Your Most Hated Book from School

[Shoeless]

I am trying to put together a reading list for my 12 year old.  It reminded me of all the books I had for assigned reading in school, the ones where you think "Oh, not that...

My top three:

The Grapes of Wrath, The Red Badge of Courage, and Billy Budd. 

I'd probably appreciate The Grapes of Wrath as an adult, but as an 8th grader, it was tedious to get through. I can't imagine reading the other two books ever again, or choosing them for my son to read.  They seem so old fashioned now. 

Got any clunkers from your school days you'd like to share?

 

[caffeineandbooks]

I reckon you can turn any book into a "clunker" if you give it to a kid who's not ready for it or if you load enough busywork onto it.  Something I'm trying to keep at the front of my mind when choosing books is that my job is not to drag them through a booklist now, as though they'll never read again once they graduate high school, but rather to connect them with books that they love so that they leave our homeschool with the tools and motivation to go on reading for a lifetime.  That means plenty of great books that they just read and don't have to discuss or turn in papers about, as well as a smaller selection each year that receive a more formal treatment.  Good luck in your book list!

[Another Lynn]

The Red Badge of Courage would probably be on that list.  But the one I hated most was For Whom the Bell Tolls.  

[Acorn]

Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and it was assigned in high school and then college.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Acorn

[TomK]

"Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men."

Frankly, I tell people I have PTSD from being forced to read Steinbeck in high school.

Guess what won't be on the reading lists when my daughter gets to the high school ages?

In fairness, though, so much of what we were forced to read in high school was just downright painful. And I say this as someone who did become an avid reader.

[ikslo]

Moby Dick, The Fountainhead, Walden

 

(I liked Steinbeck in school.)

[Clemsondana]

I second Tess of the D'urvervilles.  Ugh. 

Along these lines, this summer I set up the 'way we record high school work' stuff for my 9th grader. Kid prefers to hand write, so I typed up some forms with everything that I needed kiddo to record - pages or chapters each day for some subjects, hours each day in time-based things like PE, etc.  I also made a column for 'books read', saying that I didn't know if we'd need it, but it's easier to write them down as we go.  Over the summer kid read plenty of sci-fi and fantasy, but, unprompted, started working through the bookshelves of classics that we have leftover from high school, college, etc.  Kid enjoys Shakespeare, which I never did (it wasn't awful, but not a favorite) and actually enjoyed Moby Dick, saying that I should read it. 😮 Kid is taking a co-op lit analysis class, but clearly their love for literature (as opposed to just 'books) has outpaced anything that the rest of us have.  Lest you think I've got guru tips for getting kids to like literature, younger doesn't usually want to read anything that I suggest.  But, strangely, kiddo picked up Tom Sawyer for fun recently.  We'll see if we've turned a corner.  🙂 

[historically accurate]

The Dubliners: when the penultimate short story is entitled "The Dead", you know it's not going to be a page-turner.

Don Quixote: never did finish it - I just couldn't.

 

I tried Dickens with my oldest - it was a bust, but she really liked Of Mice and Men.

 

 

[73349]

The Old Man and the Sea.

I appreciate Melville and Dickens, but I have never found anything Hemingway ever wrote that would be better in my hands than in a fire pit.

[Selkie]

Not so much a clunker, but just really awful - Where the Red Fern Grows. I think our entire class hated that book. Our teacher made us read it out loud, and everyone was sobbing.

[mellifera33]

The Red Badge of Courage.

The Old Man and the Sea. I found myself wishing the old man would just fall in and get eaten by sharks so the book would be over.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich. I should read this one again, though--I suspect I'd appreciate it more in middle age than I did as a teen. 

2 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

All from high school- Another Steinbeck despiser, and adding anything by Dickens. Oh and the book Candide. I hated that one too. 
 

If textbooks are an option- my high school Chemistry book. I’d have burned that sucker had I had the chance. 
 

There was a meme floating around facebook/twitter a while back asking for the titles of books that made you cry. The meme'd answer was the organic chem textbook my college used. 🙂 I can attest to the truthfulness of that meme. I spent many evenings crying over that book and stacks of NMR printouts. lol

[Lori D.]

