That’s a bit like saying that it’s not a representation of society because all the characters are children, and most of society is made up of adults. Or that Animal Farm isn’t a representation of society because the main characters are animals, and most of society is made up of humans.
Yes, several books I found boring and inpenetrable have been mentioned. However, I found that when I read them again with a little wiser and older a head on my shoulders they were indeed excellent books which one should read once in their life.
However, one utter literary wankbasket we were forced to endure was called Welcome Home Jellybean, a tale of a US schoolkid with a developmentally disabled sister. It was Christing awful.
The Pearl and Jacob Have I Loved stand out in my mind, but by far the worst was An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter. Just because you’re elected president doesn’t mean your autobiography is interesting. I mean, it’s all about his childhood. He spends pages telling us how to drain blood from a dead pig, for chrissake.
The Sound and the Fury probably tops my list. I had no freaking clue what was going on in that book. I enjoyed Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, though, so maybe I should give him another chance.
In Junior High, we did Johnny Tremain, April Morning and Across Five Aprils, until I was sick to death of the whole “young person comes of age during wartime” genre.
Some others I could have done without are Billy Budd, Ethan Frome, Tess of the D’Urbervilles.
If I may be permitted a slight hijack, my take on this book was completely different. I didn’t think the book was saying you’re worthless if you’re not brilliant. I thought the book was saying that a lot of society holds this view, which, AFAI can see, is true.
And what’s with the votes for Watership Down? I loved that book! It wasn’t required reading; my father gave it to me when I was about 14, and said, “read this; you’ll like it”. My father never lied to me about a book.
As far as the worst book I was forced to read in high school, my vote would have to be for The Great Gatsby. I didn’t detest it, but I certainly didn’t see what all the fuss was about!
Of course, my favorite lit course was one I had in 12th grade, where you picked any book you wanted to read, read it, discuss it with the teacher, and move on to the next book you wanted to read. The only rule was “no tear-jerker dying people books”, like Love Story. Then, for our final, we read three books by the same author (of our choosing) and gave an oral presentation.
The Glass Bead Game is Magister Ludi by Hesse.
Super Gnat, glad to be of service. It’s nice to know that my former career as an English teacher still has some utility.
Three books, all from my high school days, listed in order of supposed literary merit:
The Great Gatsby: In my opinion, it’s a series of ancedotes involving underdeveloped characters, which would have worked far better as a series of short stories.
Lord of the Flies: I like my symbolism as much as any other man, but not when it’s served by the truckload.
A Separate Peace: Mediocre tripe about characters that are hard to care about.
I seem to recall an interview with Richard Adams (author of WD) on the tube in which the interviewer started quizzing him about all the deep symbolism in the book. Adams’ response was something along the lines of, “I just wanted to write a book about bunny rabbits.” Priceless. 
Brave New World - I liked that, boo to the OP.
Mines was “Sunset Song” by Lewis Grassic Gibbon.
It was the worst thing I have ever ever read.
I feel like crying now.
painful memories.
I hated anything by Steinbeck that I had to read, especially Of Mice And Men. Even the movie was dull. I loved Jacon Have I Love, but I read that one on my own. I didn’t like many of my assigned reading books, except Huck Finn, A Christmas Carol, and Candide.
I’m torn between Grapes of Wrath which had 3 full pages devoted to a turtle crossing the road, or The Old Man and the sea.
Yes, this was the first book that came to my mind when I saw the thread title.
My thought exactly - many of these are, in fact, excellent books; just not suitable for teens with the attention span of a mayfly.
Case in point: in English class I was forced to read short stories by Borghes; I hated them, found them utterly incomprehensible. Much later I picked up “Ficciones”, and on a whim read them again … and now I love them.
I’m reading Watership Down now, and it’s pretty good so far. Rather light reading, but I’m only about 50 pages into it.
I got another one for the “Awful Books” list. Dracula by Bram Stoker. Boring, poorly-written, and the story doesn’t actually begin until 2/3 the way through the book. To this day, I’ve only read about 5 of the 27 chapters. The first one, which turned me off to the rest, and the middle part. Even worse, I have a make-up test on it later today. Time to do some Draculatin’.
Death Be Not Proud is marketed as a young adult novel… it’s bad… the excuse of “Read it when you’re wiser” doesn’t apply here…
PucksRaven, congratulations. You have just met someone who admits to liking The Scarlet Letter.
I loved almost all of the books I had to read for school, but I’m kind of a book geek. I can only recall one book that I’ve tried to read and just haven’t been able to make it past the first twenty pages: Vanity Fair, by Thackeray. I’ve managed to make it through college without having to read it (and I’m an English major).
Then I am damn glad I haven’t read it. 
In high school, it was William Faulkner’s Light in August. Just can’t stand his writing style and felt that every page was overladen with “symbolism.”
In college, it was surely overshadowed by The Musical Ascent of Herman Being by Robert Danziger. Ugggh. Like others have said, the only good point was that it was short.
I hate, hate, hate Heart of Darkness and the Pearl.
I’ll second the recommendation for Crime and Punishment though. I’ve heard it’s important to get the right translation. We read the one by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I could barely put it down.
-Lil
We need to ban most English teachers teaching anything that was written for the theatre. They don’t get them. thye’ll have ong conversations about the reasons behind the Porter’s speech in Macbeth and hate to hear that the resident clown needed a bit to do and there was a costume change. “Why does Benvolio vanish?” Because he’s also playing the Friar. They HATE that! (Okay, those aren’t my whole explanations, but we start with the plays as plays for the stage, not as novels read in a quiet study).