What is the worst book you were forced to read in high school?

[maxpowr9]

Wow, really?

I loved reading 1984, along with Fahrenheit 451 and Brave New World. Yay, dystopian themes.

Reckon Fahrenheit 451 was a book I read in middle school (along with A Separate Peace and To Kill a Mockingbird which shows how far behind the public school system is in reading), I liked 1984 and the Scarlet Letter. I find people hate The Scarlet Letter if you have a female teacher while reading it because the book is one of the most misogynistic in the English curriculum.

[xbuzzerx]

People who hated reading certain books as part of an English literature class should maybe consider the reason for their hostility, namely that the purpose of the reading is to pass a test of some sort. I only began to enjoy reading literary works when I graduated from university; then I read for pleasure and did not feel pressured to take notes or think of possible exam questions. This puts an entirely different perspective on things. Most fiction was and is written with the intent to entertain an audience.

I really and honestly just could never foresee any other context in which I'd either enjoy or learn from writing set in 18th and 19th century England about its upper class. I found it painfully dry and the great bulk of it without any historical resonance or even so much as touching upon any pertinent social issues of the time or anything else. There are exceptions of course, like Tale of Two Cities and what have you. But of the ones I read, they were the exceptions. Most were effectually glorified romance novels.

I have no desire to read more of the same either for its literary or recreational value. I simply was required to for school.

[seven2go]

Beowulf.......why I'll never know....... ......or care

[maxpowr9]

Beowulf.......why I'll never know....... ......or care

I had to read it in college and the subsequent sequel, Grendel. OMG Grendel was such drivel. He's the embodiment of teenage angst.

[GregKII]

I hated Fahrenheit 451 just as much as I hated 1984, but teachers beat the hell out of Dystopian novels to the point where it was no longer interesting.

[star-warrior]

We mostly read stuff as excerpts, IIRC, in our English classes, not that I recall much other than liking Isaac Asimov immensely. I don't recall any Shakespeare, or any of the classics.

It wasn't until I finished A-Level and went commuting to uni (45 min by train) that I had access to a good bookshops to browse in. A train companion a year younger than I was said he was taking Eng Lit, reading Aeschylus, Aristophanes other greek authors. Brekekekex, koax, koax! from the Frogs, lol. My sis did arts subjects too, so I read Bronte, Homer and Austin. Although the language in these tended to be a little archaic, I don't recall thinking it was crap. I enjoyed Wuthering Heights, not least because of the way Joseph spoke in it.

[secondmonkey]

Everything I was forced to read was a worthless piece of shit. If you have to force people to read it then it's probably not very good, is it?

I specifically remember an english class I had in 12th grade, I flat out said I'm not reading this shit, and I didn't. Got a 100% on the project and an A in the class. The english teacher was pretty useless as well. I really don't understand why we force this shit on kids that really, truely don't care? Sure, they need to learn how to speak proper english, but how does forcing shakespeare on them do that?

[pat grimshaw]

Everything I was forced to read was a worthless piece of shit…
I'm not reading this shit
…we force this shit on kids …

It's useful to teach kids what words mean and when to use them.
Because if they don't they might bring the word for excrement and the word for faeces inappropriately into every sentence.

[JackinSea]

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton -- major snoozefest

[secondmonkey]

It's useful to teach kids what words mean and when to use them.
Because if they don't they might bring the word for excrement and the word for faeces inappropriately into every sentence.

There is nothing "inappropriate" about it. They are strong words meant to imply a strong meaning. Don't like the way I talk? I don't give a shit.

Shakespeare is worthless shit, so why would I use another word to describe it? I am comparing it to excrement.

BTW - you don't even know how to spell feces.

[GregKII]

I remember reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy for extra credit.. NOW THAT was a good book. Who knew Russian literature could be so titillating?

[pat grimshaw]

@ post #77

Fair enough, but I suspect there won't be people in the year 2512 discussing your contribution to mankind, nor mine.

[oakpope]

Brekekekex, koax, koax! from the Frogs, lol.

