# Books you're glad you were forced to read in school



## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

Huck Finn.  To Kill A Mockingbird.  Everyone is forced to read some books in school.  And some are painfully dull.  But which ones are you glad you were forced to read?


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## JeanneM (Mar 21, 2011)

A Separate Peace in High School.  Johnny Tremain in grade school.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

I was the weird kid who went ahead and read the text book, with all the short stories, when we were given it at the start of the year. So, I wasn't really forced to read anything and had usually read it by the time that it was officially assigned. I remember in junior high that my history teacher also taught and English (that I wasn't in) and that there were notes on the board for To Kill a Mockingbird, but I didn't get around to it for a couple years. 

I do think they assigned me Great Expectations before I got around to it. I liked it. So, I guess that's my answer.


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## naomi_jay (Feb 1, 2011)

I'm trying very hard to think of any books that were required reading at school that I liked, and I can't think of a single one. That can't be right, surely? Brother In The Land gave me a massive complex about nuclear war. Bleak House bored me to tears. Cat's Eye frustrated me endlessly.

Actually, I did love Shakespeare, so that's something, I guess. And I discovered Sylvia Plath and Angela Carter through school. Overall though, the books I hated definitely outweight the ones I loved. I feel cheated.


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## kroma (Dec 27, 2009)

I was an avid reader as a kid, especially of classic SF, but I could NOT force myself to pick up one of my favourites, John Wyndham's 'Day of the Triffids', when it was required reading.
I vaguely recall thinking reading it for school would ruin it. I certainly knew it well enough to get the best result in the associated test.

I did, however, pick up 'Goodbye Mr. Chips', a story that I wouldn't have expected to enjoy greatly. I finished it in one session, about 4AM the next day, just could not put it down.

Hmm, I must read it again, it's been over 40 years...


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I liked _Moby Dick_ a lot, and _Huck Finn_ almost as much. _Lord of the Flies_ was pretty good. Nothing else is popping to mind, but that was a long time ago.  (I avoided the class by the one teacher who was infamous for boring students to death with reading and discussing _Paradise Lost_, so I've never gotten around to reading it.  )


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## patrickt (Aug 28, 2010)

I think I was in the 6th grade when I learned that reading books was a lot more fun if they were books you wanted to read. I can't remember ever being ordered to read a book I wanted to read and I read all the time. I read the books I was required to read as if I were being required to read them. You know, write down some key sentences, be prepared to BS about the book. Some of them I did decide to read later and when I read them I enjoyed them.

When I was in basic training I hated those cross-country marches, especially with a full pack. Later I was hiking in the high country not just with my pack but with all my kids stuff and enjoying myself. It makes a difference if you doing what you want to do.


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## kindleworm (Aug 24, 2010)

I would never call it being forced to read, I've always enjoyed reading.  I was was introduced to David Copperfield by a wonderful highschool teacher.  That book became one of my favorites and still is.


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## Margaret (Jan 1, 2010)

I always loved to read and generally had no trouble with any reading assignments. The lone exception is _Moby Dick_, which I have been assigned three times and have still not managed to finish. However, I rarely chose to read nonfiction, so when I was assigned to read _The Double Helix_ in high school, I put it off for as long as I possibly could and then was very pleasantly surprised when I finally got around to reading it. I still prefer to read fiction, but there have been some nonfiction books that I have enjoyed very much over the years, and _The Double Helix _ was the first of them.


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## Stephen T. Harper (Dec 20, 2010)

Even though I went on to major in English Lit and eventually become  a writer, as a kid I was so interested in books that I always had plenty of my own choosing.  Therefore, "what books am I glad they forced on me in school...?  All of them.  Because I wouldn't have read any of them on my own and even Isaac Asimov and Kurt Vonnegut will only get you so far.  Not to mention Stephen R. Donaldson, Stan Lee and Mad Magazine.

I never would have picked up Carson Mccullers,  Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, any Bronte sister.  Never would have read Shakespeare, Dickens or Twain.  And if I hadn't read all those things before college, who's to say I even would have known to major in English when I got there?

Thank God for good teachers and good books when you are young.


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## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

I was always a big reader, but somewhere early on I developed an intense (and totally irrational) dislike for Shakespeare. But apart from a half-hearted discussion of _Romeo and Juliet_ in high school, I was in college and halfway through my English degree before I ever actually read any.

