Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've always felt that the single worst book I ever read was To Kill a Mockingbird. I know it was a part of the curriculum in high school, and everyone made a big deal about it. But I found it to be deadly dull.
Did you read it in High School? I am of the opinion that if you want to kill a book you put it as a compulsory reading in High School.
The subject of high school reading material seems to have been discussed several times in this thread, and I admit I didn't read all 38 pages, so my apologies if this was said before.
Personally, I have to wonder if the people who pick the high school reading lists think about the emotional impact it will have on the students. My senior reading list was so extremely dark and depressing that I've always been honestly surprised that we didn't have any suicides. When your reading list for the year is composed of Night, Black Boy, A Separate Peace, All Quiet on the Western Front, Heart of Darkness, As I Lay Dying, A Farewell to Arms, The Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the Flies, Etc., you start to wish for a little dose of Canterbury Tales or Shakespeare. I think Animal Farm was the lightest thing we read the whole year, and it is pretty twisted in its own right. Seriously, think it through a little bit and look at the overall composition. Yes, those are important, influential books, and looking back 15 years later, I'm glad I've read them, but maybe spread them out a bit over a few years, and intersperse some lighter, more uplifting reads. I remember my senior year, that MacBeth was a relief, and that is just a depressing thought in and of itself.
My personal "Worst ever" book has to be Moby Dick.
I can't recall a 'worst' in high school but I remember in Middle School and High School that it was definitely not "PC" like in my son's time, now. They read a lot of books with a female protagonist or about kids with learning/physical problems.
When I was in elementary/middle/high our books all were a MALE protagonist-- Red Badge of Courage, Light in the Forest, Of Mice and Men....
I've read some pretty poorly written books before and I honestly don't even remember the titles of them, much less who wrote them.
But as far as assigned material goes, Crime and Punishment was it for me. I remember thinking at the time - it's a "crime" that this book was written and a "punishment" that I have to read it. I just could not get into that one at all.
But as far as assigned material goes, Crime and Punishment was it for me. I remember thinking at the time - it's a "crime" that this book was written and a "punishment" that I have to read it. I just could not get into that one at all.
Priceless, to borrow a line from the advertising industry.
Did you read it in High School? I am of the opinion that if you want to kill a book you put it as a compulsory reading in High School.
Alas, this is most unfortunately true. When I became a HS English teacher, I vowed to work very hard at not killing a work of literature, and like to think (looking back upon my career) that students felt free to discuss works they thought were bad, and even downright unworthy of being read. I'd laugh and share my own experiences, from HS had-to-read lists, and days in college classrooms, with professors who were forever touting their own favorites -- books and authors. I tried, instead, to focus on the writing and the art of writing, if that makes sense. We also read a lot of modern authors, if I had to beg, borrow, or steal classroom sets of works.
To this day, for me, it has to be Conrad's Heart of Darkness that was almost my undoing. Even years later, I couldn't help but think of that book when I sat in a theater to watch the film, Apocalypse Now.
We had Magnificent Obsession for book club once. I reeeally wanted to read it, if only for the nice old lady who so enthusiastically recommended it. None of us could get through it, and fortunately the lady didn't make it to book club that month!
just there, and just mountains. . . from the author himself!
Too funny -- hard to believe the very person who suggested the title for that reading didn't make it to the meeting. Tacky, tacky, tacky.
One thing I do like about being in a Book Club, or even taking literature classes for that matter, is that it forces me to read selections, authors, or even genres, I might not otherwise be drawn to, or read. I did, however, resent, mostly in college, the lit profs who'd purposefully choose some more obscure work of say, a famous writer. Heck, but the more obscure work is just that for a reason -- it stunk, and readers had long since tossed it aside.
I also wanted to just slap the profs (readers are guilty of this too, methinks) who wanted to make something more of an element in a work. It's always OK to me if you see something more but to insist it was an author's intent grates on my nerves. I never laughed so hard as the morning James Michener was interviewed on The Today Show, and the newscaster went on and on and on about 'the symbolism of the mountains' and Michener turned to him, and said, "I intended no symbolism. They were just there. They were just mountains."
Too funny -- hard to believe the very person who suggested the title for that reading didn't make it to the meeting. Tacky, tacky, tacky.
One thing I do like about being in a Book Club, or even taking literature classes for that matter, is that it forces me to read selections, authors, or even genres, I might not otherwise be drawn to, or read. I did, however, resent, mostly in college, the lit profs who'd purposefully choose some more obscure work of say, a famous writer. Heck, but the more obscure work is just that for a reason -- it stunk, and readers had long since tossed it aside.
I also wanted to just slap the profs (readers are guilty of this too, methinks) who wanted to make something more of an element in a work. It's always OK to me if you see something more but to insist it was an author's intent grates on my nerves. I never laughed so hard as the morning James Michener was interviewed on The Today Show, and the newscaster went on and on and on about 'the symbolism of the mountains' and Michener turned to him, and said, "I intended no symbolism. They were just there. They were just mountains."
Conversely, when I was reading John Jakes's Civil War books, in the author's notes of the one that comes after Love and War Jakes lamented that no one, not even his writer friends, picked up on his symbolism of the black horses representing the Confederacy. In the beginning the black horses in the special unit are beautiful and proud, then they appear during war scenes, and by the end of the war there's a scene of a dead black horse with flies on it or something.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
just there, and just mountains. . . from the author himself!
