The books I should have read

I love a challenge. When my AP English teacher buddy Jenni sent me a link to Dana Huff's "Books I Should Have Read in School, But Didn't" challenge, I had to sign up. I figure this challenge is going to make an honest woman of me.

At school, I frequently find myself in the position of recommending books that somehow never made it onto my own reading list. The student is fingering a copy of The Outsiders. "I have to read this for English. Is it good?" "Oh yes, it's great! It's about gangs. You'll love it." Sometimes I fool myself: I can tell you so much about A Clockwork Orange that I've caught myself thinking I've actually read it (I haven't even seen the movie).

Of course, a librarian has to do a certain amount of this. It's a part of the job. I give book talks about all the new YA titles, but I can't possibly read them that fast. And there are some I don't care to read at all. I recommend Nicholas Sparks all the time to starry-eyed 17 year old romantics. Will I ever read one of his books? Sorry, life is too short. Ditto Darren Shan.

But I do feel a certain measure of guilt when it comes to the classics. I see this challenge as an opportunity to rectify some of the grossest examples of negligence in my literary education. Here's my list of 12 books I should have read, to be read in 2011:

Wuthering Heights

The Red Badge of Courage

Cry, the Beloved Country

The Color Purple

The Crucible

Heart of Darkness

Middlemarch

The Invisible Man

Slaughterhouse-Five

To Kill a Mockingbird

Catch-22

O Pioneers!

First up: Wuthering Heights.