Mirth

[oakpope]

There is nothing "inappropriate" about it. They are strong words meant to imply a strong meaning. Don't like the way I talk? I don't give a shit.
Shakespeare is worthless shit, so why would I use another word to describe it? I am comparing it to excrement.

If someone like you describes the most revered English author as a 'piece of shit', what do you think is the most probable outcome ? That people will say 'oh my, now that you say so, yes it's shit', or will they say 'this poor man doesn't have enough education, or subtlety or enough grasp of vocabulary to understand the pieces of a master' ?
What's your bet ?

[loveguys72]

What?! I loved Huckleberry Finn! And sorry, Fuji, Shakespeare rocks.

But, All the King's Men, The Old Man and the Sea, Travels with Charley, and The Great Gasbag...er...Gatsby.....those were absolute torture. I would have happily tossed each of them into the nearest fire. And I'm a bibliophile!

[zoltanspawn]

I'm not convinced that all these books were assigned in high school.

[loveguys72]

All the ones in my post were. I recall them vividly. Rather like severe food poisoning.

[seven2go]

I'm not convinced that all these books were assigned in high school.

Having no idea how old you are I can assure you they were........at least when I went to high school they were ('69 HS grad),
I'm afraid to discover what is required now days........

[maxpowr9]

I'm not convinced that all these books were assigned in high school.

I can name all the books I read in high school...

Freshman year
The Natural (Summer required reading)
Double Helix (Biology required reading)
Silent Spring (Biology required reading)
Faust (Theology required reading)
Romeo & Juliet
Gilgamesh
The Odyssey
Great Expectations
Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward
Lord of the Flies

Sophomore Year
Night (Summer required reading)
Gran Aventura de Alejandro (Spanish required reading)
Joshua: A parable for Today (Theology required reading)
Killer Angels (AP USH required reading)
Julius Caesar
Of Mice and Men
Interpreter of Maladies
Things Fall Apart
Road From Coorain

Junior Year
Theology Books
The Chosen
Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?
Dead Man Walking
Cry, The Beloved Country

English Books
Great Gatsby (Summer required reading)
Scarlet Letter
Billy Budd
Red Badge of Courage
Death of A Salesman
Their Eyes Were Watching God

APUSH
The Right Stuff
The Things They Carried

Senior Year
Animal Farm (Summer required reading)
Beowulf
Mayor of Casterbridge
Wuthering Heights
Pygmalion
Macbeth
1984 (Senior Paper)
---

Yeah there is a fair amount of garbage in there.

The sad part is, parents complained the curriculum was too intense and it has been toned down greatly. If you child is struggling in honors classes, they should be in the regular level then.

[secondmonkey]

If someone like you describes the most revered English author as a 'piece of shit', what do you think is the most probable outcome ? That people will say 'oh my, now that you say so, yes it's shit', or will they say 'this poor man doesn't have enough education, or subtlety or enough grasp of vocabulary to understand the pieces of a master' ?
What's your bet ?

Who said I give a fuck what the "outcome" is? I am entitled to my opinion just as much as anyone else, and I'm far from the only one who shares it. The fact is, if you must be "educated" to understand something, then there is probably something wrong with it to begin with.

If you want to read garbage like shakespeare go right ahead, I'm not going to stop you. Forcing people who dont want to, as they do in high school, is ridiculous. As others have already pointed out, shakespeare was meant to be watched, not read.

[moniker]

I really and honestly just could never foresee any other context in which I'd either enjoy or learn from writing set in 18th and 19th century England about its upper class. I found it painfully dry and the great bulk of it without any historical resonance or even so much as touching upon any pertinent social issues of the time or anything else. There are exceptions of course, like Tale of Two Cities and what have you. But of the ones I read, they were the exceptions. Most were effectually glorified romance novels.

I have no desire to read more of the same either for its literary or recreational value. I simply was required to for school.

Try reading the novels of the Victorian Age's Anthony Trollope, someone not usually assigned for literature courses. You'll be surprised how relevant his characters are to modern concerns.

