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

[refujiunderground]

to me, i would say any shakespeare book or anything related to his works with that stupid ass victorian language. i couldn't understand a single word that was written and boy, it was annoying as hell too. i will never understand the praise his writings gets especially when they're hard as hell to understand and basically is outdated english. there's nothing special or fundamental about his shit at all. english class was okay until shakespeare popped up, then everything would just go downhill from there. it just didn't end in high school either. had the misfortune of having to read shakespeare in college. needless to say, i didn't bother to read that sheit at all. i'll read anything but shakespeare.

[zoltanspawn]

I never felt violated.

Well, until college, and Love of Worker Bees was part of the curriculum.

Man, fuck Alexandra Kollantai.

[The_Reaper]

The worst thing I ever read was a Canadian staple; The Stone Angel. It's basically the story of a woman near the end of her life and how her family is trying to put her into a care home which she then runs away from. I think it might have been a 'wrong audience' kind of book, given that no teenager is going to understand that viewpoint...But also, the book wasn't enjoyable to read. Never before have I had to read about a woman's seize bowels and how she wants the constipation to pass...

Also, I hated the hell out of Lord of the Flies.

[justsimon]

Catcher in the Rye is actually my all-time favorite book, but I can understand why others don't like it.

[gamestarp]

Has anyone ever actually read all of Moby Dick? I love to read, always have, and I still can't get through the third chapter.

[Saybrooke]

I loved every book they made us read except one... Tess of the D'urbervilles... Ugh...

[G-Lexington]

I remember hating Hard Times (for These Times) by Charles Dickens. I had TWO classes that assigned it, and I still never managed to get through it. Then a year later, I saw in bed sick with nothing to read. I picked it up.. and actually liked it. No idea what happened there.

Lex

[Beachguyj]

Anything Shakespeare. I didn't know what the fuck language I was reading.

[TickTockMan]

I liked all the books I had to read for school. A couple of them are still my favorites.

Has anyone ever actually read all of Moby Dick? I love to read, always have, and I still can't get through the third chapter.

I bought myself a copy and made myself read it all. It took me over two years though. I kept falling asleep.

[bankside]

Shakespeare spoke English - it was easy to read but better to watch. I have an "I only watch Shakespeare" policy because I think his plays are really scripts meant to be seen in performance, not read. I doubt reading the script for any modern film would respect the producer's intent…

Chaucer was very difficult but you could sort of get the hang of it and improve over time. It really is a different language, which seems like broken English. Imagine entire books written in sloppinese.

And Beowulf is not just a different language but a foreign one. Might as well try your hand at reading icelandic or danish.

Most of all though, I hate reading non-positivist post-modernist drivel.

[Boredd]

Omg Catcher in the Rye was THE fucking worse. First, I wanted to stab Holden and then I just wanted to stab myself.

Heart of Darkness is a close second.

[cgymike]

Thirtieth Retrospect...truly dismal.....

[Telstra]

.
All books because my eyes hurts when i read.

[ravenstar]

Lord of the Flies made me want to poke myself in the eyes with a compass

[goldenmoth]

Galaxarena. Dreadful crap but because it was written by an Australian our teachers called it a 'classic'. Basically it was about a bunch of kids who join a circus and then it tends out their aliens. Yeah that bad.

Why do they make everyone read the same book anyway? There's absolutely no way anyone will be inspired to read by doing that. Let them choose their own book or at least give them a list and say 'pick the one that interests you'.

[xbuzzerx]

Anything where the primary narrative of the book involves overdressed British people taking tea in a huge mansion.

Which probably covers close to 50% of "classic English literature" in American schools. :/

[8tomtoms8]

Galaxarena. Dreadful crap but because it was written by an Australian our teachers called it a 'classic'. Basically it was about a bunch of kids who join a circus and then it tends out their aliens. Yeah that bad.

Why do they make everyone read the same book anyway? There's absolutely no way anyone will be inspired to read by doing that. Let them choose their own book or at least give them a list and say 'pick the one that interests you'.

Because it's easier for the instructor. It's kind of the "one size fits all" teaching method.

[jft245]

I'm with Gamestarp, it has to be Moby Dick. A close second is what I am reading now, Les Miserables, I'm determined that I am going to finish it but it is a tough read.

