I'd have to say that the two books from high school that made the biggest impression on me were Mann's "Death in venice" (for AP English) and Camus' "The Stranger," which wasn't really assigned, but my creative writing teacher lent me a copy of, expressly stating I should read it even if it wasn't on the syllabus. And he was right. Both were 20th century novels. And French at that!

Probably the best class I took in grad school was a seminar on the memoir.

This sounds really good for HS students. Or even just autobiographies in general. To me they seem more accessible and discussion-generating. Plus just stepping into someone else's shoes at that age can be very illuminating.

If you’re not sure if you’re being asked out, just drop an unmistakable hint into the conversation referring to your heterosexuality.

Say, "I don't understand why people think Judy Garland was so great. Sang like a bullfrog with asthma, if you ask me."

Dear Lord, you guys were reading some high falutin' books in high school while I was reading The Scarlet Letter, The Great Gatsby, Our Town and The Heart of Darkness!

Erin, if you have free choice, pick an area that you know really well. The problem with doing a specialized seminar that you don't know inside and out is that you're going to add a ton of research and reading time to prepare and teach it well. It can be worth it (what I learned while prepping for my African American Lit. class was amazing), but I think it's easier and more fun to design an elective around one of your personal passions. If I could teach anything, I might teach a seminar like Memoir, African American Lit., Women's Voices, Creative Writing, 20th Century Literature, etc. because those are my passions and areas of expertise. Think about yours and I bet you'll come up with something great!

I think The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter was probably the book that impacted me most in High School. Well, unless you count the discovery that Billy Budd is a universal cure for insomnia.

One fun thing was that AP Senior English became Men Are Pigs 101 since our teacher was going through a bitter divorce at the time.

Help a high school teacher out -- thoughts?

That Sexy, Sexy Shakespeare

My greek professor at college taught a survey course titled: Eros in Literature, which he copped to as his personal Greatest Hits of Greek Lit. But it was great and we read Sappho and the Golden Ass and Homer and the Satyricon and Menander.

I think you should teach a course like that whose secret title is: Erin Loves These Books The Best. If you love 'em, it'll be easier to teach them.

Well, unless you count the discovery that Billy Budd is a universal cure for insomnia.

Henry James.

One fun thing was that AP Senior English became Men Are Pigs 101 since our teacher was going through a bitter divorce at the time.

Similar story for sophomore and junior english, though our teacher veered more towards fawning all over the brown-nosing boys and dismissing the girls, when she wasn't badmouthing men and marriage. We wondered if there had be an affair with a much younger person. It was a bit uncomfortable.

Probably the best class I took in grad school was a seminar on the memoir.

Nice. One of the worst classes I took as an undergrad was on Nabokov's work, but the problem was the prof, not the literature.

I was going to suggest Southern lit, one of my faves as an undergrad. You could cover The Awakening, My Bondage and My Freedom (or readings from it), Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Wild Palms (or, at least, the Old Man story), Huckleberry Finn, The Souls of Black Folks, The Mind of The South, and more contemporary writings like Other Voices, Other Rooms, Wise Blood, "Why I Live At The P.O.," and/or works by Barry Hannah, Walker Percy, and their like.