I loved it. Every word of it. The man's a genius. I have no idea what I was thinking.


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## NapCat (retired) (Jan 17, 2011)

poetry in general....I doubt if I would have picked that up without encouragement from teachers.....


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## TheGreemSim (Apr 7, 2011)

Of Mice and Men. Loved the relationship between George and Lennie.


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## stampingpaperdoll (Oct 4, 2009)

The one book I remember that I read and absolutely loved was The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck.  It was a book that stayed with me since high school.  I took the opportunity to read it again last year, and after 30 years since I read it the first time, I loved it just as much.  I didn't know if I would feel the same with that much time that had gone by.


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## Elizabeth Brown (Sep 20, 2010)

I've always been an avid reader, and typically enjoyed the reading assignments. However, two of my favorites were _The Great Gatsby_ and _1984 _. Oh, and I loved _The Outsiders_!


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## matt youngmark (Jan 11, 2011)

Definitely To Kill a Mockingbird. Also, Slaughterhouse Five -- my lifelong love of Kurt Vonnegut started there.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

_The Bluest Eye_ in a college course I took later in life. Not a book I would have picked up by myself, and not an easy book to read - but I'm glad I did.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

lacymarankevinmichael said:


> Huck Finn. To Kill A Mockingbird. Everyone is forced to read some books in school. And some are painfully dull. But which ones are you glad you were forced to read?


Dickens. It took me a lot of struggle to get "into" Dickens. Otherwise, almost everything they gave me to read, I'd read long before.


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## MariaESchneider (Aug 1, 2009)

NONE.  We didn't have to read Huck Finn (which I read later and enjoyed) or Jane Austen (which I read later and enjoyed.)  I was forced to read far too much Poe (hated them all) and 1984.  Oh and Shakespeare, which I also loathed.  Lots and lots of Shakespheare.  Didn't like any of them.  There were some poetry authors in there too, and while not every poem stunk, I must say that by the time we got done dissecting every word and line, I had lost any interest that might have sparked.

Okay, I guess I disqualified myself for this question since there were none I had to read that I enjoyed.


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## prairiesky (Aug 11, 2009)

The one that I remember most: 1984


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## Julia444 (Feb 24, 2011)

I think I liked most of the books I had to read, except for Melville's BILLY BUDD, which I hated.

But I loved:

Hamlet
Crime and Punishment
Madame Bovary
Return of the Native
Animal Farm
The Great Gatsby
The Awakening

Those are the ones I remember from high school--I fell in love with even more "required" reading in college.  

Julia


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## Julia March (Feb 22, 2011)

Silas Marner, which turned me into a rabid George Eliot fan.


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## Dawn McCullough White (Feb 24, 2010)

*Great Expectations*, mainly because it introduced me to the morbid and bizarre Miss Havisham, who reminded me of my grandmother.

Dawn


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## Malweth (Oct 18, 2009)

"Crime & Punishment" was a surprisingly good required read.
"Death of a Salesman" was probably #1, though. It helped that I had to read it for three separate classes!


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

The Chrysalids and the first (and only) Shakespeare work that I actually enjoyed: The Merchant of Venice.


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2011)

Oooh, I'm so glad we had to read Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace, The Chocolate War, Johnny Got His Gun and The Crucible.  Probably never would have read any of them if they hadn't been assigned, and was surprised to find out how awesome they are.  Actually, now you've all depressed me because I don't think any of them are available for the Kindle yet, and I'd love to read them again.  *le sigh*


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## brianrowe (Mar 10, 2011)

My favorite book of all time is Boy's Life, by Robert McCammon. It was one of three options we had over the summer before sophomore year. I'm so glad I chose that one!! It has stuck with me ever since, and continues to this day to be the title I recommend most to others. Boy's Life! Robert McCammon!!


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## jherrick (Apr 1, 2011)

The Great Gatsby. When I read it in school, I thought it was okay. But after rereading it a year or two ago, it became my favorite. The character development drew me in big time.


