Saturday, July 7, 2007

Forced Reading: Books from Summers Past

The Spy by James Fennimore Cooper

The Hounds of the Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

It's been about 40 years ago that I had to read those books as part of my summer reading for high school. The Spy, in particular, was a challenge. I think I read that 2 or 3 pages at a time. I don't remember too much about the stories. I remember the chore it was to read those books.

Somehow through all those books, I maintained my passion for reading. I see as I walk through the book stores that they have tables for summer reading lists. I hope the books for the summer reading lists are more inviting for a high school audience today than they were in my day (gulp 40 years ago).

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