Post to the Host

Host Garrison Keillor answers your questions about life, love, writing, authors, and of course, A Prairie Home Companion.

Send GK Your Question »

No more lists

May 6, 2003 | No Comments

Dear Mr. Keillor,
If you could draw up a list of books that all high school students should read, what would be on that list?

Ian Taylor
Bemidji, MN

Ian, I wouldn’t want to burden a young person with one more list of things to do. They have enough lists. It’s a good age at which to get into the habit of reading, though ---- the habit of keeping two or three books going at once, and burrowing into one for hours at a time, rather than using TV to burn up your spare hours. When you’re 18, your mind is terribly agile and keen and up to vast challenges, and it seems criminal to drug it, like locking up a young horse in a small stable. At 18, a person should be learning a new language and discovering the philosophers and plunging into the classics. You lose that agility all too soon and life starts to get smaller and more regulated.