[FanofFiction]

The Hobbit. Just not my thing at all.

[xbuzzerx]

Animalius I think what you're getting at (and I agree) is that writing of that time period almost to me comes off more like a way to illustrate your level of education and how complicated one could write rather than practical storytelling. At least, when I read novels from that time period I always feel like the story is secondary to writing in an overly roundabout manner. I think modern writers have evolved more and more towards smooth storytelling over intricately overwritten prose and I personally think that's a good thing-- literary snobs of course think the opposite. I think that difference is subjective and I don't think I'm a less cultured person for preferring modern writing to writing from 2 or 3 centuries ago.

[oakpope]

I suppose you consider the following as shit ?

As I ponder'd in silence,
Returning upon my poems, considering, lingering long,
A Phantom arose before me with distrustful aspect,
Terrible in beauty, age, and power,
The genius of poets of old lands,
As to me directing like flame its eyes,
With finger pointing to many immortal songs,
And menacing voice, What singest thou? it said,
Know'st thou not there is but one theme for ever-enduring bards?
And that is the theme of War, the fortune of battles,
The making of perfect soldiers.

Be it so, then I answer'd,
I too haughty Shade also sing war, and a longer and greater one than any,
Waged in my book with varying fortune, with flight, advance
and retreat, victory deferr'd and wavering,
(Yet methinks certain, or as good as certain, at the last,) the
field the world,
For life and death, for the Body and for the eternal Soul,
Lo, I too am come, chanting the chant of battles,
I above all promote brave soldiers.

Whitman.

[DigitalFudge]

I stopped reading the books they gave at the start of 10th grade.

[FanofFiction]

How did you pass english class after that point?

[secondmonkey]

I suppose you consider the following as shit ?

Yes.

[Kulindahr]

Thinking of writing styles, can anyone explain why Dickens wrote the way he did?

[pat grimshaw]

^
Because he was an Englishman
Because he had to keep people amused for as long as possible in each episode of each monthly instalment.

[Kulindahr]

^
Because he was an Englishman
Because he had to keep people amused for as long as possible in each episode of each monthly instalment.

LOL

Your second one is close. The truth is he was writing his stories for a newspaper -- and being paid by the word.

[xbuzzerx]

LOL

Your second one is close. The truth is he was writing his stories for a newspaper -- and being paid by the word.

That actually explains a LOT. I wonder how many authors I really had trouble with were writing in the same format, because I wanted to yell "Jesus, spit it out" so many times in some of these books.

[pat grimshaw]

^ You're right.

People in the nineteenth century had much slower lives and so they were happier to devote more time to a book.

I've noticed recently that I'm much less inclined to read stuff that I was enjoying in my teenage years.

[zoltanspawn]

LOL

Your second one is close. The truth is he was writing his stories for a newspaper -- and being paid by the word.

The real truth is, you can write stories for profit and still craft exceptional work.

[Kulindahr]

That actually explains a LOT. I wonder how many authors I really had trouble with were writing in the same format, because I wanted to yell "Jesus, spit it out" so many times in some of these books.

I had a lit course where the professor made us read not Dickens, but the paper in which Dickens was printed -- some, anyway; we would have rebelled if we'd had to read all of Pickwick that way.

[gamestarp]

That's why they read like soap operas, right, cause a chapter a week came out in the paper?

LOL

Your second one is close. The truth is he was writing his stories for a newspaper -- and being paid by the word.

[gamestarp]

Verily, Werd up!

Hear, hear! Even here, here!

Hearken thou: Werd!

[gamestarp]

I remember ragged dick and struggling upward! How can you not like that story? Nothing bad happens to the boy all the way through! And it's certainly not a struggle to read. Plus, the boy is rewarded for a good deed......

Was Horatio Alger really a boy-fucker? Never heard that....

two minutes later...

