I followed this link from Bookriot yesterday to this article from Cracked - Four Ways High School Makes You Hate Reading.
I disagree with every single point.
Here’s what I think. If you already hate reading; if you’ve determined reading is a waste of time, or if you only want to read books like Twilight, you will probably hate many, if not most of the books that are required reading in high school. If you enjoy reading, if you love reading, if you are passionate about reading, chances are you are already familiar with most of the books on the list or, at the very least, you will appreciate the authors’ contributions to our literary heritage. Besides, if the reading lists my kids brought home from their high school English classes are any indication, many popular genre-type books make the cut every year.
I think there is nothing more important than literacy. Let me say the word again… LITERACY. Learn to read. Read lots and lots of books in a variety of genres. Increase your brain power, open your eyes, expand your world.
From Love Comes Softly:
Missie Davis: Readin’ ain’t no adventure.
Marty Claridge: When you read you can have every adventure. In the pages of a book you can be anyone you ever dreamed of being… They can never tell you you’re too young to slay the dragon — because it all happens right here, where it’s safe.
Ever read any Edgar Allen Poe? If not you might give him a try. I imagine he’s one of those poor benighted authors on the high school required reading list. At least he was when I was in high school. Hey, these were the bedtime stories my father read to me when I was in grade school. Mother’s milk, folks.
The Murders In the Rue Morgue.
The Fall of the House of Usher.
The Pit and the Pendulum.
The Premature Burial.
The Purloined Letter.
The Masque of the Red Death.
The Gold-Bug.
The Cask of Amontillado.
The Tell-Tale Heart.
Annabel Lee.
The Bells.
The Raven.
Lenore.
