Poll
Which was your least favorite required read in high school/college?
Other (please name in comments)
Poll added by: Susan
This Poll is About
Authors:
Harper Lee, Joseph Conrad, William Golding, John Steinbeck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, S.E. Hinton, J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell
Books:
Harper Lee, Joseph Conrad, William Golding, John Steinbeck, Nathaniel Hawthorne, S.E. Hinton, J.D. Salinger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell
Books:
Comments Showing 201-250 of 507 (507 new)
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Ren
(new)
Sep 11, 2010 08:18PM
I absolutely LOATHED "Death of a Salesman." There were a few others in middle that I didn't particularly care for either, such as Maniac Magee (don't judge! =)).
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Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man... Spare me, James Joyce.
A Tale of Two Cities. One of only two books I've ever used the Cliff Notes for instead of reading. I just could not read that book without falling asleep!
definitely The Pearl! and Call of the Wild that was pretty bad too! other than that idk yet
Hαlєy wrote: "Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare"how do you hate Romeo and Juliet!! thats just crazy!
I would say "Grapes of Wrath" - I couldn't get through the book's first few chapters when I read it back in high school. I've since finished it, but I still didn't like it very much.
Huckleberry Finn for meEven to this day it's a book on my shelf that receives very little love.
All Quiet on the Western Front. Extremely dull.
Great Expectations. Boredom perfected into pure evil.
Since I studied in Belgium, I has to read French litterature. There are some books that I dislike:- L'écume des jours, Boris Vian
- Moderato Cantabile et Le ravissement de Lol V. Stein, Marguerite Duras
i was going to put the Awakening by Kate Chopin but then i saw death of a salesman from a comment above and that book definitely takes the cake. ugh. it was terrible.
I didn't much care for The Scarlet Letter (at the time) nor for The Great Gatsby (which I still can't stand) -- but Beloved was the one that I just couldn't stand.But most of the titles in that list are great (then and now).
The Pearl. Good God, what a piece of trash.
Brian wrote: "Animal Farm got 78 votes? I find that difficult to understand."It's just not as good as 1984. Even as an adult, I find it a boring read.
Katie wrote: "The Pearl. Shoot me. "
Oh, I agree! that was so boring. I like most of his work too but that one...GAG.
Oh, I agree! that was so boring. I like most of his work too but that one...GAG.
Ryan wrote: "Heart of Darkness and The Scarlet Letter are by far the worst books of all time. Darkness, Darkness, Darkness...Geez"
Yes, they always want you to read something hideously depressing. I had to read Heart of
Darkness too and it was too dark for me.
Yes, they always want you to read something hideously depressing. I had to read Heart of
Darkness too and it was too dark for me.
I didn't hate any of the books I had to read in high school - I was this bland kid who formed her opinion of her teachers', that is, if they say something's worth reading, it must be worth reading. But if there's one I had to drag myself through, it's Oedipus Rex. Antigone was somewhat better, as I didn't know the story beforehand, which seemed to render the ancient Greek gloominess easier to bear.
Chris wrote: "I checked other, because I enjoyed most of the ones listed. (or i didn't read them in hs or college. :) I know! I haven't read Beowulf yet, but in or since high school I've enjoyed all the rest!
My "other" is "Julius Caesar" by Shakespeare. "
I can't agree with you there, though. Caesar made the end of Grade 11 fantastically fun for me. After reading it, a couple friends and I made a diorama of the death-list scene and acted out the parts of Caesar Augustus and the other conspirator (?) and Antony, whom I played. Loved it.
Katie wrote: "The Pearl. Shoot me. "Oh, I agree. 100%. I keep trying to figure out why it's considered such a great, classic work of literature but always end up unable to finish the eye-rollingly sloggy, silly, short, stupid story. Oy. Shoot me, too.
I have to say, The Grapes of Wrath was boring to me when I was 16.
Any of those books on the list would have been a welcome respite from Shakespeare and biographies of the Saints.
Shakespeare- the 16th Century equivalent of Stephen King. dreck for the masses.
William Thomas wrote: "Shakespeare- the 16th Century equivalent of Stephen King. dreck for the masses."Not my opinion, but I see where you're coming from and can respect it.
Better or worse than Dickens? I'm not much of a fan, though I'd still like to read more of his work. An English teacher in my acquaintance declares that all Dickens is "a black hole."
Velvetink wrote: "... biographies of the Saints."NO KIDDING?! What high school were you obliged to trudge through?
Amber wrote: "William Thomas wrote: "Shakespeare- the 16th Century equivalent of Stephen King. dreck for the masses."Not my opinion, but I see where you're coming from and can respect it.
Better or worse tha..."
Dickens, if edited down, would be tolerable. being paid by the word for your serial in the newspaper tends to make your work bloated, for the sake of the money. Can't stand to read it any way you slice it.
Had to read Thomas Hardy - Return of the Native for Grade 12 English and found it to be incredibly boring. I'm interested in revisiting that now that I'm older
Beloved by Toni Morrison. Hated her writing style. Ugh.
The most soul crushing, piece of crap novel I was ever forced to read would have been 'Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies!' Then we never even used it in class, because the assigning teacher was replaced.
Though anything Faulkner, comes in a close second.
Oh gods, it was horrible! Between the goat or sheep sex and mind-numbing pages of history I wanted to light the book on fire. Somehow I got through the whole thing, to have it mock me again, and never once used it in class.
Oh my gosh, I almost died reading The Catcher in the Rye. That's like capital punishment, only more painful and less quick. The worst part was the writing style, stream of conciousness sucks.And then, of course, you can't forget Of Mice and Men.
Ethan Frome...not what I wanted to be reading in 1984.
I, apparently alone in the history of American High Schooling, really dug good old ETHAN FROME. It was that stupid Conrad SECRET SHARER that got me down.
I had to give that honor to The Scarlet Letter. That peice of...writing was intolerably boring.Although anything by Dickens and Hemmingway is just excruciating. So their collective works are in the number two spot.
I bet I would enjoy it more now. Someday soon, I'll find out.
Lord of the Files. Hate, hate, HATE that book.
Olivia wrote: "Lord of the Files. Hate, hate, HATE that book."FINALLY! Another person who hates that book as much as I do! Though I have a tendency to find all books English teachers gush as great classics, to be utter crap.
As the great Mark Twain said: "Classic: a book which people praise and don't read."Dash wrote: FINALLY! Another person who hates that book as much as I do! Though I have a tendency to find all books English teachers gush as gre..."
Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard...snooze fest.
Jane Eyre.... but it could've been the teacher!
The Red Badge of Courage. Our class managed to convince our teacher to skip it and we read another book. Don't remember which, anything's better than that!
'Nad Niemnem' by Eliza Orzeszkowa (Polish novelist). Although there were few intresting social problems included, all those nature descriptions were really hard to read.