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## GBear (Apr 23, 2009)

I think I liked or at least had some appreciation for most of them. The one exception that stands out is Death Be Not Proud, which I found horrible in terms of writing, being interesting, having a point, just about every way possible. And I lost whatever respect I had for the English teacher when I went to complain about it after wasting the time to read it and she agreed with me! Maybe, in hindsight, she didn't have any influence on the reading list, but her party line was that she included a "bad" book so we'd learn more critical reading skills. Grrrrr, I'm still mad about it!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

lacymarankevinmichael said:


> Huck Finn. To Kill A Mockingbird. Everyone is forced to read some books in school. And some are painfully dull. But which ones are you glad you were forced to read?


I never read any assigned reading.  I'm sure I was the poorer for it.  I have read some of the books mentioned since I was in school, but never in school.

_To Kill a Mockingbird_ is my absolute favorite book. And movie.

EDIT: I think, after all, I may have read _Shane_ in high school because I loved the movie. 

Betsy


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## Aaron Pogue (Feb 18, 2011)

When I read the question I immediately thought of the classics we had to read in high school, but last semester in my Master's program, I had to read a dozen novels (from various genres), and actually discovered some real gems that way, too.

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life
A Curse Dark As Gold
Die Trying (Jack Reacher, No. 2)


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## Miriam Minger (Nov 27, 2010)

Giants in the Earth by Ole Rolvaag.  Went to a Scandinavian/Lutheran college in Minnesota, St. Olaf, so it made sense to read and discuss Rolvaag's work.  

Miriam Minger


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## Les Turner (Mar 13, 2011)

'Children of the Dust' and 'Z for Zachariah'.

No idea weho wrote them, but they have stuck with me ever sicne I read them in '91.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

I can honestly say I immensely enjoyed every book assigned in school save one. _The Great Gatsby_ was positively painful to read.


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## Gone 9/21/18 (Dec 11, 2008)

Other than the See Spot run books early on that I learned how to read on, I can't think of a single one. I suspect I might have enjoyed some of them if I could have simply read them at my own speed, but the insistence of teachers that they be read tediously chapter by chapter, analyzing and discussing them to death along the way pretty much killed any enjoyment. I remember one high school teacher who found out I'd read Great Expectations straight through instead of on her schedule who gave me a 95 U [Unsatisfactory] for that report card period. It's probably a miracle they didn't kill my enjoyment of reading totally.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

ellenoc said:


> I remember one high school teacher who found out I'd read Great Expectations straight through instead of on her schedule who gave me a 95 U [Unsatisfactory] for that report card period. It's probably a miracle they didn't kill my enjoyment of reading totally.


I had a 5th grade teacher who was disbelieving and then vaguely annoyed that I'd already read Island of The Blue Dolphins. She was actually a good teacher though and the first person I recall saying I should be a writer.


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## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

I second Catcher In The Rye.


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## JimJ (Mar 3, 2009)

Off the top of my head I enjoyed Frankenstein, A Seperate Peace, The Red Badge of Courage, Lord of the Flies and The Pearl.


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

There were two I'm glad I was made to read, but in fairness the second is an author rather than a single story/book/play. The first was Animal Farm by George Orwell. It was one of the few books I really got into, aside from The Chocolate War, as an assigned text. Then when I studied English Literature we did quite a few of Shakespeare's plays.

Although on the second one; I'm not a fan of reading plays. Plays aren't meant to be read, they are meant to be seen performed. We studied so many plays and I always felt that reading the play felt like the cliff-notes rather than the real thing.


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## MLPMom (Nov 27, 2009)

I am probably an oddball but I loved almost everything we were asked to read in school, Lord Of the Flies, The Scarlett Letter, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Day No Pigs Would Die, Red Badge of Courage, Diary of Anne Frank, The Lottery, Romeo and Juliet.....I really enjoyed them all.


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## Plotspider (Mar 15, 2011)

Great Gatsby; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Bear by Faulkner; 1984; Cry, The Beloved Country; Wuthering Heights.  

Any book I have managed to get through and understand, I have enjoyed.


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

R. Doug said:


> I can honestly say I immensely enjoyed every book assigned in school save one. _The Great Gatsby_ was positively painful to read.


LOL I absolutely agree. I positively dislike Fitzgerald and everything he wrote.


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## Plotspider (Mar 15, 2011)

JRTomlin said:


> LOL I absolutely agree. I positively dislike Fitzgerald and everything he wrote.


I liked Gatsby due to the Modernist themes and the description. I have not liked other Fitzgerald I have read.


