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Books you were forced to read at school!
- Thread starter headpodd
- Start date
murphyz
New Member
I think all of my faourite novels, but one, have tragedy in them to some extent. Three of my favourite books include The God of Small Things (which has Tragedy), Great Expectations (yip - tragedy here too) and Cold Comfort Farm (ooh - none here really).
Some of the best written novels I have read, such as Of Mice and Men, is plagued with tragedy. I am in no way looking for books that have this theme, but perhaps making my favourites list means the writer needs to capture me emotionally, and one of the best way to do this is through the suffering of others. Just look at Jude by Hardy...
Mxx
Some of the best written novels I have read, such as Of Mice and Men, is plagued with tragedy. I am in no way looking for books that have this theme, but perhaps making my favourites list means the writer needs to capture me emotionally, and one of the best way to do this is through the suffering of others. Just look at Jude by Hardy...
Mxx
Sadly, nowadays, it is the exact opposite. Students read very few TRUE tragedies today. People seem to be too optimistic in this world. The bookshelves are full of Chicken Noodle Soup for the Whoever's Soul. When I speak to people about tragedy, their reaction is decidedly immature.
I even told my English teacher about Johnny Got His Gun, which is about a soldier who loses his arms, legs, eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, and she disgusted me when she simply said, "Ew." Ew, like "Ew, what a disgusting thing."
When I told students about it they laughed and said, "Is there anything this guy can do?"
This is what happens when all you have to read are optimistic and inspiring stories. One becomes emotionally immature and cannot deal with tragedy without joking about it. This is the truth about political correctness and the effects of shielding children from "offensive" material. It is as if we are conditioning children to be intellectual adults and emotional morons. Kind of like A Brave New World, if you ask me.
I'm not saying it should be all tragedy. Merely that currently everything is sadly unbalanced.
Ok, gemma 78, if you were in the same year of school as me how the hell did you get that syllabus? Where is the eternally damned Hardy? Martin you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO right, Hardy SUCKS, Under the f**ing Greenwood Tree gah, The Woodlanders zzzzz, god I hate that man 
Also Phil-t when did you go to school? cause those books look awfully familiar (without the burning in purgatory for crimes against humanity Thomas Hardy I see) I have this hope that you're like 85 years old and the English Syllabus STILL hasn't changed
Also Phil-t when did you go to school? cause those books look awfully familiar (without the burning in purgatory for crimes against humanity Thomas Hardy I see) I have this hope that you're like 85 years old and the English Syllabus STILL hasn't changed
Ell
Well-Known Member
I find this distressing to hear, because if anything, English teachers should be open-minded. If that, indeed is her opinion, then I can see why you have such a poor opinion of her. It's also interesting because I read "Johnny Got His Gun" for English in highschool. I can't remember precisely which grade, but I think it was about 10th grade.
fluffy bunny
Member
Originally posted by J_D
Hardy SUCKS, Under the f**ing Greenwood Tree gah, The Woodlanders zzzzz, god I hate that man
Is that the Hardy who wrote Mayor of Castorbridge? Personally I didn't find his work that bad (but it was never force fed to me- a friend lent it to me).
What I don't like about 'studying' books in detail is the need to psycho-analyse them. I'm sure the authors themselves never thought of half the rubbish we had to write about after we'd read their books/poems. Couldn't we just enjoy the story instead of looking for hidden meanings here, there and everywhere?
I actually quite liked some of the books I read at school, although I'm with you there fluffy bunny, too much lit crit is exhausting and I don't know about you but I tend to get lost in deriving a meaning and forget the beauty of the work.
Here's a mixture of what I read at GCSE and A-Level :-
Catcher In The Rye (phonies here there, everywhere, it's great!)
The Tempest (yuk, read it too many times)
The Wife of Bath (absolute classic from Chaucer)
Women In Love (kill me now)
Poetry by Eliot - The Wasteland etc (if you can get over all the mysoginistic and anti-semitic stuff it's pretty good)
Lord of The Flies (violent and socially acute, fantastic)
Animal Farm (two legs good four legs baaad)
Dr Faustus (boooring zzzz)
Waiting for Godot (absolutely amazing, Beckett is just wow)
So many more that I just don't remember.......
Here's a mixture of what I read at GCSE and A-Level :-
Catcher In The Rye (phonies here there, everywhere, it's great!)
The Tempest (yuk, read it too many times)
The Wife of Bath (absolute classic from Chaucer)
Women In Love (kill me now)
Poetry by Eliot - The Wasteland etc (if you can get over all the mysoginistic and anti-semitic stuff it's pretty good)
Lord of The Flies (violent and socially acute, fantastic)
Animal Farm (two legs good four legs baaad)
Dr Faustus (boooring zzzz)
Waiting for Godot (absolutely amazing, Beckett is just wow)
So many more that I just don't remember.......
Definitely, Waiting for Godot just astounded me it was such an excellent idea and when the final monologue kicks in it really brings the beauty of the play together.
