Comments:

anabels - 2005-08-13 03:31:29
Easy - "My name is Asher Lev" by Chaim Potok. If you need a modern play I would suggest "Equus" by Peter Shaffer. Though the second depends on how old your class is - it is slightly disturbing. That said these were both books I was assigned to read as a 16 year old.
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Trish - 2005-08-13 06:52:34
I know Steinbeck is "typical" high school fare -- I hated having to read Grapes of Wrath -- but the gang of crazies in Sweet Thursday are endearing. P.S. Macbeth is more fun than Hamlet.
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beth b, - 2005-08-13 07:37:22
confederacy of dunces master and margarita. plays: cloud 9 or top girls by carol churchill
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beth b, - 2005-08-13 08:06:08
oh! also!!! while macbeth and hamlet are big sexy bloody plays, i *really* enjoy 'timon of athens'. it's a singular plot line and it's really kinda great. it doesn't end so well for dear timon, but it's something that i think really translates well into todays mindset.
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Melissa - 2005-08-13 11:28:07
Where are my lists when i need them? I was thinking Catch 22 - it's a classic, highly entertaining (and war is always topical alas) and also a bit subversive, which teenagers like. You should definitely add some contemporary poets to your lineup. Tony Hoagland is accesssible and funny, Li Young-Lee is my favorite, BrianDietrich has an entire book out (won Paris Review's prize a while back) of poems about Superman .... Rita Dove's Mother Love is awesome (interlinked poems, story of Persephone). Book, again: What about The Butcher Boy? The author also adapted the novel into a play (which I saw in Dublin): Frank Pig Says Hello. Or what about that 80s classic of conntemp ennui, White Noise? I'm sure they'll still be reading that in 200 years ....
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Melissa, again - 2005-08-13 11:41:42
Also: Read Hamlet the read Rosencranz and Gildenstern Are Dead. (Heh, along those lines you could also read Jane Eyre then The Wide Sargasso Sea, which is a very good book.)
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mike - 2005-08-14 01:55:29
Equus? The Butcher Boy?? Great stuff, but I can already hear the wailing of the aggrieved parents. How about some Woolf?
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mike - 2005-08-14 01:56:59
Oh, and congrats!
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Nancy - 2005-08-25 23:24:13
sent to me recently by hubby:http://www.nealford.com/bookclub/booklist_mccaffery.htm Congrats, and good luck. You'll probably grow to like the kids more over time.
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Nancy - 2005-08-25 23:30:59
http://www.nealford.com/bookclub/modern_lib.htm THis is the link to the Random House list (mentioned by the guy, 'Neal', from the previous link I posted). Also, kids are so image-addicted, you might pick books that can be accompanied by a movie. The Random House list has a lot of books that have had movies made from them, although I'm not sure how many would be suitable for kids, now that I think about it... loved 'The Sheltering Sky'. And did you see the HOurs? Heart-wrenching.
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Nancy - 2005-08-25 23:34:02
uh... not that 'The Hours' is on any of the lists I mentioned. It just flitted to mind. I believe The Wild Sargasso Sea was made into a movie, but I haven't seen it. Refer to imdb.com or rottentomatoes.com for movie reviews/info. Apparently imdb is all the rage, movie and tv repository extraordinaire.
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