Poll

Great Expectations. And I like Dickens. But someone take Pip and put him out of his misery.

Native Son by Richard Wright. Blech!

Silas Marner was b-o-r-i-n-g!

Cry, A Beloved Country. I don't even remember what it was about. But the other books were really good. It was just that one book...

Beowulf. I despise that book. UGHH!

Heart of Darkness horrible in high school!

I don't recall hating anything in college as the instructors did a better job of picking the books. I took World Lit too and that helped.

Wuthering Heights. I despise everything about that horrible book.

Stephanie wrote: "Wuthering Heights. I despise everything about that horrible book."

I agree with you now. I first read this book about age 16 as I was told it was a GREAT ROMANCE and so I believed. I recently read it again as there are so many neverending quiz questions about it. My opinion totally changed...how horrible it is. The only person I liked was Cathy or is it Kathy. Heathcliff was a vicious monster, how could anyone think he was a romantic hero? it just shows how brainwashed women are!

I also think Mr Rochester is horrible now. Read Wide Sargasso Sea. She certainly didn't deserve to be locked up in attic. If someone took me from a warm tropical sea island to a dark dreary moor I would be bonkers too!

Wuthering Heights

Nancy wrote: "Silas Marner was b-o-r-i-n-g!"

Oh, I do agree!

I have yet to finish reading The Scarlet Letter, and it's been seven years since I've been out of high school. Boring!

Brighton Rock! Couldn't stand it!!!

Lisa wrote: "Anything by Faulkner or Joyce."

Thank God I was never required to read anything by Faulkner or Joyce! I recently tried Faulkner due to neverending quiz questions and I simply couldn't believe how bad it was. It amazed me why on earth anyone would read it. Having to read Heart of Darkness was bad enough. I sure suffered thru that one. My husband said he was lucky to escape all kinds of dreadful "classic" books. He went to school in Ohio.

hatchet. and i had to read it twice!!

The Friends by... I forget who

The teachers said that Send Simon Savage was going to be really good, but the two weeks I spent reading it were wasted!

The funny thing is my school makes you read majority of these at sometime or another.

Light in August by William Faulkner - ugh

Ugh, 'Of Mice And Men' by John Steinbeck. I love reading but jeez, I really dont understand what the hype is all about with this book. And 'Holes' by God knows who.

The Age of Innocence and Cold Mountain!

Romeo and Juliet

Lesleigh wrote: "The Age of Innocence and Cold Mountain!"

Ooo! I read The Age of Innocence for my own enjoyment... it was so hard to finish!! Bad memories!

To The Lighthouse- Virginia Woolf

I'm tied between To Sir With Love and Pride and Prejudice. I couldn't get into either. (Most of those on the list weren't required reading for me and the ones that were I loved.)

A Seperate Peace by John Knowles

Lord Jim.

I really disliked reading the Scarlet Letter. It upset me so much how Hester was treated. The society was totally horrible and there was no one to like. The preacher father was SUCH a dirt bag. I realize as an adult I might have been able to appreciate this novel, but as a teen in high school it was just torture. I remember telling my literature teacher that there was no way I would have worn that letter. I would have outed the father, and then I would have run away to live in the woods with the Indians. I'm so glad society has made a little progress in regards to women.

also Benito Cereno. ugh

Watership Down. Ugh. I don't care if it's a classic - that book was a waste of my time.

Elizabeth wrote: "OH MY GOODNESS
i HATED "Great Expectations"
good lord..."

haha so your great expectations for Great Expectations were shattered :)

I agree that Great Expectations was lame, at least when I was in high school. Sometimes I wonder if there's something about the novel that adults get, but I've never had any desire to give the novel another look. I don't recall it having any point or any characters that I could care about at all. Of the good books that Dickens wrote, why would that pointless mess be chosen to present to high school students? The only plausible answer is that the educational system wants to make sure as many young people as possible hate reading.

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Man, that was a tough/boring read! followed closely by Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

♥ Brigid ♥ wrote: "slaughterhouse-five. i have to read it right now and ... gah. i can't stand it.

i had to read lord of the flies last year ... that was pretty bad.

i had to read animal farm, to kill a mocking..."

Those are all wonderful "newer" classics that you will learn to appreciate as an adult!

Heidi wrote: "♥ Brigid ♥ wrote: "slaughterhouse-five. i have to read it right now and ... gah. i can't stand it.

i had to read lord of the flies last year ... that was pretty bad.

i had to read animal farm, to..."

At least I hope you do!

Haha, most of these books are on my list of favorites. I could NEVER get through Beouwolf though, ugh. Hated Catcher in the Rye with a passion. With every page I read I just wished it would end already and it's a pretty short book!

Marley wrote: "All these books are actually GOOD. Try reading them again as adults. Really. Actually reading Catcher in the Rye as an adult would probably suck...but as a teenager it's great. I'll even take m..."

YES! I recently read Heart of Darkness and it is amazing. I really think it is better appreciated as an adult, as are a lot of these books.

Either 'Wuthering Heights' or 'The Return of the Native'. -_-

The Chrysalids by John Wyndham.

I've always loved To Kill a Mockingbird, Beowulf, and The Catcher in the Rye (although the author's other books are better), and hated all the rest of these. So depressing! After A Separate Peace and The Lord of the Flies and All Quiet on the Western Front all in a row in tenth grade I became absolutely positive that the object was to make as many students as possible commit suicide.

Anything Hemingway. What a boring old coot

A Tale of Two Cities. Put me off Dickens for decades...

My least favorite was definatly The Hobbit. I had to read it once in 8th grade, 9th, and 11th, and I hated it the first time I read it so I really can't stand this book! The funny thing is I have never read any of the books on the poll and wasn't required to for school.

Worst - The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 2nd worst - Wuthering Heights

Forgot - ANYTHING by James Joyce!

The Alchemist

The Grapes of Wrath.

I had to read Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon. Hard work and not much fun.

My most hated book was The Taming of the Shrew.  With all the Shakespeare we didn't read, we spent a precious couple of weeks on this because it was in our creaky old anthology.  Years later, I saw a brilliant staging of this play that made sense of it, but I don't think it's a widespread interpretation.  Most readers either take it literally, which is disgusting (George Bernard Shaw said it, and that's good enough for me) or as a big barrel of laughs, which is just dumb.  My class, teacher included, certainly didn't have the candlepower to rise above either of those readings. 

Funny, my favorite required book is on this list (Heart of Darkness).  I also liked Animal Farm a lot--can't imagine what's to hate about that. And I LOVE Moby Dick with all my heart. I've read it four times: twice on paper and twice on audio. 

Silas Marner. It went on and on with him counting his coins.

The last required English book I had to read in college was David Copperfield. I just wish I could erase that horrible book out of my brain. It made me ill and I hate remembering it.

The old edition of The Odyssey