Top 5 Required Reading

It's that time of the week again! Top 5 Wednesdays is the brain-child of gingerreadslainey. If you'd like to learn a bit more about Top 5 Wednesday, you can check out her Goodreads group and take a look at everybody who participates!

This week's topic is "top 5 favorite required reading". Required reading is a book that you were assigned to read while you were in school. The images I selected below are the actual editions of the books I read and not the current editions. These are the covers that I associate with these books.

5. Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

This was required reading in 6th grade. I remember this being the very first time we had a book to read together. I'll be honest, I don't remember much of this book. What I do remember is how much I enjoyed it at the time. I think my copy is still at my parents house now that I think about it...

4. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This was required reading for my 9th grade English class. I remember it being the first time I was ever exposed to a banned book and also the first time that I really understood what censorship was. To this day I always remember the temperature at which paper will catch fire.

3. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

This was required reading in my second college writing class. This book is the memoirs of journalist Jeannette Walls that reads more like a novel than a memoir. Her childhood experiences both fascinated and appalled me.

2. Macbeth by Williams Shakespeare

Since I went to a different high school for my senior year, this was actually required reading for me in both 10th grade and 12th grade. I think the reason I love this play so much is not because of the content, but because of the superstition behind performing it. They say anybody who performs this will come into misfortune. I have yet to see this performed on stage.

1. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

This was required reading in my 12th grade English class. This is an eerily prophetic novel written in 1931 about a dystopian society. I've read this book three times (at three different stages of my life) and each time it becomes more enlightening.






What was your favorite required reading book?