Rereading those Required School Reading Assignments

Be honest, how many of you really read all those assigned stories, books and plays during your school years?

We all had required reading in school. We either struggled through it or we skimmed enough to pass, some of us even enjoyed reading some of the books and plays. No matter what we thought of these works and assignments it was a part of school. I’m suggesting we go back and reread those books, give them another chance to share their value that we may have missed as kids.

Plays
Every year of high school it seemed we had to read a few plays and at least one of them was a Shakespeare play. While the majority of my classmates struggled with them, I enjoyed reading those and other plays. While reading a play is a chance to let your imagination run wild. You control everything in your head, from the different voices of each character tot he action playing out on stage.

I suggest reading plays by Shakespeare, Arthur Miller and Oscar Wilde just to name a few of my favorite playwrights.
Two of my favorite plays are:
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Lansbury – When reading this one, try to imagine Sidney Poitier speaking the lines of Walter Lee Younger, the role he portrayed on Broadway and in the 1961 film adaptation.
Fences by August Wilson - When reading this one, try to imagine James Earl Jones speaking the lines of Troy Maxson, the role he portrayed on Broadway and won a Tony Award for Best Leading Male.

Reading Challenges
There have been a number of reading challenges making their way around the Internet, all asking how many books you’ve read on the list and then you can compare your list to your friends’ and family’s lists. I’ve noticed that a number of the books were on required reading lists from different grade levels while in school and college. Now would be a great time to read them, even if it is just to one up your friend.

I suggest reading:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

My Picks
I love to read and I’ll be honest I was one of those students who did do all the required reading. I’ve reread a number of these books and I’m always suggesting to people to go back and reread these “classics”.

My personal suggestions are:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Beowulf by Unknown, translated by Seamus Heaney
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton