The 50 most popular high school reading books

1. The Great Gatsby
THE GREAT GATSBY, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s third book, stands as the supreme achievement of his career. This exemplary novel of the Jazz Age has been acclaimed by generations of readers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted “gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession,” it is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s. The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of twentieth-century literature. 

2. Lord of the Flies
When a plane crashes on a remote island, a small group of schoolboys are the sole survivors. From the prophetic Simon and virtuous Ralph to the lovable Piggy and brutish Jack, each of the boys attempts to establish control as the reality - and brutal savagery - of their situation sets in.

The boys' struggle to find a way of existing in a community with no fixed boundaries invites readers to evaluate the concepts involved in social and political constructs and moral frameworks. Ideas of community, leadership, and the rule of law are called into question as the reader has to consider who has a right to power, why, and what the consequences of the acquisition of power may be. Often compared to Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies also represents a coming-of-age story of innocence lost.

3. To Kill a Mockingbird
The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic. Compassionate, dramatic, and deeply moving, To Kill A Mockingbird takes readers to the roots of human behavior - to innocence and experience, kindness and cruelty, love and hatred, humor and pathos. Now with over 18 million copies in print and translated into forty languages, this regional story by a young Alabama woman claims universal appeal. Harper Lee always considered her book to be a simple love story. Today it is regarded as a masterpiece of American literature.

4. 1984
The year 1984 has come and gone, but George Orwell's prophetic, nightmarish vision in 1949 of the world we were becoming is timelier than ever. 1984 is still the great modern classic of "negative utopia" -a startlingly original and haunting novel that creates an imaginary world that is completely convincing, from the first sentence to the last four words. No one can deny the novel's hold on the imaginations of whole generations, or the power of its admonitions -a power that seems to grow, not lessen, with the passage of time.

5. The Scarlet Letter
A Romance is an 1850 work of fiction in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The book is considered to be his "masterwork". 

6. of mice and men
A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression
They are an unlikely pair: George is "small and quick and dark of face"; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a "family," clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

7. the catcher in the rye
J.D. Salinger's classic novel of teenage angst and rebellion was first published in 1951. The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923. It was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. 

8. animal farm
Animal Farm is an allegorical novella by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. According to Orwell, the book reflects events leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then on into the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union.

9. romeo and juliet
One of Shakespeare’s most iconic plays, Romeo and Juliet is the tale of young love gone horribly wrong, as a combination of the lovers' warring families, outside events and their own rashness conspire to wreak tragedy on Juliet and her Romeo.
10. tethering heights

11. hamlet
Undoubtedly the most famous of all of Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet remains one of the most enduring but also enigmatic pieces of western literature. The story of Hamlet, the young Prince of Denmark, his tortured relationship with his mother, and his quest to avenge his father's murder at the hand of his brother Claudius has fascinated writers and audiences ever since it was written around 1600.

12. the odyssey

13. the crucible
14. brave new world
15. the adventures of huckleberry finn
16. macbeth
17. heart of darkness
18. fahrenheit
19. the diary of a young girl
20. catch-22
21. the grapes of wrath
22. great expectations
23. frankenstein
24. jane eyre
25. the iliad
26. the old man and the sea
27. beowulf
28. pride and prejudice
29. julius caesar
30. a midsummer night’s dream
31. the canterbury tales
32. a separate peace
33. crime and punishment
34. a tale of two cities
35. death of a salesman
36. the colour purple
37. night
38. one flew over the cuckoo’s nest
39. the adventures of tom sawyer
40. cry, the beloved country
41. uncle tom’s cabin
42. ethan frome
43. the picture of dorian gray
44. othello
45. the count of monte crisp
46. the whale (moby-dick)
47. the red badge of courage
48. the metamorphosis
49. siddhartha
50. the stranger

让他三尺又何妨

清朝大学士张英的家人在老家与邻居之间有块儿空地，邻居修房砌墙越过了中界。张的家人写信报告，想请在朝廷做官的张英出来制止。谁知，张英批诗一首寄归：“ 一纸书来只为墙，让他三尺又何妨。长城万里今犹在，不见当年秦始皇。”家人得书，深感愧疚，立让三尺；邻家被张家之举所感动，也退让了三尺。“六尺巷”由此得名，成为一段千古佳话。

小时候听这个故事，很佩服張英的作派，大体能感到其中的忠恕之道。但随着年岁渐长，对这种处理方式却渐生不满。因为它貌似超脫高明，实则糊涂偷懒，实在要不得。吾国人遇事大而化之，不求甚解，导致政治黑暗，科技缺如，种种不足，正源于此。

首先，这样做是缺乏原則。事情总有个是非曲直。作为行政体制内首屈一指的高官，遇事不是通过司法手段或者通行的调解程序去解決，而简单地做一個高姿态，要邻居感受到他居高临下的悲憫，从而愧疚地自行修正。试想，张学士这种作派是否具备示范效应？如果是普通人，别人侵犯你的利益，你一味忍让会有什么后果？儒家讲究学为人师，行为示范，作为一囯的行政长官，不应该以一种高蹈的方式來宣扬別人无法模仿的道德。孔夫子之所以批评子贡救人而拒绝奖励，就是因为子贡这种高尚的行为无法让大众去践行。而无法让大众践行的道德终究是虚空。

当然，一个大学士与普通人对垒公堂，在中国的体制下也确实不好看。大家理所当然认为官府会偏向张英，这也是张英避免与人打官司的原因。但是，一个普通人选择法律来对抗权势，并且围观者不认为他头脑进水，正是一个社会有公义可寻的证明。张学士如果有进一步的认识，把家人与他人的官司做成一个司法公平的样板，无疑会大大促进社会的进步。而不仅仅留下一个教育意味不详的民间故事。

一百个记忆碎片（11）

中考结束，清扫完教室，关上灯，大家都散了。我怅然坐在自己的座位，北面靠墙的倒数第二排。桌面落了一层灰，空气呛人。这时她远远走过来，够着手去开窗。光线穿透她深红的纱质衬衣，勾勒出小小的乳房。真是美丽的夏天。