Buzzfeed as a collection of book covers with the title "23 Books You Didn’t Read In High School But Actually Should". I’m not really sure why they thought it was a high school requirement, especially given the state of current public high schools in the United States, but.
At any rate, here’s the list, and I’ve emboldened the ones I’ve read (although most in college or after):
- The Great Gatsby
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Night
- Lord of the Flies
- Heart of Darkness
- The Catcher in the Rye
- Of Mice and Men
- Nineteen Eighty-Four
- Slaughterhouse Five
- Frankenstein
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin
- Animal Farm
- Waiting for Godot
- Mrs. Dalloway
- Brave New World
- As I Lay Dying
- Catch-22
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- The Bell Jar
- Death of a Salesman
- Beowulf
- Metamorphosis
- Their Eyes Were Watching God
Not bad.
Of course, the books selected reflect the preferences and probably the books I’ve read sensibility of the person who compiles the list.
So, ultimately, it measures how many books I’ve read that that fellow has read and thinks are important.