My DSs will tell you in a heartbeat: Billy Budd.  They still give me grief for that one. 😂 

Wuthering Heights -- that's about the only other book I can recall that they spent a lot of time griping about. DSs are both very pragmatic, and the extreme emotions and crazy choices made out of emotion just did not make sense to them. 😉 (I, on the other hand really enjoyed the complexity and layers in that book, as well as the multiple unreliable narrators -- a fascinating and very mature writing choice by Bronte.)

On the other hand, a surprise hit for DSs was The Great Gatsby. A lot of people have that one at the top of their "most hated books" list, but DSs repeatedly commented on how much they appreciated Fitzgerald's use of language and writing style, and they clicked with the themes. They also really enjoyed Brave New World, which is another one that tends to rank high on the "hate" list, lol -- we had some fantastic discussions with that one.

You just never know what your child will really like or really hate. I recommend giving yourselves grace, and if you hit a book that your child really despises, it is OKAY to not finish it and move on to something else. Also, short stories or novellas go over really well whereas a full novel might flop. While that didn't work for us with Billy Budd (lol) -- which we did instead of Moby Dick -- I actually think DSs would have enjoyed Melville's quirky, early nilistic short story "Bartleby the Scrivener". We also did Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea (in place of a novel), and DSs really enjoyed it. We also did Steinbeck's short novella, The Pearl, and DSs didn't mind it at all. 

Doing works together really helps. DSs found the first 10 chapters of Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) to be hard and confusing, but because we did it together and I could keep explaining as needed, once we got over that initial hump, they really enjoyed that one. Dickens is fantastic in his descriptions that really bring to life quirky characters, and he frequently includes bits of humor to relieve heaviness.

Also, I'd encourage you to include some YA works throughout high school that are meaty for discussion or cover contemporary topics -- it's good for high schoolers to have easier to read works as well as works with elevated/older language and works in translation. And to have current themes and topics to discuss.

Also, don't forget to include some plays and short stories along the way. Short stories are a great way of covering a lot more authors in a shorter period of time, and if you dislike the story, well it's short and 2 days later you've moved on to something else, hopefully of higher interest. And we chose to watch, rather than read, most of the plays. (Although we did read several Shakespeare plays -- very fun to do it all together as "reader's theater".)

My DSs were not fond of poetry, but I'm very glad we included several short units of poetry each year from 7th grade on. Poetry allows you to slow down and appreciate language use. Also, being careful to pick poems that are more narrative-based and less "opaque" in meaning helped to keep down the grumbling, lol.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lori D.

[Lori D.]

And while you're asking for books we adults hated in high school... you mentioned that you're putting together a reading list for your 12-year-old. Here are a few ideas that went over very well with my DSs at that age, or with my middle school Lit. & Writing co-op class students:

A Long Walk to Water (Park)
The Cay (Taylor)
Tuck Everlasting (Babbitt)
The Hobbit (Tolkien)
The Harry Potter series (Rowling)
The Giver (Lowry)
Call of the Wild (London)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Twain)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)
A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
All Creatures Great and Small (Herriot)
My Family and Other Animals (Durrell)

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lori D.

[Matryoshka]

Catcher in the Rye, and yes, Billy Budd.

I finally read Moby-Dick last year (well, listened to it), and actually loved it.  But not sure it would have gone well in high school.  Or maybe Billy Budd is just that awful.  I hated it.

I also just got around to Grapes of Wrath and loved it (after a bumpy start), but you're right that I don't think I would have appreciated it in high school.  Some classics I think benefit from actual life experience before reading.

Red Badge of Courage might be the only assigned book in high school I never actually finished...  I also remember being annoyed with Old Man and the Sea. Did not care about the stupid old man or his fish.  Boring.

But visceral hate? The first two.  Holden Caulfield is a foul-mouthed self-absorbed poser and whiner and I had no patience with him even as a teen myself.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Xahm]

As I Lay Dying and Song of Solomon by Morrison, both in tenth grade. Too many books about death that year, and the teacher gave quizzes in inane details every day, which would ruin just about any book. Reading Faulkner trying to pay attention to things like "what color was the blanket?" Ugh! And Morrison was too much for me at 15. The amount of sex/nudity etc distracted from any actual points being made. I've enjoyed other bills by her since then, but I haven't been ready to try that again.

