Top Ten Books I Was Forced To Read

 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday prompt at The Broke and the Bookish is the top books you were "forced" to read -- at school, by a friend, etc. All the books I've listed are ones I read for class in high school and college -- and I still have many of them on my bookshelves today.

"Maus"
This amazing graphic novel is a powerful Holocaust tale, based on the life of the author's father. It made those horrible events hit home for me in a way that no other text ever has.
 

"Reading Lolita in Tehran"

I learned far more about the history of Iran from this book than any class I took in college.

"1984"

This is quintessential required reading. I read it in both high school and college and it has stuck with me more than any other book I read at school.

"The Great Gatsby"

I first traveled to West Egg and met Nick, Daisy and Gatsby in high school.

"The Things They Carried"

This Vietnam War book really illustrated the miseries of war and has stuck with me long after anything I learned in the college class in which I read it. Note: Fans of this book should check out "A Pillow for My Helmet" by Robert Lickie.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn"

I just loved this book. It was my favorite required reading in high school.

"The Dispossessed"

I read this science fiction novel as part of a utopias and dystopias literature class I took in college.

 "Slaughterhouse Five"
This is a hard-hitting WWII novel written from a soldier's perspective.

 

"Jane Eyre"

Though I love all the movies, I haven't actually read many of the classics. This was assigned reading in high school and I loved it -- and I always mean to read more books of the same kind. I actually own "Sense and Sensibility" and "Wuthering Heights." Someday I'll get around to them!

"The Hound of the Baskervilles"

I got my introduction to Sherlock Holmes -- and the infamous English moors -- in a wonderful high school elective class in which we read mystery novels all semester.