I'm sure everyone here has encountered being assigned books to read for English, History, or whatever classes you had to read for. I'm certainly no stranger to it, that's for sure. >w<;;

Anyway, here's a list of the things I had to read:
Freshman year: Old Man and the Sea, Romeo & Juliet, Don't Look Behind You, Animal Farm, and All Quiet on the Western Front (this one was for History)

Sophomore year: The Chosen, Shabanu, 1984, Julius Caesar, A Separate Piece, Silas Marner...There are more.

There are so many more than this, but I can't, for the life of me, remember the rest of them. ;o;
Anyway, I'd have to say the worst of them up there was Old Man and the Sea. It was hideously boring, to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open enough to get the underlying meanings there. I hated it. Silas Marner was a little bit better, but not by much. |: I mean, the plot was insanely fascinating, but Eliot's writing style put me to sleep, too.

My favorites were definitely All Quiet on the Western Front, 1984, and Julius Caesar. I can't pick between them, because I thought all those were great. >w<;

Right now I'm having to read The Grapes of Wrath for my Junior summer assignment, and I really like it so far. :)

Heh yeah, I'm no stranger to getting reading assignments either. The wost one I ever read was a book called The Great Gatsby... I can't remember why, but for some reason I absolutely loathed that book. ;~; That wasss... I believe either my freshman or sophomore year. I had to read even more books my junior and senior years, but I can't remember which ones they were.

I was just glad to finally almost be out of there. x3

Out of your list, I've read all of those except.... Old Man and the Sea, Don't Look Behind You, 1984, or well.. any of the ones you read during your sophomore year. xD

Oh yeah, another book I strongly disliked was To Kill a Mockingbird. D': I admit that I thought it was boring, despite the book being liked by a ton of people. I think my whole class at the time, myself included, almost fell asleep. D': Too bad the teacher knew that and made us read aloud...... that was torture. x_x; Especially when some people read really slow aloud.

Originally Posted by Hyda

Heh yeah, I'm no stranger to getting reading assignments either. The wost one I ever read was a book called The Great Gatsby... I can't remember why, but for some reason I absolutely loathed that book. ;~; That wasss... I believe either my freshman or sophomore year. I had to read even more books my junior and senior years, but I can't remember which ones they were.

I was just glad to finally almost be out of there. x3

Out of your list, I've read all of those except.... Old Man and the Sea, Don't Look Behind You, 1984, or well.. any of the ones you read during your sophomore year. xD

Oh yeah, another book I strongly disliked was To Kill a Mockingbird. D': I admit that I thought it was boring, despite the book being liked by a ton of people. I think my whole class at the time, myself included, almost fell asleep. D': Too bad the teacher knew that and made us read aloud...... that was torture. x_x; Especially when some people read really slow aloud.

Oh yeah! There's one I read my sophomore year, too! :3 I actually loved it. I thought it was terribly interesting, and well written. I could definitely see why it's a classic. :3

We got to act out the court scene in it, and I was Mayella because of my accent. XDDD Lulz.

Originally Posted by Kris

Oh yeah! There's one I read my sophomore year, too! :3 I actually loved it. I thought it was terribly interesting, and well written. I could definitely see why it's a classic. :3

We got to act out the court scene in it, and I was Mayella because of my accent. XDDD Lulz.

Haha, well I'm glad you enjoy it. I was having a hard time just staying focused on it. xD Now I actually want to go back and reread it.... Sometimes if I read a book I don't particularly like, and then read again a while down the road.. I found that I liked it. This isn't a book I read in school, but the book/series of Sabriel is an example of a book I didn't like at first.... until I reread it. :}

lawl! That's funny. xD The only story we acted out in my class was Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth... and being in it was mandatory so the whole class had a part whether they liked it or not. xD

I'm so glad I'm through with highschool. Been out for a year now. *cheer*

Originally Posted by Hyda

Haha, well I'm glad you enjoy it. I was having a hard time just staying focused on it. xD Now I actually want to go back and reread it.... Sometimes if I read a book I don't particularly like, and then read again a while down the road.. I found that I liked it. This isn't a book I read in school, but the book/series of Sabriel is an example of a book I didn't like at first.... until I reread it. :}

lawl! That's funny. xD The only story we acted out in my class was Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth... and being in it was mandatory so the whole class had a part whether they liked it or not. xD

I'm so glad I'm through with highschool. Been out for a year now. *cheer*

I start duel-enrollment with the local college this August, so I'm not in a high school anymore, but still taking high school classes. Haha. >w<;; I hope that made sense!

I had a horrible freshman English class (we had FORTY STUDENTS; we didn't even have enough desks DX ), so we didn't get to act out Romeo & Juliet. :( I also haven't read Macbeth as of yet, so I have no idea about that one. XP

If you liked Shakespeare, you should most definitely read Julius Caesar. It's great. :)

Originally Posted by Kris

I start duel-enrollment with the local college this August, so I'm not in a high school anymore, but still taking high school classes. Haha. >w<;; I hope that made sense!