[historically accurate]

1 minute ago, xahm said:

As I Lay Dying and Song of Solomon by Morrison, both in tenth grade. Too many books about death that year, and the teacher gave quizzes in inane details every day, which would ruin just about any book. Reading Faulkner trying to pay attention to things like "what color was the blanket?" Ugh! And Morrison was too much for me at 15. The amount of sex/nudity etc distracted from any actual points being made. I've enjoyed other bills by her since then, but I haven't been ready to try that again.

Awww, I really liked As I Lay Dying. I remember we mapped the journey and the professor acted out some scenes as a one-woman play while reading parts aloud - she really made it fun (well, as much as a whole book about dying could be considered fun LOL).

[Matryoshka]

2 minutes ago, xahm said:

As I Lay Dying and Song of Solomon by Morrison, both in tenth grade. Too many books about death that year, and the teacher gave quizzes in inane details every day, which would ruin just about any book. Reading Faulkner trying to pay attention to things like "what color was the blanket?" Ugh! And Morrison was too much for me at 15. The amount of sex/nudity etc distracted from any actual points being made. I've enjoyed other bills by her since then, but I haven't been ready to try that again.

Just read As I Lay Dying last year, and that did not benefit from maturity.  I want to burn it with fire.  Stupid people doing stupid things because they're stupid, and literally every side character in the book told them not to do the stupid thing, and then they did it anyway.  And then one of the most stupid guys spends half the book having highbrow internal ruminations about the landscape.  I'm pretty sure that's not what the internal life of a character that thinks cement is a good way to mend a broken leg would be.  And the kid - if I had to hear 'my mother is a fish' one.more.time.  

I may try another Faulkner in the faint hope that that book might be his Billy Budd... people I respect really like him.  But that book... omg, so.freaking.awful.  Don't think I've straight-up hated a book so much since... maybe high school! 😂

[Xahm]

12 minutes ago, Ordinary Shoes said:

David Copperfield - I'm sure it's a fine book and I would probably appreciate it now. What ruined it for me was how we read it in the 9th grade. We sat in rows of desks. Each student read a paragraph, then on to the next student. It was pure torture. 

I am so thankful none of our teachers ever did that. I hear about it all the time and can't understand how any teacher could sit through class after class after that without suffering severe mental health decline.

[BlsdMama]

10 hours ago, MissLemon said:

I am trying to put together a reading list for my 12 year old.  It reminded me of all the books I had for assigned reading in school, the ones where you think "Oh, not that...

My top three:

The Grapes of Wrath

 

Yes! I reread it about ten years ago, thinking I would appreciate it more as an adult? Nope.

[BlsdMama]

4 hours ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

All from high school- Another Steinbeck despiser, and adding anything by Dickens. Oh and the book Candide. I hated that one too. 
 

If textbooks are an option- my high school Chemistry book. I’d have burned that sucker had I had the chance. 
 

My daughter and her friends did burn the textbook of a class they took together.  It was quite festive.  😉 

Madame Bovary and Candide - my semester of French lit did not inspire me to read it again ever in my life.  The Russian literature was better, but I was not mature enough for Anna Karenina especially cramming it in over Christmas vacation.  I have been meaning to read that again.

my high school AP Physics text - not worth the paper it was written on and it was written on a lot of paper.  Poor trees...

Edited August 8, 2020 by Mom2mthj

[aaplank]

Beowulf!!!  The absolute worst!!!

[Lori D.]

29 minutes ago, aaplank said:

Beowulf!!!  The absolute worst!!!

NOOOOO!!!!! 😱 😂  Such a fantastic epic! Many of my high school students LOVED Beowulf when we did it as part of a year-long Lord of the Rings study!

I do think Beowulf, along with other older works that are in translation, can be very tough to connect with, and if you can do them a knowledgeable guide or mentor who can help you see and appreciate what's in the work and understand the context that it is coming out of, can really help reduce the "hate" (lol) for a book...

Also, TOTALLY agreeing with posters upthread who mentioned that many books are attempted way too early (i.e. forced on high schoolers). Waiting until you have a good amount of years of life experience and deep reading under the belt really helps with having patience and understanding of works that would have caused total frustration/boredom/hatred in the teen years. 😉 There are SOOOO many great books out there -- no need to force some of those mature adult books on kids... JMO!

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lori D.

[Matryoshka]

4 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

NOOOOO!!!!! 😱 😂  Such a fantastic epic! Many of my high school students LOVED Beowulf when we did it as part of a year-long Lord of the Rings study!

