Curating a Reading List

Every two years, I have the exciting opportunity to revamp my IB English Literature reading list. The IB course covers 11th and 12th grades, and for it, teachers are tasked with finding literary works across time, place, language, and genre, and are encouraged to choose writers from diverse backgrounds.

It’s a challenge I welcome and even look forward to, and while I have a couple of “trieds and trues” (I see you, Macbeth), I always like to consider how I might shake things up a bit with every cohort. In doing so, I focus on how each work will teach my students something about themselves and their place in the world.

There are many obvious benefits to reading that I am sure you can name: entertainment, knowledge acquisition, cognitive development, among others. In fact, U.S. universities require four credits of English of students they consider for admission – more than any other subject. Regular reading enhances our vocabulary, writing ability, and critical thinking competencies. It improves focus and concentration, which are increasingly rare skills in our distraction-filled world. And speaking of this world, reading has even been proven to have positive effects on mental health: research has shown that reading can reduce stress levels by up to 68%, lower heart rate, and ease muscle tension. It improves mindfulness, optimism, and overall positive emotions while reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. There is even something called “bibliotherapy,” which uses literature to help patients understand perspectives other than their own, make sense of a difficult past, or experience feelings of hope. More generally, reading is also thought to improve self-esteem, self-awareness, and self-efficacy. 

What excites me most, though, about curating my reading list is considering the life lessons my students can learn from books. Great literature, regardless of origin or time period, illuminates the universal aspects of the human condition. By immersing ourselves in characters’ lives and experiences, we develop a better understanding of different perspectives and different life situations. Perhaps we can even avoid making some mistakes as we examine the motivations of characters and the consequences of their actions. 

In my class, we study Macbeth to understand the dangers of unchecked ambition and the complexity of human relationships. We all know someone like Lady Macbeth, who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.  

A Doll’s House reminds us to stand up for ourselves, highlighting the dangers of living life according to others’ expectations rather than to our own, and makes us consider the courage of a male author writing about women’s rights in the late 19th century, before women even had the right to vote. (The original ending, which we read in class, was not well received at the time. But he tried). 

Through characters’ journeys, we often find reflections of our own struggles and triumphs. Sylvia Plath’s poetry in Ariel, for instance, offers profound insights into mental health and the human psyche, the limiting nature of societal expectations on both men and women, and the impact of childhood experiences on one’s adult life. 

Langston Hughes teaches us that “Life ain’t…no crystal stair,” but that doesn’t mean we stop climbing. 

Plays such as The Visit by Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt explore complex ethical dilemmas, challenging readers to think critically about justice, moral relativity, and the hypocrisy of certain accepted norms in our society. 

Purple Hibiscus, which author Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie informs us is most definitely not a “book about Africa,” is not even a book about Nigeria (according to her TED Talk). It’s a book about a family dealing with issues of power, privilege, and domestic violence, and coming of age amid all of these. We can certainly all relate to aspects of this.  

And finally, what we learn from Candide…well, I learned never to teach Candide again. My students hated it. I am still looking for something to replace that one… 

So, as I revisit my reading list every other year, I think about how each book can help guide my students through the next stage of their lives. While reading provides entertainment and improves our writing, it also enhances our mental health, broadens our perspectives, and helps us see that people across time and place have more in common than not. In a world that often prioritizes quick forms of communication through memes, Tweets, texts, and emails, the slow act of reading literature remains a powerful tool for personal growth, empathy, and understanding the world. Just make sure you pick the right book!