# What's the worst book you had to read for school? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427 "2003-12-11T20:28:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/1 "2003-12-11T20:28:44Z")
I’m not sure if this goes here, or IMHO, or Cafe Society, so I’ll stick it here. If this is the wrong place, the mods can move it as they see fit. Anyway, I have two books that are the worst I’ve read for school. Brave New World, which I read in 8th grade. I couldn’t make head nor tails out of this mess. Just didn’t appeal to me. The second is what I’m reading for AP English now, Ethan Frome. My God, this book is terrible. It’s dark and depressing. It takes place in Snowyhellhole, Massachusetts, and involves a tale of “forbidden love”, according to the blurb on the back. “Forbidden love” is a phrase I look for in books, so I know the avoid them like the plague. The only good thing I can say about this book is that it’s short. So, what’s the worst thing you’ve read for school? ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/2 "2003-12-11T20:34:36Z")
Love Brave New World, but YMMV. Had to read Ethan Frome, but don’t remember any of it. When I was 10 I was in an accelerated program and they had me read Charles Dickens’ _David Copperfield_ - way, way too long, and written in mid-19th century flowery prose. I’ve never been able to read Dickens since, even though many people whom I respect sing his praises. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/3 "2003-12-11T20:35:31Z")
“I Am The Cheese”. Sucked. Badly. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/4 "2003-12-11T20:36:38Z")
Theodore Dreiser’s _An American Tragedy_. I was in an advanced English class, and we all offered to take zeros for the semester rather than have to plough through one more page of Dreiser. As Mrs. Parker once said, “Theodore Dreiser Should ought to write nicer.” ---
**Author:** ![Mooney252](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@Mooney252](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mooney252)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/5 "2003-12-11T20:42:21Z")
Henry James’ “Washington Square.” No wait, maybe “The Bostonians” was worse. Psychological novels? Maybe, but about boring people with trivial problems . . . ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/6 "2003-12-11T20:47:58Z")
Sorry, Mooney, but The Turn of the Screw was the worst one. Ugh. That was the one forced reading that sticks with me as worst book ever inflicted upon students. And we spent almost half the semester on the wretched thing. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/7 "2003-12-11T20:48:20Z")
_The Fixer,_ by Bernard Malamud. I inherited a high school English class at the last minute and had to read AND teach it. I like both _Brave New World_ and _Ethan Frome_. For real fun, there’s _Daniel Deronda_ or _Romola,_ though I would kill any little girl as syrupy as those who pop up in Eliot. I don’t mind most fiction–it’s poorly written textbooks, or inaccurate textbooks, that bug me. **The Man With The Golden Gun,** what’s not to like about _Brave New World_? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/8 "2003-12-11T20:50:08Z")
ANYTHING by Dickens was too long and too boring. The worst one, by far, was an Academic Decathlon selection from the early 90s: “Dhalgren.” The topic area was science fiction, and they managed to pick the single worst, most-over-rated, incomprehensible book ever written. All because it was PC to have a novel by a black author. Well, Chip Delany can’t write! With the wealth of GREAT SF out there, they picked this tripe. So sad. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/9 "2003-12-11T21:01:45Z")
_Bambi_ in about grade 4… I mean, who knew that there even was such a book? The whole class nearly revolted, realizing we were being seriously condescended to. Didn’t make any difference though. We still _had_ to read it. ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/10 "2003-12-11T21:02:15Z")
I second _Brave New World_. On my list are _Tale of Two Cities, Pride and Prejudice, The Old Man and the Sea._ I also have bad memories of _Huck Finn_ but that’s mostly because I couldn’t read a page without getting music from the show “Big River” stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/11 "2003-12-11T21:04:28Z")
Daisy Miller was worse than Turn of the Screw But for me, the worst was Death Be Not Proud… by some poor guy’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/12 "2003-12-11T21:19:56Z")
Huck Finn, hands down. I absolutely hated it. I’m glad someone else said it first, though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Bucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bucky)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/13 "2003-12-11T21:20:22Z")
If Henry James were alive today, I would quickly and painfully reverse his condition. In my opinion, he is the most over-rated author of all time. “The Mill on the Floss” was also pretty frecking awful. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/14 "2003-12-11T21:22:02Z")
“Far From The Madding Crowd” Thomas Hardy. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/15 "2003-12-11T21:25:23Z")
_A Thousand Years of Solitude_ by Marquez. What a steaming pile of crap that was. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/16 "2003-12-11T21:31:39Z")
_Chesapeake_ by James Michener. The first two hundred pages were OK, but that still left over 800 to go. I’m not exaggerating, either. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/17 "2003-12-11T21:58:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by silenus \* > \*\*ANYTHING by Dickens was too long and too boring. > > The worst one, by far, was an Academic Decathlon selection from the early 90s: “Dhalgren.” The topic area was science fiction, and they managed to pick the single worst, most-over-rated, incomprehensible book ever written. All because it was PC to have a novel by a black author. Well, Chip Delany can’t write! With the wealth of GREAT SF out there, they picked this tripe. > > So sad. \*\* The review makes it sound a lot like something written by Dick. That, of course, means that it’s either great or it sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/18 "2003-12-11T22:08:50Z")
I found out recently that both Dickens and Melville were paid by the word. It shows. ---
**Author:** ![Innanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecd19e/32.png) [@Innanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Innanna)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/19 "2003-12-11T22:13:41Z")
Frankenstein–wouldn’t have been too bad, except the characters would declaim at each other for pages. One character would speak for five and then the person he was talking to would speak for five. And then…well, 30 pages later, the conversation was done and I was ready to kill someone, preferably Ms. Shelly. Argh. Woman needed an editor. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427/20 "2003-12-11T22:14:04Z")
I hated _Ethan Frome_ as well when I had to read it in high school. Then again, I hated most everything in that American lit class, and loved most of the selections in our British lit class. The fact that they were taught by the same instructor confuses me even more. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-worst-book-you-had-to-read-for-school/218427.md?page=2)