The best and worst books that you were forced to read...

Wonderlicious · Post by **Wonderlicious** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:28 am

This thread is an idea stolen off another forum, and it essentially asks the question of what the best and worst books that you had to read were.

Best: I really enjoyed Of Mice and Men, and I have to admit that I liked Romeo and Juliet. Other favourites include The Handmaid's Tale, Animal Farm, Othello and Gulliver's Travels. I'm also reading Birdsong at the moment, and I'm lovin' it.

Worst: There were a number of really lame crappy kids' novels that I had to read up until around 2001-ish, most of which were truly bad and I can't even remember the names of (I think a book called The Pram Race sticks out). One adult book that drove me nuts was Hamlet. I really don't see the popularity. Oliver Twist was also pretty lame; call me blasphemous, but I prefered the musical. Oh, and Strange Meeting...I had to read it over the Summer, and can't even remember what happened.

2099net · Post by **2099net** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:42 am

Being forced to read anything is hardly a way to get a liking, therefore all of my set-books for English at school are worst:

Hobson's Choice (a play)
A Taste of Honey (a play)
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (yes, I hated it because of all the class discussions we had to have, which often reverted to religion

)
Treasure Island (It didn't do much for me, and dragged on for weeks)

However, we also had to read
A Christmas Carol, which I loved. And I loved all the discussions, essays and even did my exam using it. I think its one of the true classic stories of our time, both in plot and characters.

numba1lostboy · Post by **numba1lostboy** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:26 am

BEST- A Tale Of Two Cities, A Wrinkle In Time, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

WORST- The Scarlet Letter, Great Expectations, Socrates

DaveWadding · Post by **DaveWadding** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:00 am

Best: LWW, Fahrenheit 451

Worst: The Great Gatsby, by far!

thatartguy · Post by **thatartguy** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:36 am

Best: Farenheit 451 (agreed)

Worst: The Pearl. The guy goes through all of that just to throw the thing back into the sea? WHAT?!?

bambifan56 · Post by **bambifan56** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:40 am

Best - Bambi (EXCELLENT NOVEL!, anyone who hasn't read it should order it off eBay ($5) and read it, you won't be sorry, my fav. book), Bambi's Children, Of Mice and Men, Silence of the Lambs, Red Dragon, Cash (Johnny Cash Bio), To Kill a Mockingbird, Animal Farm

Worst - Shakespear (anything), boring and too hard to read...

cydney · Post by **cydney** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:51 am

All are from school
Best: The Giver, Number the Stars, The Outsiders and To Kill a Mockingbird
Worst: The Pearl

DaveWadding · Post by **DaveWadding** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:12 pm

Yeah, Steinbeck is pretty tedious as well.

CJ · Post by CJ » Wed May 10, 2006 4:27 pm

Best: To Kill a Mockingbird, Treasure Island, Macbeth, and Where the Red Fern Grows.

Worst: A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, As I Lay Dying, Hamlet, and Great Expectations.

I know I was forced to read more than those books in school, but I can't recall anymore at the moment.

TheSequelOfDisney · Post by **TheSequelOfDisney** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:37 pm

numba1lostboy wrote:BEST- A Wrinkle In Time, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince.

I am in love with you! Okay, I'm not gay, but I love these two books. A Wrinkle in Time is my all time favorite book that I have ever read.

For me:

WORST - The Outsiders - Quite boring, and totally................ boring!
The Pearl - Haven't read it yet, but the first 2 pages seem to me......... utterly boring!
The Lady and the Tiger - Sure it was a short story, but man it sucked!
The Raven - I completely hate this poem. It truly proves that Poe was an insane xenopsycho-path

The list really goes on, and this is just of this year.............................

Edited: From the 4th grade I remember this book called: Shiloh. I absolutely positiviley supercalifragilisticexpialidoceously hate this book!

Loomis · Post by **Loomis** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:06 pm

Best: First year of uni we read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I discovered a whole new way of reading, and writing for that matter. At school, I guess it was Of Mice and Men as well.

Worst: Final year of school, we had to read a local author named Peter Goldsworthy and his novel Maestro. Really crap 'coming of age' stuff. I also never cared for any of the Jane Austen we had to read. I still despise Austen to this day.

castleinthesky · Post by **castleinthesky** » Wed May 10, 2006 7:12 pm

Best: Catcher in the Rye. If fact this book has become one of my favorite of all time.

Worst: The Old Man and the Sea. This book was pointless. The analogy may be "important", but Heminway is just a stale author. Also, The Scarlett Letter isn't far behind.

