I never convinced myself to read it, but, hm, maybe approach it as an exercise in prequels?

I read The Mad Sisters of Esi over the weekend. I think I picked it up because it was nominated for something but I don't recall exactly. It's very weird but interesting and good.

Also did a little bit of rereading Pride and Prejudice because that one thread on Bluesky is the the best thing on the internet and some of his remarks made me want to read the specific chapter he was on and I got sucked back in a bit...I have been trying to remember, we had a whole year of English Lit in high school (junior year) and I don't think Jane Austen was even mentioned. Or the Brontes. I do see people mentioning reading her in school, is that common?

I read Pride and Prejudice in senior year, AP English.

Edit: Actually, I didn't read it when I was supposed to, failed the test, then read it and kicked myself for not reading it in the first place.

Heh, that's exactly how I read Red Badge of Courage

I was trying to remember what we covered in senior year, I think it was AP English although I'm not sure if I took the test or not. Probably did, I think I took everything I could. But the only thing I remember reading for sure that year is King Lear, and I mostly remember that because I dragged my long-suffering mother to see Ran

My favorite high school reading assignment was Willa Cather's My Antonia.

I don't recall Austen being offered in high school but I do remember Wuthering Heights was an option for selection.

I was an English major in college but I mostly studied poetry. Year long class on Shakespeare (incredible professor), semester on the English sonnet (so...lots more Shakespeare), Romantic poets (loved discovering Wm. Blake, which whenever I see his name I now exclaim it like Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham), and an individual study on William Yeats with my favorite professor (she also taught the Sonnet class). I also did two creative writing classes, one on poetry and one on fiction. I put one of those to use and won a poetry prize at Kenyon my senior year.

But when I graduated and moved to Boston I read so many novels. I was hungry for them. Memorably read One Hundred Years of Solitude while temping a very slow desk job at Harvard Business School.

Favorite Junior High Reading Assignment: To Kill A Mockingbird.

That one thread on Bluesky that is the the best thing on the internet, for reference.

No Jane Austen for me until college, when I had to read Emma for Freshman Lit.

Thank you, Scola! Links are hard.