[LeicsDom]

It wasn't in school but I forced myself to read Bridget Jones and found it was the most self indulgent load of crap

[rareboy]

OMG.

Catcher. Stone Angel. Moby Dick.

These all come flooding back like dreary nightmares.

Even re-reading them as an adult showed them to be annoying and joyless.

[lambdaboy]

Shakespeare lived long before the Victoria Era how any one could think that listening to a play by him sounded Victorian is absurd. The Victorian Era is names after Queen Victoria who ruled for 64 years and died in the early 1900's. That's why during the U.S. Revolution England was in The Georgian Era George the 3rd see how it works

[ozguy]

The Old Man and the Sea was soooooooooooo friggin' boring!!! Hated it. Loved Lord of the Flies, though.

[oakpope]

'Les Dieux ont soif' by Anatole France. I loath the entire book. I dislike vehemently books whose hero is a anti-hero. But in this book, it adds the insult of being a anti-hero who does nothing the entire length.

Shakespeare is beautiful ! I don't enjoy much modern spoken English, but hearing his plays is real beautiful music to my ears

[Fuzzy1]

Thomas Hardy's, Tess of the D'urbervilles was the worst book we had to read in high school, I've read Moby Dick and liked it, my teachers did a pretty good job of explaining Shakespear's language use to us so I appreciated the plays and still like watching an occasional play.

[QuakrBoi]

The Scarlet Letter................I couldn't even get through the cliff notes it was so boring to me!

[Nishin]

Les fourberies de Scapin - Molière. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooring

Best book (imposed by school) though : Barjavel's ashes, ashes

[palbert]

Catcher in the Rye the clear worst by me. Lord of the Flies second.

[Axxess]

My high school English classes focused more on writing essays than reading, which is probably why I've grown to detest English classes.

It's a toss up between Lord of the Flies and Frankenstein. I know the latter is a considered to be a classic, but it was so boring. Also, I guess I've been desensitized, but I didn't find it at all scary, or otherwise a "horror" story.

Lord of the Flies started out pretty slow, and I actually got two of the characters mixed up since both their names started with the same letter. Although, to be fair, I was really lazy and didn't feel like doing the assignments in the class, so I didn't really give the book a fair shot.

[MoufOfKhaos]

Silas Marner. It's only book deserving of a fire i've ever read.

[comefood]

too many to remember

[oakpope]

too many to remember

You see, I'm terribly dumb. Would you do me the favor of explaining to me what pushed you to write such an informative post ? What gains do you think we can have from such an exposure from yourself ?

Sorry if I'm blunt, but the psychology of such moves interests me.

[oakpope]

People in the old days spoke more to themselves than to each other.
The authors of these novels wrote the books more for themselves than for others. That's why nowadays we have so much trouble understanding them.

I disagree with you. I have found memories of talking about Kant's works (among other philosophers) with a Hypokhâgne student (google it). That it takes mental work to understand his writings doesn't mean it has no value.

Old authors wrote for their public. Novelists in 19th century often wrote in newspapers and were paid by the amount of lines. So naturally they were prompt to digress.
But people's genius like Balzac was that such digressions were in fact ways to understand more deeply their characters and the contexts of their thoughts, times, surroundings.

[Esquire0399]

Henry V, hands down. Not only wasn't I all but incapable of understanding it, it was so hideously boring that I stopped trying. To be honest I take issue with pretty much all Shakespeare being required reading in schools (unless it's for creative writing courses), mostly because it does nothing to teach students of modern English and is most likely just a part of the average curriculum because it's "supposed to be," with no true justification. It's pointless because very few students even attempt to understand it and then it becomes a completely pointless exercise. That said, I did not actually hate Macbeth or A Midsummer Night's Dream.

[rareboy]

Catcher in the Rye the clear worst by me. Lord of the Flies second.

I have to come to the defense of Lord of the Flies.

I did an analysis of the work based on the structure of Id, Ego and Super-ego and in the context of the various theories of psychoanalysis current at the time it was written.

It made the book come alive and for that reason I have never travelled on a plane full of boys.

[jasoncrew03]

The Sun Also Rises. I loathe Ernest Hemingway.

I disliked the Scarlet Letter as well, but it is a distant second compared to my hatred of The Sun Also Rises.

