Alright, I know nobody's responded to this in a while but...
I just finished The Catcher in the Rye and I know that a lot of people like it but...
Well, I didn't.

Why Americans Hate Politics for a grad-level class. It was written by a journalist but was organized thematically so it was hard to figure out the argument until we were almost finished with the book. Although it was very informative, it was so over everyone's heads that we had to have our professor decipher the blasted book at each of our meetings. Oddly enough, it became incredibly relevant and helpful to me during this past election cycle, but only because we'd dissected it so much in class.

Pretty much anything that took place in a school or with students. A Separate Peace, A Catcher in the Rye, etc. etc. It just seemed like pandering and talking down. Like, "here's something you kids can understand" kind of thing.

ugh. the books i hated? that's a long list.

the giver: could not get over the bland writing.
nothing but the truth: just. one of the most pointless plots i've read.
wicked: really. i could not read past the second chapter.
of mice and men: another pointless plot. i never even finished this one
1984: you know, i may have enjoyed it, had i read it by myself, but it was forced on me and i never finished the book.
inherit the wind: good concept, but the execution failed.
the crucible: i read about the salem witch trials in elementary school and they forced this boring piece of fiction on me in highschool.
the odyssey: i just thought odysseus was stupid. plain and simple.
animal farm: if we didn't have to stop every ten seconds to analyze it, i might've had fun with this one. as it happens, i never finished it.

the list can go on, but i've forgotten most of the books (blocked from memory, that's how bad it was).
and the only one on the list that i actually read all the way through without asking a friend what happened so i wouldn't fail the test was the giver.
which i read in middle school. high school made me lazy.
though i can honestly say that if i did not have that one english teacher while reading the great gatsby, i would have hated it as well, but he made it fun.

Um...Hemingway's "The Old Man and The Sea." Man, I HATED it so much, reading it was a nightmare. SO boring. X_x

We had to read Lord of the Flies my junior year of high school. I hated that book with a passion. It was just so horrible. It wasn't really that it was boring, I just hated the plot and the characters and the ending.

My highschool English program seemed to be trying to depress the hell out of every single on of its students. All of the books and plays we were assigned were either tragedies, had terribly depressing plotlines, and/or ended or involved lots of rape, pillage, destruction and death. There were maybe one or two exceptions, but they were not particularly uplifting books either. I did enjoy quite a few of these texts, but I couldn't help but become pessimistic about them after a while:
The Crucible, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, The Diary of Anne Frank (everyone dies at the end of all these plays)
Most of the novels we had to read involved the narrator looking back on their depressing lives - this is not to say that I did not like some of them, but there were two in particular that I really despised.
No Other Life, grade 10. Written boringly, depressingly. The one person who seems to be able to save the country turns out to be mad, and screws it up royally and bloodily. Everyone dies or goes back to their lives of oppression.
and
The Stone Angel, grade 12. The narrator is the most unloveable character ever. She seems never to have done a single thing in her entire life that make her worth caring about, and continually accuses the world of spiting her. She dwells on regrets and lashes out at everyone around her, makes them miserable. SHe pushes everyone who tries to love her bitter self away and for some reason they keep trying. Towards the end of the book, I was desperately looking for some point at which she finds redemption, solace, or even a little bit of resolution. None. Book ends with her probably dying and a hyphen. Margaret Lawrence, much as I like your writing, The Stone Angel infuriates me. I made quite certain my English teacher knew my opinion on the book, which actually bettered my mark, because I was writing with furious eloquence. She didn't like the novel either.
Other than those two, however, I have either enjoyed or ben okay with texts I've had to read for English.

What I hated reading most in high school were Dystopian books. Brave New World is the most well known, but there are several others. I had one English teacher who pretty much had us read nothing BUT!

Dystopian books, for those who aren't familiar, are novels written about supposed perfect worlds, aka a utopia, but as we read the novel we come to discover that -shock- things are NOT so perfect! There are flaws in this marvelous society!

