Class of '84 here, and we had cliques galore, but it was an all-girls school, so I think we gravitated to groups even more so than in a co-ed school.

I don't remember my junior-high reading list before 8th grade, where I recall we read The Hobbit and Watership Down (which I did a detailed summary of for my high-school cousin who was taking a test on WD the next day and hadn't read it. I talked to her for 45 minutes on the phone, and she called me back a week later to thank me for the A!). But for the Book Club which I joined in seventh grade, we were reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, and slogging through Michener's Chesapeake (ugh!).

It's all thematically oriented around WWII and the Holocaust

Barb, yeah I think so, my daughter (a senior now!) had to read Night and The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in 9th grade to match up to what they were learning in European history. My now-8th grader will read The Outsiders and Diary of Anne Frank in language arts this year...

My daughter's take on Holden? He's a whiny brat and she could not finish CitR quickly enough. She hated him - also she loved King Dork and To Kill A Mockingbird (which I forced her to read because I love it!)

I can't really remember whether I liked CitR on first reading or not, which is odd since it must have something to do with why I ended up reading everything else by Salinger. I feel pretty meh about CitR, but still love Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey.

Also, I am large with the A Separate Peace hate. In fact, I feel rather spiteful about it, and happy whenever someone says something bad about it, which is an oddly personal reaction to the book. I think mainly I just really disliked my English teacher that year (poor thing -- I always disliked my English teachers), and resented how much she went on about the symbolism.

Harry Turtledove wrote a short story called "Catcher in the Rhine" about Holden touring Germany and transported back to the time of Wagner's Ring. Funny, and kind of helps see why some people like Holden in spite of how annoying he was.

[Edit] In short story collection "Chicks in the Mail" of the "Chicks in Chainmail" series.

Something I've always wanted to read about, which I just haven't gotten around to, is the story of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

Would anyone have any recs for books that cover it well?

What else should I buy from BN.com today? OBVIOUSLY I'm buying Jilli's book, but if I spend $25 they'll courier it to my office FOR FREE.

What hard SF/space opera thingy should I be reading but aren't? Does Alastair Reynolds have any books out I haven't read?

Have you read Th1rt3en?

I just read The Mysterious Benedict Society. If you like The Westing Game you will like this. It's probably targeted at 5th graders or so, so even though it's chunky it's a quick read.

Have you read Th1rt3en?

Yes - I liked the worldbuildling more than the story.

the story of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson.

Her autobiography is entitled The Heart Has Its Reasons, so if you want to read her side of it you can check it out.

I liked the worldbuildling more than the story

I agree. I'm fresh out of sci-fi/space opera stuff tho. Still slogging thru Perdido Street Station (which isn't space opera), and missing early Bujold.