In school, Antonia was a book report. I took a class in the Brontes at the university, but I think my mom was the one that recced both JE and P&P first. Maybe Sense etc. was also a book report.

I know we talked about Willa Cather and My Antonia was mentioned but we didn't read it. Must have read something by her, though. Maybe an excerpt of something or other.

I told ltc I’d try to finish reading A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Friday when we’re supposed to watch the movie, but I find myself really not caring about Snow’s dramatic backstory. Someone encourage me to read it.

I read both prequels last year and heartily recommend both. Songbirds is not nearly good as Sunrise on the Reaping and falls off a bit at the end, but it justifies itself I think. Sunrise is a better prequel to the trilogy though.

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?

We didn't read either. Since they don't really answer to anybody, prep school teachers make for very eclectic reading lists. British lit could be anything from Smiley's People to Moll Flanders. And I think everyone is aware by this point that I was assigned Mrs. Dalloway in high school. My favorite book from high school was probably Moby-Dick. Or maybe One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

I read Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre on my own (before high school I think). Can't remember when I first read Austen. But I took a night class on all her novels just for fun after college.

When that Guardian list came out a few months ago I was amazed how many of the books I had read (as a teenager) were not actually read in school.

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

Speaking of which, I'm glad they finally updated the list and put this gem (which sadly I did not read in school) at its proper place: [link]

I guess I need to update my spreadsheet.

There was no Austen or the Brontes for me until 19th century British lit in college. My high school teachers tried to assign things the boys would agree to read.

I don't think I was ever assigned Jane Austen in school. Would have preferred it to Thomas Hardy.(Got assigned Return of the Native and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, in a way that sucked any possible enjoyment out of them.)

I think we read Hardy but IIRC only poetry.

I should probably disclaim that we went through 3 or 4 subs at the beginning of the year before a permanent teacher was hired and every one of them had us read Beowulf (or an excerpt from, probably, the same excerpt over and over) so probably some of the later curriculum got cut for time. You would think I would know a lot about Beowulf after that but I absolutely do not.

You would think I would know a lot about Beowulf after that but I absolutely do not.

Recent scholarship suggests that Grendel's mom was unduly slandered by mistranslation and misogyny.

So there's that!

Also, you could read John Gardner's novel Grendel for an intriguing modern take on the tale from Grendel's POV.

I have been meaning to do that for a long time but I still haven't. Looks like my library doesn't have it so it won't be that easy to add to ye olde TBR mountain, but I will explore other options. Hm, the audiobook is short...

you could read John Gardner's novel Grendel

Seconded!

I am trying to remember books we studied en masse. For sure the Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Heart of Darkness, and several Shakespeare plays and sonnets. I had four years of HS so there must have been more. Then all the books we chose on our own for book reports, of course. Oh, we did read Wuthering Heights as one. I don't think any Austen, though. Lots of short stories one semester -- that was a fun semester. I remember The Lottery the most vividly. I remember studying some of the Canterbury Tales. It's all a blur!