Books that do and don't suck
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The Mayor of Casterbridge was the worst book that I have ever read (okay, second-worst book. But worst book I read in school). I just couldn't get through it; I didn't care about the fates of the characters at all.
But good books that I read in school: The Outsiders, The Giver, Hatchet, The Thief Lord, The Destroyers (the short story that was featured in Donnie Darko), Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, To Kill A Mockingbird, Inherit the Wind, Cannery Row, and Of Mice and Men.
But good books that I read in school: The Outsiders, The Giver, Hatchet, The Thief Lord, The Destroyers (the short story that was featured in Donnie Darko), Catcher in the Rye, Animal Farm, To Kill A Mockingbird, Inherit the Wind, Cannery Row, and Of Mice and Men.
Yes! Someone else has read that book! What a great novel, better than 1984 in my eyes (but not much better. 1984 was incredible too). I hate that no one else has read this book, though.Datalord said:
I've only liked a few books in school: Of Mice and Men, The Martian Chronicles, Things Fall Apart, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and that's about it.
Amazingly, I seem to be the only person I've come across that didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird.
Amazingly, I seem to be the only person I've come across that didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird.
I liked my English courses in high school. Sure, we read a few books I didn't like (I've never been a Steinbeck fan, for instance), but for the most part I enjoyed almost everything immensely. Some of the titles that stuck out in my mind are:
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Time Machine by HG Wells
Hamlet by Shakespeare
King Lear by Shakespeare
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
A Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Iliad by Homer
Dracula by Bram Stoker
We read plenty more, but these made the biggest impression on me. Give the books a chance, even if they're outside your normal genre. You might find them surprising.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky
The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway
The Time Machine by HG Wells
Hamlet by Shakespeare
King Lear by Shakespeare
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
A Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep by Philip K. Dick
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The Iliad by Homer
Dracula by Bram Stoker
We read plenty more, but these made the biggest impression on me. Give the books a chance, even if they're outside your normal genre. You might find them surprising.
Your school assigned you Twilight? What the hell did your school see in that book?Bhaalspawn said:
Anyway, Brave New World and Slaughterhouse Five are some of the best books we've been assigned throughout High school. On the other hand, I hated Jane Eyre and Beloved. They were some of the most unreadable pieces of garbage I've ever suffered through.
I've actually been assigned some really great books in high school. Last year I read The Odyssey (We were only given a crappy set of heavily abridged packets, so I just used my own 500-ish page version (Somehow, I was still weeks ahead of the class)), Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, To Kill a Mockingbird, and a few others. Just about every one of my classmates hated all of them. For an idea of their taste in books, they all loved Twilight.
Honestly, why would any teacher assign Twilight to read?! The only reason I can think of is as an aide for an upcoming essay on god-awful books.
Why would any teacher do that?! The mere thought makes me want to run outside, find them, punch them in the face, realize that I have no idea who or where they are, come back here to find out, apologize to the random person I had punched in a Twilight-induced fury, find the teacher and punch them in the face.Bhaalspawn said:
Honestly, why would any teacher assign Twilight to read?! The only reason I can think of is as an aide for an upcoming essay on god-awful books.
Not appropriate? We read Slaughter House Five when I was in 11th grade.Datalord said:
OT: The good: Slaughter House Five, To Kill a Mocking Bird, The Yellow Wallpaper, There Will Come Soft Rains, Frankenstein, Sir Gwain and the Green Knight.
The Bad: Most everything else.
In my experience most High School students are totally devoid of literary taste.L1250 said:
They enjoy books such as Twilight because when they can bring them selves to crack open a book they are to feeble minded to put any thought into the subject matter.
On the subject of the teacher, that's kinda scary. Twilight already makes me weep for the future of literature, but now teachers are requring it!?
I'll get the torches and copies of Dracula (Do not mix. We only do that to bad books).Fniff said:
I liked every book that I was "forced to read" in High School. Some of which include: 1984, The Scarlet Letter, and Huckleberry Fin. One book that I really hated though was A Separate Piece. Books that I do really enjoy; The Catcher in the Rye, any book by Stephan Ambrose and The Devil in the White City... I also enjoy the classics.
