What books would you teach in a college class?

[Mr. Misting he/him]

I've been throwing this question around to my friends and teachers, and been very interested by the answers: you're a college professor teaching college literature, and can pick any four books you've read to teach. You can pick books with no restrictions, as long as you think it will provide the best class experience. 

My current list is Moby Dick, Lonesome Dove, Nightwatch by Terry Pratchett and The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green.

I've also had many thoughts about the nature of reading books in class from this question:

• Is it better to read challenging classics that push people's thoughts or modern books people will enjoy?
• What should be the goal of reading novels in class?
• Is a graphic novel literature? Is a graphic novel or non-fiction appropriate to read in English classes? 
• How far should we go to include diversity in authorship, if it's hard to find books written by those minorities that the teacher loves? (All my books are by white guys, the books I considered and loved by women didn't fit the bill as for a few reasons (I'm going to read more books women and non-white people after this (any suggestions?)))

So, what books would you guys pick to read and why, and any thoughts about my questions?

Edited March 5, 2025 by Mr. Misting

[Mags she/they]

Hmmm I think a lot of this depends on the class itself. Is this a general education English class? Is this a literature class? I know there are classes on specific kinds of literature, like American classics, or indigenous literature, etc. Is this a history class? A Hellenic Classics course? What books I'd choose, the purpose of those books, as well as the reasoning behind what to pick would depend on that.

But, I think you mean for a general literature English class, to teach the students about whatever point or literary achievements are emphasized in the books themselves, not necessarily following a theme.

Gosh I need to read more classics for sure, I love them and I think some of the highly anticipated ones on my TBR would be in my 4 choices if I'd have already read them.

Let's see . . .

Firstly the Great Gatsby, by F. Scoot Fitzgerald. This is one of my favorite works based on the theme of 'the American dream' which is a big focus in the English classes here, as it pertains a lot to our history. The Great Gatsby carries across the theme better than some of the other works I've read on the same theme, and is easier to relate to our current society.

A Raisin in the Sun. This is another 'American Dream' work, but I think it's important to include as it shows another side of things. If the Great Gatsby is about the American dream (and it's fails, as books on it most often showcase) for rich, white men, then A Raisin in the Sun will show us the American dream from the perspective of a minority. I think this play is really well written, and it was a great window into black culture and experiences during the 1960's. 

I would also include some Shakespeare, maybe Macbeth, which is a personal favorite. A Midsummer's Night Dream is great for classes however, because the humor can help keep students more engaged and it feels less dry if you aren't already partial to the court politics of Macbeth (me lol). While perhaps overdone, Shakespeare is really important for understanding other works, and the English language on a deeper level. I think Shakespeare depends entirely on how it is taught, though. I was lucky enough to have a teacher that made it fun, took the time to explain phrases, and historical context, etc. A teacher can make or break Shakespeare for students, so if I were to teach it, my main goal would be to make it as approachable as possible.

I would also want to do The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I loved this book in middle school, and it has really great messages for young people that I think college students would appreciate. This is another great book for American history and culture in the last century, and the fact that the author was just 15 when she wrote it can be very inspiring to young people pursuing writing.

I'm not sure if those are the best picks, but they're the ones that first came to mind. Like I said, it's difficult to pick things without a theme, and so I feel like Shakespeare is a bit of an odd one out on this list. Either way, I think these books are important. (Runner up mentions that I also think are good choices: The Hobbit, The Book Thief, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice).

As for your questions, there really great discussion points and I have a lot of thoughts and opinions I'd love to share. That said, I'm having a hard time wording things clearly and eloquently today, so I think I'll jump back in at some other time. I've been trying to write and rewrite my answers for too long lol .

[Treamayne]

On 3/4/2025 at 11:22 PM, Mr. Misting said:

you're a college professor teaching college literature, and can pick any four books you've read to teach.

