How do you narrow down which Classics to read?

Posted by Leslie Poston Aug 4, 2006

Recently, a friend and I were instant messaging back and forth and she mentioned that her project for the next few months was to catch up on the Classics she had refused to read in high school. She had a list that included both American Fiction and other Classic titles, and wanted recommendations on what to read first, if she had forgotten any titles, and what my opinion was on each book.

Suddenly, I was tongue-tied. How do you choose which of your favorite Classic American fiction novels to have someone read first? It felt like choosing which child was my favorite, or which kid got to play on my team - completely unfair to the other books on the list.

It turned out that she had already read one of my all time favorite books, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and was already working on The Catcher In The Rye by JD Salinger. I was able to get a brief reprieve from making such a tough decision by talking about those books with her.

In the end, I used my opinions on the books as way to guide her rather than choosing an order for her to read - I figured I would let her read the book synopsis on the cover and my brief, two sentence opinion on each book and decide for herself in what order to read them.

The books on her short list of titles she had already purchased to read that I enjoyed included The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, and I hopefully gave those two high enough marks that they are close to the top of her list.

We'll see. Mainly, I'm proud of her for taking her education in her own hands and filling in the gaps that can be caused by teenaged ennui with high school (and anyone else who follows her lead). There is always time to learn.