Originally Posted by Vinyl

I'm a college student, but back in high school, the one book I couldn't even complete reading was Moby Dick. I made it halfway, but that was it. Another one I had a disdain for was Beloved. I did get through that, but ugh!

I flew through Beloved! :(

I too had a hard time with Beloved. I managed to finish it but it has put me off Toni Morrison books. And Heart of Darkness, made it about halfway and then never picked it up again!

^^ I forgot about Moby Dick! I didn't have to read it, but I tried... another one I got about 10 pages in, got distracted & never finished. lol Maybe someday.

My eyelids would lower halfway every time we had to read Beowulf in class. I could hardly stay awake.

Great Expectations--I did the Cliff's Notes version. Believe it or not, in my college lit class that required we read it, on the final exam, the only question about the novel was "Did you read it?" Since I sincerely tried to absorb Cliff's version, I answered yes, but I'm not proud of it. Sadly, we soon found out that the professor was dying of lung cancer and couldn't do the job at the end. Don't know whay a grad assistant couldn't have put together a credible final exam.

p.s. I liked A Tale of Two Cities and anything by Rudyard Kipling. Religion classes were infamous for lengthy reading lists and I could never get through them. One class listed 13 books! Way to bust a poor student's budget.

Originally Posted by lvpiggy

What's "A Room with a View?" Is that another book? (^(oo)^)

"A Room with a View" was a book by EM Forster! there's also a decent Merchant Ivory movie version of the book w/ Helena Bonham Carter. The cute little clothing quip you mentioned was written on one of the book's character's closets =)

Back on topic: I wasn't into sci-fi/dystopian books back in HS so I didn't like "Brave New World." Oddly, it's now one of my favorites.

I mostly hated all German classics I had to read in class... I couldn't even tell you why I hated them so much. Maybe the teachers ruined them for me?

As for English books, the only one I really hated in school was "The Handmaid's Tale".

Now I study Anglophone Literature & Culture and luckily I've liked most of the books I had to read so far... Some exceptions were "Beloved" and "The Scarlett Letter".

I practically devoured every book given to us in class. Except for "100 Years of Solitude". I just kept getting confused and bored and never finished it. Which kind of blew me off García Márquez for the rest of my life, I've never tried it again.

Kafka's Metamorphosis and Dante's Inferno were some of my faves. Oh and Shakespeare's Richard III. I used to know parts of it by heart!

Originally Posted by NemoAndChula

My eyelids would lower halfway every time we had to read Beowulf in class. I could hardly stay awake.

Oh God, I had completely forgotten about that one! And ditto, it was horribly boring!

No love for Toni Morrison's Beloved here??
Beloved is one of my favourite books.

I had it to read for a university class and when I was done I burst into tears and started reading it again straightaway.
A very powerful book.

And Heart of Darkness?? I LOVE it!!

Originally Posted by CCfor C

Funny!! I never read Moby Dick...except for the first line..."Call me Ishmael"...Knew it would be downhill from there..!

Yup.^^
Couldn't bring myself to read Moby Dick or the Odyssey in high school. I took lots of notes, but I'm still not sure how I passed the quizzes.

Anything by Shakespeare. Sooooo not a fan of whining William, I can't think of a more boring person, honestly. Sorry to any fans he's just not for me. Also, it's not a classic really but I remember Freshman year of HS they gave us The Giver to read and I was forced to read that in 6th grade and HATED HATED HATED it and refused to read it again, I gave it right back to the teacher after class and was like "i was forced to read this once, I refuse to let it happen again. No"...yeah I failed those tests but I don't care, it was worth not having to read that again! lol NemoAndChula, I liked Beowulf! lol Give me some Surrealism or almost kind of Surrealism and I'm on board! Anything else and I'm off board lol

Pride and Prejudice. Could not get through it.


I genuinely enjoyed The Catcher in the Rye, The Great Gatsby and Shakespeare's works.

Originally Posted by Junkenpo

I've never read the Odyssey and the Illiad. I wasn't on the required reading list for any of my high school or college classes and I've never gotten around to it. I read everything I was supposed to, but I think the most inane book ever was Kate Chopin's "The Awakening". Ugh. I also hated The Grapes of Wrath in high school... too long & boring. Now that I'm the teacher, I enjoy/appreciate Steinbeck's writing more... but I still hate the ending.

OMG I loathed that book with EVERY FIBRE OF MY BEING . . . loathed! just thinking about it has got me all out of sorts (>(oo)<)`

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