In Episode 34, Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters (also a high school English teacher at an all-girls school) talks about how she tries to encourage her students to love what they’re reading, how she feels about classic and contemporary literature in the classroom, and…of course, shares her book recommendations!

This post contains affiliate links (plus: here’s your Amazon Smile-specific affiliate link), through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!).

Highlights

• Sara’s passion of helping her students read books they’re actually going to love
• How bookstagram pushed her to think about how she could get her students to enjoy reading outside of school.
• How much say Sara has in the books she includes on her curriculum.
• The volume breakdown of classics vs. contemporary literature she teaches in her classes and whether she’s happy with that number.
• How Sara feels about the idea that there are certain books every single student needs to read.
• Sara’s favorite contemporary books that she teaches.
• Contemporary books Sarah would love to teach, but can’t for whatever reason.
• Classics that Sara thinks should always be taught in classrooms.
• Classics Sara thinks should be eliminated from school curricula.
• Whether Sara and I actually did our high school reading.

Sara’s Book Recommendations

Two OLD Books She Loves

• Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro | Buy from Amazon [22:46]
• Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward | Buy from Amazon [24:56]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• Naamahby Sarah Blake | Buy from Amazon [28:55]
• Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion by Jia Tolentino | Buy from Amazon [31:31]

One Book She DIDN’T Love

• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware | Buy from Amazon [33:49]

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

• In the Dream Houseby Carmen Maria Machado (Release Date: November 5, 2019) | Buy from Amazon [36:20]

Other Books Mentioned

• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote | Buy from Amazon [8:36]
• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee | Buy from Amazon [12:23]
• The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger | Buy from Amazon [12:23]
• Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck | Buy from Amazon [12:23]
• Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [12:35]
• My Atonia by Willa Cather | Buy from Amazon [13:47]
• The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore | Buy from Amazon [14:16]
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | Buy from Amazon [15:07]
• Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [15:12]
• Circe by Madeline Miller (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [15:34]
• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [16:43]
• Beartown by Fredrik Backman (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [17:15]
• Beloved by Toni Morrison | Buy from Amazon [17:32]
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison | Buy from Amazon [18:49]
• Sula by Toni Morrison | Buy from Amazon [18:49]
• The Great Gatsby by Toni Morrison | Buy from Amazon [19:33]
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte | Buy from Amazon [20:26]
• Pride & Prejudiceby Jane Austen | Buy from Amazon [20:26]
• Beowulf by Anonymous | Buy from Amazon [20:50]
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer | Buy from Amazon [20:50]
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens | Buy from Amazon [20:50]
• The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne | Buy from Amazon [21:33]
• 1984 by George Orwell | Buy from Amazon [21:59]
• Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward (My Review) | Buy from Amazon [26:30]
• Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward | Buy from Amazon [28:47]
• Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood | Buy from Amazon [30:06]
• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware | Buy from Amazon [34:04]
• The Lying Game by Ruth Ware | Buy from Amazon [34:12]
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn | Buy from Amazon [35:20]
• The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware | Buy from Amazon [36:01]
• Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado | Buy from Amazon [36:27]
• A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (My Review) | Buy from Amazon[36:52]
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer | Buy from Amazon [38:57]

Other Links

• Sara’s “How to Make a Reader” series

About Sara

Blog | Instagram 

Sara is the bookstagrammer and blogger behind @fictionmatters. She teaches high school English at an all-girls school and lives in Denver with her husband and their puppy, Mr. Bingley.

Next Episode

Mini Episode…featuring Sarah Bohl (airing Wednesday, October 23).

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How do you feel about contemporary literature vs. classics in the classroom?

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