Top 5 Most Influential Required Reading Books!

"Top 5 Wednesday" is a weekly meme created by Lainey at GingerReadsLainey on Youtube and hosted by Goodreads hosts Lainey and Mindy. You can find the goodreads group here.

It wouldn't be a true T5W without me putting my own spin on the week's topic. The original topic was simply "Top 5 Required Reading Books" but I figured most would be the same across the board (plus, mine would just be Dickens, Dickens, Poe, Dickens, Gatsby), so I wanted to do my own spin.

The Tell Tale Heart

If you're new*, you might not know that I love Edgar Allan Poe. This was the first ever story by Poe that I read (it was in seventh grade, so this obsession runs six years** deep), and I remember having to research him in class that same day. I was a goner after that.

All hail the father of short stories.

*actually if you're old you might not know either because I've never talked about it

**years is a completely acceptable measurement

The Kite Runner

This is the most recent read on my list. I read it earlier this year, and -believe it or not- this might be the first truly diverse book that I've read. Now, I just want all the diverse books in my collection and in my mind.

Great Expectations

Freshman year. What a gloriously terrible time. My teacher didn't love this book, and she'd been teaching freshman English for long enough to know that this was by far the least favorite book. So, she suggested that we listen to the audiobook* when it gets slow. So, I did, and that was the first ever (partial) audiobook I listened to** and now look at me: I'm obsessed.

*on Youtube because we're freshman in high school, we don't have money

**back when I didn't consider audiobooks reading

Hatchet

I hated this book. I absolutely hated it. Fifth grade. Language arts class. "Advanced Readers" table.

Now I hate books that take place in the wilderness. There is no cure. I've tried.

A TALE OF TWO CITIES

My all time favorite book. Great Expectations was good (it's getting a re-read soon), but this book blew me away. I read this book sophomore year, my teacher was absolutely hilarious* and she absolutely loved me. We dung into this novel, and that was really the first experience I ever had doing that.

It was glorious. Meet my favorite book.

*when we read Animal Farm she read the first few chapters aloud to the class, and she gave the animals voices. it was great.

What do you think of this? Definitely too text-y but I didn't like how it looked with the pictures either. What books are on your list? Tell me down in the comments!