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## joepr (Mar 16, 2011)

la vispera del hombre by rene marquez


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## valeriec80 (Feb 24, 2011)

Ooh, this is a fun thread for me, because I'm a high school English teacher, and I now get to force people to read things. (Well, in theory. In practice, they just use sparknotes, I think.)

Personally, I am incredibly indebted to my high school AP teacher for introducing me to _Heart of Darkness_ by Joseph Conrad and _Gulliver's Travels_ by Jonathan Swift. (I could have done without Portrait of the _Artist as a Young Man_ and _Tess of the D'urbervilles_, however.)

Based on what I hear from my kids, I'd guess the books that I force them to read that they like are _Ender's Game_ (one of my 11th grade classes just LOVES it), _Slaughterhouse Five_, and _The Great Gatsby._ (In regards to Fitzgerald, I think most of my kids like it because I always introduce it by saying, "This is a book about a bunch of people drinking illegally and having relationship problems, so I doubt you guys will be much able to identify with it." That usually gets a laugh. I think they like the fact that they're considered mature enough to handle it or something.)

I think the most hated (and sometimes loved) book that I teach is _Wuthering Heights_.


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## Miriam Minger (Nov 27, 2010)

Also read alot of science fiction in a high school class, which really wasn't my thing, but it sure did broaden my scope as to the possibilities for fiction.  

Miriam Minger


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

Ah yes, the ones I liked the most include:

*Heart of Darkness* (my teacher made us read it and then go see Apocalypse Now
which had just come out)
*A Separate Peace*
*Catch-22*
*Lord Of The Flies*
*The Necronomicon* (ok, ok, that one wasn't required)

I also read every science fiction and fantasy book in the library....

I too--while I admit he was a genius--grew tired of Shakespeare IMMEDIATELY.
Mostly because it seemed to be required to OVER-ANALYZE and DRAIN THE LIFE OUT OF EVERY WORD.

Still can't stand it, although some would say that everything I write is Romeo And Juliet (except Juliet's already dead).

--Mike


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## BowlOfCherries (May 8, 2009)

*Giants in the Earth* by O.E. Rolvaag. It wasn't required reading in my class, but it was in my friend's class. She lent it to me when she was done. Absolutely loved it and was sad to reach the last page. It's a story about the Norwegian settlers of the Dakota territory just prior to the turn of the 20th century beginning with their journey west.


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## aaronpolson (Apr 4, 2010)

As a high school teacher, I love "forcing" kids to read new books. 

One of my favorites was _My Antonia_ by Willa Cather. I would have NEVER picked that book up on my own.


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## Tris (Oct 30, 2008)

I have so many as I enjoyed like 95% of the books I read in my various English and Lit. courses.  However the ones that stick out of my head the most were: A Wrinkle In Time, Lord of the Flies, 1984, and All Things Fall Apart.  I especially loved the last two as they carried me from high school to college...and were required reading again and again.

Another book that wasn't necessarily required but you could get extra credit for was "Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara.  OMG, I love that book!  Read it in Jr. High English/Social Studies combo class.  I was the only one who read it, wrote an extensive report, and got an awesome A+.  I have kept the book with me ever since...and gave me my first passion for history and my first ever hero.

You guys who got reading lists ahead of time are lucky.  I wish I could have got a jump on my school's required reading list.  Not only would it give me something to do during the summer, but really savor the books.  

Tris


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## tim290280 (Jan 11, 2011)

Mike Cooley said:


> I also read every science fiction and fantasy book in the library....


Same here. Although our library at school only had 2.


> I too--while I admit he was a genius--grew tired of Shakespeare IMMEDIATELY.
> Mostly because it seemed to be required to OVER-ANALYZE and DRAIN THE LIFE OUT OF EVERY WORD.
> 
> Still can't stand it, although some would say that everything I write is Romeo And Juliet (except Juliet's already dead).
> ...


That was my main problem with a lot of English Literature. A lot of the time the analysis of the text was flawed anyway. Half the things that people were ascribing meaning to would have just been done because it sounded cool or fitted with the story. No great hidden meaning or something of special significance. Shakespeare had entire scenes that were purely devoted to levity to break the flow of the dark topics. In a play that is important. Yet the number of times I've heard the term juxtaposition used for those scenes is amazing.