I do think Beowulf, along with other older works that are in translation, can be very tough to connect with, and if you can do them a knowledgeable guide or mentor who can help you see and appreciate what's in the work and understand the context that it is coming out of, can really help reduce the "hate" (lol) for a book...

I think ancient epics are from an oral tradition and meant to be performed and listened to, rather than read.  We had a year in which we listened to great audios of the Iliad, Beowulf,  and Gawain and the Green Knight. (I think this may also have been the same year we did LLfLoTR).

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, square_25 said:

I didn't like Margaret Atwood at all. I think we read A Handmaid's Tale and I was just NOT interested. Since I went to school in Canada, she's one of our national treasures, lol, but I could have done without. 

I liked Dickens, and I liked Of Mice and Men, although I didn't read it for school. I also really enjoyed The Great Gatsby, also not for school. 

One year, we read Brave New World and 1984, and I didn't like Brave New World much, far preferring 1984. I was interested to read another novel by Huxley later on and to realize that he was actually a more sophisticated writer than I had thought... 

I read 1984 seventeen times between sixth and ninth grades.  I think in retrospect it was to prepare me for 2020.  

[TomK]

23 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

NOOOOO!!!!! 😱 😂  Such a fantastic epic! Many of my high school students LOVED Beowulf when we did it as part of a year-long Lord of the Rings study!

I do think Beowulf, along with other older works that are in translation, can be very tough to connect with, and if you can do them a knowledgeable guide or mentor who can help you see and appreciate what's in the work and understand the context that it is coming out of, can really help reduce the "hate" (lol) for a book...
 

A lot of those types of things probably depend on who translated it.

Translation isn't just about taking the words and finding the right words in modern English. It's a kind of art all on its own, so if you don't find the right translation, you end up with a sub-par product.

It's why I'm glad someone suggested Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. My inner geek smiled at that one. 😄

[*Jessica*]

😭 So many of the books mentioned were ones I loved.  Steinbeck haters?  Dickens haters?  Noooooooo!

The only books I can remember really hating, so I gave up reading them before I finished the book, were by Hemingway.  Maybe I should give them another try, though, now that I’m 20+ years more mature.  I did love The Old Man and the Sea.  

[theelfqueen]

My hatred of Animal Farm is deep and enduring. 

[historically accurate]

Just now, theelfqueen said:

My hatred of Animal Farm is deep and enduring. 

Oh, my oldest loved this book, but I'm with you. I never read it in school though; my brother did, so I read his copy one year I think.

[TCB]

I must be weird because I loved Hemingway, Steinbeck and Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

I could not stand Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent.

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, TomK said:

A lot of those types of things probably depend on who translated it.

Translation isn't just about taking the words and finding the right words in modern English. It's a kind of art all on its own, so if you don't find the right translation, you end up with a sub-par product.

It's why I'm glad someone suggested Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien. My inner geek smiled at that one. 😄

Yes, we did Tolkien's translation of Sir Gawain, too. 😄

We also did Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf -- beautiful! Heaney was an outstanding poet in his own right (write? ha-ha), so he totally understood how to bring out the poetic elements of Beowulf, which was written in the Medieval poetic epic form. Heaney is also Irish, so he also had a close understanding of the historical/cultural background of Beowulf. 😄 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lori D.

[Matryoshka]

27 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

We also did Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf -- beautiful! Heaney was an outstanding poet in his own right (write? ha-ha), so he totally understood how to bring out the poetic elements of Beowulf, which was written in the Medieval poetic epic form. Heaney is also Irish, so he also had a close understanding of the historical/cultural background of Beowulf. 😄 

Uh, Beowulf is a Germanic epic, from the group of people that invaded England and almost wiped the Celts (Irish et.al.) out and pushed what was left to the fringes.  Not the same tradition, not even the same language family (I know that perhaps those of all cultural backgrounds living in the greater British Isles in the modern era have adopted this tradition as their own - but being Irish would not inherently make anyone more understanding of a work set in Denmark and written in a language that is not even related to Irish unless you go another few thousand years back to the central Asian steppes to the ur-language... )

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Syllieann]

I hated Moby Dick, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre.

