Books from classes

[Annikaya]

Anyone read Paradise Lost? I just finished that one. It got kind of boring in some places but I liked it because it had all sorts of strange religious things in it that I never knew, like the fact that angels are often said to be "brightly burning" and stuff because the Hebrew words for angel and fire were only one letter different.  

[wingedsoul007]

I can't think of any books I have read in a class that I liked. I have been in all AP classes for a long time now, so we read books such as A Tale of Two Cities, which I abhor. Other books included Anthem, by Ayn Rand and The Count of Monte Cristo, which I actually did enjoy to an extent.  

[Ekirin]

Oh wow... there are so many good books that I read throughout school.

Number the Stars, Frankenstein, Brave New World, David Coperfield, Great Gatsby

I could easily name a lot more.

There are only a few that I disliked with a passion. The first was Old Man and the Sea. I wrote a two page letter to the teacher why that book should be removed from the required reading list. It was the first book I had ever read that put me to sleep.

The second one was The Heart of Darkness. I understand the whole meaning of the book. I just don't like it. No real reason except it's not my thing.  

[Annikaya]

I agree with you Ekirin! I read both Old Man and the Sea and The Heart of Darkness and was bored by both. I think a lot of other books have given the same lesson in a more compelling way.  

[MyOwnBestCritic]

I've actually had classes completely ruin books by over-analyzing them. Flowers for Algernon was one of my absolute favorites before my eighth-grade Language Arts teacher gave us piles and piles of homework and analysis until I was sick of it.

Brave New World and A Handmaid's Tale are some excellent books that I was introduced to in class. I never really liked The Old Man and the Sea or Catcher in the Rye.  

[Naturally-Obsessive]

Treasure Island was horrible at the time, I guess it's not that bad. Odyssey was awful. By far the worst, just because didn't like it, was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The whole book was about yams, violence, and death. Stupid yam book.  

[wolfen26]

I loved The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt and Where The Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls. Shakespeare's Midsummer Nights Dream was ok, though a little boring, unless it was acted out. Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was the only book that ever gave me nightmares as a kid.