[AlmondMilk]

I didn't like "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison.... maybe I'll get a better appreciation for it now o.o

[MoufOfKhaos]

The problems with these old literatures that students are forced to read is people back then spoke and wrote differently than we do. Our modern language has evolved to speaking and writing in a linear fashion. Most of the time, the most direct way to say or write something is the best way. Minimalism!

Absolute total bullshit. Minimalism is why we have tabloids and tabloid fodder books - and short attention spans, because we no longer HAVE to pay attention.

The problem with some old literature is that it's written in such a bogging fashion that it becomes incidentally hard to follow, as was the case with Silas Marner, which is a classic example of muddling muttering droning. I can appreciate classic prose and soliloquies and all of that.. just don't go on and on about the nothingness of your dis-interesting psychosis.

Seriously, I hated that book - I read Lisa, Bright & Dark with more anticipation. If I could find my lighter right now...

[legend145]

Red Badge of Courage and Atlas Shrugged

[FPNY]

UGH..that freaking Great Expectations. I spent more energy dodging class than it would have taken to read the book. I found it dreadful....

[maxpowr9]

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]

Ivanhoe.

I couldn't figure out what it was about when I read it, and I still don't know. The only reason I got a decent grade on my report was that I compared a long scene where they're riding through dim woods, sort of lost, with the way reading the book made me feel -- I guess the teacher thought that was creative.

[doctorsun]

Frankenstein. It's the most painfully boring thing I've ever endured. I dreaded every overwritten word of that book and I love to read. I loved most of the books we had to read. Rebecca is still a favorite of mine. I just couldn't force myself to enjoy Frankenstein though.

[oakpope]

Are you all talking about Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' ? I remember it as a rather short book...Am I mistaken ?

[LatimerRd]

I liked all of the novels and plays we were assigned, but I liked "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" best of all. Loved it. Also loved "Dubliners".

I read "Catcher" on my own because I was told I should by an adult who should have known better, though come to think of it, she didn't say she liked it, only that she had been told that it was "very meaningful" to young people. I thought it was the worst book I had ever read. Hated it. Really hated it.

[floridaboy]

catcher in the rye is pretty bad

but you havent read NOTHING as long, dragged out, and anti-climactic than the great gatsby

it took so long for a story to develop, then in after the whole story of gatsby and the one white bitch, she leaves and acts like nothing happened. talk about a HOE

[ronboy]

I remember hating Hard Times (for These Times) by Charles Dickens. I had TWO classes that assigned it, and I still never managed to get through it. Then a year later, I saw in bed sick with nothing to read. I picked it up.. and actually liked it. No idea what happened there.

Lex

I read it in high school...hated it to death....

My favorite author.....John Steinbeck. In Grade 9, we read "Of Mice and Men." I was prepared to hate it, but loved it! In Grade 10, we were given a reading list with lots of the books mentioned here that people hated, including "Tess" "Lord of the Flies" and "Catcher in the Rye." Instead, I chose to read another Steinbeck book on the list, "Cannery Row." Again, I loved it! Since then, I have read my way through his other works. He is still my favorite American author.

[GregKII]

Oh I could go on for days. I HATE Catcher in the Rye..I can hear my teacher's voice now talking about how "misunderstood" he was. I'll tell you what he was, a homophobic, immature, little pussy, and I hate using that word. Perhaps the worst for me was the Scarlet Letter! Fuck Hester Prynne, Fuck Pearl, Fuck Dimmesdale, Fuck Chillgsworth, and all the rest of Puritan Boston..that's how I feel about the Scarlett Letter, and it was worse because I took AP English.. yikes! I sort of enjoyed the Great Gatsby, but it's one of those books that you like after you finished. When you're reading it, its sort of like taking a bite of a soggy sandwich.. and my teacher made some terrible interpretations. The only thing that seemed to be even worse than Scarlett Letter, and Catcher in the Rye, was, perhaps 1984. Kill me. As for Great Expectations. I've never bullshitted my way through something as hard, and with as much dedication as I did that book..

[zoltanspawn]

Are you all talking about Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' ? I remember it as a rather short book...Am I mistaken ?

For some of us, brevity is relative.

[doctorsun]

Are you all talking about Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' ? I remember it as a rather short book...Am I mistaken ?

Yes and the book is rather short, but it's also mind-numbingly dull and greatly overwritten.

[moniker]

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.