10 books to read while at school

the Literary Saloon at the complete review - 21 - 31 January 2006 Archive According to the Literary Saloon (link to posting above), the Royal Society of Literature has asked some well-known authors to recommend 10 books "that every child should read before they finish school". The posting carries some interesting links on this theme. If anyone reads this entry, please put yours in the comments or link to your blog: I'd love to know your own recommended selection. Apparently the RSL article is not yet out, but the Daily Telgraph has revealed the choices of three authors, which I've reproduced below. Under that, I've put my own (in no particular order). J K Rowling: Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe David Copperfield, Charles Dickens Catch-22, Joseph Heller To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Animal Farm, George Orwell The Tale of Two Bad Mice, Beatrix Potter The Catcher in the Rye, J D Salinger Hamlet, William Shakespeare Philip Pullman: Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson Emil and the Detectives, Erich Kastner The Magic Pudding, Norman Lindsay The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Coleridge Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens First Book of Samuel, Ch 17 Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare A good collection of myths and legends A good collection of fairy tales Andrew Motion: The Odyssey, Homer Don Quixote, Cervantes Hamlet, William Shakespeare Paradise Lost, John Milton Lyrical Ballads, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte Great Expectations, Charles Dickens Portrait of a Lady, Henry James Ulysses, James Joyce The Waste Land, T S Eliot Maxine: 20,000 leagues under the sea Jules Verne Tales of Robin Hood (and/or Troy/King Arthur) Roger Lancelyn Green Lord of the Flies William Golding Pride and Prejudice (or Emma) Jane Austen Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte Far from the Madding Crowd Thomas Hardy** I suppose this will have to go for Alice in Wonderland, see below. I guess FFMC will keep till later. (?) David Copperfield and/or Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee *Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell -- remove to make way for: Lion Witch and Wardrobe, C S Lewis. Cannery Row by John Steinbeck I had not looked at the three authors' lists above when I made my own list, which is based on books that were my favourites when I was at school. I think PP's suggestion of fairy tales is essential. I wanted to include Catcher in the Rye, Birdy (William Wharton) and Nausea (J-P Sartre), but you can only have 10, and these three would be just as good or better read a bit later I suppose. Roald Dahl's Matilda should be on my list (in my view his best book), but where is the room? Andrew Motion's list is a bit heavy-going, I think. I would definitely have included the brilliant and wondeful Harry Potters (I suppose book 3 if only allowed one) and His Dark Materials in my list, but I thought the books had to be "classics", or rather, not contemporary. Will try to get hold of the RSL article when it comes out to learn more, and find out more about other people's lists. *Note added on Wednesday 1 Feb: How could I have forgotten The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, one of my all-time favourite books as a child? Gone with the Wind will have to make way, I think, as GWTW is another one that will keep till later (I remember reading it because a girl in one of the "Chalet School" books was expelled for reading it, so I needed to find out why). ** Note added on Friday 3 Feb. I am going to give up on this "list thing". The "10 books to read at school" story has been picked up everywhere, of course. I was mortified (again) when I read an article on the phenomenon in today's Times to realise I had omitted "Alice in Wonderland" from my list. As I'm not prepared to take a day preparing the absolute best list (considering and rejecting all the options), and can realistically spend only 2 mins putting together a list about anything, I realise I will never reach perfection and will just quit this list game. Read 'em all! And more!