• lord of the flies was cool, though scary. I was also introduced to the Hatchet and the Hobbit this way. cool books.

I'm still in highschool, but I'm close to my graduating year. Sad to say, I haven't read a lot of novels--I was usually gone whenever the class had to. I missed out on reading Lord of the Flies and Great Expectations. The thing is, I'm not really interested enough to go out and borrow those books at a local library; so it was like my only opportunity, if that makes sense. >>;

I'm happy that I get to be involved in some sort of novel this year though. We read Frederick Douglass' novel and The Kite Runner. Douglass' novel wasn't too exciting--I was basically relearning things I'm already aware of, though I found the way it was written to be a bit lyrical. :3 I'm surprisingly enjoying The Kite Runner. I have a feeling I'm going to finish the book before the required dates. >__>;;

Sad to say but I don't actually recall a great many of the required reads for my class (mainly I recall getting in trouble for reading ahead all the time).

I know that some of the favorites I've ended up reading throughout the years were:

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis: This one is what got me hooked on the series and started getting me into fantasy as a genre.

The Hobbit by JR Tolkien: I hated the Lord of the Rings Trilogy but adored this one. I think that Bilbo's tale was more entertaining and a better read. Although the style of writing is very dry and too detailed for my liking ( afterall I just need to know it's a tree - I don't need the exact pattern on the bark described to me!).

The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlet Letter - there are dozens and dozens of others. I can't think of any that I truly disliked and wanted to not read though there are many that I will probably never pick up and read again.

I'm a fan of most of EA Poe's work - The Wine Cellar being my absolute favorite followed closely by The Raven and Fall of the House of Usher. I love quite a bit of Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer's Nights Dream, and King Lear are my top ones.

I could go on an on ^^ But I'll stop here before I'm simply rambling.

I really found it hard to get into any books while i was in school, and even still now that i am almost finished university i has been really hard to read and enjoy a book that i have to read for marks and papers.

That being said, i did enjoy a few and now that i have the leisure time to read i have picked up most of the books and read them again and really enjoyed them.

Some of my favorites from back in school, ranging from about grade 8 to my fifth year of university.

Ten Little Indians - based on a poem it was a murder story that followed ten people stuck on an island and each time one of die it followed in the way of the poem. "ten little Indians went out to dine, one choked himself and then there were nine," and the book progressed as such to a plot twist at the end that i don't think anyone could see coming. it was also mad into two different movies one by the same title of the book and the second one wasn't of the same title and for the life of me i can't remember it now. it has been since banned from the book list because of the violence...

To Kill A Mockingbird - i don't know who couldn't like this book. i loved it. i cried and it really changed my way of thinking.

Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. - this is a play written by a Canadian author that is a spoof on two of the great Shakespearean plays, Othello and Romeo and Juliet. the basic premise is what would happen in either story if there was a fool and instead of them being tragedies what if they were comedies.

Maus - Maus is a graphic novel in two volumes that i was privileged enough to read this year. it is true story based on the life of the authors father who was a Holocaust survivor and the graphic novel gives you a totally different perspective into the horror that was Nazi Germany.

The only required reading I ever enjoyed was Catcher in the rye, The Giver, and 1984.

I enjoyed a lot of the things I was required to read as a child. By the time I was in high school I was usually rereading the requirements but I still enjoyed them. My favorite's were One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest, Brave New World, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Animal Farm, A Farewell To Arms, All's Quiet On The Western Front, The Giver, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Catcher In The Rye, A Tale of Two Cities, The Outsiders, Bridge To Terebethia, The Great Gatsby, and Candide.

On a side note I had to read Paulsen's Dog Song in the first grade. To this day it is the worst book I've ever read. I never liked anything of Paulsen's. In the sixth grade we had to read the Pearl by Steinbeck. Steinbeck was a sexist son of a bitch and if he weren't already dead I'd be tempted to look him up and clock him in the mouth. I never liked anything I read of Steinbeck's.

Brave New World

I remember in 8th grade, we had to read The Outsiders. I thought it was pretty well written and entertaining. It was really expressive. I had to read the sequel as well but I didn't like it as much as the first. We also had to read The Giver that same year. That was really entertaining to me. The sequels to this was pretty good. Although the end was kind of sad for The Messenger.

