Poll

1984. It just dragged for me.

We had to read "The Shipping News" in Grade 12 English Lit. It was a horrible book.

Oh goodness!! The Shipping News is about the worst book I ever read except maybe Fall on Your Knees, which was similar.

my teacher thought it was wonderful. He's the worst teacher in the school, mind you. He put a huge emphasis on Petal's temptress nature, just like in 1984 he read the sex-ish scenes out loud.

I can remember in high school (long time ago now) the teacher insisted on discussing how pink was the color of sex (pink ribbons in Young Goodman Brown) at great length. (Note: I was wearing an entirely pink outfit that day.)

Susan wrote: "I agree!! The Pearl was only narrowly edged out by Heart of Darkness..."

I sure agree.

THE GRAPES OF WRATH. Shoot me now. So many pages of terrible grammar and written-out dialect.... UGHUGHUGHUGH.

I've read and loved most of these books, but I'd have to say I did not enjoy Lord of the Flies. It was rather disturbing and depressing. Ugh.

I simply loathed "sons and lovers" by DH Lawrence.

The Odyssey and Frankenstein were the worst. I remember them being so slow-moving, dragging on and on like an eternal session of playing house with a three year old. Part of that had to do with the fact that we had to highlight, analyze, and dissect the books for class, but I still don't think I'll ever give them another chance.

"La nuit des enfants rois" by Bernard Lenteric. It's about genius teenagers': one of them is assaulted by a man and they decided to get revenge.

Frances wrote: "I've read and loved most of these books, but I'd have to say I did not enjoy Lord of the Flies. It was rather disturbing and depressing. Ugh."

I actually didn't read Lord of the Flies in class, but I read it when my brother had it as required reading in grade 10. I finished it in one day, but I'd have to agree with you. I say: it's a GOOD book, as in really well written and thought provoking. But I did not enjoy it at all.

Safraz wrote: "Virgil's Aeneid. In Latin."

you can read latin? coooool

1984 - George Orwell

Turn of the Screw...omg..

The Pearl was awful!

Tomorrow when the war began- John Marsden

Secondary School teachers ruined Shakespeare for me. But then my college tutors made up for that. It's not the books fault, the books are generally really good it's more that teachers lose the drive, I think, especially when you're faced with a class that has little to no interest in what you're saying from the get go.

School can ruin some good books, for sure. In seventh grade we took Tom Sawyer apart to the point that I did not want to see or hear about it for nearly a decade afterward. I love it again now, but for a long time I would shudder at the name of the book.

The Stranger by Albert Camus. Though to be honest, it may had something to do with the teacher teaching it!

Chanah wrote: "I wish I could vote twice on this. I didn't like Heart of Darkness, or The Great Gatsby."

I agree with you completely.

Susan wrote: "I agree!! The Pearl was only narrowly edged out by Heart of Darkness..."

Oh, I agree, those were horrible! So depressing both of them.

Timothy wrote: "I voted for Beowulf, but I forgot about Great Expectations. I absolutely despise that book. I started it 3 different times before I was able to force myself to finish it."

Glad I never had to read Great Expectations. I think I did read the first 3 pages and that was enough for me.

Alice wrote: "Chanah wrote: "I wish I could vote twice on this. I didn't like Heart of Darkness, or The Great Gatsby."

I agree with you completely."

I agree completely with both of you.

The Old Man and the Sea. All the way.

Of the choices, Heart of Darkness. Of everything I was asigned to read? Defoe's "A Journal of the Plague Year."

I just hated Wuthering Heights. I hated the character of Cathy and wanted to slap her.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Michele wrote: "Moby Dick by Herman Melville"

Yes, I hated reading that one too.

The Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath. They were awful.

Invisible Man

The Sorrows of Young Werther or David Copperfield. 14 years old was too young for Dickens!

A Brave New World.

We were forced to read "Black Boy" by Richard Wright and "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin. Never. Again.

"The Grapes of Wrath" was torture for me to get through in high school. I wanted to kill that stupid turtle trying to cross the road and was disturbed by the scene with the woman breastfeeding the dying man. Never again.

The Grapes of Wrath

I re-read it a few years ago and liked it, but in high school it annoyed the hell out of me. I remember being especially irritated by the number of times Steinbeck described characters "squatting on their hams".

Later, when I read David Foster Wallace's The Broom of the System, where Rick Vigorous repeats the line "he grinned wryly" over and over in his (Vigorous', not Wallace's) stories, I couldn't help but think of Steinbeck's squatting Okies.

A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch made me want to strangle something.

Cold Mountain. It wasn't terrible, but for an AP English class, this was an odd choice.

The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. oh dear.

1984. I was very disappointed.

the Outsiders is a great book!

The fucking odyessy

Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. I wish we'd gotten Tale of 2 Cities or Silas Marner. We did get Hedda Gabler, that was pretty good.

Mike wrote: "the Outsiders is a great book!"

you must be on crack because that book was garbage

In high school it was PARADISE LOST by Milton. In college it was a tie between THE POWER AND THE GLORY and NADJA by Andre Breton, with the SANCTUARY in for the running.

Evelina by Frances Burney- bleh

On Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin - oh the BOREDOM. It literally seemed to suck the life out of the whole English class.

The Old Man & the Sea by Hemingway

Some of the books I read in high school I probably wouldn't mind as much now, but I do not think Moll Flanders would be one of them. I remember wanting to throw that book against the wall.

La Vorágine by José Eustasio Rivera