I had a horrible freshman English class (we had FORTY STUDENTS; we didn't even have enough desks DX ), so we didn't get to act out Romeo & Juliet. :( I also haven't read Macbeth as of yet, so I have no idea about that one. XP

If you liked Shakespeare, you should most definitely read Julius Caesar. It's great. :)

Ohh funn.. lol that makes sense. It's good to start those college classes right away, since it gives you a head start when you fully attend college. :3

Geez.. forty students? That is crazy lol especially since you didn't have enough desks. Ah, Macbeth was actually a story I liked. :} So when we did that in class I read ahead sometimes xP (I'm a speed reader... and I used to be a huge book worm/nerd/person xD)

Julius Caesar... we learned quite a bit about him too. :} He was very.... vain, but a very interesting person to read about.

we're gonna have to read A LOT of stuff in AP English next year. >.< I'm not even sure what all the books are.

I'd say that out of my entire school career, i hated reading the books in 8th grade and 7th. They were those "real life" books. Yay lessons learned?

I quite enjoyed reading Julius Caesar sophomore year. And also in sophomore year we read Farewell to Manzanar It was just a tad on the boring side at points, but omg, it was an amazing book. Like, it was interesting, just presented in a boring way...

I don't remember what we read freshmen year except for short stories. ^_^

Mmm, I know the feeling.
Back in fifth grade I had to read Bridge to Terabithia and it became my instant favorite book. It's remained such for a long time...only recent slipping to second place.
I enjoyed reading the Crucible in tenth grade...and The Highwayman, a poem not a book, in ninth grade.

There weren't a whole lot of books in the middle ground for me. I either enjoyed reading it or the fact that my eyes had to roam the pages was painful. Some of these painful reads included..
Of Mice and Men
The Great Gatsby
Lord of the Flies

But then I've noticed a trend. American literature...is depressing. Really depressing.
European literature, or other cultures' great stories, are much more enjoyable.
I love Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. I like to pick up fable from other countries.
My own...not so much. Except the more recent things.

I know what you mean about American lit, Sharlai! My English class Junior year focused on American literature, and I can not remember feeling more depressed about books I read for a class that often. D= Although I did like Huckleberry Finn (and the fact that my teacher was\is a Mark Twain fanatic was sort of funny-cool).

I think the worst book I had to read for a class was Invisible Man (not the superhero-guy, I'm sorry. I know, I was disappointed, too). It was just so DEPRESSING, and there were so many "subliminal messages" or whatever, but they were all written as such plain situations it was hard for me to read into them. Like, in one part the guy had to do a speech and he was blinded by spotlights. I was like, "Um, so his eyes must have hurt?" (in my head, at least). But then it was like, oh no, it was a METAPHOR for how he was being blinded by the world's ignorance, or whatever, and I was like HOW DID YOU GET THAT FROM THAT? Yeah, it was kind of bad. I was so relieved when we finished going over that book.

I enjoyed pretty much everything from my Senior year English class, which was (surprise, surprise) British lit. I think I might focus on British lit in college (since my major's already English). It was awesome going over Shakespeare's plays. =D All hail the bard!

For the most part, I enjoyed our reading assignments. But, in 10th grade, we had to do this huge project on Wuthering Heights. Oh. Dear. God. I read the basic-plot-back of the book and thought it was going to be awesome. It had all of my favorite elements. So, I cuddle up as I always do to start reading. I fell asleep within the first chapter. Pure. Torture.

I had to read Grapes of Wrath for my last English class in college. It was pretty boring and depressing. But, I've never been a huge fan of Steinbeck's work anyway...

The best wasn't even a direct assignment. We had to pick a novel for 9th grade English that was out of our "norm." I chose 1984 since distopian futures typically isn't my forte. I freaking loved that book. One of the best reads I've ever had.

@sharlai: Bridge to Terabithia is an awesome book. We read both of those books in tenth grade too. hehe. I like reading the Crucible, cuz we read it out loud and I love reading scripts in class. :D

@goblin Maiden, i read the Invisible Man, and... there were subliminal messages?! *didn't pick up* Although, the version I read was the "great illustrated classics" version. hehe.

I just got my summer reading book for AP. The Picture of Dorian Gray someone already told me it was boring... So now I'm leery about reading it! :(

I haven't heard of that book.
Of course my schools were never big on reading a ton. And senior year didn't focus on anything specific but I did get to read Beowulf. I like that one :D
And 1984 is on my must find and read soon list.

I'll let you know how it goes... I searched here on Mene for a thread and a lot of people in that thread said it was pretty good. O__O;; I shall see. I have until august 18th to read it. :D

My birfday :D Yee.

I just got a book today. Dan Brown's Digital Fortress
I'm happy ^-^

Originally Posted by Sharlai

I haven't heard of that book.
Of course my schools were never big on reading a ton. And senior year didn't focus on anything specific but I did get to read Beowulf. I like that one :D
And 1984 is on my must find and read soon list.

Yes, and it should be! It's a great book, I loved it so, so much! It's great...the underlying messages, the way Orwell writes, the intensity between Smith and Julia...

I loved it! ^^ It really, really makes you think deep, and it's scary when you can draw connections to real life. D:

Hi guys!

I'm going to have to lock this thread as a repeat I'm afraid. We already have 2 different threads to talk about required reading books that you loved or hated and why.
http://www.menewsha.com/forum/commun...you-hated.html
http://www.menewsha.com/forum/commun...you-liked.html

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. :)