Yet Another List

[Stavros]

The Times Education Supplement (not Higher Ed as I put in subtitle) surveyed 500 primary and secondary school teachers (that's High School in the USA and whatever comes before it); the response is intriguing -are the teachers listing their personal favourites or the ones they think match their role as teachers? Do the results link novels that children like to read and would they figure if they weren't also films or adapted for tv? Because there are more women teaching now than men, does that favour some books rather than others?
-Would this list look any different in the USA?

Anyway I could be dismayed on literary grounds to see anything by Thomas Hardy, F Scott Fitzgerald, JRR Tolkien and JK Rowling, but this is probably about getting children to read, though I can't imagine many getting through 1,000 pages+ of Hugo's Les Miserables, which I suspect is there because of the musical/film.

I have read 30 of the books on the list, tried and not finished another 10.

At my secondary school we had to read Lord of the Flies, and The Importance of Being Earnest.

This is the full list, with the link to the THES article at the bottom.

TEACHERS’ TOP 100 BOOKS1. Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen
2. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
3. Harry Potter (series) J.K. Rowling
4. Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
5. Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
6. Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell
7. The Lord of the Rings (series) J.R.R. Tolkien
8. The Book Thief Markus Zusak
9. The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
10. The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald
11. The Kite Runner Khaled Hosseini
12. The Hunger Games (series) Suzanne Collins
13. The Time Traveller’s Wife Audrey Niffenegger
14. The Chronicles of Narnia (series) C.S. Lewis
15. Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
16. Birdsong Sebastian Faulks
17. His Dark Materials (series) Philip Pullman
18. The Gruffalo Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
19. The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger
20. Life of Pi Yann Martel
21. Tess of the d’Urbervilles Thomas Hardy
22. Rebecca Daphne du Maurier
23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Mark Haddon
24. Lord of the Flies William Golding
25. Matilda Roald Dahl
26. Catch-22 Joseph Heller
27. Millennium (series) Stieg Larsson
28. Animal Farm George Orwell
29. The Handmaid’s Tale Margaret Atwood
30. Persuasion Jane Austen
31. One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel Garcia Marquez
32. Kensuke’s Kingdom Michael Morpurgo
33. Goodnight Mister Tom Michelle Magorian
34. The Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck
35. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Roald Dahl
36. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne
37. Little Women Louisa May Alcott
38. One Day David Nicholls
39. We Need to Talk About Kevin Lionel Shriver
40. The Twits Roald Dahl
41. Wolf Hall Hilary Mantel
42. A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
43. The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
44. Frankenstein Mary Shelley
45. Great Expectations Charles Dickens
46. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin Louis de Bernieres
47. George’s Marvellous Medicine Roald Dahl
48. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams
49. Room Emma Donoghue
50. Anna Karenina Leo Tolstoy
51. Atonement Ian McEwan
52. Emma Jane Austen
53. Middlemarch George Eliot
54. The Shadow of the Wind Carlos Ruiz Zafon
55. The Color Purple Alice Walker
56. The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle
57. Brave New World Aldous Huxley
58. Sense and Sensibility Jane Austen
59. The Bell Jar Sylvia Plath
60. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll
61. Charlotte’s Web E.B. White
62. Dracula Bram Stoker
63. We’re Going on a Bear Hunt Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
64. A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving
65. The Secret History Donna Tartt
66. The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupery
67. Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky
68. The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
69. Jude the Obscure Thomas Hardy
70. Skellig David Almond
71. The Woman in White Wilkie Collins
72. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
73. Game of Thrones (series) George R.R. Martin
74. David Copperfield Charles Dickens
75. Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
76. Where the Wild Things Are Maurice Sendak
77. Twilight (series) Stephenie Meyer
78. Beloved Toni Morrison
79. The Help Kathryn Stockett
80. Sherlock Holmes (series) Arthur Conan Doyle
81. Half of a Yellow Sun Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
82. Moneyball Michael Lewis
83. My Family and Other Animals Gerald Durrell
84. Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
85. On the Road Jack Kerouac
86. Cloud Atlas David Mitchell
87. Wild Swans Jung Chang
88. Anne of Green Gables L.M. Montgomery
89. Les Miserables Victor Hugo
90. Room on the Broom Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
91. Private Peaceful Michael Morpurgo
92. Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman
93. Cider with Rosie Laurie Lee
94. Danny the Champion of the World Roald Dahl
95. Down and Out in Paris and London George Orwell
96. The Magic Faraway Tree Enid Blyton
97. The Witches Roald Dahl
98. The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy
99. Holes Louis Sachar
100. The Picture of Dorian Gray Oscar Wilde.
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6327545

[dakota87]

One Hundred Years of Solitude? I'm throwing up.

