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Top 30 school reads to revisit
Books from the curriculum worth rediscovering
Remember reluctantly ploughing through Pride and Prejudice for your English GCSE or thinking Brontë and her endlessly brooding Heathcliff were, well, a bit boring? Asking a 14-year-old to wrestle with the enormity of major literary themes in double English is a bit like asking the coalition to run smoothly: unrealistic. But revisit these books with a dose of experience under your belt, and you undoubtedly see them as the literary classics they are. Below, we've selected the 30 best curriculum stalwarts to re-read...
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Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë As teenagers, we thought it was… More details
Wuthering Heights
by Emily Brontë
As teenagers, we thought it was the worst love story we'd ever read: when they're not ranting at each other, they're having a huff. It's only now that we can appreciate Brontë's intense tale of love and revenge set on the Yorkshire Moors.
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The Go-Between
by LP Hartley This isn't just a coming-of-age… More details
The Go-Between
by LP Hartley
This isn't just a coming-of-age story - it's also about memory and experience. How do we look back on our childhoods as adults? A brilliant and moving exploration of nostalgia that ages better than most of our memories.
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A Room With A View
by EM Forster If your memory of studying A Room… More details
A Room With A View
by EM Forster
If your memory of studying A Room With A View is giggling at a grainy video of naked men running through trees, you're not alone. But this beautifully written love story with evocative prose and knife-sharp British wit makes it even better than we remembered from school.
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The Catcher In The Rye
by JD Salinger Can we relate to disaffected youth… More details
The Catcher In The Rye
by JD Salinger
Can we relate to disaffected youth as adults? Surprisingly, The Catcher In The Rye still strikes a chord. Maybe it's because we can finally understand Holden's desire to cling onto his childhood, or may it's because we realise that growing up doesn't give us all the answers.
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Pride And Prejudice
by Jane Austen It is a truth universally… More details
Pride And Prejudice
by Jane Austen
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Mr Darcy made GCSE English more interesting, but as a teen you may not have noticed Austen's sharp and sometimes cruel humour. Not to mention the devastatingly honest summary of what it was like to be a woman at that time.
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The Great Gatsby
by F Scott Fitzgerald Despite the flawless prose… More details
The Great Gatsby
by F Scott Fitzgerald
Despite the flawless prose and the countless glitzy soirees, there's an unsettling emptiness in Fitzgerald's prose which you might have missed on a first read, blinded by the sequins and champagne flutes.
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Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens The boy-done-good was the draw… More details
Great Expectations
by Charles Dickens
The boy-done-good was the draw when we first read Great Expectations but the character that really intrigues as an adult is the aged and haunted Miss Havisham, robbed of her ability to love and left desperate for revenge.
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Lord Of The Flies
by William Golding The tale of a stranded group… More details
Lord Of The Flies
by William Golding
The tale of a stranded group of boys' descent into savagery is shocking at an age, but read it now and you'll be struck by its extraordinary complexity. The hopelessness of human darkness? That might have been just a little too much for our teenage minds to hand.
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Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell Orwell's thriller about a… More details
Nineteen Eighty-Four
by George Orwell
Orwell's thriller about a totalitarian government controlling peoples' thoughts still lends itself to a scary number of modern comparions. You'll now pick up on the phrases Orwell invented - from newspeak to Big Brother - and find his comments on political spin riveting.
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Far From The Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy Since Tamara Drewe last year gave… More details
Far From The Madding Crowd
by Thomas Hardy
Since Tamara Drewe last year gave a new twist to this Hardy classic we've been itching to re-read the original. Tinged with tragedy (and quite a high body count), Hardy exposes the dangerous sides of love, the betrayals and the bitter endings.
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The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood This bleak tale of a facist,… More details
The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood
This bleak tale of a facist, futuristic US state where women are bartered for sexual servitude was nothing short of baffling for us as teenagers: but as adults, the casual mistreatment of women resonates strongly.
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To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee There's no denying that To Kill A… More details
To Kill A Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
There's no denying that To Kill A Mockingbird was a thrilling read when we were young (one Stylist staffer even admits to a lifelong crush on one of the lead characters, Jem). Re-visit it now and you are able to appreciate even further the fine, witty prose and subtle mosaic of racial tension that underlies all aspects of the story.
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Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck As teens, we enjoyed the… More details
Of Mice and Men
by John Steinbeck
As teens, we enjoyed the naughty language in this epic American novel. Years on and the central theme of fragile dreams - set amid a backdrop of the Great Depression but applicable everywhere - hits home in a much more poignant way.
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The Color Purple
by Alice Walker Walker's depiction of life for… More details
The Color Purple
by Alice Walker
Walker's depiction of life for black women in the 1930s Deep South makes a lasting impression whatever your age. Re-read the novel now and you will once again experience a rollercoaster of emotions, from joy to sadness and outrage.
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Empire Of The Sun
by J. G. Ballard Most people will remember… More details
Empire Of The Sun
by J. G. Ballard
Most people will remember Christian Slater running around with a toy plane in the film version of this classroom classic but the book is ten times as satisfying. Moving, complex and elegantly written, it is a beautiful eulogy to war that can be read a dozen times without boredom.
