I think it's the 18th and 19th century tomes that are tough sledding in high school a lot of the time; many like Moby Dick and much of Dickens are pretty long in addition to the somewhat archaic language.

There are exception like The Picture of Dorian Gray although that's very late 19th century--and, of course, Wilde is very accessible.

ADDED: In general, I don't think I read any, but both Fitzgerald and Hemingway seem pretty reasonable for a high school English class. Probably better choices than the like of Catcher in the Rye and A Separate Peace to be honest.

Obviously everyone is different, but (aside from Shakespeare) the two books I read in HS that I most liked were Cather in the Rye and A Tale of Two Cities. I should note that after liking A Tale of Two Cities so much, I tried David Copperfield and Oliver Twist and found neither to my liking. I had my great expectations of Dickens' other work rather crushed at that point.

Oh, and forcing anyone to read Melville should be a crime. A very few people I know loved the experience, but I was unable to finish Billy Bud much less Moby Dick.

I recall not caring much for A Tale of Two Cities. I keep thinking I should try other Dickens like Bleak House. I do enjoy some other Victorian authors--at least the few best-regarded books I've tried like Wilkie Collins and Anthony Trollope.

I vaguely recall not liking Billy Bud in high school although I read Moby Dick as an adult and was mostly glad I worked my way through but it did take an effort.

I don't think I hated Catcher in the Rye at the time. It just didn't make much of an impression one way or the other.

I really loved Great Expectations.

Also Britten's Billy Budd is one of the 2 operas I really love.

1966 BBC version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1lVBfqQyjs

My sixth grade teacher made us read The Hobbit.

The rest is history. I'm a voracious reader of "junky" fantasy books.

But Mencken was a real wordsmith -albeit a really, really cynical one.

> and, under it all, the simple sentimentality of a somewhat sclerotic fat woman.

My dad read me The Hobbit as a bedtime story starting from kindergarten. It was the first non-picture book I ever read.