3 Required High School Reads Worth Diving Into Again

Assigned high school reading definitely involved some snoozy titles — we're looking at you,Beowulf — but some of the books we discovered during class became favorites we've reread again and again. There were the go-to, coming-of-age crowd-pleasers like Catcher in the Rye, the poignant novels like To Kill a Mockingbird, and the classics we couldn't put down like Lord of the Flies and The Great Gatsby. Highlighting well-known titles plus a handful that may surprise you, our editors have shared which high school books they loved most. To get in the back-to-school spirit, take a look and add a few titles to your list of must reads!

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

"I always love a good satire, and Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle is a perfect example. It's packed with heavier themes like love, death, and the hunger for power, but it's so well balanced with wittiness and absurdity. It's a quick read that doesn't really feel like sci-fi. I'm sure half of it went over my head when I read it sophomore year, but I loved it nonetheless." — Ryan Roschke, assistant editor, entertainment

"The Catcher in the Rye really caught my attention, because who isn't moody and totally over everything in high school?" — Maggie Pehanick, editor, entertainment

"As soon as I checked out Catcher in the Rye for English class, I started reading it. Even though it wasn't assigned yet. My enthusiasm might have hurt my GPA overall, since I would hide it in my geometry book during class and read it instead of paying attention. It was too good to put down!" — Annie Gabillet, managing director, living

"I had my ups and downs with John Steinbeck in school (I could barely get through Grapes of Wrath both times it was assigned), but something about East of Eden spoke to me. I loved the story of nature vs. nurture, the family drama that spanned generations, and the rich Northern California setting that Steinbeck described so well. It's even one of those cases where the book is still way better than the movie — and the movie stars James Dean, so that's saying something." — Shannon Vestal Robson, director, entertainment