Why only four books? In my experience (at least in College in the 90s) having multiple options for each section (related book types and themes with the class discussing the commonality, differences and implementation of themes) led to a stronger class overall. So, I would not have only four books, but I might have four "categories" with three to four books each - allowing the students to read the choice from each list that appeals more (they get more enjoyment from a choice than a forced selection) - then use that to increase discussion and analysis.

Also, the type of Literature class will lean toward different possible selections. Is this Lit 1 or 2? Global Literature? Classics? Evolution of Prose?

All that said, for a basic Global Literature class, I might structure it something like:

Spoiler

• Historical Literature (stories that give a glimpse to what life was like in the timeframe of the book)
  • Chinua Achebe
  • Alejo Carpentier
  • Augusto Roa Bastos
  • Charles Dickens
  • James Clavell
  • Luo Guanzhong
  • La Princesse de Clèves
  • Alessandro Manzoni
• Social Commentary Literature (stories that through example or satire, bring specific issues to the forefront)
  • War and Peace
  • Animal Farm
  • Fahrenheit 451
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four
  • Uncle Tom's Cabin
  • Gulliver's Travels
• Tropes in Literature (stories that were either Trope Makers or Namers and how those stories influenced future works and storytelling)
  • C. Auguste Dupin Novel by Edgar Allan Poe and the formation of Detective Fiction
  • H G Wells (Time Machine or War of the Worlds) and the formation of modern Speculative Fiction
  • Isaac Asimov (Robot Series or Foundation original trilogy) and the formation of modern Hard Sci Fi
• Evolution of Prose (Modern stories allowing the discussion of how the Craft of prose changed from previous example to modern examples)
  • Michael and Jeffrey Shaara, Olga Tokarczuk, Hilary Mantel (Historical fiction progression)
  • Andy Weir, Cixin Liu, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne(Progression of Speculative Fiction)
  • Matt Dinniman, Winston Groom, Terry Pratchett (Progression of satire adn fictionalized social commentary)

 

 

Edited March 6, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[Mr. Misting he/him]

7 hours ago, Magi said:

Hmmm I think a lot of this depends on the class itself. Is this a general education English class? Is this a literature class? I know there are classes on specific kinds of literature, like American classics, or indigenous literature, etc. Is this a history class? A Hellenic Classics course? What books I'd choose, the purpose of those books, as well as the reasoning behind what to pick would depend on that.

28 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Why only four books. In my experience (at least in College in the 90s) having multiple options for each section (related book types and themse with the class discussing the commonality, differences and implementation of themes) led to a stronger class overall. So, I would not have only four books, but I might have four "categories" with three to four books each - allowing the students to read the choice from each list that appeals more (they get more enjoyment from a choice than a forced selection) - then use that to increase discussion and analysis.

Four is an arbitrary number, but I structured the question as I did so it would force people to make interesting decisions, as parameters breed creativity and such. I know college classes would have a theme, and have many more books, but I choose college as a framework for the question, so the answerer wouldn't have to worry about banned books or books being too long or hard to read. I also didn't specify a theme for the books because that allowed people to pick books I never would have even considered, like graphic novels or very recent commercially oriented works, which lead to me requestioning the purpose and goal of reading books for education. 

And I've added many books to my reading list because of this question, as it is high praise for someone to put a book on such a short list, as they think the books so meaningful among all the books they've read, or a book they would really love to dissect and better understand. I am much less to impressed read chosen books the longer someone's list goes, though Treamayne, I am always appreciative to the incredible detail you bring to discussions like these. But if you had to slim down your list--to maybe not four, if you still consider that too small, but a more compact list--what books do you think have impacted you the most, and/or could help others learn the most from?

7 hours ago, Magi said:

Firstly the Great Gatsby, by F. Scoot Fitzgerald. This is one of my favorite works based on the theme of 'the American dream' which is a big focus in the English classes here, as it pertains a lot to our history. The Great Gatsby carries across the theme better than some of the other works I've read on the same theme, and is easier to relate to our current society.

