What did you read for Literature Moderns Y4 1600-1850?

[Kendall]

It is time again for my yearly question about literature. We are ready for moderns. 1850 and on. I’ve got a bunch of lists in front of me (WTM, greatbooks.com, scholars online, schola tutorials), but I’d like to know what you read and whether or not you liked the books or felt they were ones you would do again if you had it to do over. I have read so little of these. Maybe I’m just getting weary of working hard this year, but I think I want to include some lighter reading and thought about Three Men and a Boat and To Say Nothing of the Dog. So I’d like your comments on a more typical Great Books list titles as well as anything else you had your students read during this time period.

Thanks! If anyone wants to see our 1600-1850 list and comments I’d be glad to share it.

Kendall

[asta]

I'm curious about 20th c. novels, so I guess I'd like to see what comes up for 1850+ as well.

And I'd love to see your other list.


asta

[Kareni]

It's not quite the same time period that you're looking at, but here are some books my daughter read as a 9th grader studying the period 1700 to 2000.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
I Will Repay by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Eldorado by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
Sir Percy Hits Back by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
[Can you tell my daughter loved the Scarlet Pimpernel??]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (translated by Norman Denny)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Botchan by Soseki Natsume (translated by Umeji Sasaki)

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw

Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman

Diary of Anne Frank

The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi

The Mouse that Roared by Leonard Wibberley

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Fax from Sarajevo by Joe Kubert

Regards,
Kareni

[Liza Q]

Here are some that I remember - but we did them over two years. 1600-1850, then 1850 to the present.

Vanity Fair
Silas Marner
Jane Eyre
A few by Austen
Frankenstein
Moby Dick
Huckleberry Finn
The Scarlet Letter
Autobiography of B. Franklin
Narrative F. Douglass

Up From Slavery
Daisy Miller
Washington Square
A Room with a View
The Importance of Being Earnest
Communist Manifesto
My Antonia
The Great Gatsby
The Glass Menagerie
Our Town
Murder in the Cathedral
A Raisin in the Sun
Fahrenheit 451
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Autobiography of Malcolm X

Lots of poems and short stories, some essays

For lighter books, we did do To say Nothing of the Dog and Three Men in a boat, some Jeeves and Wooster, Doomsday Book, the first Mitford book (can't remember the title!)...

I know that we read more but these are the ones that stick out. HTH!

ETA: I remembered a few more -

The Chosen
Inherit The Wind
The Pearl
Diary of Anne Frank
Things Fall Apart

[Liza Q]

I’d like to know what you read and whether or not you liked the books or felt they were ones you would do again if you had it to do over.

OK - I really did not read this carefully!

Top books for 1850-200 were:

A Room with a View
The Importance of Being Earnest
Communist Manifesto
My Antonia
The Great Gatsby
The Glass Menagerie
A Raisin in the Sun
Fahrenheit 451
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Autobiography of Malcolm X
The Chosen
Things Fall Apart

These were all particularly good and led to much discussion. Some of the others were ok but did not hit the spot, if that makes sense! I am assigning all of these to my almost-16yo in the next 2 years.

Also, some books led to others. My daughter has read most of Fitzgerald's books since then, as well as a few more by Forster. And one short story by Tolstoy led to her reading more, which led to Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina and The Brothers K - all from a little introduction to Russian lit.

[Kareni]

As to which books my teen really enjoyed, I've added her comments:

The Scarlet Pimpernel books by Baroness Emmuska Orczy (she read and enjoyed the sequels as well)

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley -- "Really good," she says. "Read Dracula, too, because it contains a lot of detail about Stoker's time."

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (translated by Norman Denny) -- "Make sure you get this translation. The other was like trudging through glue."

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll -- "Really fun overall."

Botchan by Soseki Natsume (translated by Umeji Sasaki) -- "This was good."

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque -- "Really sad. The movie was good, too."

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw -- "Pygmalion was good; I'm glad I read it as the story is tied in to Ovid and other stories."

Maus I and Maus II by Art Spiegelman -- "Very approachable without being totally kitsch."

Diary of Anne Frank -- "Really good."

The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi -- "Amazing! Read the sequels too."

The Mouse that Roared by Leonard Wibberley -- "Very funny. Different from the movie which you should also watch."

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi -- "Just okay."

Regards,
Kareni

[Kendall]

Thank you so much everyone. I'm starting to read through the lists. I loved the student comments. I'm posting separately our Year 3 with student comments.