Prince Eric · Post by **Prince Eric** » Wed May 10, 2006 8:14 pm

castleinthesky wrote: Worst: The Old Man and the Sea. This book was pointless. The analogy may be "important", but Heminway is just a stale author. Also, The Scarlett Letter isn't far behind.

OK..............Hemingway is anything but stale and as far as I'm concerned, The Scarlett Letter IS the American novel.

Escapay · Post by **Escapay** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:05 pm

TheSequelofDisney wrote: WORST - The Outsiders - Quite boring, and totally................ boring!
The Pearl - Haven't read it yet, but the first 2 pages seem to me......... utterly boring!
The Lady and the Tiger - Sure it was a short story, but man it sucked!
The Raven - I completely hate this poem. It truly proves that Poe was an insane xenopsycho-path

You're KILLING me, Gideon! How could anyone hate The Outsiders???

Anyway, my best and worst from middle and high school based on what I remember:

Best in Middle School:
The Westing Game - loved loved LOVED this book. Still read it every so often.
The Wave - a bit creepy, but a it's a very enthralling story.
The Giver - like The Wave, creepy, but a powerful story.

Best in High School:
The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms - The two Hemingways I had to read during my junior year. I think I was one of 5 in my entire class who actually liked both of them.
The Great Gatsby - I really enjoyed this book, even if others didn't.
Romeo & Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth - those were the only 3 Shakespeare plays I had to read in high school, and I actually enjoyed them.
The Cantebury Tales - Don't really know what to say here except I found them amusing.
The Good Earth - I loved the first half, got bored with the second half, but wouldn't mind reading it again.

Worst in Middle School:
The House of Dies Drear - hated hated HATED this book!
Hatchet - I wouldn't exactly call it worst, but I was bored to tears with it.

Worst in High School:
A Separate Peace - glad to see someone else hated reading this! (CJ). I was so glad when we finished...except of course our teacher made us watch the movie version too. So for 3 days straight, I had 40 minute naps...

I didn't really hate any books in high school except for A Separate Peace...

Escapay

Mushu2083 · Post by **Mushu2083** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:42 pm

Best- Animal Farm

Worst-not a book but a poem Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" if I have to read that poem ONE MORE TIME, I'm gonna scream! I had to read that poem all through middle school, all through high school and in a couple of my college English courses.

Escapay · Post by **Escapay** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:46 pm

Mushu2083 wrote:Worst-not a book but a poem Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" if I have to read that poem ONE MORE TIME, I'm gonna scream! I had to read that poem all through middle school, all through high school and in a couple of my college English courses.

I loved that poem! Along with "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" (I think that's the title). We had to memorize both in middle school, and I always preferred Stopping by Woods. Both have wonderful endings:

And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

And I, I took the road less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Escapay

Just Myself · Post by **Just Myself** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:06 am

I think the only book I've ever read in High School that I hated was "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Seriously, boring, overlong, confusing... just all in all BAD.

Then again, I haven't had "The Great Gatsby" yet...

Zoltack · Post by **Zoltack** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:25 am

Best: The Da Vinci Code
Angles and Demonds
The Metamorphosis
Tartuffe
Don Quixote
Hamlet
To Kill a Mocking Bird
20000 Leagues Under the Sea
Bambi (of course)
Lord of the Rings
The Green Mile
Worst:
Lord of the Flies - ewwww
Romeo and Juliet - boring

numba1lostboy · Post by **numba1lostboy** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:33 am

To Kill A MockingBird and A Lesson Before Dying were also reeaalllly good. They were both about essentially the same thing, but they were still really enjoyable.

Shakespears is also boring. I like reading the summarys of his stories, but to actually read Shakespeare is something that I will never have the patience for.

But by far the WORST book I have ever read is Scarlet Letter. Not only was this book slow-moving and utterly boring, but it made me sick! Those people had serious problems!!

And TheSequelOfDisney....I love you too.

Escapay · Post by **Escapay** » Thu May 11, 2006 10:57 am

Aw man, how did I forget Lord of the Flies? I read that my senior year and loved it!

And what's with all the Shakespeare hatin' going on? It makes me die a little...

JM, if you hated A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I doubt you'll like The Great Gatsby, but give it a chance. And of course, if you can't get through the book, rent the movie (but not the Robert Redford version. Get the A&E version witih Mira Sorvino and Paul Rudd).

Escapay

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The best and worst books that you were forced to read...

The best and worst books that you were forced to read...