Skip to main content

Top Ten Books That Would Be on My Syllabus If I Taught...

Happy Top Ten Tuesday!

I think about this a lot because I do teach classes! But instead of my more hum-drum reading lists for English Composition, which you can find here, here are the reading lists for imaginary classes I'd like to teach:


Early Modern British Literature
(Note: would not necessarily teach in this order)

1. King Lear by William Shakespeare



2. Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare



3. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare



4. Hero and Leander by Christopher Marlowe



5. Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe



6. Comus by John Milton



7. Penshurst and other poems by Ben Jonson



8. Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum by Aemilia Lanyer



9. The Poems of Katherine Philips

(No Image Available)

10. Assaulted and Pursued Chastity by Margaret Cavendish



Extras: The Sonnets, selected poems from John Donne, selections from The Jew of Malta and The Duchess of Malfi, selected poems and speeches from Elizabeth I



Utopian and Dystopian Literature
(partially stolen from a class I took in graduate school; I thought more about order here)

1. Utopia by Thomas More



2. The Blazing World by Margaret Cavendish



3. The Giver by Lois Lowry



4. Animal Farm by George Orwell



5. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin



6. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy



7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley



8. Dawn by Octavia Butler



9. The Female Man by Joanna Russ



10. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler




Extra: "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin, "The Beast Below" episode from Dr. Who, "Sultana's Dream" by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Comments

Maggie said…
I love your dystopia list! I am a big fan of Butler and especially The Parable of the Sower, and it's nice to see her mentioned.
Great list! Though my favorite Shakespeare is Hamlet :)
Shakespeare is hard because really students should take an entire class on just Shakespeare, so I was just picking those that I think were best representative of his interaction with his society and fit best with the other texts in the proposed course.

Popular posts from this blog

Books with Single-Word Titles

Happy Top Ten Tuesday over at That Artsy Reader Girl! Books with Single-Word Titles These are all my favorite books that I could think of with one-word titles. A lot of fantasy, a few nonfiction (minus subtitles) and Kindred , whether you consider it scifi or historical fiction. Also two portmanteaus using the word "bitter." I suppose it's a word that lends itself to amelioration. 1. Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler 2. Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore 3. Fire by Kristin Cashore 4. Heartless by Marissa Meyer 5. Inheritance by Christopher Paolini 6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius 7. Stoned by Aja Raden (has a subtitle) 8. Educated by Tara Westover 9. Fledgling by Octavia Butler 10. Kindred by Octavia Butler

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Speaking of cultures and society, I leave for Spain on January 9. Instead of continuing as a book blog with a specific goal for number of books to read in a year, Space Station Mir will become a chronicle for my adventures in Spain. Expect a post for each new place that I visit, with pictures! I also plan to continue reviewing books, however I will not make a set goal for number of books to read this year. I do pledge myself to read at least one book in Spanish that was not assigned for a class. In terms of my goals for 2009, I was not diligent enough in keeping track of them. Looking back, I've fulfilled some of them and not others. The greatest trend in my reading this year, which marks a huge deviation for me, is that I've read more non-fiction than I think I've read any other year in my life. I've finally developed the ability to sustain interest in non-fiction other than biographies. For a while, biographies were the only non-fiction I ever read, with the exception

Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish

 I feel like I've been DNFing a fair amount lately, mostly with review books. I feel obligated to read review books longer than I would if they were books I just picked up on my own. That said, I have a caveat in my Book Review Policy  that if I feel I am not the right audience for the book, I won't post a review. I try to avoid that by only picking books I genuinely think I will enjoy, but of course I can't always predict that before I read. Also, while book clubs have been a great way to get exposed to books I wouldn't normally read, tastes will differ and every once in a while, I find a book I'm just not willing to finish. I also want to say no shade to the authors or anyone who enjoyed these books--they just weren't for me. Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Most Recent Books I Did Not Finish 1. Caribbean Competitors by Poppy Minnix--LibraryThing review--This one sounded great and has a beautiful cover, but while the island setting was compelling, I just couldn't ge