oh hey, excuse for a picture of Robert Redford…
As I sit here researching graduate programs, I think about all of the books I love and can’t wait to teach and share with others. And then I realize that my content knowledge in literature and favorite books span some, uh, not so great topics for a high school English class (Dracula and half the other Victorian novels I love? Yeah, the sexual repression of the Victorian Era may not go over so well…). Not to mention that American literature and myself are mortal enemies.

11th grade tends to be the year where the focus of many literature courses is American works and when I realized this, I panicked. I never cared much for American literature, preferring and simply having more experience with British works. I feel like part of this is due to lack of exposure; I never read Twain in high school, nor Catcher in the Rye like the entirety of the University has, apparently. But overall, I just prefer things like Blake, Milton, Eliot, the Brontes, etc. What in the world am I supposed to teach?

Give me Gatsby, give me Poe, Sylvia Plath, and Theodore Dreiser. But I need to expand my horizons. So I’m digging out all the books I can find, and brushing up on my resources!

List of to-reads?

♥ The Sound and the Fury
♥ Catcher in the Rye
♥ The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
♥ Little Women
♥ The Red Badge of Courage
♥ Fahrenheit 452
♥ A Farewell to Arms
♥ The Grapes of Wrath

I honestly don’t even know where to start — eek!

Do you like American Literature? What are some of your favorite novels? Did you read anything in high school that stuck with you so?