It's my favorite time of the week! It's Top 5 Wednesday and this time I'm sharing my favorite required reading. The only problem is that since I was homeschooled, I didn't really have required reading. I mean, I read a ton, but I was never actually required to read anything except for once in 8th grade when I thought I'd try the public school thing (I had to read the Outsiders by S.E.Hinton, which I loved). So, the only required reading I've ever really had was once I entered college and that is why most of my picks are from my college courses.

For those of you who don't know what Top 5 Wednesday is or if you're interested in joining, it is a GoodReads group created by BookTuber GingerReadsLainey where she posts different topics each week and YouTubers and Bloggers are invited to make videos or write posts about them.

5. Bartleby the Scrivener by Hermen Meville

I think sometimes one of the texts that you work closely with and gain a broader understanding of can easily become one of your favorites. I think this is the case with Bartelby the Scrivener for me. I remember the first time I read it, it was an optional selection for a Marxism analysis in my Critical Intro to Literature class, but I ended up picking another text because this one was too long for me to read all the way through in time. However, the story intrigued me a lot and I decided to write a paper about it later in my American Literature class. I wrote about how the narrator drove Bartleby towards depression and death because it made him feel more important as he could be seen as charitable by others for trying to "help" Bartleby. It was a lot of fun trying to find evidence that the narrator was a narcissist.

I think the one thing I love about this story is that there are so many ways to interpret it, which makes each reading of it brand new.


4. 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

You can also include Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass with this (yes, I'm cheating here) as I think both slave narratives were important in helping me to fully understand how horrendous slaves were actually treated and the lasting impact it has had on our society. I have cried because of these books and I never cry. I just cannot imagine how terrible being a slave was, but this book helps me get a better understanding than I had before. The bland history textbooks I read never illustrated it as well as these books have.

I think that 12 Years a Slave had a great impact on me especially because before Solomon had been a free man and he was ripped from his life to be a slave. It helped me to better relate to him and to really understand that those things actually happened. It was a very disturbing but very necessary realization for me.

3. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

I axed Blood Song by Greg Bear and All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein to put this book here in the third spot. The other two stories are really good too, but I just can't stop thinking about Beggars in Spain even though it's been over a year since my Science Fiction class. I think what I like the most about the story is how it is a commentary on discrimination while the characters have a really cool ability to not sleep. I'd totally give up sleeping to have more hours in my day. I only read the novella version of this story, but I have the novel on my TBR pile and will get to it eventually.

2. A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

Ho-ly. Crap. This is the story that made me very interested in Faulkner. For some reason before I read anything by Faulkner, I had a preconceived notion of what his stories would be like. I'm not sure what my notions were, but this story was totally not what I thought it would be and I learned that I love his writing style. I have yet to make my way through a whole novel of his yet (I'm determined to finish Light In August before fall semester!) If you're looking for a good introduction to Faulkner, I highly recommend starting here.


1. The Call of the Wild by Jack London

It was really hard to pick the number one spot because there were so many good literature that I had to read in my classes. I'm not even sure if Call of the Wild is my favorite, but it is one that has had a huge impact on me. I first read this book when I was young for fun, but I reread it last semester for my American Literature class because we learned about naturalism. There's something about naturalism that scares me but also excites me. I think the reason why I like it so much is that I like the idea of bad things happen whether you're a good person or not. That's just life and you're at the whim of nature. It helps me to reconcile some of the bad things that happen to me and it feels better not having to blame anyone.

Aside from naturalism, the book is beautifully written and perfectly illustrates how life was like during the Klondike Gold Rush.

It was really hard to pick stories for this top 5 because I have so many different favorites I've been required to read in school (this is what happens when you study literature). Let me know your favorite literature you were required to read in school in the comments, or if you've read anything on my list, let me know if you liked them or not.

Until next time.

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