Books you had to read in school that you HATED?

[Debbie]

One of my friends and I were chatting and I was waxing poetic about some large meaty tombs I've been enjoying and I thought I might dip back to re read the "Three Musketeers" by Dumas. I tackled that during the muggy heat of summer during '83(so tender age of 13) ~ nostalgia!

BUT then I remembered the same year having to read for my 8th grade Classical Lit class, Charles Dickens "Great Expections". Even after all these years I STILL feel like that book owes me the time back it took to read it (let alone dissect it in class)

Don't get me wrong, I read "Tale of Two Cities" and of course "The Christmas Carol" ...it's just Great Expections that left me loathing.

So....any truly horrid books out there you'd rather let us know to dodge the bullet with? I haven't delved into books in years but my voracious reading appetite has reared it's ugly head and I'm craving books, but would also prefer to avoid ....ahem.... Great expectations (that are never fulfilled!)

[Fi]

Blimey - I can't even remember what we read in school! Though I still feel cheated that we never actually did any Shakespeare.

On a more recent note, one book I thought I'd love but ended up bored by was 'The Suspicions on Mr Whicher'

[valerie n scout]

I don't think I hated any of my school books but I used to love Stephen King, but Gerald's game, then Insomnia finished me off...I know he has a new one out but I simply don't fancy it

[dalesnfellfan]

I too felt cheated not to have read any Shakespeare at school but I can't remember any books I hated, we had a really good English lit teacher who made everything fun, I do remember loving The Prisoner of Zenda, can't remember who wrote it, and I also loved The Secret Garden.
Some years ago my daughter bought me a boxed set of some of the 'classics' including some of Dickens and I just couldn't get into them at all.

One book I read last year that I really enjoyed was The Labyrinth by Kate Mosse, it's quite a tomb but I found I couldn't put it down.

[Debbie]

*jaw drops...wait, you DIDN'T read Shakespeare? We had "Romeo and Juliet" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" in middle school, and then several others in high school that were required reading. Then in college, Shakespeare yet again my freshman year for the required English class . I find it humorous that Shakespeare was required for us, and not kids in the UK

Mind you, my very first Shakespeare was "MacBeth" (age 13, but my own choice) and my classmates were giving me a horrid time about reading it for a book report. They were raving about what an egghead I was, and why didn't I read something normal for a book report.

"Twenty eight pages." was my reply. They blinked at me, "What?".

"MacBeth is only 28 pages long and to be honest, I don't have the extra time right now to read a longer book for a simple book report." That ended the argument I wasn't about to tell them for 28 pages, he packs in a lot of detail and it took quite a bit for me to write the report to get the gist down. The language was a struggle at first, but became easier to read as I went along.

As for Mr. Stephen King, I don't think I've ever read any of his books because of my mother. It was back in the '70s and I can't remember the book, but it might have been used for the movie, "The Shining". Mom's a voracious reader, and yet she would put this book down in the late afternoon. I asked her why and she said it creeped her out and there was no way she was going to read it during anything but broad daylight I won't touch his books with a bargepole!

I never cared for some of Edgar Allen Poe's works and was appalled they made us read his works at only age 12 ("The Telltale Heart" I'm looking at you).  Mom spent a lot of time keeping me from seeing and reading things that would set off nightmares, and here the school was making us read this because it was the first book of the Horror genre Although I did enjoy some of his poems.

Hmmm... makes mental notes to avoid 'The Suspicions on Mr Whicher' as well

[dalesnfellfan]

Debbie kids are made to read Shakespeare here too but I went to a secondary modern girls school (I actually did pass my 11+ exam but my name started with a W and places were given in alphabetical order, so not enough grammar school places), in those days in my school it was thought that girls didn't need to learn the classics or latin or indeed very much if you weren't grammar school material as you were at best only likely to be a teacher, nurse or a secretary, I left school at 15 as I didn't want to do any of that. I wanted to be a scientist and later I did go to uni to do a microbiology degree in my forties as a mature student on day release, and ended up with a good job as a technical manager for a large food company, wonder what my teachers would have thought of that if they were still alive.

[tinkerdorisalison]

We did Macbeth in Eng Lit., think I was about 13ish. Never noticed that it was so short..... we got one of those revision booklets which gave you the rundown and main points......Can't actually remember much about it now and didn't do Literature as an option.

[Debbie]

Some of my best friends had to go through the school system in the '50s and it's appalling how they thought girls didn't need to learn the classics or 'take up space in the system' for learning I'd no idea about the spaces being taken alphabetically. Here we get the public education from kindergarten (half day, age 5) all the way through high school. In high school they separated the classes into those who felt they would continue into college and those who knew they were more inclined to take agricultural (we were rural) or vocational type jobs (like the mechanics). Didn't matter, though, in order to graduate from high school, everyone had to suffer Shakespeare and a lot of other 'required' items.

Kudos to you for you not only furthering your own education in the Sciences (I've bumped up against that male dominated field too, it seems so odd to me that Science is male dominated), but also landing a good job in the process

Ah, so Shakespeare is in the curriculum, it's just different then. Is he optional? None of us had a choice in the matter. And the 28 page book was written in 'modern' English, but was an older book that had been donated to our school, possibly published in the 1940s.

[Fi]

From memory, there were a number of set books (which included Shakespeare) and it depended on each individual school which of them off the list they chose to do. Sadly my school chose not to do him. He was probably compulsory at 6th form college A-level (18yrs old) tho, but by then I was concentrating on the sciences.

I do remember reading Ring of Bright Water (which I'd already read and had to concentrate really hard on not crying in class when we reached the bit where Mijbil dies!) and Emily (or Anne? lol) Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is still a favourite.

[harveydales]

This is an interesting thread. I never liked English as a subject at school but did enjoy all the books we had to read, including the classics, even Chaucer. Come to that, I even enjoyed reading Ceasar's Gallic Wars in Latin! Must be mad. Wouldn't want to read anything like that now.

[valerie n scout]

Oh Chaucer I forgot all about him..lol

[kc]

I could never understand a work of Shakespeare. Thank goodness for Mel Gibson's Hamlet. Got me through my English degree ha ha

[DalesLady]

The Merchant of Venice was my troublesome one at school. I could not get my head around it. We had set books to read too, and my English teacher was absolutely convinced that I wouldn't pass my English Literature exam because I spent the lessons pretty much trying to hide my yawns! I loved reading, but there is something about having to read a book which makes it uninteresting. I did pass both English O Level exams with A's and put the Literature one down to watching Great Expectations in film jut a few days before the exam...best and easiest revision I ever did

We had to read (from memory) The Merchant of Venice, a compilation of short stories I cannot remember the title of, but there were six in it...poetry by Wordsworth, so I learned Ode to Westminster Bridge by heart because it was his shortest one , then, Great Expectations which I did find rather hard going in book format, but OK in film

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[cadeby]

I went to an "uber modern" comprehensive school where you called the teachers by their first names, only turned up to lessons if you felt like it and chose your own literature! I often think it's amazing that I ever gained a science degree. Needless to say, said dire education system was quickly dropped

I am enjoying hearing about everybody elses pet hates since I only got to read books I liked.

[dusty]

I hated and still resent all the class time wasted on To kill a mockingbird. It may have been partly brought on that our teacher went off sick and subs just made us re-read and re-read it when I'd finished it in the first night.
As a book lover and someone that works in a library I can honestly say its the only book I'd happily burn.