Books that you studied at school

MandiKenendy · Post by **MandiKenendy** » 05 Jul 2013, 13:22

AliceRose wrote:MandiKenendy - I think it was the fact that I took an instant dislike to Dorian's narcissistic personality, so I found it hard to appreciate the book as a whole when all I could think was how much I didn't like him! It didn't help that I had become a bit disillusioned with schoolwork at that point in my life (something I regret now) so I felt like I was being forced to read the book. I always said I'd like to reread it of my own accord at some point, to see if I could appreciate it a bit more.

Ah, I can understand that. I quite liked that about his personality. I also really liked Lord Henry's character.

-- 05 Jul 2013, 13:24 --

reluctantreader wrote:I found it very difficult to finish any books I studied at school because I find it really hard to read something that I've been told to. I did English Lit A-Level (which was prob a mistake in hindsight) and had to read lots of books. Ended up reading The Rivals the night before my mock exam. I did study Tess of the D'urbervilles and I really, really liked that. I ended up writing my personal essay about it.

I did this book at university and did not like it at all. I found the blurry line between rape and seduction very unsettling.

MarathonCF · Post by **MarathonCF** » 05 Jul 2013, 13:33

I loved The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. A totally different read from my usual and written in black south tone, which took some time getting the hang of but thoroughly enjoyed it.

greencat7 · Post by **greencat7** » 05 Jul 2013, 21:08

Last year my english teacher forced my class to read "45 & 47 Stella street". The book was terrible and incredibly boring. Me and many of my classmates actually felt kinda insulted by him choosing this book for our class, as it was definitely below our year level difficulty and was more fit for a grade 6 class than a year 8 English class. What made it worse was that we then had to do all our term 3 assignments on the damn book!

-- 05 Jul 2013, 22:08 --

Last year my english teacher forced my class to read "45 & 47 Stella street". The book was terrible and incredibly boring. Me and many of my classmates actually felt kinda insulted by him choosing this book for our class, as it was definitely below our year level difficulty and was more fit for a grade 6 class than a year 8 English class. What made it worse was that we then had to do all our term 3 assignments on the damn book!

Circling Turtle · Post by **Circling Turtle** » 06 Jul 2013, 09:33

Animal Farm by George Orwell, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and Atonement by Ian McEwan are all books that were prescribed in our highschool curriculum and ended up becoming some of my favourite books. The Catcher in the Rye in particular struck a chord, and in many ways defines those years.

hillarybeth · Post by **hillarybeth** » 06 Jul 2013, 12:10

I read "The Great Divorce" by C.S. Lewis in my last year of school, and had no idea what to expect. The imagery used regarding reality stuck with me so vividly, that I recently bought the book for myself as an e-book and am reading it again! It is a fiction story, but I felt like it had much truth in it as well.

karenapet · Post by **karenapet** » 06 Jul 2013, 12:14

My favorite book that I read in high school was probably Anthem by Ayn Rand. I took a couple college lit. Classes also and was opened up to a whole lot of other books that I absolutely loved. Butchers Crossing by John Williams for whatever reason struck a strong chord with me. Perhaps it was the irony that's laid re for all of us to see that's ever-so-present in our own lives that we tend to be blind to. Another that I absolutely loved was Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Again, the dark saturated lens he portrays the world through is quite in line with my thinking and humored me thoroughly. Some non-fiction literature I read in college that I really enjoyed were A One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz and a book I read as part of a research project that I selected on my own The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler. All I would recommend to any interested and avid reader.

stotle71 · Post by **stotle71** » 06 Jul 2013, 21:01

karenapet wrote:My favorite book that I read in high school was probably Anthem by Ayn Rand. I took a couple college lit. Classes also and was opened up to a whole lot of other books that I absolutely loved. Butchers Crossing by John Williams for whatever reason struck a strong chord with me. Perhaps it was the irony that's laid re for all of us to see that's ever-so-present in our own lives that we tend to be blind to. Another that I absolutely loved was Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut. Again, the dark saturated lens he portrays the world through is quite in line with my thinking and humored me thoroughly. Some non-fiction literature I read in college that I really enjoyed were A One Straw Revolution by Masanobu Fukuoka, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz and a book I read as part of a research project that I selected on my own The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler. All I would recommend to any interested and avid reader.

I didn't read Rand's Anthem until I had already read her Atlas Shrugged, but I adored them both. I encouraged both of my teenage daughters to read Anthem (as well as books such as Orwell's 1984).

ashleighn · Post by **ashleighn** » 06 Jul 2013, 21:03

The best one i remember was V for Vendetta. It certainly isnt the most traditional book, but the way the author was able to connect so much history, so many allusions could only have been done in a comic book format without being too overwhelming to the reader.

stotle71 · Post by **stotle71** » 06 Jul 2013, 21:12

Some of the books I had to read for school (the ones which had the most impact on me for a variety of reasons):

Fourth Grade: Old Yeller
Seventh Grade: The Outsiders
Ninth Grade: Of Mice and Men
Tenth Grade: The Scarlet Letter
Eleventh Grade: The Taming of the Shrew and Dante's Inferno (I went on to read the rest of the Divine Comedy because of it)
Twelfth Grade: In Cold Blood

College: Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics, Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, Burton W. Folsom's The Myth of the Robber Barons, Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany (okay, this isn't a book, but it was one heck of a good read), and Nietzsche's On the Genealogy of Morals.

There were a number of books I couldn't stand--but it was always worth going through the litany of deplorable works to get to the ones that moved me.

-- 06 Jul 2013, 21:14 --

ashleighn wrote:The best one i remember was V for Vendetta. It certainly isnt the most traditional book, but the way the author was able to connect so much history, so many allusions could only have been done in a comic book format without being too overwhelming to the reader.

I've avoided reading the book because I saw the movie first. I am one of those people who always likes the books more than the movie. Since I actually liked the movie version of V for Vendetta, I'm afraid the book will ruin the movie. Slightly pathetic, I know.

hmacfarland082 · Post by **hmacfarland082** » 07 Jul 2013, 07:00

Although it was compulsory to read 'To Kill A Mocking Bird', i absolutely loved it and i did not expect to.The way that Harper Lee wrote about such a concerning and relative issue made me have a different perspective on things in life. I will definitely be keeping this book and will not through it out with the rest of my school books.

Samantha_KB · Post by **Samantha_KB** » 07 Jul 2013, 19:38

The Giver.. I still remember the part where they are throwing the apple back and forth and something strange happens to it (it flashes red).

CarolineA78 · Post by **CarolineA78** » 07 Jul 2013, 20:27

Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm hit me pretty hard - it was a young awakening to the failings in human nature. I must have been one of the few in my class that enjoyed Shakespeare - Twelfth Night remains one of my favourites. I was the ratbag who always read ahead, and finished the book well before anyone else was even halfway through!
Loved some other poetry too - I'll always have a place in my heart for Robert Frost

Rebecca_TX_77006 · Post by **Rebecca_TX_77006** » 08 Jul 2013, 12:55

In reference to grade school, we read Lord of the Flies and Of Mice and Men. In college I only had to read outside of class in a Political Science class. Mind you i'm not a Poli Sci major so it wasn't my first choice class.The class was, in essence, how democracy came to america and different events that shaped it. We read a book called Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville. Amazing read!

FMChandler · Post by **FMChandler** » 08 Jul 2013, 15:18

I love this topic. School is where my love for books began. Although there were many that we studied and I couldn't stand like The Scarlet Letter but a few have stood out and have been favorites.I would have to say though Harper Lee's To KIll a Mockingbird is an all time good read.