Top Ten Tuesdays: Recommendations for High School Students

Tonight I thought for Top Ten Tuesday I would do recommendations for my students.  What should I read if I completely hate reading and I am a high school student?!

If you like futuristic/reality
1. The Hunger Games--if you haven't read it you are seriously missing out!
2. Divergent--this one is really good...especially if you liked The Hunger Games

If you like drama/suspense
3. The Face on the Milk Carton--Kidnapping and family drama all in one :)
4. The Pelican Brief--Who killed who? Why did they do it? And there's more by John Grisham too.

If you like Downton Abbey
5. Pride and Prejudice--It is a great story, and a romance to top it off. And if you like that go to Emma
6. Anne of Green Gables--This old-fashioned story has always been really sweet and then I love keep reading the rest of them.

If you like romances
7. The Truth About Forever--super sweet love story!! And it is a high school love story :) And you can read more Sarah Dessen if you like this one
8. The Last Song--Nicholas Sparks is a great author to read...I like starting with this one because it is more high school friendly

If you like historical fiction
9. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas--It is a great story from a different perspective.
10. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society--I love how this whole book is in letters and you learn so much about history :)

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Top Ten Tuesday: Secondary Characters

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is all about secondary characters.  To me a secondary character is like a supporting actor...he/she helps the main character be their best and/or move the plot forward. So with that criteria, here are my top ten secondary characters:

1. Calpurnia from To Kill a Mockingbird--She really keeps the family together!

2. Diane Barry from Anne of Green Gables--I love her and she helps Anne be the best character!!

3. Melanie from The Host--Because she is just really a body....and kind of a mind....I thought it is a good secondary character to Wanderer.

4. Maximilian Kohler from Angels and Demons--Because of Max the story moves forward.  He is very important to moving the plot forward.

5. James and Lily Potter from the Harry Potter series--They are not alive for really any of the books, but they support Harry throughout all of the books and are forefront in his mind.

6. Mrs. Everdeen from The Hunger Games series-- She is not in the books very much, but I love the influence that she seems to have on Katniss.

7. Cinna from The Hunger Games series--I could not just pick one character from this series.  I loved Cinna, and I think he was a great motivation for Katniss.

8. Hannah from Little Women--She is the March's cook and really seems to do well for the girls and effectively becomes their second mom.

9. Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice- As Elizabeth's mom, she is a great influence on her and her personality.

10. Lydia from Pride and Prejudice- As Elizabeth's sister who runs away, she is really what brings Elizabeth and Darcy together!

Jane Austen

This month's Classics Club question is about Jane Austen.  They ask why you hate or love Jane Austen and what your favorite or least favorite novel.  Another fellow Classics Clubber Roofbeam Reader talked about how Mark Twain really didn't like Austen.  He shared a quote in which Twain said, "Whenever I take up Pride and Prejudice, I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin bone."  My question with this quote, is that if he knew that he didn't like the book the first time, why did he keep reading it over and over again?

Personally, I do read Jane Austen over and over again--and I LOVE it.  Sometimes when I have had a long day,  I turn my MP3 player on set it to turn off in about 20 minutes and then I listen to a book that I know really well on tape.  I can just focus on the words and ignore what is going on in my brain from the day.  Sometimes the book of choice is Pride and Prejudice.  So I don't want to beat her with her shin bone over that book.

The cool thing about this question is that I am have set a goal to read all of the main Austen novels because I bought this complete set a while ago and I haven't ever really read them all.  I have read Sense and Sensibility this year, and technically finished listening to Pride and Prejudice this year--but I'm not counting that.  My favorite of hers is actually Emma--I think because she reminds me the most of myself.  Persuasion might be my least favorite...but it has been awhile, and I had to read it in college so I read it REALLY fast.  So maybe by the end of this year I will have a clear "ranking".