Magi, that's a really good list. I hadn't considered Outsiders, though I remember reading it and liking it a lot. I almost chose Gatsby, and shakespeare, but put them aside because I assumed most high schoolers got to them, and I thought it more important to expose students to other literature then drill down on what they've already read.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Mr. Misting said:

But if you had to slim down your list--to maybe not four, if you still consider that too small, but a more compact list--what books do you think have impacted you the most, and/or could help others learn the most from?

So, to restate and verify that I am understanding; the question is less about "What gives the best student experience" and more "Which four books, possibly overlooked, deserve the 'Lit Course' treatment"? Because I think four books of forced choice (no matter how great those selections are) will never be as good an experience to the students as enabled choice for students to read four books, but gain exposure to 8+ and the discussions that can create.

That said:

1. Altered Perceptions - a for-charity Mental Health Awareness Anthology where each author not only included a deleted scene/cut scene/alternate version of a knnown story [Sanderson included excerpts of WoK Prime], but each author included an essay (sometimes very forthright) on how Mental Health affects them, their family and/or their friends (see below)
2. Shadows Beneath - A Speculative Fiction anthology that looks at the entire writing craft. For each story, it has:
   • Final Draft
   • Brainstorming Podcast Transcript
   • First Draft
   • Workshopping Alpha-read Podcast transcript
   • Edit Draft (at least one)
   • Some stories also have additional material
3. The Emperor's Soul (subverts or twists so many tropes and is still great)
4. The Guts to Try (Non-fiction, Military History - provides military insight for civilians and allows real-world tie in discussion and how the story shows historical turning-points)

Altered Perceptions excerpts:

Spoiler

Quote

Foreword - Ally Condie

When I was younger, in a misguided attempt to determine whether I had a fight or flight response to danger, my father hid in my bedroom closet and jumped out to startle me. (He was a judge and had seen too many bad things happen to people who didn’t have a quick response to danger.) To his frustration, my gut instinct was neither to run nor to stand my ground. Instead, I collapsed on the floor.

“That’s not going to do you any good when something dangerous comes along, Ally,” he said, and even though his method of teaching me this lesson was dubious—and, frankly, stupid—I agreed with the principle.

<snip>

But when I came to the greatest danger of my life so far, that of a loved one struggling with a mental illness, I learned that neither of these were viable options for that person. There is no flight from yourself. There is no fighting yourself, not without disastrous and painful consequences. You cannot run, and you cannot hide, and it is a supremely painful place to exist.

Where, then, can you escape?

As writers and readers, we believe in the power of story. We believe in the line that William Nicholson wrote for the movie Shadowlands: “We read to know that we are not alone.” Stories heal. Stories entertain. Stories keep us sane. Through them, we unlearn everything we thought we knew and find it coming back different and true.

Of course, sometimes a story is just a story. It cannot take away the pain. You cannot escape into it. I have spent many nights sitting by the side of someone’s bed, wishing that my stories could do something for this person that I love so much, and at the same time I knew with certainty that in that moment my stories did not help.

And still, of all the tenets of my personal belief, my belief in the power of story is one of the deepest held. If I had the power to tell exactly the right story to the person I love, it might sound something like this: I knew you before. I knew you after. I want to know you now. I have a story for you. Here it is. Do you see? It is exactly what you need it to be.

<snip>

Quote

Introduction - Dan Wells

When my brother Rob and I were little, I used to play a game I called “See How Easy It Is to Bug Him?” This is the kind of thing that older brothers do. The game was simpler than you probably think: just go into a public place and attract attention. That’s literally all it took.

<snip>

And then a few decades later he was diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder, and suddenly it wasn’t so funny anymore.

(Well, still kind of funny—he is my little brother, after all—just less funny.)

