Once in a while, an English teacher is so great they instill a love of reading in you for life. The best English teachers make us believe we have brilliant thoughts on all classic novels that have never been discussed before. Here at Mischief Merch, we’ve been talking about those English teachers a lot, and our hearts are with the teachers and students who’ve had to pivot toZoom and online learning to finish out the school year. This Memorial Day weekend, it’s a great idea to revisit your favorite English teachers and the best books you read with them. 

It has been difficult to start reading a ton of new books during this ongoing quarantine. It’s sort of weird to dive into a new world and not know what’s going to happen. Rereading, like rewatching, is such an easy way to work yourself back up into reading. Although people may yell aboutreading another book, there really is nothing like revisiting a comforting favorite. Instead of despairing of your unread pile, you can always go back to the favorites. 

High school English class books are a great sector to return to because they helped us form the way we think. The way we read and the way English teachers taught us to engage with reading was a formative experience for many. Returning to some classics and seeing how they hit when you’re older and wiser is an amazing way to also feel like you’re reading a new book. Even returning to genre fiction like our favoritevampire books will hit differently when you’re older. Here are our recommendations for twenty books to dive back into if you need a lift from high school English curricula! 

1. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
2. Sula by Toni Morrison
3. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
4. The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
5. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
6. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
7. 1984 by George Orwell
8. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
9. Frankenstein by Mary Shelly
10. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka 
11. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
12. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
13. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
14. Hamlet by William Shakespeare 
15. The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
16. No Exit By Jean Paul Sartre 
17. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 
18. The Stranger by Albert Camus
19. The Odyssey by Homer 
20. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hasberry
21. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

If you’d like, you can even try writing a five paragraph essay to pass the time. One of my teachers used the hamburger metaphor, and another one used the layer cake. I always got hungry during those classes. 

What favorite books are you revisiting during this quarantine time?