Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish
It's that time a year again. When kids get all stressed out because homework is piling up. And the days still holidays begin to count down. Back to school!
What I remember most about this it that the author is from Staten Island and I think my English teacher in high school said the story took place there too. Being from Staten Island I would picture my neighborhood as the setting of the story.
2. The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe
I really liked Poe's writings the semester I discovered his works. This short story was my favorite. I had a good English teacher that semester, Ms. Moussourakis. She, like myself, was a fan of the 1960's gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. Dark Shadows was influenced my many gothic themes and this was on of them. SPOILER ALERT: A man takes revenge on someone who insulted him by encasing him in a wall of bricks!
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
This is just a classic story and study about society. Being a fan of the TV show LOST I then reread during the show's first season and the book still held up.
4. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
This is my favorite play. I must seem like a cynical person having two books in a row that are about the failures of society. I'm not, but I guess I just like stories about them. Anyway, this play is flawless and since reading it in high school I have seen it performed twice. Once in London two years ago, staring Richard Armitage as John Proctor, and again this year on Broadway staring Saoirse Ronan as Abigail. I would see it again anytime.
5. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
This is another book I reread after high school, when the movie with Leonardo came out. I think I liked it better the second time. When I read it in high school we had a fun and eccentric teacher, Ms. Decker, who made reading interactive. While reading The Great Gatsby we also did a group project where each group had to research a different aspect of the 1920's: fashion, music, food/diet, news, etc, and we had to present our research in the form of a play.
6. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller is a good writer. This play always stuck out in my memory. Even
years later when saw the play on Broadway with Andrew Garfield and Philip Seymour Hoffman I remembered the details like the stockings, and the hose in the basement.
7. MacBeth by William Shakespeare
The witches were my favorite part. I would love to see it performed. Though due to superstition it is called "The Scottish Play".
8. Othello by William Shakespeare
Most of the other classes in my school were given Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet to read, but I never read those. Besides the two I mention here I only ever read Julius Caesar, King Lear, and The Merchant of Venice.
I liked Othello more than those. The manipulations of Iago are diabolical.
I am so sad because I would have loved to Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor play Othello and Iago. It was in London though and they never brought it to Broadway.
9. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
At the time I was not a fan of the book itself because of the prose. I often wonder if I should reread it as an adult and see if that has changed. However, I love the concept itself and all its themes and symbolisms. I like watching modern interpretations of the classic story. Such as the way it was used on Showtime's Penny Dreadful and the West End production starting Jonny Lee Miller and Benedict Cumberbatch.
10. Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya
I read this my first semester of my sophomore year. I remember it was very sad and I liked it. I think the main character had a child who was an outcast because he/she was albino. I hope I am remembering that correctly.
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