<snip>

 Hindsight also makes it easy to spot the quirks that would eventually develop into full-blown depression, and if I squint my eyes a bit I can see in his younger perfectionism the ominous shadow of what is now a crippling case of OCD: not the “group my M&Ms by color” kind of OCD, but the real OCD, the “my mind is not my own” OCD that makes him try to break his own hands or throw himself down the stairs. None of what he did as a child was a quantifiable, diagnosable disorder; none of it was the kind of behavior a wiser eye might have looked at and said “that child has dark things in his future.”

<snip>

This anthology, in a weird kind of way, is about that difference in trajectory. Just like people, some stories grow up one way and some stories grow up another way, and in slightly different circumstances one story could go in any number of different directions. When we set out to put together an anthology to help raise awareness of mental illness, we decided to focus not on the illness itself—most of these contributions are not stories about mental illness—but on the subtle differences that can send a story, or a life, down a completely unexpected path.

<snip>

In another way, this anthology is about itself: about the need to raise awareness of mental illness. Every story in here is accompanied by a brief note or essay from the author, explaining their own personal connection to mental illness. Whether it’s themselves, or a friend or a loved one, every author here has been touched by the needs and problems and realities of mental health.

<snip>

The world is not a nice place to people with mental illnesses, partly because the illnesses themselves are so hard to deal with, but also—and sometimes “mostly”—because we as a society, as a human race, go out of our way to make them harder. Every time you casually misuse a word like “OCD” or “neurotic” or “aspergers,” you make it harder for the people who hear you to take those words seriously as actual medical conditions. Every time you tell a depressed coworker to stop moping, every time you tell a friend with ADD to stop screwing around, every time you tell a person with anorexia or bipolar disorder or post-traumatic stress syndrome to stop being such a drama queen, you’re playing the grown-up version of “See How Easy It Is to Bug Him?” Yes, it’s easy, but you’re better than that. We all are, and we have a responsibility to help each other however we can, for mental health just as much as physical health.

<snip>

But we can be better.

Spoiler

Table of Contents

Shannon Hale--------------- Ravenous

Seanan McGuire------------Cybernetic Space Princess from Mars

Mary Robinette Kowa------The Nature of Masks

Jessica Day George--------Playing Cards with the Corley

Howard Tayler----------------“No. I’m Fine.”

Sandra Tayler-----------------Married to Depression

Bree Despain-----------------The Author and the A-Word

Lauren Oliver-----------------Sections from the first draft of Pandemonium

Jacqueline Novak------------Notes from a Depressed Humor Writer as She Works on Her Humorous Book about Depression

Larry Correia------------------Deleted scene from Swords of Exodus

Shawn Speakman-----------Unused chapter from The Dark Thorn

Annette Lyon------------------Excerpt from Song for Anna

SJ Kincaid---------------------Original chapter one from Vortex

J Scott Savage---------------Early chapters from Farworld

Robison Wells----------------Epilogue to Feedback: Supernova

Dan Wells---------------------Free-write prologue to I Am Not a Serial Killer

Luisa Perkins-----------------Seeing Red        

Nancy Campbell Allen------Bonus chapter from Beauty and the Clockwork Beast: Marie

Sara Zarr-----------------------Family Portrait at the Kensington Manor Hotel

Aprilynne Pike----------------Three stories from the world of Wings

Kiersten White----------------Womb

Brodi Ashton------------------The first three chapters of The Echo Lives in Blackfoot

Josi Kilpack--------------------Book 8, which became Tres Leches Cupcake

Brandon Mull------------------Bonus excerpts from Beyonders book 2: Oracular Interviews

Jennifer Moore---------------Deleted scene from Becoming Lady Lockwood

Sarah M. Eden---------------From Longing for Home and Hope Springs: Farewells

Erin Bowman-----------------Prewriting from the Taken Trilogy

John C. Wright----------------Lunar Sacrament of Conciliation

Claudia Gray------------------Deleted chapter from A Thousand Pieces of You: Station 47

Brandon Sanderson---------Deleted scenes from the 2002 version of The Way of Kings

 

 

On 3/4/2025 at 11:22 PM, Mr. Misting said:

• Is it better to read challenging classics that push people's thoughts or modern books people will enjoy?
• What should be the goal of reading novels in class?
• Is a graphic novel literature? Is a graphic novel or non-fiction appropriate to read in English classes? 
• How far should we go to include diversity in authorship, if it's hard to find books written by those minorities that the teacher loves? (All my books are by white guys, the books I considered and loved by women didn't fit the bill as for a few reasons (I'm going to read more books women and non-white people after this (any suggestions?)))

