# Your favorite book they made you read in school **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2007, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884 "2007-08-17T00:44:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/21 "2007-08-17T11:01:08Z")
_The White Mountains_ and _The City of Gold and Lead_ by John Christopher. _Lord of the Flies_ I liked most of Shakespeare, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/22 "2007-08-17T12:52:56Z")
\*1984 The Great Gatsby The Stranger Macbeth Moby Dick \* There were a ton of books that I was assigned in high school that I didn’t touch because I was a dangerous and rebellious youth bent on living fast and hard. I probably missed out on a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/23 "2007-08-17T13:28:50Z")
[QUOTE=Drain Bead] _McTeague_ was always one of my favorites. Nobody else liked it. [/QUOTE] I just finished McTeague. I’m not surprised they didn’t like it, but I found it interesting and haven’t stopped thinking about it since I got done. The only book I can recall that we were ever asked to read was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. It didn’t suck, but I finished it in about a day and then we had to beat it to death every day in class for about a month. ---
**Author:** ![Delphine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@Delphine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delphine)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/24 "2007-08-17T13:43:07Z")
I’m with Baker on this one. I loved To Kill a Mockingbird and still re-read it every couple years just for fun. I also really liked The Red and the Black, but that was in a college course so that might be stretching the definition of “made you read” a little thin. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/25 "2007-08-17T13:47:44Z")
I am suprised to see A Seperate Peace nominated so much. It is one of my answers as well but I have heard lots of people say that they hate it. My other would be Huckleberry Finn. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/26 "2007-08-17T13:49:53Z")
_Great Expectations_, although I didn’t learn to like it until about five years after it was required reading. There were plenty of ones I liked at the time, including _Gatsby, A Tale of Two Cities_, and _To Kill A Mockingbird_, but they don’t quite make my list of Top Ten Favorite Books Ever, which _Great Expectations_ easily does. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/27 "2007-08-17T13:52:31Z")
In elementary school I had to read _The Black Cauldron_. Enjoyed it even though I only remember the barest outline now. In 7-8 grade I had to read _The Lord of the Rings_. I liked it but I can only imagine how awful JRRT would be to a pre-teen who’s not into that style of writing. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/28 "2007-08-17T14:04:02Z")
I think _Moby Dick_ and _East of Eden_ (both from the same class–Melville and Steinbeck) are the only ones that I’ve re-read on a regular basis. There are a lot of other books that _could_ have been assigned reading that I’ve read several times, but they never were. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/29 "2007-08-17T14:06:45Z")
I just remembered another one. In college, I was assigned _The Music of Chance_ by Paul Auster, in a contemporary lit class. Loved it. I also didn’t think I’d like _Frankenstein_ nearly as much as I did. And _Hamlet_. Even though I was an English major, I was not a fan of Shakespeare until the right professor taught it to me. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/30 "2007-08-17T14:13:53Z")
_To Kill a Mockingbird_ ended up one of my favorite books. The winner though still has to be _Catch-22_. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/31 "2007-08-17T14:14:11Z")
[The Painted Bird.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Painted_Bird) A picture postcard of quaint but good-hearted small town life during difficult times. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/32 "2007-08-17T14:26:26Z")
_Great Expectorations_ as we called it, was one of my favorites. The appeal of _Catcher in the Rye_ continues to mystify me. ---
**Author:** ![hocow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hocow/32/4112_2.png) [@hocow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hocow)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/33 "2007-08-17T14:28:19Z")
_1984 Brave New World Of Mice and Men The Great Gatsby_ ---
**Author:** ![Soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/34 "2007-08-17T14:54:14Z")
Only Mostly Dead, you just reminded me of one of my all-time-favorites with The Once and d Future King. Now I must go and find my copy (which was indeed required reading in my 10th grade lit class). Also, this thread is reaffirming my belief that I am, in fact, the only person on the planet who didn’t like Brave New World one little bit. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/35 "2007-08-17T15:07:42Z")
Farenheit 451. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/36 "2007-08-17T15:23:50Z")
You know, I don’t remember too many details about it, but right after high school I remember saying many times that the best book we were required to read was **Fifth Business** by Robertson Davies. I meant to seek out the books that followed **The Manticore** and **Worlds of Wonder** , but I never did. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/37 "2007-08-17T15:30:45Z")
Apparently my schools assigned mostly crap. Macbeth is the only book that comes to mind. I saw many books in this thread that I love, but were never assigned to us or in the case of the Hobbit, I had already read 3 years earlier. I might be in the minority, but I very much disliked “Catcher in the Rye” and Dickens. These were assigned to us. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/38 "2007-08-17T15:58:57Z")
Maybe my school was a little unusual, because my three standouts haven’t been listed yet: **Brave New World** , Aldous Huxley **The Chrysalids** , John Wyndham **The Reivers** , William Faulkner For the most part, I also enjoyed the Shakespeare that we were assigned. I could have done with less _Julius Caesar_, for example, but I quite liked _Macbeth_ and _King Lear_. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/39 "2007-08-17T19:31:24Z")
I didn’t like any of them. They made us read “Hamlet,” “Julius Caesar,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Silas Marner,” and “Great Expectations.” I learned that (a) I don’t like being forced to read anything, and (b) analyzing literature to death does not enhance my reading enjoyment. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2007, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884/40 "2007-08-17T19:33:22Z")
“Wuthering Heights”–I’m not sure if this counts, exactly. We had to read it for class, and I bought all my books dutifully. Then I got sort of bored and ended up reading it about a month before we were assigned it, and loved it. It got a little less fun when I had to over analyze it and write papers on it. Also liked “Brave New World.” Although I think I might have read that shortly before we read it in school as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-book-they-made-you-read-in-school/415884.md?page=3)