Best/worst novel you were forced to read?

[Loredoctor]

I love Hamlet!

[taraswizard]

ChoChiyo

I also did not care for <b>Childhood's End</b>; I have no desire to belong to a hive mind.

Some one else who does not like the book, it has bothered me since I first read it when I was in HS.

[Hound Of Chulainn]

I hated the Aeneid, which I read in classical studies. If we'd worked on it for a fortnight, maybe even a month, I wouldn't have minded, but we spent over two months on it. I realised very early on that I really didn't care what happened to Aeneas, and by the end of it, I was hoping that every time I turned the page I would see:

Then Aeneas died, and everybody else went home,

THE END

Classical studies was supposed to be much more interesting. We did, however read The Wasps and The Frogs by Aristophanes which I enjoyed immensely.

Also, we read One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest in English, which was either in sixth or seventh form; (high school senior, for those State-side). I read it over two nights and pretty much tuned out while everyone else finished. The best part was that the teacher was reading it aloud for about a week, knowing that at least half the class weren't going to open the book by themselves. So - of course - the teacher used the "F-word" in class, which was just about the highlight of my year, I think.

[Loredoctor]

ChoChiyo

I also did not care for <b>Childhood's End</b>; I have no desire to belong to a hive mind.

Some one else who does not like the book, it has bothered me since I first read it when I was in HS.

Wow. I love this book. I think Clarke alludes that it's a heightened awareness we evolve to. So not so bad. Still, the way humanity 'dies off' is rather disturbing.

[Waddley]

I can't remember reading anything in school that I didn't like. I took a Greek/Roman myth&lit class in community college and I liked all the books I read there, too. (Including the Aeneid.)

I suppose if there was ever a book I had to read in school that I didn't like, I'd just skim through it and then proceed to ignore all the homework assigned to it. (As I continued on reading whatever it was that I had been reading before the interuption)

Cause you know, I was totally a star pupil.

[Khaliban]

I hated the Aeneid, which I read in classical studies. If we'd worked on it for a fortnight, maybe even a month, I wouldn't have minded, but we spent over two months on it. I realised very early on that I really didn't care what happened to Aeneas, and by the end of it, I was hoping that every time I turned the page I would see:

Then Aeneas died, and everybody else went home,

THE END

The Aeneid has been called the world's first fan fiction. I was thirteen pages into it and was absolutely convinced. It's not even good fan fiction. At least not the first thirteen pages. I couldn't go farther than that. It is not a classic. Read the Odyssey. (if you haven't already) That's a classic. The Aeneid is a little like the Star Wars EU. Purists know it's crap, but the readers just won't shut up about it.

[lucimay]

i felt the same way about the Aeneid last semester!!! even the Cliff Notes suck.


the BEST novel i was ever "forced" to read (if you can call enrolling in a class "force") is DEFINITELY Conrad's Heart of Darkness!!! just brilliant!
beautifully poetic, clever in construct, and scathing commentary. and he wrote it in English which was his THIRD language!! the man was an extraordinary writer.

[Farm Ur-Ted]

The two most painful ones that I remember being forced to to read were from my summer reading list (gawd, I hated those!) before my freshman year in high school. The first was Rendezvous With Rama, which I hated. I'm not an AC Clark fan at all, and in general do not enjoy hard science fiction. I really don't remember anything abou the book other than hating it. The other book, that was painful beyond belief, was Death Be Not Proud. It's actually a non-fiction story about a boy who went to my high school who had terminal brain cancer. He died after a couple of years of various treatments, and the book is written by his father. It's not a bad book or anything, it's just incredibly depressing and hard to read. There was a movie made based on the book that starred Robbie Benson. I've seen some of it, and it ain't exactly a barrelful of laughs, either.

[Tjol]

The best:

A few chapters from 'A Wizard of Earthsea'

In the era of multiculturalism trumping quality....Ursula K. LeGuin rescued all of us poor children, and gave us quality under the escort of political correctness.

The worst:

'The Sun Also Rises'

The lost generation, bla bla, profound, poor impotent fellow, woe is me....

I had to read it in high school and in college, and I simply didn't and still don't relate. Salinger was better, Dostoevsky was better, Of Mice and Men was better. Of all the canonical literature that I've read, 'The Sun Also Rises' in my opinion does not belong amongst that canon. I think it is something more fashionable than timeless in quality, I doubt that it will be forced upon many students a hundred years from now.

Classical studies was supposed to be much more interesting. We did, however read The Wasps and The Frogs by Aristophanes which I enjoyed immensely.

The Clouds is also brilliant. One of my all time favorite discoveries. A professor pointed it out to me while I was doing reading for my thesis, there's a little irony in going to college...to discover The Clouds... a story that in some part points out how silly in some part the whole college experience is.

[stormrider]

Best: either Heart of Darkness or 1984 (not sure if that one counts, though, since I'd already read it)
Worst: The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy -- awful, just awful

[Avatar]

What? I remember loving The Water Is Wide. One of his best books I always thought. What exactly was awful about it?

--A

[stormrider]

I hardly even remember -- I had to read it when I was 14, so it's been a long time. All I remember is that it took place on an Island called Yama-something, and there was an annoying principal. And I think there was something about a toilet seat and a woman named Violet (that might even have been the principal's name -- I don't know). I just recall thinking at the time, "This is the worst book I've ever read," and I've never since had that thought cross my mind while I was reading anything else. That's what leads me to conclude that it was the worst thing I've ever read. I was one of the few kids who almost always enjoyed whatever books we had to read. Oh, and there was another one: A Midwife's Tale. Seems like that one started off worse -- I didn't even get 100 pages into it (and it wasn't like me to refuse to read something that had been assigned). It may have been worse than TWIW, but since I didn't finish it, I can't say for sure.

[Avatar]

It was an autobiographical book about the year Conroy spent as a teacher on Yamacraw island. The beauty and horror of it was that it was true. That the unbelieveable descriptions of ignorance and deprivation and racism were real.

You should read it again.

--A

[stormrider]

Actually -- as part of my annual reread (generally my favorite books or books I've forgotten) -- I usually go back over a couple of books I want to further analyze (mostly philosophy) and/or reassess as I grow older. This habit has helped me learn to like (or at least respect) several books that I despised the first time around (The Grapes of Wrath and The Awakening come to mind). I've done this with almost every novel or play that I disliked. I've never been able to face TWIW again, in part because I've never met anyone who genuinely liked it. The fact that someone other than my high school English teacher liked it makes me feel a little more inclined to reconsider it. I won't buy another copy, but I'll be moving (yet again...) in August, and if I discover it in the attic (I never throw books away), I might be willing to give it a try.

[Avatar]

Let me know how that turns out.

Maybe I should reread it again myself...it has been a long time.

--A

[Prebe]

I was forced to read both "1984" and "Brave new World" in middle school. And i LOVED both of them. Thank you: Kirsten and Helge!!!!

[emotional leper]

I was forced to read both "1984" and "Brave new World" in middle school. And i LOVED both of them. Thank you: Kirsten and Helge!!!!

Edited or full versions of 1984?

[stormrider]

Edited? What, like an abridged version?

[emotional leper]

Edited? What, like an abridged version?

No. Censored. It removes all the sex, a great deal of the violence, and most of the swearing. I read it when I was in Middle School, and then only about a year or so ago read the full version.

[stormrider]

Yeesh. I've always thought book-censoring was pretty messed up.