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While most of the books on my list are potential options for teachers to have their students read in middle or high school, I really feel like this one is a must read. Of course, I didn't, but it is such a well written book, easily understandable, and really delves into the issues of human nature. All of these elements make it a perfect student read.
The simplicity of this book is really beautiful. It has the perfect level of character development, building plot, climax, and resolution. When I set it down, I almost felt like, "Now that's how you write a book."
And this is all without even mentioning the fact that William Goulding has expertly dissected humans in their true nature. The desire for social acceptance, power, and safety are all very evident in this story. It would make for some seriously awesome group discussion during and after reading.
Sometimes I wish I was reading them with others so we could discuss them. But I suppose that is why I have you. Have you read this book? What did you think?
A list of what's to come, and what has already been explored.
My Written Artwork Journey Explained here
My Written Artwork Journey Explained here
- Animal Farm - George Orwell
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Emma - Jane Austen
- Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
- Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams
- Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson
- Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
- The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer
- Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
- Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell
- Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
- Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
- The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
- The Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
- Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson
- Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens
- Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
- The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
- Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
- Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
- Lord of the Flies - William Golding
- Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
- The sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
- Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
- Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
- Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
- Little Women - Louisa May Alcott
- Crime and Punishment - Fedor Dostoyevsky
- Watership Down - Richard Adams
- Doctor Zhivago - Boris Pasternak
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
- All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
- Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
- Moby Dick - Herman Melville
- The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane
- Robinson Crusoe - Daniel Defoe
- Tales - Edgar Allan Poe
- Diary of a Madman and Other Stories - Nikolai Gogol
- Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
- A Farewell To Arms - Ernest Hemingway
- Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
This wasn't my favorite book, but it definitely is great for conversation and analyzing human nature. Before working at an elementary school I thought it was an extremely far fetched plot. Little boys would never hurt each other and turn "savage" as they did in the story. But...after being a recess duty teacher for four years with K-6 grade children...I truly wonder what would happen if we adults weren't there to keep things in line. Haha. It is a bit scary what humans are capable of, as we have seen historically. I just can't imagine some of the young boys that I work with committing such acts of horror towards each other as children. They seem too innocent, deep down. But they are also not innocent at all at the same time. Oh the plight of human nature. Good and evil at odds all the time.
ReplyDeleteI should also mention that I haven't read this book since I was in high school, so it might be interesting to re-read now that I am an adult. :)
do you use goodreads.com ?? It's like a virtual book club. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is frighteningly true, that unfortunately most humans have not evolved enough to go beyond their basic instincts when survival comes into play. Thoroughly depressing. (now I need a cup of tea to recover from thinking about that book (He! He!:)
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day, hope you get to paint, I think of you everyday when I see your beautiful feather painting, T. :)