OMG, you're right. Here's wikipedia:

Early in 1866, a church committee was formed to investigate sexual misconduct reports about Alger. He denied nothing, admitted he had been imprudent, considered his association with the church dissolved, and left town. Church officials reported to the hierarchy in Boston that Alger had been charged with "the crime of...unnatural familiarity with boys".[33][34] Alger sent Unitarian officials in Boston a letter of remorse, and his father assured them his son would never seek another post in the church. Officials were satisfied and decided no further action would be taken.[35]

Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward [yes, that really is the name of the book].

It was written by a pedophile [Horatio Alger Jr.] and is a story about young boys finding their way in society. Mind you I went to Catholic School during the height of the child sex abuse scandal.

[Kulindahr]

That's why they read like soap operas, right, cause a chapter a week came out in the paper?

Dickens reads like a soap opera???

I'm trying to see that, but I suspect that any book where you got a chapter a week would come across the same way.

[maxpowr9]

Dickens reads like a soap opera???

I'm trying to see that, but I suspect that any book where you got a chapter a week would come across the same way.

Some books were originally serials developed into books. For example: The book I initially posted: Ragged Dick and Struggling Upward was a serial before being published into a book.

What might actually shock people, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol while in Boston, not in England.

[Kulindahr]

What might actually shock people, Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol while in Boston, not in England.

Was it banned in Boston?

[maxpowr9]

Was it banned in Boston?

He wrote it while living at the Parker House which still exists as a hotel but his room is under lock. Place has an interesting history.

[Kulindahr]

He wrote it while living at the Parker House which still exists as a hotel but his room is under lock. Place has an interesting history.

I think you missed the joke:

Banned in Boston

Commercial distributors were often pleased when their works were banned in Boston—it gave them more appeal elsewhere. Some falsely claimed that their works were banned in Boston to promote them.

[Sparky-Sparky-Boom-Boom]

Norwegian Wood, it was so depressing.

[Wcw10891]

i think with shakepeare it really depends on the teacher, because i did romeo and juliet in freshman year and the teacher sucked and i was confused. then i did macbeth and hamlet in junor/senior year and the teachers were great and after every few pages the teacher broke it down told us what was going on and it was really enjoyable.

i would say worst book is a tie, would be siddartha (way to complex for me to grasp) and uncle toms cabin, which i read in like 7th grade, the 'authentic' language was hard to keep up with "I aint know if mammy did not that thing on that there line" and for the time i wasnt comfortable reading about the graphic nature of slavery as a young kid.

[secondmonkey]

and after every few pages the teacher broke it down told us what was going on and it was really enjoyable.

So in other words, the story your teacher told was enjoyable, but the stuff written by shakespeare is unintelligible? What is the point of reading a story that somebody else has to explain to you? So many over educated assholes act like that's what makes the story good, but if anybody else tried it they would be called a bad writer. If I wrote a story like shakespeare in high school I would have gotten an F because the teacher couldn't understand it...

[Kulindahr]

So in other words, the story your teacher told was enjoyable, but the stuff written by shakespeare is unintelligible? What is the point of reading a story that somebody else has to explain to you? So many over educated assholes act like that's what makes the story good, but if anybody else tried it they would be called a bad writer. If I wrote a story like shakespeare in high school I would have gotten an F because the teacher couldn't understand it...

Um... are you aware of when Shakespeare wrote?

[secondmonkey]

Um... are you aware of when Shakespeare wrote?

Yes, and that is the problem. Why are we still reading this crap? It's not that amazing. What is it teaching people in high school?

[Kulindahr]

Yes, and that is the problem. Why are we still reading this crap? It's not that amazing. What is it teaching people in high school?

Well, they seem not that amazing because those plays provided plots that have been used over and over again until they're familiar.

The utility of teaching Shakespeare depends on what you want kids to get out of high school.

[desertboi]

During my senior year of high school we were forced to read "Great Expectations" by Dickens. I know it's a classic, but it was brutal to read.

[Kulindahr]

During my senior year of high school we were forced to read "Great Expectations" by Dickens. I know it's a classic, but it was brutal to read.

Everything by Dickens is brutal to read.