Kait Mae

With me graduating today with my Master’s degree, I decided to take a look back on every book I had to read for school. And I have 14 stories (novels, short stories, and plays) that I love and still think about today. Now, I know many dread having to read a book for class, but I usually was happy to do it – except for a few books, but I don’t want to get into those right now. So, let’s get straight into the books and short stories I had to read for class that I love.

‘The Westing Game’ by Ellen Raskin

I remember seeing this on my mom’s bookshelves growing up, and then my sixth-grade English teacher said we’d be reading it as a class right before winter break. This book is also the reason I wasn’t allowed to read ahead of the class for the rest of the school year…I accidentally spoiled the ending for one classmate with just a facial expression.

The Westing Game became one of my favorite books – and still is to this day. It was the first mystery that I couldn’t solve within the first five chapters. Every time I get a mystery story idea, I always think about how I could keep the ending hidden, like Raskin did with this book. It’s a source of inspiration for me now.

‘The Outsiders’ by S.E. Hinton

I don’t think there’s a person in my eighth-grade class that didn’t enjoy this book. Even some of the students who didn’t want to read it ended up enjoying it. It was even better because we watched the movie after finishing the book.

It was the first book I’d read that had a circular ending. I still think about that and the characters constantly – especially Pony Boy. The Outsiders is a staple that I think everyone should read at least once in their life.

‘Macbeth’ and ‘Julius Caesar’ by William Shakespeare

I’m lumping these together because they’re the only two I’ve read that I’ve actually enjoyed. The first I read was Julius Caesar in 10th grade. I barely remember actually reading it, but when I revisited it in college, I loved it. It set off my Roman Empire hyperfixation a few years back.

A year after reading Julius Caesar, I read Macbeth in my first dual-credit class. And I fully loved it – it was just so different from what I’d been reading at the time while still being just as interesting.

As for the other plays Shakespeare wrote, I only had to read Romeo and Juliet for school – but I didn’t like it. The only other two I’ve read – Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew – were both outside of class.

I don’t love all books. Here’s a list of some I unhauled at the end of 2024.

‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen

For my second English class in my Bachelor’s program, I had to read several British works. And two of those are on this list – Pride and Prejudice was the first. I was surprised I actually loved it – and I would’ve loved it more if I’d had my own copy that was gifted to me – but that one was sold by a family member without my permission. I’m still mad about it.

Anyway, I did love reading this book – which I begrudgingly admit because I didn’t want to love it. You can blame my professor for that – she somehow linked it to a variety of The Beatles’ lyrics and band members.

‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ by J.K. Rowling

The second of the British books I had to read for that class is the first Harry Potter book. I’d already read it three times by the time I got to this class, so I was able to skim it pretty easily for class since this was assigned to read around finals.

And again, that professor linked it to The Beatles – one song in particular was “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” – which she mentioned while talking about the rest of the major characters later in the series. Can you guess which character my professor said was Lucy?

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ by Harper Lee

I was assigned this book three separate times in two different school districts. In sixth grade, we had to read it – and my mom ended up reading it a couple months later. And in eighth grade, we read it before The Outsiders. And again in 10th grade, which many groaned about the entire time, except me.

I’ve also only seen the movie in bits and pieces at home, so I can’t compare the two. But I can say that while it’s not my favorite novel ever, it’s up there on the list. It has a great lesson about treating people kindly even if they’re different – and it shouldn’t be banned from schools.

Short Stories

‘The Lottery’ by Shirley Jackson

Surprisingly, I’ve also read this short story three times for class. Once in sixth, once in seventh, and once in my senior year of high school. And every time I read it, I didn’t stop loving it.

The first time, I was a little confused by the ending, but I liked it. Then in seventh grade, I understood fully what was happening. And the last time I read it, I noticed more and more details – and I can see how it relates to society as a whole.

‘Young Goodman Brown’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In my dual-credit class in 11th grade, we were assigned to write an essay on symbolism from any story in our giant textbook. I chose Young Goodman Brown because I’d liked the author’s other works I’d read so far.

I loved the color symbolism the author used in the story, so much so that I focused on the color pink. I still have that essay and I consider everyday whether I should post it because it’s been about a decade and I still think it’s one of my best essays I’ve ever written.

‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ by Washington Irving

In that same class, I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow for our “tone” assignment. And while I don’t love that essay as much, I absolutely adored the story.

Ironically, I didn’t watch the movie adaptation of it for another eight years. But the reason I loved the story so much was because of the Scooby-Doo movie with the Headless Horseman. I never truly knew the story of him, so getting to read it for class was like killing two birds with one stone.

Want more recommendations but something that doesn’t feel like you’re doing assigned reading? Try these.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Stories

‘The Tell-Tale Heart’

Before I get into these last four stories, I want to preface that Edgar Allan Poe is one of my inspirations and favorite authors. And that all started in eighth grade when we read three of his short stories back-to-back.

The first of those three is The Tell-Tale Heart. It was so haunting, and I was so thoroughly creeped out but intrigued by the concept of guilt physically manifesting for the character in the story.

‘The Cask of Amontillado’

The second of those short stories we read in eighth grade was The Cask of Amontillado. At the time we read it, I was in my Paris, France hyperfixation era, and the history of the Paris catacombs – and if you’ve read the story, you know part of it takes place in Italian catacombs.

While we’re on the topic of Edgar Allan Poe, here’s a list of horror and thriller novels you might like.

‘The Raven’

The last of the three we read for class that year that I loved was The Raven. Everyone was given four lines to recite in class – don’t ask me why because I still don’t know. Anyway, this was the first I really loved from that class – it was stuck in my head for months after we read it.

‘The Fall of the House of Usher’

The last Edgar Allan Poe work I read was during my last summer semester in my Bachelor’s program in 2019. The Fall of the House of Usher quickly became one of my favorite short stories ever – which many in that class didn’t agree with – they didn’t like it at all.

I thought about it often after graduating, so imagine my delight when Netflix put out a miniseries by the same name. While it expanded on the original story, it combined elements and names from Poe’s other works, truly creating a haunting masterpiece for lovers of Poe.

What books did you read in school that you actually liked?