I loved how Beckett insisted that Godot didn't mean anything. I'd like to know what he was like as a person, I always imagined him as this shrewd witty man.
I loved how Beckett insisted that Godot didn't mean anything. I'd like to know what he was like as a person, I always imagined him as this shrewd witty man.
phil_t
New Member
Well im not quite that old, but they will still never change the English syllabus
I thoroughly expect it to be the same in twenty years as it is now!! I think the reasoning behind this is that whichever board decides which book are read has latched onto the strange notion that all books denoted as classics actually are classics, and therefore need to be inflicted on the youth of today to give them a bit of culture - despite the fact that very often they dont bother reading the books and just buy the York Notes with the nice summaries instead 
Incidentally, I went to secondary school between '93 & '98, and have just finished up at uni this summer
Phil
Oh God, Lord of the Flies. SAVE ME! This was just a few weeks ago, I am in ninth grade.
I have also had to read a book by E.L. Konigsburg. I don't remember the name of it but there was a "Saturday" in the title. (A View from Saturday?????) This was for sixth grade.
And my gosh, Wringer, what an awful book. We were forced to read it for classwork the summer before 6th grade.
That's actually it for syllabus books I didn't enjoy.
Some of the best books on my syllabus were: Homer's Odyssey, a third time re read for me when we read it in class, the Oedipus Cycle of Sophocles, The Watsons go to Birmingham, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The latter was actually assigned to me for a book report, but wasn't on the course syllabus. It is such an excellent book that it should be extensively advocated but not ruined by school work, in my humble opinion.
I have also had to read a book by E.L. Konigsburg. I don't remember the name of it but there was a "Saturday" in the title. (A View from Saturday?????) This was for sixth grade.
And my gosh, Wringer, what an awful book. We were forced to read it for classwork the summer before 6th grade.
That's actually it for syllabus books I didn't enjoy.
Some of the best books on my syllabus were: Homer's Odyssey, a third time re read for me when we read it in class, the Oedipus Cycle of Sophocles, The Watsons go to Birmingham, and To Kill a Mockingbird. The latter was actually assigned to me for a book report, but wasn't on the course syllabus. It is such an excellent book that it should be extensively advocated but not ruined by school work, in my humble opinion.
Bookgatherer
New Member
Two atrocities stick in my mind (and haunt my dreams). We were forced to study both "The Mayor of Casterbridge" and "Great Expectations". Admittedly, it did enable me to learn early in life that Dickens and Hardy were not worth the time it took to read their books, but in real life when a book is rubbish, you stop reading. Afterwards, out of a misplaced sense of fairness, I tried to read other books by Dickens. I found them all as bad as "Great Expectations" (but thankfully was not forced to read more than the first few chapters of those). I found Dickens just a very poor writer, who tried to make up for his weak characterisation with silly names and who clearly hated women. Hardy was better, but rambling and dull.
On the other hand, we did get to study Macbeth with a teacher who brought every line to life. I've loved Shakespeare ever since.
If I were setting what should be read, Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, JRR Tolkien and possibly Swift would be on the list. Dickens would be used in very small doses, purely to show how not all "classics" are actually any good.
On the other hand, we did get to study Macbeth with a teacher who brought every line to life. I've loved Shakespeare ever since.
If I were setting what should be read, Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, JRR Tolkien and possibly Swift would be on the list. Dickens would be used in very small doses, purely to show how not all "classics" are actually any good.
Hi Bookgatherer, I think that's a really valid point you make about your teacher that brought Shakespeare to life. I think teachers have a huge influence on the enjoyment of school books. They can either make them hugely enjoyable by encouraging a greater understanding or they can leave you indifferent, bored, hating the texts etc. I certainly think my English teachers influenced the way I felt about certain books at school, albeit unintentionally.
I'm in Grade 12 now and up to date, aside from local literature, the school cirriculum has caused me to read:
To Kill A Mockingbird
Romeo and Juliet
The Pearl
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Oedipus Rex
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Catcher in the Rye
Macbeth
and next month i start The Fellowship of the Rings, which is brand new to the course. I guess even the schoolboard here wanted to hop on the LOTR bandwagon.
So far I've enjoyed Mockingbird, Huck Finn, and Catcher in the Rye. The grade 11 class got Oliver Twist added into their book list, and I think I'm gonna give that a shot too just to see if I missed out on anything or not. Dickens sounds interesting enough to me.
To Kill A Mockingbird
Romeo and Juliet
The Pearl
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Oedipus Rex
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Catcher in the Rye
Macbeth
and next month i start The Fellowship of the Rings, which is brand new to the course. I guess even the schoolboard here wanted to hop on the LOTR bandwagon.
So far I've enjoyed Mockingbird, Huck Finn, and Catcher in the Rye. The grade 11 class got Oliver Twist added into their book list, and I think I'm gonna give that a shot too just to see if I missed out on anything or not. Dickens sounds interesting enough to me.