IB English, Reading Gems

As Carly began her Junior Year, and we had to purchase $90 worth of books during the first week, for one public, taxpayer-supported IB English high school class, I turned to Amazon. In one order, three shipments in a week's time, we had all nine books. (Sorry, no library books as they must be annotated). There are 300 kids taking this class, from one high school alone. With my Amazon purchase, I didn't have to run to the various Borders and Barnes & Nobles to compete for the purchase.

As it has been, um.....30 years, since my high school English classes, I thought I'd rise to the challenge and read each book before her assignment.

The List:

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" Zora Neale Hurston

"Fences" August Wilson

"Siddhartha" Hermann Hesse

"The Great Gatsby" F. Scott Fitzgerarld

"Chronicle of a Death Foretold" Gabriel Garcia Marquez

"The Sorrow of War" Bao Ninh

"The Metamorphosis" Franz Kafka

Chronicle of a Death Foretold was my first reading assignment. It's clever and it was fun reading good literature again. Then, I took a break an grabbed Philip Roth's newest, Indignation. He's no slouch in the Literary category, and I enjoyed his. As a fellow alumnus of my alma mater, I could feel that we had walked the same paths on campus.

Then I tried to move on to book #2 in the International Baccalaureate series....Siddhartha. OK, I'm struggling on this one! How has this book lasted for 50 years?

Should I be embarrassed that I picked up Danielle Steele's Amazing Grace? That book is nicely enjoyable, and a great read on the treadmill!

If I don't get through Siddhartha before Carly needs to read it, I'll just have to move on to The Sorrow of War...

I can't wait to get to The Great Gatsby!