# Books they forced you to read in highschool, that you took a liking to **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 15, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612 "2002-09-15T23:52:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/21 "2002-09-20T02:22:00Z")
There’s already been a thread on books you had to read for highschool that you hated. Nice to have the positive version now. For me, the best one I had to read was _**[The Death of Ivan Ilyich](http://www.geocities.com/short_stories_page/tolstoydeath.html)**_ by **Tolstoy**. An excellent book for thoughtful teenagers to get their priorities in life sorted out. It really helped me. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/22 "2002-09-20T02:33:38Z")
Another vote for “Heart of Darkness”. Also “Housekeeping” by Marilynne Robinson. Also “the Communist Manifesto” by you know who. ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/23 "2002-09-20T02:36:04Z")
Some that come to mind: _Waiting for Godot_ _Of Mice and Men_ _Beowulf_ _To Kill a Mockingbird_ ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/24 "2002-09-20T02:37:34Z")
Like **Osiris** nobody forced me to read anything – it was hard to get me OUT of a book – but I had an outstanding English teacher who introduced me to authors and books I never would have considered on my own. The one book I was pretty sure I wouldn’t enjoy, and did, was Pearl Buck’s _The Good Earth_. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/25 "2002-09-20T03:04:25Z")
I think I mentioned this in another thread, but for me it’s _Emma_. It was on the summer reading list for senior AP English, and I hated the damn thing - I suspect because Emma was rather too close to me in age, and Jane’s observations were hitting rather too close to me, period. A little distance is a wondrous thing. It’s unfortunate that so many English teachers think that books with young adult characters will better hold their students’ interests; but usually people least tolerate those whom they most resemble… ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/26 "2002-09-20T03:08:04Z")
_Farienheit451_ ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/27 "2002-09-20T04:00:27Z")
Shakespeare. Great Gatsby. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/28 "2002-09-20T04:12:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OxyMoron \* > \*\*It’s unfortunate that so many English teachers think that books with young adult characters will better hold their students’ interests; but usually people least tolerate those whom they most resemble… \*\* Exactamundo! I liked most of the books I read in high school, but the one that I was really surprised to like was _The Grapes of Wrath_. ---
**Author:** ![I\_am\_Sparticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@I\_am\_Sparticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_am_Sparticus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/29 "2002-09-20T04:12:11Z")
Moby Dick ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/30 "2002-09-20T07:10:34Z")
Like so many others, _To Kill a Mockingbird_. Although that actually might have been junior high; I don’t recall. We were only required to read a short passage from _The Consolation of Philosophy_, by Boethius, in school, but after reading that I had to pick up the whole thing from the library. In the same class, we had to read _Beowulf_, and I was struck by how similar the style is to Tolkien’s. I suppose I oughtn’t to have been surprised. And not high school, but my freshman year of college I had to read _Beloved_, which turned out to be quite good. ---
**Author:** ![moonchilde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3e96dc/32.png) [@moonchilde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moonchilde)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/31 "2002-09-20T07:49:33Z")
Yet another vote for “To Kill a Mockingbird”. I do also remember an English class quarter where we read “A Separate Peace”, “Alas Babylon”, and “On the Beach” (okay, this _was_ 1967! :). But besides “Mockingbird” the piece that stands out is Arthur Miller’s play “All My Sons”. Otherwise I don’t really remember reading a lot of the “classic” stories. Don’t recall, either, if “Stranger in a Strange Land” was mandatory or not, but that is about the time I first read it. ---
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/32 "2002-09-20T08:15:33Z")
ooh forgot one, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn I too had fabulous english teachers that made me understand the books I was assigned on a deep and thrilling level. Thank god for education of any kind. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/33 "2002-09-20T12:16:52Z")
One for me that hasn’t been mentioned was **Crime and Punishment**. I was impressed enough to go ahead and read **The Brothers Karmazov** on my own time. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/34 "2002-09-20T12:18:12Z")
**The Great Gatsby** did it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/35 "2002-09-20T12:22:03Z")
_The Jungle_ by Upton Sinclair, although I’d already read it. Another vote for _To Kill a Mockingbird._ ---
**Author:** ![Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ac91a4/32.png) [@Knighted\_Vorpal\_Sword](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knighted_Vorpal_Sword)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/36 "2002-09-20T13:08:11Z")
_Catcher in the Rye_ and _To Kill a Mockingbird_. I chose Alice in Wonderland for my 10th grade English term paper, I read \* Annotated Alice\* and it became my favorite book of all time. Still is. ---
**Author:** ![Mooch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mooch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooch)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/37 "2002-09-20T13:11:22Z")
I’d have to say **Slaughterhouse Five**. Really glad they turned me on to Vonnegut. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/38 "2002-09-20T15:14:10Z")
**To Kill a Mockingbird** was junior high for me, and I recall loving it from the first time I read it. But **Jane Eyre** and **Wuthering Heights** are another story. I hated, hated, hated those damned Brontes and I wanted them to die. They were already dead, but I wanted them to die again anyway. Loathed the books, loathed discussing the symbolism and the foreshadowing and the blahdyblahdyblah that you get when you’re forced to _analyze_ a story instead of being allowed to _read_ it for the sheer thrill of being taken into it. When I re-read the books as an adult (after seeing the movies, I admit) I fell in love with them. I’ve contemplated revisiting **The Scarlet Letter** to see if I could be similarly moved now, but even I have limits. ---
**Author:** ![crazy4chaucer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@crazy4chaucer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazy4chaucer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/39 "2002-09-20T16:31:19Z")
A Tale of Two Cities My 9-th grade English teacher said, “You’re going to hate this book. I hate this book. But I have to teach it and you have to read it so deal with it.” I went home and devoured it that night. I also discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald when I was in 11th grade, and he was my favorite writer for years. But I’m also one of those who never had to be forced to read a book! ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612/40 "2002-09-20T22:46:44Z")
Another vote (isn’t this about 100 now?) for To Kill a Mockingbird. Also the play Inherit the Wind. It was a pretty gutsy pick by the teacher as I went to a small rural high school in a pretty conservative and religious town. It spurred some fairly animated discussions in class which I suppose was the aim. I haven’t gone back and reread either of the books that I didn’t enjoy (Bleak House and Last of the Mohicans)but this thread has inspired me to do so. I’m going to start tonight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-they-forced-you-to-read-in-highschool-that-you-took-a-liking-to/128612.md?page=3)