Maybe it was just the types I read, but I really, really didn't enjoy them. The so-called 'utopias' were so extreme that my gut reaction was "Well, duh they ain't perfect," and as childish as this sounds, I like a happy ending. It doesn't have to be all sunshine and daisies, as I do like to keep things realistic. But Dsytopian books almost ALWAYS have a sad and miserable ending for the main characters.

That kind of reading just depressed the hell outta me as a teenager. And teachers wonder why kids don't like to read... :P

I couldn't get passed the first chapter of Catcher in the Rye. This can most likely be attributed to the fact that I loathe the main character. He just completely irritates me with his "woe is me", whiny attitude. >_>

You know, I can't really say that I *hated* any book. I've always loved books, and reading has always been an escape for me.

That said, I *did* have difficulty with Shakespeare. Man, it was just so dang *hard* to figure out what was going on!

Well, There are a couple. One book I had for reading during my last school year was Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume. I absolutely LOVED that book. I loved how Judy approached Davey's problems. On the other hand, there are a couple I didn't like at all. I actually despised them. One book we had to read over the summer was "The Acorn People." Its a book about a bunch of disabled kids who go to summer camp and prove that they are stronger than they look and such, then die at the end. It was incredibly boring, and I didn't understand it at all. In fact, it made me just feel awkward. And another would have to be "Animal Farm". We just finished this, and I absolutely hated it. I don't care if it was based on the Soviet Myth, I'm going to hate it no matter what because it is extremely boring.

Originally Posted by Rikali

We had to read Lord of the Flies my junior year of high school. I hated that book with a passion. It was just so horrible. It wasn't really that it was boring, I just hated the plot and the characters and the ending.

I know, that book was so dark. And that part with the pig? *Shudder*

@ faggotory fun- Did you say Soviet Myth? Please explain that for me. Last time I knew, Russia used to be a communist nation.

Originally Posted by fairywaif

I know, that book was so dark. And that part with the pig? *Shudder*

@ faggotory fun- Did you say Soviet Myth? Please explain that for me. Last time I knew, Russia used to be a communist nation.

The Soviet Myth was back in the 1930's. It stated that Communism was the idyllic way of government, but was demolished by Animal Farm, when it was explained through a children-esque story.

Alright, I made this thread, so I have the right to post this.
I really disliked The Catcher in the Rye.
Nothing happens in it!
It's just Holden being hypocritical.
And if I'm supposed to connect with it because I'm a teenager than, well, I guess I'm a twenty year old trapped in a teens body because really, almost everything in the book was stupid.

Wuthering Heights in seventh grade...sorry but at that time I was just like 'Umm...your serious right'? I also hated Beowulf, that was like pouring lemon on a cut for me. Oh! How could I forget 'Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry' and 'The Land'. They were so boring and everyone failed the exams because the books were so boring. My teacher just went 'You know what we aren't going to read this'. And she gave us REAL books to read. She gave us Mary Higgins Clark. Now that was recovery from the worst books.

My high school summer reading actually has been better. I think the one book I didn't enjoy was Rebecca. It was a bit...'bleh' for me. I don't know why but that novel was just not at all entertaining for me. It felt more like a prickle in my toe that wouldn't go away.

Four words Lord Of The Flies. I hated the novel - every moth eaten leaflet of it. The only thing that kept me sane was my friend in the seat next to me and her continuous remarks towards Jacks fights with Ralph about Piggy and other things young bored shounen ai fans can come up with. To me the author spent too much time explaining useless things. But to give the book justice when I'm not reading it I think Golding is a genius - that his work with symbolism is fantastic and he's vision is correct - but that's only when I haven't got the book in my hand.

Brimstone Journals - I just don't like verse novels but this one I hated the most. Some characters were useless one liners that added nothing to the charm of the book just a waste of paper (ahem Kitty). Other characters stereotypical character flaws were so irritating you couldn't wait for their page to be over. And let's not forget the nothing ending. It builds up and up "Just hang in Nei Nei" I told myself "something big is going to happen" then it doesn't.

Oh I almost forgot Great Expectations, Unlike The Lord of The Flies I can't even like this one after I stopped reading it. Don't get me wrong I adore Charles Dickens' work but I hate the book, I hate the films I don't know why but Pip just irritated me so much.

