I truly don’t understand the enthusiasm for this book. They are terrible people. Why should I give a tinker’s damn whether they end up together?
Best thing I read in kindergarten.
(True story: I was a super bookish kid, and my parents learned pretty early that they could take me to a medium-nice restaurant, and just hand me my book bag and I’d be quiet and well-behaved all through dinner. Well, one time they’re doing this, and they notice that other diners are giving them weird looks. Finally, my dad leans over to see what I’m reading, and instead of the usual Tintin or Asterix, I’d found my dad’s collection of Zap comics, and was quietly devouring the adventures of Captain Pissgums, Mr. Natural, and the Checkered Demon. From that point on, my parents made sure to check the contents of my book bag before we went out, and the Zap comics went to live in storage until I was a teenager.)
I’ve long thought that the closest thing to the Alice books is Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Ha! That was the first one that came to mind (though I read it in 8th grade). A real slog.
Conversely, A Tale of Two Cities (assigned in H.S.) I found to be engrossing.
Ha! I read that in junior high and the only thing I can remember is the cow in the first chapter.
I didn’t like Great Expectations at all when I read it in high school.
But when I reread it in college, I realized it was a truly great novel. I just didn’t have the experience to appreciate it.
I think that there are many books in the HS curriculum that are excellent books, but which teenagers don’t have the life experience to understand them.
Certainly!
Although some books that are beyond a high schooler’s experience can help prepare them for their later life experience, at least if they’re well-taught,
We didn’t really read many books in high school. In ninth grade we read Great Expectations, which I didn’t mind. When I took Composition my senior year we had to do a paper on a novel, and I was absent the day everyone chose their book. Pride and Prejudice was all that was left, and I didn’t care for it. The worst book I ever had assigned was The Faerie Queen, which was assigned for the required literature class. I’ve never been much of a fiction reader, despite a long career in public and school libraries. I do like Captain Underpants and the Pigeon books quite a bit.
Madam Bovary. Once in high school. Three more times in college. Why? Why?
Hehe, that’s one of the books that I simply refused to complete when assigned it in college. No Cliff’s notes, no nothing. How I passed the tests on it, I have no idea.
If you find Wuthering Heights dull, maybe you should go see the upcoming film version:
I prefer the semaphore version.
You’re right. We were assigned A Tale Of Two Cities, which I hated. I couldn’t understand why people were climbing stairs to peer at an old man making shoes. It bored me silly and I can’t remember if I even finished it. What did I know about the French Revolution at age fifteen?
But when fifty-year-old me picked up the book, I was entranced and remember telling my husband, “This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read.”
I was also assigned, and hated, The Great Gatsby. I have a vague memory of a story of rich people swanning around and slumming, and then at some point someone got killed. But I’ve never picked it up as an adult and tried again.
I imagine it does happen from time to time, but there’s an example that I’m having a hard time remembering who the author was, and they asked him point-blank about some sort of symbolism or theme or what-not in one of his works, and this author was essentially like “WTF? I wasn’t writing about that. Don’t attribute that to me.” or something along those lines.
I feel like in cases like that, you have to take them at their word. I mean, if you pick up on say… (to switch media for a second), the homoerotic vibes in Top Gun’s volleyball scene, and the director and writer don’t say anything, then maybe you’re on to something. But if they say “No, that wasn’t the intent”, you have to say “Hmm.. no actual subtext there, just a super-gay scene.”
I am hard-pressed to think of a single title of required reading from my high school days that I hated. Generally I either liked or was no worse than indifferent to what we were given to read in English and French class and for example my Grade 12 English teacher had great titles on the syllabus, such as A Man for All Seasons or Brave New World. My OAC English teacher (OAC was a 13th grade level that Ontario high school students planning to go on to university formerly had to do) was terrible: her idea of teaching was to assign us many projects and assignments for independent study (too many!) and have us regularly present the results to the class, while actually teaching as little as possible. But even she had a redeeming feature: she gave us good reading texts.
One thing I was not so enthusiastic about, though I would definitely not go so far as to use the word “hate” was the fact that, in middle and high school, our French teachers kept giving us novels to read from the Canadian writer Gabrielle Roy, which tended to be rather depressing. I once wrote an essay in my French class in the form of a letter to the author, saying something like “you write very well, but please could you make your stories less sad?” Still, I see value in Gabrielle Roy’s writing and would actually be happy to re-read it as an adult.
In Grade 12, we read Albert Camus’ “:'L’Etranger” in my French class. At first, the book irritated me because the character was a total jerkass and absolutely alienated from the people close to him. But when I finished reading it, I decided that it was actually a good book – I was impressed that Camus had the ability to create such a character in the first place.
I’m curious if you were teaching literature or writing. That looks like a really interesting writing assignment. But while i had to write endless papers in high school English classes, the classroom discussion was almost always on what the books meant. (Including things like imagery and, in the better classes, social content and how the book reflected society.)
The best English class i took was called, “the relationship of art, music, and literature”, and we looked at works if at, listened to music, and read books and plays that were contemporary, and discussed the similarities and how the general cultural style was reflected in different ways.
I don’t remember anything about a separate peace except that it was about two boys at school who weren’t (yet) part of a war. Probably wwi? But i remember finding it moving.
Usually a book is considered a classic because it left a lasting impression on our culture, the story might continue to resonate with modern audiences, or it’s just so good it’s considered a classic. You’re right, if someone published the Iliad today it probably wouldn’t be a bestseller. But then if The Beatles had released A Hard Day’s Night in 2024 instead of 1964 it probably wouldn’t have been nearly as popular.
I used to think it was a bad sign when a literature book needed a study guide to understand it.
Cliffnotes and Sparknotes are valuable tools. Sure, some students try to skip reading the book. But, those guides kept me motivated to finish the book and know WTH the author intended.
I remember having to slog through The Canterbury Tales. I couldn’t get into it at all. I didn’t know anything about 14th century England to understand the context. The only part I remember is the Nun being so fastidious about wiping her mouth.
Years later, Sandman did “World’s End,” which was inspired by Canterbury Tales. Maybe I’ll give it another go.
Chaucer and Shakespeare are twofers for English teachers. They get to teach literary analysis and the evolution of the language. I think most students could get by in life just fine with a little less of the latter.