Poll

Karen wrote: "Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. It's the only book in high school that I didn't finish because I just couldn't force myself to do so."
I had the same problem at university in Poitiers (France). They forced us to study it ! I finished it in French in order to stop it quickly. I really do not like this book !!

Emma by Jane Austen was a pain.
I love Frankenstein, but I always wanted to slap Victor.

Moby Dick. Oh, god, an entire chapter on the whiteness of the whale. Hundreds of pages of fishing, fishing, fishing. Took me years to appreciate it. But loved Catcher and Catch 22.

The Old Man and the Sea. Longest short book ever. D:

Bev wrote: "The Old Man & the Sea by Hemingway"

I love that book.

The Red Badge of Courage. Uggggh.

1morechapter wrote: "The Red Badge of Courage. Uggggh."
Ohhh this one too...I studied it on my first year at university. Half of the book is crap and the other part is good. In fact, I didin't like the hero.

I'm a sophomore right now and just finished Scarlet Letter, and surprisingly enough, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As for Catcher in the Rye, I fall into the conventional category of the adolescent who adores it, It just isn't in our curriculum. I'm a bit afraid of rereading it in a few years and hating everything about, while never looking back to enjoy it once again. As for awful required reading, in sixth grade we read Bearstone by Will Hobbs, and I don't think I've ever been more bored in class ( that's a lie, I have), but it was awful nonetheless. Maybe I'd like it better now. Things Fall Apart was at least easier to read.

Ethan Frome --Edith Wharton.
It had no point and was extremely dull.

OMG Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton)- I felt like shooting myself. Don't ever read. It was boring, slow, and just plain stupid.

Old Man in the F'ing Sea. It was a short book that lasted FOREVER.

The Bear by William Faulkner

Silas Marner. Still haven't read it.

The abridged Les Mis. I loooove Les Mis and read the unabridged for extra credit. To this day, abridged is the only book for school that I have not finished.

Unless we are counting books for classes other than English. In which case our AP World textbook. I also never finished the Communist Maifesto...

Silas Marner by George Eliot. I couldn't even make it through it.

Silas Marner

Cari wrote: "The Great Gatsby and Grapes of Wrath. They were awful."

I loved the Grapes of Wrath, but I waited until I was 30 to read it!

A Tale of Two Cities. Most miserable experience of my life.

I read most.of.these books.on my.own. i was forced to read catcher in the rye last year but i loved it the second time around too. The scarlet letter really sucked though. I was forced to read it this year.

Mrs. Dalloway - ugh! Stream of consciousness is painful.

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Blech.

Anything Jane Austen - my english teacher was obsessed and rarely let us read anything else.

Of Mice and Men.

The Mill on the Floss. Can you BELIEVE that ending?? Seriously???

The Pearl. Put me to sleep several times.

I really liked A Separate Peace.

The Diary of Miss Jane Pittman & Romeo and Juliet. Those were HORRIBLE and I didn't read either one. Still managed to stick it to the man by passing the tests though. lol.

I was force to read Anthem By Ayn Rand. Shoot Me PLEASE!

Their Eyes Were Watching God. We kept hearing about how it was an unappreciated classic and how it was out of print for decades, and all I could think was "maybe there's a good reason it was out of print for so long."

Bryan wrote: "Their Eyes Were Watching God. We kept hearing about how it was an unappreciated classic and how it was out of print for decades, and all I could think was "maybe there's a good reason it was out of..."
Think about poor French students in litterature classes who have to read it in English...Odd experience !

Great Expectations is one of my all-time faves :)

The Catcher in the Rye, meh. I had to force myself to read it and that's unusual for me because I enjoyed 99% of the required reading in school. Even gave it another shot a few years ago but still didn't "get" why everyone loves it so much; it must either be a guy thang or a generation thang ;)

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

I hated it, and bits of it still stick with me today.

Leah wrote: "Great Expectations is one of my all-time faves :)

The Catcher in the Rye, meh. I had to force myself to read it and that's unusual for me because I enjoyed 99% of the required reading in school. E..."

Its not a guy thang, cos I dont get it either.Have tried reading it numerous times and each time just end up putting it down before I even get half way through...

Old Man and the Sea, Of Mice and Men, the Secret Life of Bees, and the Odyssey

The Old Man and the Sea and The Grapes of Wrath. Couldn't finish either one. I actually liked all of the ones in the poll.

The Red Badge of Courage. Yawn.

Panchtantra

I absolutely despised ˝The Great Gatsby˝. I don't know why. But really, I could not stand it.

I really liked the ˝Catcher in the Rye˝. And we also had ˝The curious incident of the dog in the night time˝ as required reading. And it is one of my favourite books.
All those were in English.

In Slovenian, we had even worse books, like ˝Za narodov blagor˝. Talk about boring.

A View From A Bridge! :P so boring!

good bye mr chips

I had to read Sons and Lovers by D H Lawrence for my English Literature O'level and absolutely detested it, terribly boring book!

Macbeth... We're reading it now. -______-

I could have done without Ethan Frome.

Loved Alas, Babylon!, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies and Great Gatsby *swoon*

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.

Huck Finn

Katie wrote: "Ken just reminded me of "The Tale of Two Cities." Man that sucked. "

Oh, yeah! That was awful.

This one is too easy. In college it was The Grapes of Wrath. I'm sure my roommate quickly grew tired of my complaining about The Dust Bowl!
In high school, it was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. So boring...

"Silas Marner" was really a disturbing book for me.

Go ask Alice. Worst book ever!

Moby Dick. Still can't get all the way through.