# Books that should have been read in high school **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 4, 2025, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741 "2025-09-04T11:06:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/101 "2025-09-07T14:49:57Z")
If the screen is showing video then it may not be a reading something long form. If they are constantly clicking and scrolling then it may not be something long form. This is not exclusive to “young people”: phones and tablets are used more for shorter attention span, video engagement, and game activities. And it is not hard to observe them being used in that manner, as opposed to reading a complete page of information, one click or swipe, and another whole page. I don’t know numbers but I do still see kids of all ages with books. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/102 "2025-09-07T14:58:40Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I don’t know numbers but I do still see kids of all ages with books So do I. Compare the bedrooms of a teen and an adult. The teen will inevitably have more books, especially ones that look like they are being actively read. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/103 "2025-09-07T15:06:13Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > How can you tell whether someone is reading a book on their phone or tablet rather than a magazine or newspaper or a message board or … ? I don’t see kids reading any of those things either. What they do “read” on their phones (text messages, social media feeds, websites with lots of images) looks obviously different from the pure text you’d see if they were reading a book. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/104 "2025-09-07T16:00:16Z")
Some support: [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/print-books-thrive-despite-e-readers-1.7056731](https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costofliving/print-books-thrive-despite-e-readers-1.7056731) > “Interestingly, Kindles and similar e-readers were more popular with the older generations we surveyed, whereas younger people were as interested in print, or more, than their older fellow readers.” … Stewart says interest from young readers is driving what he describes as “astonishing” growth in fiction sales. > > Canadian publishing sales figures are not publicly available, but Stewart says overall sales in the U.S. are up 12 per cent since 2019, while fiction is up 45 per cent. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/105 "2025-09-07T18:02:16Z")
Uh, not in my house. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/106 "2025-09-07T18:47:01Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > Should we assume that’s a ‘no’? Yes, read it several times-I even owned a copy once, donated it- along with many boxes of other books to my local library. Like i said above, it is a okay book, I have no issue with it being taught to more advanced readers. Same with Huckleberry Finn, altho that of course is one of the greatest works of American literature. Still, a book with the N word is not for younger kids who still have issues reading _anything._ > [@Spoons](#): > > I think the fact that we have been discussing _Maus_ so thoroughly indicates that it might make a good candidate for inclusion in a high school English course. Yes, AP English, maybe for seniors. Where they could discuss intelligently stuff like the poles being pigs, the Holocaust, etc Not for kids in elementary school- kids who might still have issues with reading at their level. 70% of American 8th graders in America cant read at that level;. Let us fix that first. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/107 "2025-09-07T19:12:22Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > There are lots of graphic novels that aspire to and achieve literary sophistication, and are worth attention in an academic setting. I realized this when I read _Watchmen,_ and pretty much everything I’ve read since by Alan Moore. A right nutter, that guy. But he knows how to use his medium. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/108 "2025-09-08T01:27:49Z")
**On The Road** - Jack Kerouac. Between 16-18 years of age Americans get a car. With a summer job and a few friends they gather a small batch of cash. There seems to be nothing more American as a right of passage than a continental road-trip in your own car. This book needs to be read at that moment in your life or you might never do this. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/109 "2025-09-08T02:53:48Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > **Parliament of Whores** by PJ O’Rourke (1991). What does the US Government do? How did it get so big? Why does it cost so freakin’ much? The questions Alexis de Tocqueville probably meant to ask 200 years ago are addressed here (early 90s) with the appropriate level of awe and reverence (not much). O’Rourke made his name as a writer and editor for National Lampoon back in its glory days and as a columnist for _Rolling Stone, Atlantic Monthly, The Weekly Standard_ and others. He’s written 18 books since leaving the Lampoon, many of which are compilations of his magazine articles. Around 1995, satire took a back seat to conservative polemics, but Parliament (1991) was the peak of his humorous period. Yes. Strongly agree. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2025, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/110 "2025-09-08T05:33:36Z")
**The Gift of Fear** by Gavin de Becker. **Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science** by Martin Gardner Also **1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus** and **1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created** both by Charles C. Mann [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741.md?page=5)