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Sons And Lovers
by D. H. Lawrence Young readers may have enjoyed… More details
Sons And Lovers
by D. H. Lawrence
Young readers may have enjoyed the oblique sexual references in D. H. Lawrence's earliest masterpiece, but the intensity of dialogue made it a challenging read. This captivating tale of social divides and sexuality is better absorbed in the context of an adult world.
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Animal Farm
by George Orwell We didn't object to the talking… More details
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
We didn't object to the talking animals as teenagers - but equally, it was difficult to see what all the fuss was about. Re-visiting Orwell's classic now lends more far substance to the allegory of underlying corruption in Soviet Russia and the wider world.
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The Woman In Black
by Susan Hill A chilling ghost story will always… More details
The Woman In Black
by Susan Hill
A chilling ghost story will always go down well in the classroom, especially one which has a fantastic - and terrifying - West End adaptation to go with it. We challenge you not to be scared all over again with Hill's haunting elegy of a house with a secret.
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Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley Anyone who tackled Frankenstein… More details
Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley
Anyone who tackled Frankenstein will remember the numbing disappointment that came with realising that what promised to a juicy monster story was actually a pretty heavy read. But give it a whirl as an adult and you will be drawn to the human elements of Shelley's novel - such as injustice towards outsiders.
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Howard's End
by E. M. Forster If you're anything like us, your… More details
Howard's End
by E. M. Forster
If you're anything like us, your early memories of Howard's End will involve Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. It's only with a re-read that we now recognise the novel - redolent with Downton Abbey-esque issues of class and social etiquette - for the modern masterpiece it is.
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The French Lieutenant’s W…
by John Fowles With three different endings to… More details
The French Lieutenant’s Woman
by John Fowles
With three different endings to choose from, The French Lieutenant’s Woman is far from a straight-forward read. But what seemed to us as teenagers to be slow, difficult -to -digest text has magically transformed itself into a compelling read. The main character Sarah Woodruff is particularly captivating as an enigmatic manipulater/victim figure.
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The Strange Case Of Dr Jeky…
by Robert Louis Stevenson A dark but brilliant… More details
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson
A dark but brilliant portrayal of split personality disorder, Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde makes for a winning curriculum text. And it only gets better with age - we will never tire of that chilling passage where Hyde is seen bashing a man to death with a heavy cane, before rapidly morphing into the respectable Dr. Jekyll once again. Classic.
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Cat's Eye
by Margaret Atwood Sure, so we were sort of… More details
Cat's Eye
by Margaret Atwood
Sure, so we were sort of interested in Atwood's rich tale of childhood bullying in English Lit. lessons, but it was not exactly a highlight. Read as a grown-up, however, and the book comes alive with subtle metaphors, all pointing to the lingering effect of mental abuse on adult life.
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Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier "Last night I dreamt I… More details
Rebecca
by Daphne du Maurier
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again" - it's the one quote we never forgot come essay time. And du Maurier's celebrated novel stays with us in adulthood. With mystery, horror, romance, and suspense competing for attention, it's hard to resist a re-read.
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The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath Telling the story of a young… More details
The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
Telling the story of a young woman’s coming-of-age, The Bell Jar explores a plethora of heavy issues - including suicide, rape, psychiatry and the fallacy of conventional expectations. A lot to throw at a teenager, but as an adult you couldn't ask for a more fascinating read.
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Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières Granted, Nicolas Cage… More details
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières
Granted, Nicolas Cage brought a different slant to this modern classic - yet the meat of Louis de Bernières' moving war-time tale is found in the book rather than the film. As an A-level text, it seemed like a bit of a slow burner; read it now and you will not be let down by this complex tale of love and lust set against a backdrop of conflict.
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Beloved
by Toni Morrison Morrison's Beloved opened up a… More details
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
Morrison's Beloved opened up a whole new world of discovery to us as secondary school students. Back then, it was the graphic violence and sex references that grabbed our attention - now it's the angry and heart-breaking portrayal of slavery and racism that makes for compulsive reading.
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The Grass Is Singing
by Doris Lessing Set in apartheid South Africa,… More details
The Grass Is Singing
by Doris Lessing
Set in apartheid South Africa, Doris Lessing's landmark 1950 novel deals with uncomfortable concepts of revenge, self-delusion and institutionalized racism. Written mostly in the form of a flashback, it is best read as an adult - both for a greater understanding of the failed marriage at the centre of the book, and also its historical context.
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Silas Marner: The Weaver of…
by George Eliot For high school students, Eliot's… More details
Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe
by George Eliot
For high school students, Eliot's story of a reclusive weaver is a gentle warm-up to the author's epic masterpiece Middlemarch, but it is still a fairly hefty read. Concepts of individuality, faith and destiny are better understood and enjoyed from a perspective of an adult reader.
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Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley Aldous Huxley's dystopian tale… More details
Brave New World
by Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley's dystopian tale of lost identity and political corruption is a somewhat dubious sell in a classroom context. But in the adult world of expecting so much from society and government, it suddenly becomes much more relevant and the parody much more clear.
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