I liked Lord of The Flies.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Required reading that you liked? Hmm...
Err, I'm sure there was SOMETHING..
Arghh... Can't seem think of any..Oh.. yeah.
Duh!
I actually really liked "A Rasin in the Sun"
Now, we aren't EXACTLy finished with it yet...
Good so far though, :)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Wonderful book; one of the few required readings that I've enjoyed. Everything else seems to come in two flavors; good but depressing, or cheerful but awful.

Ishi, I ask of you... *Shudders* Even my English teacher at the time admitted that it was bad. But the school required that we read it anyhow.

The ones I liked often were few and far between, though there were so many last year:

- The Charterhouse of Parma(Stendhal): I liked the strong female characters in this. Especially Gina. It was all about Gina for me.

- The Country Waif (George Sands): This is a perfect read for days that you want a little fluffy romance.

- Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift): I am endlessly amused by that man. I didn't catch some of the jokes, but for the most part his commentary on government still rings true.

- Cyrano de Bergerac (?): I loved this. To be fair, I'd been introduced to it before in the French movie with Gerard Depardu (sp?), but I still loved it.

- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen): Again, I'd seen the BBC 6 hour long version, but I was still in love with the book as well as the mini-series. I haven't seen the most recent version, because to me Mr. Darcy will always be Collin Firth.

I definitely want to try out some of these books that people are recommending!

Most of the required reading I've had was pretty lame. The only one I like was The Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux, but since the teacher over analyzed everything, and we did so many assignments on it, it almost ruined the book for me.

I loved reading The Outsiders. <3
I actually bought myself my own copy because I loved that book so much. I can't even really explain why I like it. I just do. ^^; <3

I also am probably the only living person who enjoyed reading The Stone Angel. We had to read it for a class of mine and everyone hated it except me. >___>;

I also enjoyed Hamlet and Macbeth. I thought both were rather interesting. O:

In the 6th grade we read The Giver. I love that book so much. The Outsiders was a pretty good book too. I read it in the 7th grade.
This year, I read October Sky. I actually liked it, unlike most of the people in my school. I thought it was pretty cool.

Uhm..I enjoyed The Lord of the Flies and Treasure Island. They were pretty interesting Moral-wise and had wonderful characters.

I don't think there's been required reading I haven't enjoyed on at least some level. I'm easy to please, it seems.

Jane Eyre was, well, beautiful... and I ended up reading Pride and Prejudice in my own time. That was the book the other English group was studying.

To Kill a Mockingbird had me gripped as well. We were all talking in pseudo-Southern accents for a while (more than a while) after, though.

The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest, I can't stress how much I adore the latter. Heck, I'm renting out a version with a more advanced introduction to munch through.

Shakespeare's Sonnets/The Sonnets - again, they made me dribbly.

Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad. I love-hate this book. I'm rereading it now, for our exams, and it's tedious (he repeats himself a lot) and I frankly don't side with the people who think it's brilliant, but I don't dislike it; it's interesting and fun to write about.

Beloved - I think has become my favourite book of all time, although I only read it properly once. It's haunting, but Morrison is amazing... it's so original. I won't say much more or else I'll start writing an essay on it.

Aside from those, I've read the other class's The Great Gatsby, and Candide/The Optimist and Brave New World for Symposium, both of which were enthralling.

I really, really want to read Lord of the Flies.

I was divided on whether I liked my school reading or not, but most years I did enjoy the books we were assigned. Probably my favorite assigned reading was from my first quarter of college when my English teacher had us read Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. (She also had us read Lord of the Rings, or in my case re-read.)

For high school, I wasn't too fond of To Kill a Mockingbird or Fallen Angels, but I did like a lot of the short stories we had to read from the textbook (like "The Cask of Amontillado" and "The Scarlet Ibis").

Originally Posted by Victor Von Doom

6th Grade: Freak the Mighty. Loved that book from the first page. Probably read it a dozen times, easily. I liked the sequel too, but it wasn't the same without some of the other characters. The movie adaptation still remains one of my favorites as well.

Oh! I was trying to remember the title of that book a while ago! I loved that as well! I cried at the end, though. I love it when literature does that to me--otherwise, it'd be boring.

