It’s Friday once again and that means it’s time for Connect Five Friday, hosted at Book Date by Kathryn – the meme where we share five book/reading things that connect in some way.
Once again, I was going over some of the categories for the “52 Books in 52 Weeks” reading challenge and the Mensa category one shocked me a bit.
For this category, we have to read a book that is on the “Mensa for Kids Excellence in Reading Program for Grades 9-12”. I printed off the list – over 100 books! And as I checked off the ones I’d read (only 31), I realized there were soo many I hadn’t read.
And there were some tough reads – Canterbury Tales (I had read some in a university English course), The Aeneid by Virgil (nope), Beowulf and Dante’s Divine Comedy (nope again). It’s a bit disheartening to realize I’ve not read many of these classics and high school students were expected to. So, I’ve decided to read as many as I can in the next year.
Here are 5 books that I haven’t read yet but plan to read first (with summaries from Goodreads)”
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse, Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between men and women.
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Okonkwo is the greatest wrestler and warrior alive , and his fame spreads throughout West Africa life a bush-fire in the harmattan. But when he accidentally kills a clansman, things begin to fall apart. Then Okonkwo returns from exile to find missionaries and colonial governors have arrived in the village.
A Single Pebble by John Hersey
A young American engineer sent to China to inspect the unruly Yangtze River travels up through the river’s gorges searching for dam sites. Pulled on a junk hauled by forty-odd trackers, he is carried, too, into the settled, ancient way of life of the people of the Yangtze — until the interplay of his life with theirs comes to a dramatic climax.
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
First published in 1952 and immediately hailed as a masterpiece, Invisible Man is one of those rare novels that have changed the shape of American literature. For not only does Ralph Ellison’s nightmare journey across the racial divide tell unparalleled truths about the nature of bigotry and its effects on the minds of both victims and perpetrators, it gives us an entirely new model of what a novel can be.
Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
One of George Bernard Shaw’s best-known plays, Pygmalion was a rousing success on the London and New York stages, an entertaining motion picture and a great hit with its musical version, My Fair Lady. An updated and considerably revised version of the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion and Galatea, the 20th-century story pokes fun at the antiquated British class system.
Beverley A Baird 
I have to be honest Bev and say I think many of these books are introduced way to soon to young readers and should n’t be read until at least university level!!
I so agree Kathryn. Some I only read at university. But this is the “gifted” list.
I didn’t even know there was a “Mensa for kids” reading list. I’ve actually only read “Pygmalion” from this list.
There’s actually a list for most grades.