Hi WriteByNighters,
In early June in Portugal I ran out of books to read and had to choose from a limited selection of English titles at a chain of Lisbon's Livraria Bertrand. (Bertrand's first location, by the way, is considered the oldest operating bookstore in the world. And I didn't even go to it!)
I settled on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, the only book I remember reading in my senior year English class, and one I haven't read since.
It held up, more or less. It's flawed, but in some spots it's also achingly beautiful. Might not have been my wisest choice of reading material, knowing that we would soon be headed for a four-day stint at a sunny beach.
But it got me thinking: Of all the wonderful and inspiring books out there, what made Mrs. Johnson choose that one?
And if I were a high school English teacher, what books would I assign to my senior class?
Not only what books you would assign, but what you would hope would be your students' takeaway from each one?
I also want to know what you read in high school English, and if any of those books has had a significant impact on your life. And whether you've reread any of them as an adult, and if so, how did your opinions change?