[J-rap]

For some reason, it makes me feel sad that some of you have listed Dickens, Steinbeck, and Moby Dick!  😁  I loved all of those so much, although I admit that high school might be too early for some of those.  (Also, I grew up in Steinbeck country, right down the street from his home, actually!)

I can't really think of any books in high school or college that I hated!  But I do remember how much I despised Rikki Tikki Tavi in elementary school!  ha, I don't remember why.  Maybe I'd like it now.

[Violet Crown]

No comment on particular books mentioned here (I'm sure Bill will be along soon to defend the honor of Moby Dick); just recalling my first day of freshman English seminar, and our actually-English English professor informing us that we wouldn't be reading any American literature in the year-long survey course, because there isn't any.

[Matryoshka]

5 minutes ago, J-rap said:

For some reason, it makes me feel sad that some of you have listed Dickens, Steinbeck, and Moby Dick!  😁  I loved all of those so much, although I admit that high school might be too early for some of those.  (Also, I grew up in Steinbeck country, right down the street from his home, actually!)

I can't really think of any books in high school or college that I hated!  But I do remember how much I despised Rikki Tikki Tavi in elementary school!  ha, I don't remember why.  Maybe I'd like it now.

I loved Great Expectations in high school, and was fine with Tale of Two Cities.  We must have read Steinbeck in high school??? but I don't remember what it was.  Just as happy to have waited on that and Moby-Dick, because I do think those are more like fine wines, lol... (still cranky about Billy Budd...  but now actually looking forward to reading Bartleby the Scrivener, as I hear it's humorous and the best surprise about M-D was that it was really funny in a lot of parts!  Ishmael is super snarky! So now I'm actually a fan of Melville as a humorist...  If Billy Budd had any humor in it, it went right over my head at 15...)

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Lori D.]

34 minutes ago, Matryoshka said:

Uh, Beowulf is a Germanic epic, from the group of people that invaded England and almost wiped the Celts (Irish et.al.) out and pushed what was left to the fringes.  Not the same tradition, not even the same language family (I know that perhaps those of all cultural backgrounds living in the greater British Isles in the modern era have adopted this tradition as their own - but being Irish would not inherently make anyone more understanding of a work set in Denmark and written in a language that is not even related to Irish unless you go another few thousand years back to the central Asian steppes to the ur-language... )

Thanks. I misspoke re: cultural familiarity.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Lori D.

[Little Green Leaves]

I loved Moby Dick, surprised to find so many people didn't! Why? 

I hated Flowers for Algernon. And A Separate Peace. I wasn't wild about Red Badge of Courage but I wouldn't mind rereading it now. I love Dickens but the ones we read for school (Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities) aren't my favorites. 

 

[EKS]

My most hated book of my junior high and high school days was Jane Eyre.  Ironically, I decided to read it again when my older son was 2yo and I liked it much better.  I've read it aloud twice since--once to each kid.

My older son would probably tell you that the worst book that we read in our homeschool was The Scarlet Letter.  The younger one would tell you it was Moby Dick--which, because I am INSANE, I actually read aloud to him.  The older one escaped that particular fate.

[PeterPan]

Did anyone mention MOBY DICK yet?  One, it goes on forever, till you drown in it. Two, we go to this colloquim lecture and some freak professor gets up and says Mobyd Dick is his FAVORITE BOOK and that he rereads it every year!! 

8 minutes ago, EKS said:

The younger one would tell you it was Moby Dick--which, because I am INSANE, I actually read aloud to him.  The older one escaped that particular fate.

Are you for real? Well you go girl, you're awesome. LOL Was it better read aloud?

[ScoutTN]

Most of American Lit! So heavy. I'm outsourcing it this year for Dd so I don't have to read it all year!!

Catcher in the Rye and anything by Faulkner or Stephen Crane would be on my most detested list.

Edited August 8, 2020 by ScoutTN

[Matryoshka]

25 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Did anyone mention MOBY DICK yet?  One, it goes on forever, till you drown in it. Two, we go to this colloquim lecture and some freak professor gets up and says Mobyd Dick is his FAVORITE BOOK and that he rereads it every year!! 

You gotta listen to the audio read by William Hootkins.  He does such a great job.  I had a smile on my face the whole time - Moby-Dick is funny.  Ishmael throws a lot of shade.  And it is great to hear read aloud - big chunks of the book are even set up as if they were a play, with stage directions... (enter, stage left...).  And with a really good reader who nails the delivery and timing, you don't get so bogged down in the somewhat Shakespearan language...