• I'm not sure that "challenging classics" do push people's thoughts - at least not in a general Lit 1 or 2 class setting. Without emotional involvement, most will Cliff's Notes a book they don't like, and do the minimum to pass; though I also do not think a book needs to be modern to be enjoyable for many. Better, I think to find texts that echo modern themes, but in a time before those themes were widely known or accepted - things allow the dicsussion to go beyond just the content and craft of the book itself.
• Depends on the class to heavily to have any one simple answer. Short Stories and Novellas are probably better for basic Lit classes, as you can cover more variety and maybe help somebody find a genre/style they love - but would not have considered without outside prompting. Mixed-genre anthologies are great for this.
• Certainly. Though, again, I do not know if a Graphic Novel would be best for an early Lit class - but on-theme for a higher-level class as a way to discuss how themes morph in differing mediums. Non-fiction can also be appropriate to a course if the theme and content is consistent and provides alternate frames of reference.
• Translated works can be great for this type of course - because even when presented in the local Language (ostensibly English) - just the style, themes and culture references are likely to be outside the scope of normal student experience - allowing for discussion and comprehension of how culture norms are not universal. Example: Three Body Problem (Cixin Liu) - even read in English does not read like a native-western viewpoint or culture background. Similarly, something like Things Fall Apart may have been written in English (bi-lingual Author) but it is not presented from the normal Western "viewpoint." There are also many female authors that published under male nom-de-plumes (for centuries, including modern authors), simply because they may not be accepted with a feminine name on the cover.

[Mr. Misting he/him]

46 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

So, to restate and verify that I am understanding; the question is less about "What gives the best student experience" and more "Which four books, possibly overlooked, deserve the 'Lit Course' treatment"? Because I think four books of forced choice (no matter how great those selections are) will never be as good an experience to the students as enabled choice for students to read four books, but gain exposure to 8+ and the discussions that can create.

Basically yes. Though this question is meant to be more about what your college class would be like, and not what books should be taught in all classes. Hopefully that this ends up being more interesting than "what are your favorite books?" For example, I chose Nightwatch by Pratchett, which is an incredible and deep book, though I wouldn't be likely to recommend anyone else teaching it, but I personally would so love to dive into the symbolism and the meaning and language of that book.

46 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

• Altered Perceptions - a for-charity Mental Health Awareness Anthology where each author not only included a deleted scene/cut scene/alternate version of a knnown story [Sanderson included excerpts of WoK Prime], but each author included an essay (sometimes very forthright) on how Mental Health affects them, their family and/or their friends (see below)

That anthology sounds fascinating. I'll need to get to that. And Shadows Below, I've read that collection but didn't consider how it would work for this question. But yeah, I could imagine the value in teaching writing very high.

53 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

• I'm not sure that "challenging classics" do push people's thoughts - at least not in a general Lit 1 or 2 class setting. Without emotional involvement, most will Cliff's Notes a book they don't like, and do the minimum to pass; though I also do not think a book needs to be modern to be enjoyable for many. Better, I think to find texts that echo modern themes, but in a time before those themes were widely known or accepted - things allow the dicsussion to go beyond just the content and craft of the book itself.