The Jungle is absolutely, balls out one of the worst books I've ever read. It is awful in every sense of the word, from the awful characters to the longwinded rants on the beauty of Socialism. I get that it almost singlehandedly caused the creation and passing of the Pure Food and Drug act, but god damn it was bad.
Quantico by Greg Bear was all over the place. It had too many shallow characters and the plot jumped around more than a drunk college student during the fifth quarter (guess what college I support!) and really had no coherent message or an actual ending. It just sort of dropped off at the end.
I reccomend Jonny Got His Gun, The Stand, and The Old Man and the Sea. Good stuff all around.
Quantico by Greg Bear was all over the place. It had too many shallow characters and the plot jumped around more than a drunk college student during the fifth quarter (guess what college I support!) and really had no coherent message or an actual ending. It just sort of dropped off at the end.
I reccomend Jonny Got His Gun, The Stand, and The Old Man and the Sea. Good stuff all around.
My grade 8 math teacher acquired a copy of Nineteen Eighty-Four just for me. Grade 8! Math teacher!
Let's see.
Good: The Chrysalids, Ender's Game, Catcher In The Rye, Harrison Bergeron, Microserfs, Fahrenheit 451
Bad: The Fountainhead (It drags on and on and on!), Twilight (Just for the bandwagon.), Diary,
Hey Nostradamus!
Edit: I forgot Fahrenheit 451 on Good:!
Let's see.
Good: The Chrysalids, Ender's Game, Catcher In The Rye, Harrison Bergeron, Microserfs, Fahrenheit 451
Bad: The Fountainhead (It drags on and on and on!), Twilight (Just for the bandwagon.), Diary,
Hey Nostradamus!
Edit: I forgot Fahrenheit 451 on Good:!
Weeerrrrll, you've come to the right man!
Let's see...
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Night Watch / Thud by Terry Pratchett (requires the reading of the entire 'Vimes' portion of the Discworld series, starting with "Guards, Guards!", then "Men at Arms", followed by "Feet of Clay", "The Fifth Elephant", and "Jingo". There are others, but I've forgotten them)
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett (Death's arc starts in the original trilogy of Discworld, continues through "Mort", "Soul Music", and after Hogfather, Thief of Time.
But for those English types who demand the book be a social commentary as well (not that those aren't, they're just a lot more subtile):
"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett. Best commentary on religion EVER.
Let's see...
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Night Watch / Thud by Terry Pratchett (requires the reading of the entire 'Vimes' portion of the Discworld series, starting with "Guards, Guards!", then "Men at Arms", followed by "Feet of Clay", "The Fifth Elephant", and "Jingo". There are others, but I've forgotten them)
Going Postal by Terry Pratchett
Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett (Death's arc starts in the original trilogy of Discworld, continues through "Mort", "Soul Music", and after Hogfather, Thief of Time.
But for those English types who demand the book be a social commentary as well (not that those aren't, they're just a lot more subtile):
"Small Gods", by Terry Pratchett. Best commentary on religion EVER.
I struggle to find a better mark of appreciation for awesome posts like this other than good old faithful and completely accurate in this case 'LOL XD'Jedamethis said:
OT: I agree with Neil Gaiman's 'Anansi Boys' being GOOD! Although I prefered 'Neverwhere' and 'American Gods'.
Can't actually think of a 'bad', although I've stagnated a little in my reading habits lately
My favorites in high school were Paradise Lost (it's like the Bible if the Bible was incredibly well written fiction with a compelling plot instead of incredibly boring fiction with a nonsensical plot), Hamlet, Macbeth, Catch-22, and Huck Finn
Writings that made my eyes melt out of my face include Scarlet Letter, Wuthering Heights, and anything by Ayn Rand
Writings that made my eyes melt out of my face include Scarlet Letter, Wuthering Heights, and anything by Ayn Rand
Dante's Inferno was my favorite in high school for its wonderful imagery, effective characterization, and relatively accessible language.
My absolute least favorite book was Pilgrim's Progress. It's the most self-indulgent, overwritten, biased, redundant, amateur nonsense I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Don't go near it.
My absolute least favorite book was Pilgrim's Progress. It's the most self-indulgent, overwritten, biased, redundant, amateur nonsense I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Don't go near it.
