Definitely the Hobbit, that's the most memorable. When I was about 9 we studied Macbeth, which I enjoyed at the time and still do today. I also remember reading 'The Machine-Gunners' for school at some point, that was a fantastic book.
The best book your school made you read?
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I can easily say that I have never had to read a specific book for school that was by any definition good. I have read some of my choice for reports and such, but I suppose they dont count.
To be honest, school spoiled every book it ever forced me to read. Actually, it spoiled every author of any book I was ever made to read.
Shakespeare, various. Resented it at the time. Torturously boring to study. Will never, ever check any of his plays out again.
G. Orwell, Animal Farm. Stalin and the SU; its history in animal metaphors. Oooh, how clever- or so everyone insisted.
And so on. And on. And on.
Shakespeare, various. Resented it at the time. Torturously boring to study. Will never, ever check any of his plays out again.
G. Orwell, Animal Farm. Stalin and the SU; its history in animal metaphors. Oooh, how clever- or so everyone insisted.
And so on. And on. And on.
V for Vendetta for my English class on revolution. Then I think it would be Earth Abides for my anthropology class. I think the point of it was to show how we adapt but I didn't see it like that. Good book though.
Well, there are books I had to read for school, but I read earlier. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a lot of Jules Verne's books (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is still my favorite sci-fi/realistic fiction book), 1984, Ender's Game, Fahrenheit 451, or whatever else.
Books that took my by surprise were more old authors.
The Golden Goblet, which I loved for its meticulous pacing and attention to historical accuracy of Ancient Egypt.
The Glass Menagerie (favorite play), for having a short, cynical story with excellent, relatable characters - legitimately the only play I ever read that I wanted to go on longer; but the ending was pretty beautiful in its suddenness and presentation.
The Death of a Salesman, for having a timeless moral and a different cast of characters than most plays.
Night, for being an excellent presentation of the holocaust, its effects on the Jews, all without having a single "I think" or "I suppose" in the book, just cold facts.
The Killer Angels (favorite historical fiction book), for historical accuracy, vivid characters, slow pacing, and being easy to understand.
Of Mice and Men, for the same exact reasons I liked The Glass Menagerie, except the ending could've been done better. The book looked like it could have gotten so far with the foundation it set between lovable characters and setting, but it was so sudden of an ending.
The Handmaid's Tale, for unique setting and "what-if" scenario.
Great Expectations, but dear lord that was painful. The plot only picks up in the last quarter of the book, but when it does it is incredibly complex and laid out.
Of the list above, the books I suggest the most are The Killer Angels and The Glass Menagerie. The Killer Angels reads like an epic docudrama for the entire Battle of Gettysburg, and was made into a movie (just plain Gettysburg, but it is fantastic for every reason Lincoln is fantastic). The Glass Menagerie because it really surprised me, I didn't expect a script that short to have such rich characters and an incredibly dark tone.
But seriously, everyone, read The Killer Angels.
Read it.
Books that took my by surprise were more old authors.
The Golden Goblet, which I loved for its meticulous pacing and attention to historical accuracy of Ancient Egypt.
The Glass Menagerie (favorite play), for having a short, cynical story with excellent, relatable characters - legitimately the only play I ever read that I wanted to go on longer; but the ending was pretty beautiful in its suddenness and presentation.
The Death of a Salesman, for having a timeless moral and a different cast of characters than most plays.
Night, for being an excellent presentation of the holocaust, its effects on the Jews, all without having a single "I think" or "I suppose" in the book, just cold facts.
The Killer Angels (favorite historical fiction book), for historical accuracy, vivid characters, slow pacing, and being easy to understand.
Of Mice and Men, for the same exact reasons I liked The Glass Menagerie, except the ending could've been done better. The book looked like it could have gotten so far with the foundation it set between lovable characters and setting, but it was so sudden of an ending.
The Handmaid's Tale, for unique setting and "what-if" scenario.
Great Expectations, but dear lord that was painful. The plot only picks up in the last quarter of the book, but when it does it is incredibly complex and laid out.
Of the list above, the books I suggest the most are The Killer Angels and The Glass Menagerie. The Killer Angels reads like an epic docudrama for the entire Battle of Gettysburg, and was made into a movie (just plain Gettysburg, but it is fantastic for every reason Lincoln is fantastic). The Glass Menagerie because it really surprised me, I didn't expect a script that short to have such rich characters and an incredibly dark tone.
But seriously, everyone, read The Killer Angels.
Read it.
To Kill a Mockingbird was the best one. It's the only book I read in school that I have since re-read. Unless you count plays, but a play takes 2 hours to read. TKaMB is just one of my favorite books ever, regardless of qualifying statements, and I'm glad so many people here did read it as well. It's something that highschoolers really should know.
I read a lot for school though, since I took so many English classes. Of Mice and Men was good. Frankenstein was good. Brave New World was really good. Hamlet and Othello in my Shakespeare class were terrific. The Crucible is another play everyone should read/see. Beowulf is really interesting if you can get used to the archaic, epic poetic structure. Same for The Illiad. Back to plays: Oedipus Rex is good, but it was made much more enjoyable because I also got to put together a performance of it in drama class.