I didn't consider the danger of people SparkNoting a book. I guess if you had daily quizzes about smaller details or quotes a teacher could discourage that. But I do think many classics can be challenging, maybe not for the thoughts they present, but for the ways in which they are written. Reading Moby Dick was a very interesting experience for me because much of the book I didn't understand what people were saying because of the prose. I had to read many paragraphs two or three times and think about it before I understood what it was saying, and eventually I got better and quicker at following conversations. Training my brain to understand more types of writing, and denser writing, I hope is training me to think better and pick up more detail when I then read other books.

[Mags she/they]

9 hours ago, Mr. Misting said:

Magi, that's a really good list. I hadn't considered Outsiders, though I remember reading it and liking it a lot. I almost chose Gatsby, and shakespeare, but put them aside because I assumed most high schoolers got to them, and I thought it more important to expose students to other literature then drill down on what they've already read.

Ah, that is very true. As a highschool student, most of my picks are from stuff I read in highschool English class, so it might not make a ton of sense to teach them to hypothetical college students. That said, in my experience books read in highschool can very from school to school, other then some of the major american greats (Like Edgar Allen Poe, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc.) everyone reads a slightly different list. Once again, I need to get to the long list of classics on my TBR! There's so many I want to have under my belt outside of school, it just hasn't happened yet 

Also, I appreciate hearing your thoughts and explanation! The questions make a bit more sense now. Like I said, I'll try to come back to them when I have time.

[Treamayne]

10 minutes ago, Magi said:

Once again, I need to get to the long list of classics on my TBR! There's so many I want to have under my belt outside of school, it just hasn't happened yet 

If you are an eBook person, then consider Smashwords and Project Gutenburg - many public domain works there are free (formatting isn't always great, but that can be fixed if it bothers you) to read either on-site or download (usually PDF, ePub and/or Mobi). For me, I have found that once I had them easily accessible, it was much easier to slide one in between books. 

1 hour ago, Mr. Misting said:

I could imagine the value in teaching writing very high.

Even if you don;t focus on the craft of the prose, discussions of "what the authors considered, why and how" or just how the workshopping analyzed the work helps to inform how, as a reader, you can begin to analyze a work for yourself and your own personal experience. 

1 hour ago, Mr. Misting said:

That anthology sounds fascinating. I'll need to get to that.

Honestly, my favorite parts are the essays (Seanan McGuire's essay, for example). The submissions are hit-or-miss and some depend on being familair with the referenced work - but all of the essays are relevant, and blunt, and fascinating (especially when they make you consider your own current and past relationships/friendships). 

[Mags she/they]

5 hours ago, Treamayne said:

If you are an eBook person, then consider Smashwords and Project Gutenburg - many public domain works there are free (formatting isn't always great, but that can be fixed if it bothers you) to read either on-site or download (usually PDF, ePub and/or Mobi). For me, I have found that once I had them easily accessible, it was much easier to slide one in between books. 

7 hours ago, Mr. Misting said:

Not really, unfortunately! I just don't really have any mobile devices atm, though that might change soon. I've actually never tried e-reading aside from like . . . fanfic and projects my friends have sent me, so if I get the chance, I'll check those out!

I actually love thrifting books and have a sizable pile of thrifted classics that I want to get to, so those will take priority. I was able to find copies of The Iliad and The Aeneid in really great condition, so I'm excited about those 

Edited March 6, 2025 by Magi

[Use the Falchion]

Hmm...I'd probably go with the books that stuck out the most to me, along with a few classics and modern stuff. 

 

1. A Tale of Two Cities

2. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone

3. 1984 or Brave New World

4. The Odyssey 

 

Other books I'd probably add: 

Frankenstein 

Pride & Prejudice (once I actually read it myself lol) 

Maybe some Sherlock Holmes

 

For Sanderson, I'd add either The Emperor's Soul or Mistborn. 

