the story and adding more depth to Rebecca as a character (even though she's not present in either book)
7. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Lauren DeStefano's Chemical Garden trilogy (for fairly obvious reasons)
8. Othello and Nicole Galland's I, Iago (and no, Othello was never on my school reading list)
9. Jane Eyre and Susan Hill's The Woman in Black (simply because I love the idea of teaching more Victorian gothic in school. My own Jane pairing was Wide Sargasso Sea, which I have no fondness for)
10. Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and The Hunger Games
1 comment:
I'm intrigued by Rebecca's Tale as I loved Rebecca. I must check that out.
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