After the Billy Budd fiasco, I was completely expecting to suffer through M-D just to say I'd given it a fair shake.  I was so pleasantly surprised...

[J-rap]

43 minutes ago, Little Green Leaves said:

I loved Moby Dick, surprised to find so many people didn't! Why? 

I hated Flowers for Algernon. And A Separate Peace. I wasn't wild about Red Badge of Courage but I wouldn't mind rereading it now. I love Dickens but the ones we read for school (Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities) aren't my favorites. 

 

You're right... finally remembered a book I didn't like!  Flowers for Algernon!  😄   I love almost all of Dickens (all-time favorite author), but didn't like Great Expectations at all.  I liked Tale of Two Cities, but it did feel very different from his others.

[importswim]

🤪 DS's reading list for this year is:

Billy Budd

Red Badge of Courage

The Old Man and the Sea

and The Scarlet Letter

As well as a few other works! LOL! Maybe I'll let him get on here and complain with you all at the end of the year... 😂🤣

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by importswim
Son, not husband, son... :)

[Matryoshka]

56 minutes ago, Lori D. said:

Thanks. I misspoke re: cultural familiarity.

LOL, I meant to add that although he's Irish 😉 he did do a bang-up job with the translation - we also used his translation, and it is great.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[Matryoshka]

1 minute ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

Oh my word. I hated that book. My bff in high school/college read it and it changed her life she said and brought it to me and as I read it I knew that was the LAST book rec I would ever take from her again. I do not understand what the huge to do is about that book. It’s terrible. 

It is so freaking incredibly awful.  Holden Caulfield is such an entitled whining prat.  Burn it with fire.

An aside, not really related to high school but I just read The Sorrows of Young Werther - yep, another entitled, self-absorbed whining prat.  I have no patience with these young men.  At least I knew what I was getting into with this one - so many people claim this is the height of literature, but I suspected I was going to find it relentlessly annoying.  Yup.  At least it's short.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Matryoshka

[EKS]

48 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Was it better read aloud?

I don't know.  I only read it that one time.

[Matryoshka]

1 minute ago, Æthelthryth the Texan said:

I feel like Dickens needed an editor with a shorter attention span and Dickens himself some anti-depressants- or possibly even cocaine- and things would have been much better. 

I think a huge problem with much of the literature of that era is that it was serialized, so you wanted it to drag on, and I suspect they were paid by the word, lol.  So, when they took the serialized stuff and printed it in book form, there should probably have been some judicious editing...

The author I think should have taken some serious anti-depressants is Hans Christian Andersen.  Like, who writes fairy tales for kids in which almost unfailingly everyone dies at the end?  Happily.ever.after, dude.  I'm not always a fan of what Disney does with fairy tales, but I was happy to see The Little Mermaid finally get a happy ending rather than killing herself at the end (and losing her soul to boot!).  I mean, really.

[EmilyGF]

9 hours ago, TomK said:

"Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men."

Frankly, I tell people I have PTSD from being forced to read Steinbeck in high school.

Guess what won't be on the reading lists when my daughter gets to the high school ages?

In fairness, though, so much of what we were forced to read in high school was just downright painful. And I say this as someone who did become an avid reader.

That was awful.

Interesting that so many people hated Dickens. He and Twain are the only two fiction authors DS15 willingly reads on his own. He currently hangs laundry daily (he's an environmentalist) and listens to a Dickens book via Audible while doing so.

[annegables]

What? Did no one have to read The Good Earth?  Or am I the only one to despise that book? 

Catcher in the Rye. Unreliable narrator, which was not explained to us. 

Any "dead dog" book. 

Some of my school book hate comes from the inane projects that we had to do in conjunction with them. We read Island of the Blue Dolphins in 6th grade and spent untold amounts of time making dioramas. A few years ago, my kids and I listened to the audio version and we all loved it! It is a really interesting book that was ruined with asinine craft projects. 

Some books I enjoyed, like 1984, but school ruined them because we had to do lit analysis (in advanced English classes) with obnoxious kids who didnt take anything seriously. So those of use who wanted to discuss the book were afraid to speak up for fear of being teased or snarky comments made. I learned not to speak up in AP lit classes.