 

I personally think Graphic Novels can count as literature and should be welcomed in a literature class where they fit. But I don't have any that I'd include that'd be original, at least not at this time. Maybe Marvel's version of The Wizard of Oz? I have zero plans of ever watching the original movie, so maybe the graphic novel could cover similar material in a way that I myself can enjoy as well. Then maybe add in Marvel's version of The Odyssey, for those sweet, sweet compare/contrast papers. (And EPIC: The Musical. And Christopher Nolan's next movie.) 

[dezaS Hᴇ/Hɪᴍ]

On 3/6/2025 at 7:29 AM, Magi said:

Not really, unfortunately! I just don't really have any mobile devices atm, though that might change soon. I've actually never tried e-reading aside from like . . . fanfic and projects my friends have sent me, so if I get the chance, I'll check those out!

 

You can get an ePub reader for most browsers and, failing that, can rename the .epub to .zip and read the html files of each chapter/page individually as webpages. (It's how I read Long Chills & Case Dough when I couldn't find my kindle.)

[ParaTulip fae/faer (declines as she/her)]

I would immediately aim to have the reputation for making people read the most difficult books. 

Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs is still one of the most worth reading texts of the 20th century for me. It is also a book where most people go "Yeah, so you start reading a chapter, and then you eventually lose all sense of what the heck is going on, and it starts feeling like you might be re-reading a section from before in the book, but it is always super unclear why this is happening, or even if it is actually happening in the story or if someone is just hallucinating the events due to their opiate addiction, and then the chapter ends. So you start over next chapter."

Then it's Catch 22 because I find that books really funny and the fact it is also told without chronological order would make my students think this is the theme.

This way I can sneak attack them with The Tale of Genji but I need to find a version that drops the use of names for the non-Genji characters, because the actual Japanese version of the book, as I have been told, refers to everyone by their social position, and I think this is a vital part of the texture of this, the first true novel.

Anyway, then I am lying about Finnegan's Wake being the last book, because actually it's Homestuck. That might not be a book, but anyone who wants to fight me on that can try to understand Finnegan's Wake instead.

[Kansas Stormcursed he/him]

Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, because I think this one's actually a pretty important dystopian and besides that is intriguing

The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien. This one is written beautifully, and I really like the way he tells the story. A pretty good way to look at nonstandard methods of narration

Grapes of Wrath, because I thinkthis provides a pretty good way to look at and start conversation about traditional American life

And the Outsiders, as just fantastic literature

[Ink and Embers Any pronouns]

16 hours ago, Kansas Stormcursed said:

Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, because I think this one's actually a pretty important dystopian and besides that is intriguing

Handmaid's Tale is actually taught for A-Level in some schools in the UK; I have a friend who's studying it. It's a really well-written book!

[Verdance he/him]

People should read Challenger Deep by Neal Shusterman. Masterpiece about mental illness.

[Honors Spectral Image She/her]

As a current student(granted not a college one) I don’t rly know what books exactly but I would try to incorporate some classics while still using more modern/relevant books bc like Shakespeare and dickens are all great but they aren’t as like relatable as they were back in the day yk?

[Schizoposting]

It would depend on the specific class that I would be teaching. I am not very well read, so I don't know that many books, but if I was teaching a basic course on fantasy, I would probably choose the following:

1. A Wizard of Earthsea

2. Lord of Light 

3. Tigana

4. Assassin's Apprentice

For a class covering science fiction I would choose:

1. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas

2. Foundation

3. Dune

4. Roadside Picnic

And for a more classic literature course:

1. Julius Caesar

2. Pride and Prejudice

3. Martin Eden

4. The Great Gatsby

The criteria for my selections are that I must have already read it, that the book must not be too long or difficult, and finally, that it's highbrow enough that I wouldn't be embarrassed teaching it.

 

[ParaTulip fae/faer (declines as she/her)]

On 4/16/2026 at 8:09 PM, Kansas Stormcursed said:

Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood, because I think this one's actually a pretty important dystopian and besides that is intriguing

What else would you include on a syllabus for studying modern dystopia and gender?

Feminism is having a bad moment in the English speaking world, so I feel like it's a relevant concept.