Posted on 12/25/2017 7:23:08 AM PST by CharlesOConnell
Before kids can get the great books in college, they need the 1,000 good books in k-12. http://www.kofc15693.org/john-seniors-list-of-1000-good-books/
Book/Reading ping!
Add - if you can find it on Amazon, “The Growth of the American Republic,” Vol 1 & 2, Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager, 1962 or later updated editions with William E. Leuchtenburg, 923 pp each.
I was told, when studying lit in college, that you didn’t need Milton. Without it, it is interesting how much lit is incomprehensible or meaningless. More so with failing to read the Bible.
I love these lists. I have one who is a sophomore in private school and they read very, very few of these. I have a 7th grader that I homeschool and he has read many of these.
There is a huge difference in their cultural literacy and what the younger one can add to a conversation that the older one can’t, based strictly on what each has read.
Don’t forget before going to college, read in no particular order:
T.S. Eliot’ Collected Poems 1909-1962;
Boswell and Johnson;
Roget’s Thesaurus;
Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary;
(no Dostoyevsky novels translated by Constance Garnett, most anyone else is fine);
Homer’s Odyssey;
Darkness at Noon (Arthur Koestler);
The Odyssey, A Modern Sequel (Nikos Kazantzakis);
The Horse’s Mouth (Joyce Cary);
The Journey to the East (Herman Hess);
The Castle (Franz Kafka);
Ovid’s Metamorphoses;
Alexander Pope’s Selected Poetry and Prose;
Yeats’ A Vision, and Selected Poems and Two Plays (M.L. Rosenthal;
Oedipus, The King (Sophocles);
Any good set of Encyclopedias;
The Gallic Wars vol 1-8 (Julius Caesar {in Latin, not English};
The Alexandria Quartet (Lawrence Durrell);
East Africa: The Search for Unity (A. J. Hughes);
A Short History of Africa (Oliver & Fage);
Ancient African Kingdoms (Margaret Shinnie);
All of D.H.Lawrence;
Randall Jarrell, Selected Poems;
All of William Shakespeare;
George Washington Carver: A Life (Christina Vella) & George Washington Carver: In His Own Words (Gary R. Kremer);
Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poems (he did his own English translations);
Gods, Men and Ghosts (Lord Dunsany);
The Psychology of Mass Fascism (Wilhelm Reich);
The Lomokome Papers (Herman Wouk);
The Lost Traveller (Ruthven Todd);
For Starters. I did, your kid can, if a real education is the aim.
Speaking of Dr. James Taylor, he wrote a book called Poetic Knowledge I highly recommend.
Should include Whittaker Chambers’ Witness.
Many of these are public domain:
AMERICAN FOUNDATIONAL DOCUMENTS:
The Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, US Constitution and Bill of Rights
HAMILTON, A.; JAY, J.; MADISON, J. (1788) The Federalist Papers
GIBBON, Edward (1737-1794) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
BOSWELL, James (1740-1795) Life of Samuel Johnson
AUSTEN, Jane (1775-1817) Pride and Prejudice
NEWMAN, John Henry (1801-1890) Apologia Pro Vita Sua
de TOCQUEVILLE, Alexis (1805-1859) Democracy in America
MILL, John Stuart (1806-1873) On Liberty, The Subjection of Women
BASTIAT, Frederic (1801-1850) The Law
LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865) Speeches and Letters
DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882) Origin of Species
KIERKEGAARD, Soren (1813-1855) Fear and Trembling
THOREAU, Henry David (1817-1862) On Civil Disobedience
WASHINGTON, Booker T. (1856-1915) Up From Slavery
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.