Another Wednesday is upon us and this weeks topic is a very interesting one: favourite required reading. This one is a bit interesting for me because I didn't have a lot of required reading in my school days, or at least any that I really enjoyed. Now as a university student I am taking sciences, so I don't have a lot of required reading that isn't from a boring textbook. So I had to scrounge for these 5 book but I think they are awesome. They are in order of when I read them in school so from middle school until university.
#1: Once Upon a Marigold by Jean Farris
I read this book in Grade 6 and I absolutely loved it. It's a story about a boy who falls in love with the Princess Marigold while watching her from afar. It's an adorable middle grade novel that is perfect for young readers. It's now the first book in a trilogy but it works really well as a stand alone as well.
#2: The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
I loved this book when we read it in Grade 8. It's a story that follows a gang of boys who live in a community divided by class. You're either a greaser or a soc. Which means you are either have money or are an outsider. This quickly became one of my favourites after reading it for school. We had to make a video reenacting certain scenes which was really fun to do. I really need to re-read this now to remember what actually happens because I mostly forget.
#3: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I read this book in French for Grade 10 French. I later then read the English version and I feel in love with this book. It is so whimsical and an awesome commentary on our world. The story starts off with a pilot who crashes his plane in the desert and meets this little boy who travels the universe where he meets a number of interesting characters. I love The Little Prince and I suggest that everyone reads it!
#4: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
I had never read anything like this until I read this book for Grade 11 Advanced English. I really was blown away by the story and so was the rest of my class. We read it in portions then discussed it as a class so that really added to the reading experience. In Grade 12, we read A Thousand Pleasant Suns by the same author. I also really enjoyed that novel but I liked the The Kite Runner a bit better. Lots of good memories surrounding this book, even if it isn't a particularly happy book.
#5: A Language Older Than Words - Derrick Jensen
This is one of the most "intellectual" books I have ever read. I read this one in university for my Ecopsychology class. Essentially, that class was about how humans view and treat the environment. This books is a memoir by Derrick Jensen which speaks a lot about the environment and how humans are affecting it. It's not a book for everyone so most people have a kind of love-hate relationship with it. I think I really enjoyed it because this was from one of my favourite classes that I took at university.
As you can see, most of my reading that I did for school wasn't traditional. I didn't read many classics but I enjoyed a lot of the reading I did for school. I have a bigger list of required reading that I didn't enjoy so if that ever comes up I have many choices. I do wish that I had read more classics in school because I am not as inclined to pick them up on my own. Thanks for checking out my T5W, see you next week :)
