Classical Books I think Shouldn't Be Required Reading

And what you should read instead

If I could choose one reason to dislike the public school system it would be for their required reading list. Unfortunately many home schooled curricula adhere to the standardized suggested classics. I firmly believe that more people would enjoy reading, and have a refined taste for good fiction, if they'd simply had a better introduction to literature in school. 

Small children are offered throw-away stories with inartistic illustrations and garbled nonsense. Older children are mostly bored by fiction, unless they stumble upon fantasy. I'm not going to say that all fantasy isn't worth reading, but reading exclusively fandom serials doesn't offer one many advantages in life, and certainly broods some social awkwardness.  Adults, too, are blighted by an onslaught of bad books: harlequin paperbacks, Beverly Lewis's Amish romances, and When Calls The Heart series. If there are hardcovers on the common person's shelf, it is either for decor or some book by Danielle Steele, Tom Clancy, Joel Rosenberg, or Stephen King. The rare, odd literary classic is some book they probably never finished but were assigned to write a paper on in high school. 

I believe it was only by a sliver of luck that I managed to acquire beautiful books growing up. I wasn't permitted to read the common trashy books, and I never bothered having an obsession with Amish fiction. I had an Amish tutor for a year and read what she gave me—wonderful stories written by actual Amish people. I read some fandom fiction, as many teenagers do, but also had so many truly interesting books available for ten cents each that I never got swept up completely into one genre or series. I enjoyed my two sets of encyclopedias and obscure authors and titles. If I accidentally picked up a poorly written book, I might finish it, if only because I enjoyed writing enraged reviews in my notebook. 

Of course, having a variety of books isn't enough. A child needs some direction and instruction on how to find worthy reading material. Modern education does him little service, though, then the few classics they offer are dull when compared to their latest sci-fi obsession. 

Once I start homeschooling my own children, I don't plan on keeping any fandom series in the house. These books won't be strictly forbidden, simply inaccessible except at the library—they may read them there—while at home there are a variety of tastefully curated books. And here's how I'd rearrange the standardized required reading list: 

1. Lord of the Flies

It's a bleak tale that leaves a dark impression on the mind. It is a book with an agenda. Children are forced to lay their forget their fairy tale illusions... "Life isn't a picnic," unless you're willing to entertain a little cannibalism (there isn't actually any cannibalism in the book). Imagine being told this is what it means to be human. I might walk away a freshly converted nihilist, and feel that the fairy tales were wrong when they glorified the nobleness of spirit. Cowardliness is the most justifiable feeling when you are forced to  believe the world to be a machine for monsters. 

Alternative reading: 

Robert Michael Ballantyne so detested this book that he wrote the counter argument: Coral Island, a heroic tale about two shipwrecked boys. It also has a sequel, something most teenagers are thrilled to discover when they call in love with an interesting book: Gorilla Hunters. Other books that uphold the true spirit of what it means to be human are: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson, and Magic for Marigold by L. M. Montgomery. 

2. 1984 and Animal Farm

I don't like 1984. In many ways, it's a denser version of Lord of the Flies. I especially don't like how a lot of readers cite the book as a prophetic warning when few of them have actually read the book. Honestly, if you want a book that shows the evils of the regime, Fahrenheit 451 is sufficient. And as long as your children won't get sucked into the fandom world, Hunger Games says it better, too, without turning into erotica nor a faithless love story. I'd leave Animal Farm on the list, mostly because it's short and does a decent job at getting its point to the reader without droning on about sex. 

Alternative Reading: If you want stories of what it looks like when society crumbles due to tyrannical overreach, read Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert or the Old Testament.

3. Frankenstein 

Frankenstein is somewhat interesting, but not as original as it gets credit for being. The author was only eighteen when she began to write it, and the book was published by the time she was twenty. It's simply not a work of literary fiction, in my opinion. It is written well—in a time when education was ruled by high standards, how could it not have been? But it is dull, relying mostly on thematic portions, to drive the story. 

Alternative reading: Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, Hard Times by Charles Dickens, The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, and the Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.  

4. Brave New World 

Honestly, this book is mostly unmemorable. I remember it being boring, and the ending didn't leave me feeling impacted in the way War and Peace or Oliver Twist or East of Eden did. It has some quote worthy sections: "I want the right to be happy and the right to have too little to eat." But overall I think it's not a good book to have on a list to instill the love of reading good fiction. As with the previous example, Fahrenheit 451 does what this book tries to do, and then there's room for other, beautiful classics. 

Alternative reading: Most of the books on the list have some sort of political bent, so this would be the perfect opportunity to read something less provocative that retains something of importance. Anything by Elizabeth Goudge, maybe Green Dolphin Street or Dean's Watch. 

Bonus: Call of the Wild

I'm flummoxed by how often I see Jack London's books on people's shelves. Even many ultra conservative families who don't allow any fiction in their homes will have a couple London titles nestled between biographies of religious men and women, James Herriot's stories, and the Little House books. Because his stories are from the point of view of an animal, it is assumed that they are wholesome, regardless of the violent, nihilistic endings. While an author's personal life doesn't necessarily impact their fiction, I think it's worth noting that London was a bitter atheist and activist... his vague, melodramatic stance on human worth jumps clearly off his pages. His stories aren't really about animals, unless it's about animals triumphing over man. I do not mean to claim that we have to agree with everything we read in a book, or that we should only read books with good values. But I think it's dangerous to idolize these books as American culture has done.

Alternative reading: If you want survival books, try My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George or Gentle Ben by Walt Morey. If you want more animal stories try books by Wilson Rawls and Marguerite Henry. If you want more realistic stories for your sons, G. A. Henty's books do just fine. He even has a few books he wrote for girls.

Books I'd Leave On the list (with caveats:

• The Great Gatsby

• Crime and Punishment (I'd put this at the very top and require that it be read cover to cover!)

• Fahrenheit 451

• Pride and Prejudice 

• Jane Eyre

• Hamlet/ Romeo and Juliet/ Macbeth (but let them pick which Shakespeare they want to read, and throw in some ancient stuff by Homer)

Books That Are Good but Shouldn't Be on the List:

• To Kill a Mockingbird. Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin tells this story better. 

• Grapes of Wrath/ Of Mice and Men. These are fine books, but I like East of Eden better. 

• Night by Elie Wiesel (good book, but not near as substantive as Bonhoeffer’s or Corrie Ten Boom’s writings).

• Great Expectations. I read it as a teenager, but thankfully I read several other Dickens, first. I just don't understand why one would start out with one of his most depressing novels. I'd start out with Oliver Twist. 

• Huckleberry Finn. This is a good book... but why start with the second title? Read Tom Sawyer first. I'd also have it followed up by A Story of a Bad Boy by Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

Books I Don't Plan on Reading Soon:

• The Scarlet Letter

• Invisible Man

What I haven't read But Will Someday:

• Catcher in the Rye

• The Old Man and the Sea

Perhaps it may be conceited to think one knows better which books ought to be read. Who am I to judge the classics? But a reader knows well that once they have read and been judged by their books, these sorts of questions become nonexistent. Quality books start to stand on their own, and they are judged not by me but by the written merit possessed in one another. 

I think it boils down to this: what is the point of a required reading list? To cause love of literature? If your child or student is only reading Harry Potter, Narnia, LOTR, Dune, Brandon Sanderson, and Orson Scott Card, then your list isn’t working. Something needs to be re-imagined and reconstructed in the way we present books to youth… or we will find ourselves living in a dystopia of daft, self-involved and isolated individuals.

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