Every Bush English Class I've Taken, Ranked by the Required Reading - Spambler '26

I read a lot of books. And I am hyper-aware of the amount of real estate English classes take up in my yearly reading capacity. So I think it is only fair to rank each English class I’ve taken at Bush, based on how satisfied I am with having read the books assigned. This is somewhat of a bad-faith analysis—people have different tastes, and I am picky. I’m hoping that people who read The Rambler’s book section also do their readings.

1. Shakespeare & Kurosawa - Macbeth, Hamlet, and King Lear, all by Shakespeare

An unmatched selection. I came in unfamiliar with all of these plots, which made the class addictive. Every day, I experienced a new iconic moment in literature—Banquo’s ghost, the three witches, the Mousetrap play, Polonius, and Gloucester’s eyes—I loved it. It’s almost like this Shakespeare guy is good or something. Taking this class also eases you into Shakespeare in a very accessible environment—perfect for aspiring snobs!

2. Underworlds & Afterlives - Dante’s Inferno, George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo, Ken Jennings - 100 Places to See After You Die (excerpts), David Eagleman - Sum (excerpts)

I was ecstatic to see the reading list for this class initially, but perhaps a little apprehensive about Ken Jennings’s book. The contemporary translation of Inferno was accessible and better than I expected—although I still plan to read a more traditional version someday. I read the entirety of Sum in 9th grade, making me feel very self-important. But college applications swamped me before I could relish Lincoln in the Bardo. I came into the class a Saunders fan, and I regret not pouring more time into the book, rather than just getting the reading done. Perhaps an impossible task during senior fall.  

3. Origins of Western Literature - The Odyssey, Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, The Oedipus Cycle

The most rewarding part about these books is understanding so many more references day-to-day: “Oedipus Complex,” “wine-dark sea,” et cetera. I came into this class having already read The Odyssey and passed a middle school Greek Mythology phase, so these books were less influential for me than they could’ve been. The rereading factor alone bumps this down, which is very biased of me. Sorry!

4. English 9 - World Literature - The Metamorphosis, The House of Rust, & lots of short stories

I felt like I first experienced public shaming after I was one of a meager scraping of freshmen who enjoyed The Metamorphosis. Is it the best book ever written? Not necessarily. But after reading it, you can understand all future Gregor Samsa references, which is an invaluable reward. Reading The House of Rust was certainly a bonding experience for our class. I’m indifferent to the book myself, but the coming-together of our class through complaining about its abstract elements was admirable.

The short story selections were well balanced—I’m glad to have read The Overcoat, which is the most memorable, perhaps due to its length. Bonus: the Japanese film unit is excellent. I’ll always brag to the film snobs that I watched Dreams (1990) for freshman year English. It might be the single coolest thing about Bush.

5. English 10 - American Literature  - Funny in Farsi, Whereas, When the Emperor Was Divine, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Isolating the books themselves, I’m mainly just happy we read Their Eyes Were Watching God—Whereas and Funny in Farsi certainly influenced my thinking, but Their Eyes brought a widespread student engagement that is rare in required English classes. It almost made up for the previous book… I was so frustrated by the prose in When the Emperor Was Divine that I dedicated an entire paragraph in my essay to arguing that the lack of figurative language and monotonous tone was one big metaphor. Two years later, and I’m finally comfortable admitting that it really wasn’t. The prose was just bad.

Honorable Mentions:

Chase’s History Classes - Aimé Cesaire - Journal of a Homecoming, Jefferey Reiman - The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, Frantz Fanon - The Wretched of the Earth

I’m in my fourth Chase class right now, and I can confidently say that these nonfiction books are all incredible. When I was 16, I cried in a coffee shop while reading Journal of a Homecoming for The Idea of Africa. And this year, only a few months after I read The Rich Get Richer and the Poor Get Prison, someone asked me in the YouTube video comment section, word-for-word, “If criminal action is the result of poverty and inequality, then why is it that rich people are constantly caught doing illegal drugs?” Boy, did I have some quality explanations for that one. Trust me, do the readings for Chase classes. You can seem very sophisticated afterwards.

Literature in Translation (so far) - The Memory Police, Severina…and more

I have a prejudice against books about books. But this class is slowly making me get over that. The Memory Police was surprising—as the quintessential dystopian novel hater, I enjoyed it. Severina was far less satisfying, but I’m not too salty about it, given the short length. It didn’t take too much reading real estate.