Belated Lessons: The School Reads I Neglected and Tackled as an Adult

I don’t remember finishing a single book that I was set to read in high school. Rediscovering some that I skipped, years later on my own terms was something great though. It provided me with an understanding that I prefer reading in my own time more than I realised and that studying a novel reduces a books meaning for me rather than expands it. I also realised that there were several I never cared for (for what I think are good reasons) and never will. Without further ado, here are a few that I have revisited in recent years:

• “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald – Prompted by watching the most recent film version and reading about the Fitzgerald’s in Hemingway’s “Moveable Feast”, I revisited Gatsby with glee. When I wasn’t trying to interpret the book along the lines suggested by teachers and cliff notes alike, I simply enjoyed the wonderful novel.
  
• “King Lear” by William Shakespeare – I struggled with all of the plays that I was set as reading texts in High School. Perhaps I was a bit slow with the language or perhaps I needed it to be brought to life on stage in order to appreciate it. After seeing a rendition of Lear, I decided I to try going back over multiple Shakespeare novels. I would not go so far as to say I’m converted into a fanatic. Certainly though I have a greater appreciation for it than I did, including the tragedy of Lear.
  
• “Heart of Darkness and Other Tales” by Joseph Conrad – I thought I would like this after learning it was essentially the story of Apocalypse Now and yet, I couldn’t. I’ve not tried any other Conrad. Maybe I’m missing something. In any event, it remains fully unread to date (though I was able to read more of it than I did in High School).
  
• “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger – When I was a kid, I simply didn’t want to read the book. I struggled to read assigned chapters when I was told to, rather than in my own time, and the narrative here couldn’t draw me in. I went back to it in my late 20s and still couldn’t get into it. Maybe I had missed the boat as I felt the voice of the protagonist was whiny and boring. Anyway – not one for me.
  
• “Cannery Row” by John Steinbeck – Steinbeck’s simple yet vivid depiction of life on a sardine-canning street came alive for me when I revisited this after reading some of Steinbeck’s other work – notably “East of Eden” where I was struck by the sheer beauty of the writing. “Cannery Row” and its sequel “Sweet Thursday” became favorites when I read them under the backdrop of enjoyment rather than study.
  
• “Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick – This one is a bit of a cop out as it was actually on my sister’s high school reading list a couple years after I had graduated. The copy I read (and still have) is the one that my sister got from her school. She had zero interest in reading it. Without the pressure of having to read it for a lesson, I got sucked into it. Would I have read it if I had been assigned it in school? We’ll never know, but maybe my sister would actually enjoy it now if she tried!

Revisiting these classics as an adult has been a journey of rediscovery and of vindication (to my younger self at least). If you’ve ever felt compelled to give a second chance to the books from your school days—or if you missed them the first time around—this list might inspire you to explore them anew. You might have been right to skip them first time around, as I found with books like “Catcher in the Rye” or you may discover something you missed out on. For me I also realised that I could have maybe enjoyed them back then if I gave them a try, rather than just trying to get through a class. You can find them through the link here at Bookshop.org to support Cow Island and your local bookshops. Happy reading, and may you find in these ‘belated lessons’ as interesting as I have.