Books you had to read... that you actually found interesting?

I could swear that schools do everything they can to make students hate reading. The books they require were always just so boring and quite the opposite of what I liked, that it would have to be intentional.

But occasionally, even if their stuff was the opposite of the "junk food books" I preferred, it would occasionally be entertaining.

My little brother had to read The Princess Bride in high school, and genuinely liked it. Once I found out what that book was, I was surprised it was required reading!

For me, Don Quixote was actually pretty interesting at times. I had a passing familiarity with the cartoon Don Coyote, so it was neat seeing the original inspiration, and the idea was also pretty cool. An adventure story that parodies adventure stories and mocks their readers, written several centuries ago, in a time when I would be very surprised that such a thing existed!

What are your "required reading" books that you liked?

This year has been a gold mine for me. While I only tolerated lord of the flies and HATED Jane Eyre, I greatly enjoyed Gulliver's Travels and just finished reading Brave New World in one glorious sitting (and now I wanna discuss it,badly)

Let's see how much I remember...

I liked The Hobbit and Animal Farm. Romeo And Juliet was good due to Mercutio's presence. I hated The Pearl, and found it depressing and Stalinist.

The Hobbit and Animal Farm here, too, and The Passion by Jeanette Winterson.

I Like Lord of the Flies, Lost Horizon was pretty decent, and I really liked both Brave New World and 1984.

edited 15th Oct '10 1:02:28 PM by Beforet

Oh, yeah!! 1984 rocked, too.

edited 15th Oct '10 1:03:21 PM by EddieValiant,Jr.

Les Miserables. The Once And Future King.

Every single book I've had assigned for school I liked from the start or winded up liking (I'm looking at you, Brave New World) except Shakespearean plays, The Lovely Bones and The Chrysalids.

Then again, I've been assigned awesome books like Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, The Giver and in grade 12 a choice of several dystopian novels (I did Oryx And Crake).

edited 15th Oct '10 1:14:04 PM by Jace

I remember liking The Great Gatsby a lot more than I thought I would.

I actually liked The Great Train Robbery. Not that I'll be reading it anytime soon, but the plot was compelling.

The Once And Future King had an interesting chapter where Merlin had Arthur change into the form of an ant, and he experienced life as an ant. And life as an ant means thinking in very binary terms, of "done" and "not done", where everything was so simplified that there was no room for nuance or variety in thought. Not doing what's expected of an ant counts as "not done", which is to be corrected by the other ants.

I don't remember it too well, but thought the idea was interesting. I didn't like the book otherwise.

The Things They Carried, All Quiet On The Western Front, Things Fall Apart,

• Beowulf
• Paradise Lost
• Dracula (which is actually now my favorite book)
• Stranger In A Strange Land

The Outsiders is probably the only school-required reading that made me cry since Stone Fox in fourth grade.

Actually, most of the books I read in fourth grade I loved, like Silverwing and Stone Fox. And then Ella Enchanted from fifth grade was pretty good, too.

Unfortunately, after fifth grade I started running into books that I'd previously read, so I rarely really read them through, like The Giver and The Lightning Thief. Both are two of my all-time favorite books, but I didn't really read them in school.

The only book I was made to read for school that I actually liked was To Kill A Mockingbird. But I did like that one a lot.

I gotta say, the books I read in high school were boring. It wasn't until college that I got to read awesome books.

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies. Had to read it for a Canadian Lit course, so I was NOT looking forward to it, but it's a great read! Davies has this style in handling anecdotes, like a drunk uncle telling stories about your parents—slightly embarrassing, but thoroughly engaging. And it's layered and complex, which you don't expect from a book that's so easy to read.

Yay! Fellow Davies fan! *awkwardandinappropriatehuuuuuug~*

Have you checked out The Lyre of Orpheus yet? Hell of a good read. What's Bred In The Bone is amazing, too - the first psychological novel/Bildungsroman I've ever liked.

On-topic: put me down as another one for To Kill A Mockingbird. Few things are cuter than an eight year old asking what a 'whorelady' is.

edited 15th Oct '10 5:11:22 PM by FurikoMaru

Hugsyay!

I've done the Deptford trilogy but haven't read anything else by him yet. So many books, so little time!

And thirding(?) To Kill a Mockingbird. It's a great exploration of prejudices and their effects, wrapped up in a mini-coming of age story.

Oh, another great book I read for school was Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, which is now one of my all-time favourites. A well-researched time-travel story exploring humanity's reaction to crisis in the past and future, mixed with action, mystery, and humour. Willis writes such vivid characters, then takes them to horrible places, and it's enthralling.

Count me in for liking To Kill A Mockingbird as well.

Ah yes, To Kill A Mockingbird. Forgot about that one.

I liked And Then There Were None. Several others were pretty good too, such as The Poisonwood Bible.

Unfortunately, I mostly remember the books I hated. Siddhartha and Song Of Solomon were ridiculous, and The Things They Carried, and For Whom The Bell Tolls weren't that great either.

edited 15th Oct '10 8:44:32 PM by storyyeller

Jane Eyre. I read it in Y8 in English and thought it would be quite boring. Everyone else thought it was and I agreed, purely out of peer pressure. However, I had some free time so I sat down and read it, and loved it. So much so I got my parents to buy a copy for me.

Seconding whoever said Things Fall Apart. Except it was pretty much impossible to take seriously, because I kept imagining the characters as blue.

The Master And Margarita. It was just... awesome. Philosophical, interesting and funny. Brave New World was good as well. Liked Jane Eyre too, though that doesn't really count as I read it on my own before it was required for school.