[Prospero]

I confess I wondered exactly the same thing as Stavros - whether they were real favourites or the books they thought they should choose.

I wonder if merging primary and secondary school lists has tended to bias it towards books preferred by women (since the majority of teachers in Primary schools are women)

Plus some of the teachers surely went for the worth rather than be honest. No airport style novels here - and Fifty shades of Grey is also notable by its absence.

[Rusty Eldora]

Well 23 of those I've read. It missed two of my favorites - The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, both by Ann Rand. When I read Atlas Shrugged I thought it was wild fiction, couldn't happen here. Now it seems to be non-fiction.

Yes another list, I recall in that Melanie Griffith movie the snooty NPR interviewer asking Melanie if she had read de Tocqueville. Later on in the movie after Melanie read the book, the interviewer confessed she had never read it herself, but it was a book everyone in DC says they have read.

[Prospero]

Neither of those books are - thank god - much read in the UK Rusty.

[Prospero]

Oh and I've read 48 of them. Odd mix. Some are really books FOR children (Where The Wild things are for instance) and some not at all - Arundhoti Roy's book for example or that by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (though perfectly accessible to an teenager).

[Stavros]

I dont think its realistic or safe to put 50 Shades of Grey on a list of teachers favourites, they will be found out and sacked. Also on the list is Jung Chang's Wild Swans, but that is not a novel.

Doesn't seem to be much in the way of gender/sexuality-related stuff, I wonder what teachers would recommend. Peter Pan? Too creepy. The Naked Lunch? Too explicit.

[Prospero]

The Naked lunch v Fifty shades... I think Burroughs would certainly be more controversial.

But why would they be sacked? It is probably just a vote - without names attached? (I've not read the article yet)

[Jericho]

Heh, Down And Out In Paris was the first book i was MADE to Read!

[robertlouis]

Heh, Down And Out In Paris was the first book i was MADE to Read!


.....and you've been living that life ever since! :dancing:

[robertlouis]

I wonder if merging primary and secondary school lists has tended to bias it towards books preferred by women (since the majority of teachers in Primary schools are women)



I wonder too. With the exception of the lesser works - Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park - every Jane Austen novel is here, but only two Dickens and one George Eliot, both, to my mind, infinitely superior writers to the sainted Jane.

At least there's no Dan Brown. Be thankful for small mercies.

[Prospero]

I never could find a way to get into Dickens. Too many contrived names. Too long (though that didn't stop me reading Proust or Anthony Powell). George Eliot on the other hand. Yes. Agree with you there RL

[Gillian]

Isn't this all a bit ...

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/__qzX-0fL9Js/R0eUHEDinzI/AAAAAAAAAkI/6BTOxyiNIkY/s400/pseuds_corner.gif

... for what is, after all, a porn forum ... :D

[Prospero]

naaahhhh we often have strands on other stuff. Sorry if its all a bit over your head Shelf. Why not read the does anal sex often make it cleaner thread.

[Gillian]

naaahhhh we often have strands on other stuff. Sorry if its all a bit over your head Shelf. Why not read the does anal sex often make it cleaner thread.
Miaow ...

Perhaps you and your gang should have a wee section to yourselves. You could call it "Existentialists' Corner", in keeping with your more highbrow aspirations for our lowly forum ... ;)

Don't worry about me. I'll let you know when things are over my head ...

[Prospero]

Joshing you around Shelf.... it is just there is room for all manner of stuff here. Obits on US wrestlers I've never heard off, to Mrs T and acres of thereal stuff - girls that is.