What was the book you hated reading for school?

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Dyslexic-Superhero
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What was the book you hated reading for school?

Post by Dyslexic-Superhero »

I often talk with friends about high school "war stories" of books we had to read for class. My set of friends were always in the honor and ap English classes and I had severe reactions to some of the books we had to read. And I wondered what other horrors were pushed upon young minds.
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savagelion
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Post by savagelion »

Wuthering Heights was incredibly frustrating because I couldn't like a single character
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Post by Hannah_Graceful »

savagelion wrote:Wuthering Heights was incredibly frustrating because I couldn't like a single character
I didn't read this for school, but I had the exact same problem when I read it for fun! I hated all of the characters!


I wasn't really a fan of Johnny Tremain. I felt like it was preachy, I couldn't get into it.
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Post by Jojowrites4All »

Huckleberry Finn plus Of Mice and Men. We had to read both books over and over.
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Post by aparsons »

In middle school we had to read this stupid book called Izzy Willy Nilly. Supposedly It's about an average teenage girl's life, but oh my goodness it was tedious. This girl's dad made them pick up the elaves from the yard because it was too nice to rake, and then she broke her leg, and it was simply too boring to remember. We all said goodbye to it very happily. It is one of the few young adult books I have never had an urge to re-read.
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Post by katiesquilts »

I think I hated The Great Gatsby only because the message the teacher was pushing on us was "There is no American dream! Once you achieve the dream it's gone and you have nothing to live for! People just have to suffer for unattainable dreams their entire lives!" and super depressing stuff like that. Also, the symbolism in the book was ridiculous. "What does the soot on the billboard mean?" IT MEANS IT'S DIRTY *huffs angrily*
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Post by aparsons »

I know we had to to read the Great Gatsby, but I was waaaay too immature to understand it. I should go back to it...
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Post by ZephyraJ »

The book I hated was "Lord of the Flies". I had to read it in high school and it was just so stupid and depressing and pointless.

-- 15 Feb 2016, 19:55 --

I actually read the Great Gatsby just last summer and I enjoyed it. But thankfully I didn't have to read this for a class so I was not tortured by over analysis.
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Post by sass-jay23 »

"The Great Gatsby" and "Tale of Two Cities"
I think it had to do more with the fact that because of time restrictions we skipped chunks of the book. The teacher ended up just giving us a quick summaries of what we were skipping. The teacher also didn't inspire me to want to read the book. It seemed like teaching it to us was a chore. When I graduated and went on get an English degree I decided I should re read them on my own and I love them now. I wish my teacher was more passionate about his job. Nonetheless I am glad I re read them as an adult.
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Post by katiesquilts »

I definitely think the environment that you read a book in changes your perspective on the book... Also, the whole deal of HAVING to read a book or WANTING to read a book. ^^;
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Post by aparsons »

katiesquilts wrote:I definitely think the environment that you read a book in changes your perspective on the book... Also, the whole deal of HAVING to read a book or WANTING to read a book. ^^;
I totally agree with you! I had to read To Kill a Mockingbird in school and I didn't understand it, I didn't like it, etc. I re-read it recently, and I loved it! I think we should all go back to the books we read and hated in high school and see if our opinions have changed at all.
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Post by CrescentMoon »

I definitely agree with the posts that say that maybe reading the books again will change your perspective. A lot of the time it was hard for me to enjoy reading the books in class because of the over used imagery and symbolism and analyzing to death every word and sentence. It really took away from the joy of reading.
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Post by Dyslexic-Superhero »

Well I agree the environment does help there were so many books that I absolutely loved reading in school. There are some books that I read again that I still can't stand like catcher in the rye.
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Post by katiesquilts »

CrescentMoon wrote:A lot of the time it was hard for me to enjoy reading the books in class because of the over used imagery and symbolism and analyzing to death every word and sentence. It really took away from the joy of reading.
Exactly!! And heaven forbid having a different interpretation than the teacher!
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Post by hannahbm13 »

In ninth grade Honors English we had to read Great Expectations. I didn't really mind having to actually read it, but I did not enjoy the story. This year, as a junior in American Heritage, I have read The Grapes of Wrath, Giants in the Earth, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The Scarlet Letter. I really enjoyed reading Grapes of Wrath and Owen Meany, but I did not like Giants in the Earth. While I enjoyed the Scarlet Letter, it was terribly hard to understand most of the time.
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