Originally Posted by Skada

I really really didn't like The Perks Of Being A Wallflower. I was in a private academic boarding school, and the whole thing I kept thinking "if we're gunna read a coming-of-age novel, why aren't we reading something relevant?" Which I guess is not really a fault of the novel itself, but more of the circumstances around it.

I read that also but of my own free will I was highly disappointed with the book really. It wasn't the wonder I had been told of.

Thank you Delusional Muffin! I too detested Catcher in the Rye - and it seemed everyone else in the class loved it. It seemed waaay too whingey and mopey. Thus when I had to write the "epilogue" I put Holden in a mental institution.
Shoeless Joe was ridiculous.
No Great Mischief was boring to the end.
To Kill a Mockingbird nearly choked me and Where the Red Fern Grows was torture even for my grade 8 self. Thankfully I am an Art History student and my assigned readings are just articles.

I have hated all the required reading I have ever have to do. From Farenheit 451 in 8th grade to Romeo and Juliet and To kill a Mockingbird in 9th, and Lord of the Flies and Julius Caesar in 10th. Now, William Shakespeare is a brilliant writer, amazing, so beautiful. But, he is hard to understand, his stories are boring, and very dry. However, I can not say the say for Ray Bradbury, Harper Lee, or the author of Lord of the Flies. In fact, I never even finished any of those books. After the first couple of pages, I quit.

I was also required to read two books from a list of books, and one of tehm had to be one of the starred books on her list. I chose Interview with a Vampire for my starred list book. I hated itl. It was not a very good book. Too long, too descriptive, and Louis is too angsty.

EDIT: Ohh! And, we weren't necessarily required to read them, but we read them in class: Night by Elie Wiesel and Flowers for Algernon (the shortened version, thank the lord. I would have ripped my hair out if we had to read the whole thing.) And the Diary of Anne Frank.

I think I just have a problem with the things people tell me to do.

I'm impressed your teacher had Interview With a Vampire on her list of reading material Tut'ankhamun. I would have thought that to be a large improvement over Anne of Green Gables or Bridge to Terabithia. Those were two more I disliked intensely.

The Old man and the Sea was the one that I absolutely hated the most too, but Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite books of all time so it makes me sad that several people consider it their worst read.

I never had to read anything in school. Well, maybe one - the Dwarf - but that one's so short it hardly counts...
I wish we had more mandatory books, really. It was pretty dull the way it was, what with everyone choosing whichever book they wanted from a pretty wide selection ("something from the nineteenth century" :P)
It ended with a pretty flat discussion.

In sixth grade, there was "Island of the Blue Dolphins".

In a nutshell, it was about some girl, stranded on an island, who wakes up, finds food, talks to the animals, and goes to sleep. Repeat this for about 20 more chapters, and you've got the whole story right there.

Of course, you can't leave out the movie version! So then, our class had to watch 2 hours of waking up, finding food, talking to animals, and going to sleep.

Some of the required reading was okay, though. I really liked "The Outsiders" and "Tuck Everlasting".

Catcher in the Rye.

Holden Cauhoweveritsspelled is the most annoying, hypocritical narrator I have ever seen.

That is all.

"Abschied von den Eltern" (Goodbye to the parents) by Peter Weiss.

One hundred and twenty pages, no chapters, not even paragraphs. Nothing. Just rectangles of text. And it is the DULLEST BOOK EVER. Not only is it impossible to follow the narrator's train of thought, his descriptions of everything are also mindbogglingly dull.

hated every single book i was forced to read in elementary, middle and high school.
especially did not like: Old Man and the Sea. my teacher went ON and ON about how ''this symbolizes that'' and the old man is in love with the fish and OMG i nearly died. fahrenheit 451 wasn't that bad.... to kill a mockingbird was dull and made me want to scream. everything in that book was SO obvious and nobody in my class understood it. i hated shakespeare and the odyssey. i didn't have to read A Separate Peace in my freshman year, so i read it by myself and i LOVED it. i cried.