What are the worst books you had to read in school?

[mordantmonkey]

Anything by jane austin(sp?) or dickens.
austin is just vapid and annoying. dickens has good story and characters but his writing style has all the force of constipated turd.

 

[blackllotus]

Ethan Frome... omg

 

[Kadarin]

Another vote here for The Scarlet Letter. It is a steaming pile of poop masquerading as literature...

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

All the Pretty Horses

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: keeleysam
The Scarlet Letter

/thread

ditto.

im by no means suggesting it isnt a literary masterpiece. i say it simply because it was so painful for me to read. so wordy, so hard to keep focused. i definitely hated reading the scarlet letter.

on the other hand, HS books i thoroughly enjoyed:

catch-22 (especially), brave new world, their eyes were watching god, heart of darkness

 

[RollWave]

Anything and everything written in old english

 

[daniel1113]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 

[CptObvious]

Originally posted by: blackllotus
Ethan Frome... omg

That's what I had in mind. At least it was a quick read though.

Never read any of Jane Austen's books.

 

[Bibble]

I can't believe no one has said this yet, but Bridge to Terabithia is by far the worst book I have ever read. I had to read it for 6th grade literature class. Seeing as it was 7 years ago, I can barely remember anything about it except how much I hated it. However, I do remember watching the movie after we finished watching it and the entire class laughed when the main female character died (she falls of the "bridge" which was a log i think). The next day the school guidance counselor lectured to us about why that wasn't funny.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is mediocre at best, but it has a great paragraph near the beginning where the tree has an orgasm (yea I know it's weird).

 

[dawnbug]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: pontifex
i had to read some book about the revolutionary war (i think it was that war). OMG was it boring. can't remember what it was called.

The Red Badge of Courage (Civil War)?

*shudder*

 

[HN]

The Last Chronicle of Barset

Hello? AP english teacher???? you realize we should be preparing for the AP test. i don't see that ever showing up on sample tests or preparations. wtf are we doing wasting our time with that sht???

*added*
oh, not too fond of that holden caulfield one either. but still, that Last Chronicle of Barset sht is still tops for stickin' in my craw :|

 

[nageov3t]

are we limiting it to novels?

James Joyce - Finnegans Wake, no question.

there's probably no "major" literary figure that I hate more than James Joyce.

 

[jdobratz]

I disliked The Great Gatsby. Very uninteresting.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Scarlet Letter, anything Shakespeare, that's all I can think of for now.

 

[KarenMarie]

fahrenheit 415 Ray Bradbury

I did not actually read this to completion. VeggieFrog was forced to read this in high school and really struggled thru it. Normally she got 100% on everything she did in English, even after skipping a grade and taking all AP classes.

I did not think it could be so bad... so I tried to read it. It was the worst, more boring... drag on... book EVER.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: pontifex
i had to read some book about the revolutionary war (i think it was that war). OMG was it boring. can't remember what it was called.

The Red Badge of Courage (Civil War)?

possibly. i seem to recall a revolutionary war period though. i dunno, been so long.

 

[DainBramaged]

Red Badge of Courage or The Scarlet Letter.

 

[Electric Amish]

Madam Bovary (High School AP Literature)

 

[PrinceofWands]

The Great Gatsby. I hate Fitzgerald for some reason. Most of the books other people mention in this thread were enjoyable to me though, so I obviously have different criteria.

 

[Ichigo]

Who doesn't like To Kill a Mockingbird? You're heartless. T-T

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Madam Bovary (High School AP Literature)

No kidding ... This is possibly the most boring book I've ever read!

 

[Razgriz]

Originally posted by: Razgriz
To Kill a Mockingbird. I understood the story, but the whole book was confusing to me. The Scarlet letter wasn't that bad...I expected it to be much worse actually. Usually I don't read books though, sparknotes/cliffs FTW.

TKAM is one of the best books ever.[/quote]

It may be, but I just couldn't get into it...YMMV.

 

[Soybomb]

kafka's the metamorphosis. terribleterribleterrible

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: Ichigo
Who doesn't like To Kill a Mockingbird? You're heartless. T-T

I guess the same people that are knocking James Joyce... :roll:

 

[slpaulson]

Originally posted by: giantpinkbunnyhead

Originally posted by: FrankyJunior
The one with the twins... One is named Niles (I think).... They had a cat. One fell down a well.

Can't think of the name...

Also Hatter Fox and I Am The Cheese.

ugh!!! That book sucked so bad!!!

Now that I think about it... so did the Outsiders. WTH kind of name is Ponyboy?!? that book reeked of stupid.

I liked I am the Cheese