Call me a biased literature major, but nothing teaches a better lesson than books. So here are 5 books to read before you go to college that will make you grow, both as a reader and as a person.
1. The Great Gatsby (1925) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
"It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself, and assured you that it had precisely the impression of you that, at your best, you hoped to convey.”
What? A story about a bootlegging criminal who threw parties every night? Yes! Gatsby is one of the greatest literary characters of all time (literally great). He shall be remembered as someone who never gave up hope, who always went the extra mile for his dreams.. even if the extra mile was organized crime. But the moral of his story is to never give up. ya Old Sport!
2. The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger
“Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
A character who failed out of his expensive boarding school?! Holden! From the book that taught us all not to be phonies. Holden's character is filled with confusion and isolation-for the teenager years this book is a must read. It teaches us how to let go and allow ourselves to grow up even when that may be difficult.
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey
“You had a choice; you could either strain and look at things that appeared in front of you in the fog, painful as it might be, or you could relax and lose yourself.”
How could you not love McMurphy? A true nonconformist. This book will knock the passiveness out of you. Delivered from such an interesting perspective the movie version is just no enough, you have to read Kesey's masterpiece to full be able to say no to the man-or Nurse Ratched.
4. The Bell Jar (1963) by Sylvia Plath
“But when it came right down to it, the skin of my wrist looked so white and defenseless that I couldn't do it. It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn't in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get.”
A book that taught us what depression looks like. A realistic tale of a girl with all her dreams coming true, yet she's still unhappy. Though it may come off depresing, this is by all means an important book. Other than mental illness, Sylvia Plath also speaks for the feminist cause in her only novel.
5. Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson
“I wonder how long it would take for anyone to notice if I just stopped talking.”
A book so important in a time when sexual assault is unfortunately common. The context may be heavy, but it is delivered in such a humorous way. It is about an isolated girl in high school with a dark secret. The main message of the book? Speak.