Books a read but didn't like include The Great Gatsby and Farenheit 451, although I think it was one teacher's fault I hated them. She was just incompetent.
I read a lot for school though, since I took so many English classes. Of Mice and Men was good. Frankenstein was good. Brave New World was really good. Hamlet and Othello in my Shakespeare class were terrific. The Crucible is another play everyone should read/see. Beowulf is really interesting if you can get used to the archaic, epic poetic structure. Same for The Illiad. Back to plays: Oedipus Rex is good, but it was made much more enjoyable because I also got to put together a performance of it in drama class.
Books a read but didn't like include The Great Gatsby and Farenheit 451, although I think it was one teacher's fault I hated them. She was just incompetent.
thirty nine steps , dracula and tale of two cities.
those read not from school includes chethan bhagath's two states the story of my marriage!!!
those read not from school includes chethan bhagath's two states the story of my marriage!!!
Unfortunately, my High School English teachers seemed to have some kind of hard-on for poetry. So if we weren't dissecting sentences and covering nouns and verbs for the millionth time, we would read poetry or poetry excerpts. We also had to write and share our poetry and our feelings about poetry for a majority of the year. Problem is, I don't particularly like poetry. I actually looked over class listings and information to make sure I didn't accidentally put myself into a Poetry 101 elective.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Night by Elie Wiesel, Catcher in The Rye by Holden Caulfield, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, are the only four books I can actually remember being assigned to us. A lot of the books mentioned by other Escapists, I had to find and read after I was already out of High School, which is a shame.
I'd say I most enjoyed reading Night and Lord of the Flies.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Night by Elie Wiesel, Catcher in The Rye by Holden Caulfield, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, are the only four books I can actually remember being assigned to us. A lot of the books mentioned by other Escapists, I had to find and read after I was already out of High School, which is a shame.
I'd say I most enjoyed reading Night and Lord of the Flies.
The Hobbit was my fave, we read it in grade 6 and I have that to thank for showing me that reading could actually be fun, rather than just something I did for an English class.
Definitely Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, following several generations of one family in a South American town that's just a few degrees askew from reality. It's a crazy, beautiful book, and I should really go read it again.
Honorable mention to the play Equus, which was just an insane thing to slip into a public high school curriculum. Teenage sexual and religious confusion co-mingled and wrapped around stable full of horses. This is not a coming-of-age tale, it doesn't end well for anybody.
Honorable mention to the play Equus, which was just an insane thing to slip into a public high school curriculum. Teenage sexual and religious confusion co-mingled and wrapped around stable full of horses. This is not a coming-of-age tale, it doesn't end well for anybody.
Well there's Huckleberry Finn, which was brilliant in the fact that it didn't really try to be pretentious or anything yet had more examination of humanity than half of the "deepest" books out there. Rather than relying on symbolism it went with satire, and I quite enjoy that. It was blunt and to the point but it still made you think.
On the opposite end, I loved Lord of the Flies. Some of the symbolism-analysis can get a bit weird but the primary message is still just illustrated so beautifully and perfectly. I still quote the "maybe it's only us" line now and then.
On the opposite end, I loved Lord of the Flies. Some of the symbolism-analysis can get a bit weird but the primary message is still just illustrated so beautifully and perfectly. I still quote the "maybe it's only us" line now and then.
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. It introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut in high school, when I needed to wisdom of that author most. If you have not read any of his work, do yourself a favor and do so.
Let's see. I always and still do say that, for the most part, any book that you are required to read will be a bad experience and thus seem "bad." But I have been proven wrong on a few occasions. George Orwell's 1984, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird are the ones from middle school. In high school I remember reading some graphic novel in an american literature class that was really interesting, but I can't for the life of me remember the title or author. Last year in college for a class I read Spiderman Blue, a Superman, a couple Batmans, a Birds of Prey, and several other comics. Best class ever
So far my favorite has been "Of Mice and Men".
Some Honerable Mentions: "Farenheit 451", "Anthem", and "Alas, Babylon".
We're about to read Count of Monte Cristo though, and I've been told it's quite good.
My least favorite: "A Seperate Peace".
What a boring piece of shite.
Some Honerable Mentions: "Farenheit 451", "Anthem", and "Alas, Babylon".
We're about to read Count of Monte Cristo though, and I've been told it's quite good.
My least favorite: "A Seperate Peace".
What a boring piece of shite.
We were only made to read one book and it was more of a read it out loud than write a report on it.
It was a book called "rhino boy", it was about a teen who grew a rhino horn out of the middle of his forehead... Not exactly a masterpiece of writing by any stretch.
Am I the winner of the worst book?
It was a book called "rhino boy", it was about a teen who grew a rhino horn out of the middle of his forehead... Not exactly a masterpiece of writing by any stretch.
Am I the winner of the worst book?
In one of my gen-ed English classes, I took a course that was all about dystopian fiction. During the class I had to read the book "We," which I found to be an amazingly enjoyable novel, and also was clearly quite influential to Orwell's 1984 which was written a few decades later.