Ones that I can list off the top of my head:

6th Grade - The Black Pearl. Loved it, loved it, loved it. I was extremely into literature before I got into high school, and this novel was one of my favorites. The main characters' enduring struggle against their "curse" was so intense that I found it hard to put down the book. Though... I probably couldn't put the book down anyways since it was so short!

10th Grade - Beloved. @Chaitealatte! XDD This novel was totally creepy, but because of that, it is all the more intrigueing. Everyone hated it. I hate it too, but I also loved it. The movie adaptation was also interesting--the frightening, somewhat dark parts in the book displayed in the movie made me giggle. Haunting, yes--I'll never forget this book for the rest of my life.

11th Grade - On the Road. Jack Kerouac beatnik stuff! I found most of the drug-induced incidents Kerouac transcribes in his book neat and interesting, and though I glossed over some parts that I found to be boring, it's overall a nice insightful view of that particular era. I guess I'm also biased because I live close and go to the place Kerouac and his beatnik friends went to numerous times, City Lights.
The Great Gatsby. For some reason or another, I like reading window-styled narratives, that AND this was easy to read and flow through. I don't remember as much of this novel as I should, but I know the ending left me feeling extremely sorry for Gatsby. It's a classic.

12th Grade (current year!) - The Stranger. I relate to the main character in many ways, and it was a very easy read. It's easy to talk about themes and motifs and otherwise discuss the book, and I'm really into existentialism. A MUST-READ for people interested in existentialism~ :3

Originally Posted by cyanideislove

Most of the required reading I've had was pretty lame. The only one I like was The Phantom Of The Opera by Gaston Leroux, but since the teacher over analyzed everything, and we did so many assignments on it, it almost ruined the book for me.

I loved that book. I was fortunate enough not to have it assigned and overworked, but I loved it. I was so disappointed with the musical because I'd read the book first and was hoping for something scary instead of a love story. *sigh* Oh well.

10th Grade - Beloved. @Chaitealatte! XDD This novel was totally creepy, but because of that, it is all the more intrigueing. Everyone hated it. I hate it too, but I also loved it. The movie adaptation was also interesting--the frightening, somewhat dark parts in the book displayed in the movie made me giggle. Haunting, yes--I'll never forget this book for the rest of my life.

I sent my Nanny a copy for Christmas, and she said opening it was like meeting an old friend again. She read it when it first came out, and since has devoured a lot of Morrison's stuff. She lives out in the Caribbean. It's strange how we're so alike. x___x

She advises I see the move. My English teacher is perplexed how they can make a movie out of something that conveys so much of its meaning through writing style.

One girl in my class said, 'You read a page and you think, "This is the WORST thing that can ever happen to somebody!", then you turn the page and think, "SCRAP THAT. Actually, this is the worst thing..."' @__@

I'm working up the courage to read some of her other stuff.

Ahh~ Hahaha, since I love reading... I enjoyed MOST of my required reading. >3>;;

Though some that currently ring a bell for me at the moment.

Grade 6-7 (Can't Remember... xP) The Outsiders. Harhar, cool stuff.

I also enjoyed 'All Quiet on the Western Front' by Erich Maria Remarque. I dunno... it just really intrigued me... >3>;;

And Something I was required to read in university... 'God's Chinese Son'... Yeah, I enjoy history I guess. XDD

One of my favorite pieces of required reading was "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allen Poe. It was really short but I enjoyed it very much. A lot more than Fallen Angels (which was interesting but not my style) or *shudder* Tale of Two Cities.

I really liked The Crucible. Mostly because I understood it and did well on the essay test...haha. I just found myself really drawn into the story and I almost yelled into the book a few times..haha. I'm not crazy..I promise..

there were a lot of books that my teachers chose that I enjoyed:
9th Grade- Catherine Called Birdie, at first I didn't like it too much but then Birdie started growing on me
10th Grade- My new english teacher had pretty decent taste in books, I was surprised by how I enjoyed The Fortunate Pilgrim, Lord of the Flies, A Doll's House, and oddly enough, Chronicle of A Death Foretold. She chose great stuff.
11th Grade- same English teacher and so far, I'm enjoying We Were The Mulvaneys and I really enjoyed reading the Crucible and Ordinary People. I'm wondering how The Great Gatsby will come out,.