9 Books You Should Have Read In High School

In high school, no one taught me what literature is.

I don't think the school district was to blame. Although I grew up in Texas with all of its bizarre educational inclusions and exclusions (see: abstinence-only sex ed, hints at creationism, and a year-long course designed specially to ensure that we "Remember the Alamo!"), my required readings seemed pretty much par for the course.

There were many well-crafted dystopian universes urging us that books should not be burned, language should not be condescended, and soma should be avoided. This makes a lot of sense. Look at the most popular Young Adult novels today -- teenagers love reading about the world ending, because to them, on any given day, it is.

There was also Shakespeare and his innuendo, Mark Twain and his sharp satirical tongue, Dickens and his heartfelt chronicling of social injustice. These are important books with digestible themes, and should be taught. But I packed my bags for college having read every single one of Shakespeare's plays and Twain's novels, but not knowing who Jorge Luis Borges or Doris Lessing were. And I considered myself an avid reader! This is a huge problem.

If my high school English education is guilty of one depravity, it is this: It taught me that history's greatest minds were usually white men who wrote almost exclusively about the American, or at least Western, experience. It taught me that literature means discussing this canon and its recurring themes with words like "allophone" and "anastrophe" and "alliteration". When it came to discussing books, words like "exploration" were just footnotes.

I've discussed this with friends, and their response is always the same: Kids don't like to read, so piling on more thematically foreign, and therefore challenging, work would be an even bigger deterrent.

This seems backwards to me. Kids opposed to more traditional learning are often looking for an escape -- video games, comic books, hard drugs. So why not literature? Exploring new cultures and perspectives doesn't have to be more difficult than treading known territory. Isn't hopping into the minds and lives of others supposed to be what makes literature not only important, but fun?

In a freshman survey course required for all students at the state college I attended, we read Brecht, Voltaire and Dostoyevsky, but the class responded most warmly to Nadine Gordimer and Ha Jin, writers who never so much as glossed over topics like The Civil War and the American Dream. I think it's because we felt transported -- a feeling we'd never associated with learning and knowledge.

Here are 9 books they SHOULD teach in American high schools, for a refreshing break from the same-old, same-old. What books do YOU think should be make high schools' required reading lists? Let me know in the comments!

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• "After Dark" by Haruki Murakami

  An accesible introduction to the renowned Japanese writer that covers music, Tokyo culture and playful, post-modern language.

• "Love in a Fallen City" by Eileen Chang

  This novella by one of China's most revered writers characterizes love, family and everyday life in 1940s Shanghai in a way that's both light and historically illuminating.

• "July's People" by Nadine Gordimer

  Many books taught in American literature classes focus on our country's social injustices, and offer little outside perspective, so Gordimer's work predicting the end of apartheid would accompany Civil War readings very well.

• "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel García Márquez

  That García Márquez is not taught in most schools is disappointing. His use of magical realism would appeal to young readers, and help reel them into his vivid descriptions of familial relations and South American history.

• "Q&A" by Vikas Swarup

  The source material for Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionare" is as entertaining as the movie. It informs readers about India's lower castes - their religion, their struggles, and their fixation with stardom.

• "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

  Lahiri won the Pulitzer for her collection, "Interpreter of Maladies," but "The Namesake" may be a worthier book for young readers. It chronicles the life of a boy who has mistakenly been given his nickname as his legal name, and describes how this event has impacted his life. The book illustrates the impact of assimilation and cultural differences for immigrants in America.

• "Lives of Girls and Women" by Alice Munro

  Munro is a much-celebrated Canadian author who is largely ignored in high school and college literature courses. Her tales of small-town life may not make sweeping political statements, but they offer deft insights into romance, growing up and the female psyche.

• "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid

  This book could be enjoyed in lieu of "Heart of Darkness," Conrad's dogmatic critique of colonialism, which most high schoolers dislike if they bother to read it at all. Kincaid's book is about the tourism industry and colonial history of Antigua, where she grew up. It modernizes an important theme and does so using beautiful language.

• "My Name is Red" by Orhan Pamuk

  Pamuk constantly sheds light on conflicts and differences between Eastern and Western cultures, which converge in his hometown of Istanbul. The particular book covers the topic in a readable manner: It incorporates romance and philosophical mysteries.

 

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