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## Steve Emmett (Mar 31, 2011)

I can honestly say that I don't even remember what books we were forced to read, with the exception of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. I hated it. I suppose I should read it again now I'm mature but just can't drum up the enthusiasm.


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## DavidRM (Sep 21, 2010)

_A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich_ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

I would never have read the book if it hadn't been assigned in my high school world literature class, but I loved the book. I also love saying "Solzhenitsyn". All those wonderful syllables... 

-David


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## Arthur Slade (Jan 20, 2011)

The Grapes of Wrath

It took FOREVER to read it. But it may have made me a better person...I don't know. Would like to read it again to see my reaction.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Okay, I didn't have to be forced to read it. Was taught this in Grade 10 and loved it (had already read it three times). So interesting to be taught a scifi book in school. Maybe they should all be scifi books!


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy.
I so did not want to read that...and yet when I did I loved it, raced ahead of the class read to see what happened. Then I had to study it for O level English and it took the sparkle of it. Read it again as an adult and loved it again.


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## stephaniejenkins (Mar 31, 2011)

_The Giver_

I would never have picked it up, but I'm so glad it was assigned. It was such a beautiful story.


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## Nick Steckel (Sep 2, 2010)

George Orwell's _Animal Farm_ and Ralph Ellison's _Invisible Man_ would be my picks. The latter made junior year AP English bearable for me.


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## Grace Elliot (Mar 14, 2011)

Nick Steckel said:


> George Orwell's _Animal Farm_


When I was little my Dad read Animal Farm to me as a bedtime story! What I didnt know was that he was going to edit out the distressing bits where *SPOILER* Boxer dies. I was loving the book and decided to carry on reading one afternoon when Dad was out. He came home to find me inconsolable...tears streaming down my face. (No wonder it took me a while to discover historical romance with an upbringing like that!) LOL.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I was assigned to read _The Ugly American_ in 11th grade as an American History independent study assignment. It was my first introduction to the idea that people in other nations may not think the same about Americans as we think about ourselves. It didn't make me hate America or anything radical like that - it just made me aware that we are not a perfect nation nor are we always seen as that Shining City on the Hill.....


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## EliRey (Sep 8, 2010)

The Outsiders is the only one I can remember being required and that I was glad I did. I also remember it being the first time I read something then watched the movie and though I enjoyed all the eye candy in the movie i realized you just can't compare a movie to the book. But that's a whole other thread! 

Another I wasn't required to read but felt compelled to after someone in my critique website mentioned that if I'm going to write romance I should read one of the best romance novels ever written Pride and Prejudice. So I set out to read it. I'll admit it was a tough read at first. I'd never read anything in that era, but in the end I was REALLY glad I did and can honestly say it's one of my all time favorites.


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## BethCaudill (Mar 22, 2011)

The Shakespeare Tragedies are the best.  While MacBeth and Hamlet were the most popular to read in school, I love King Lear the best.


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## Carolyn J. Rose Mystery Writer (Aug 10, 2010)

Shakespeare and Steinbeck, but definitely NOT Silas Marner. All you have to do is say those words and I'm back in 8th grade English class with a pounding headache.


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## Michelle Muto (Feb 1, 2011)

I never had a problem reading most of the books we had to read for reports and such. I think the hardest to get through was Turn of the Screw, but that was mostly the language at the time, I suppose.

We had to read books by Mark Twain, Harper Lee (loved it). I also remember reading Go Ask Alice, and Fahrenheit 451. 

I was one of those kids that actually liked English and Literature.


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## Allan R. Wallace (Mar 15, 2011)

There were many books I didn't read _because_ they were required. However I did find Books like *Seven Pillars Of wisdom* in the school library. I started it because it was huge, and enjoyed it because it was a story well told. While in the third grade here was also a book about a boy doing stuff; that started me reading so it was important.

Other than that, I found my books in libraries.


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## athanos (Apr 7, 2011)

Great Expectations and most of the Shakespeare plays. 

It's funny though, for personal reading at the time I was
really into sword & sorcery Robert E Howard, Michael Moorcock
and the like.


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## ajbarnett (Apr 11, 2011)

I was forced to read 'Moonfleet' by J. Meade Falkner. I thought it was going to be Sci-Fi, and got all excited about it - no such thing. The story was about old fashioned smugglers. In the end, I actually enjoyed reading it. 

So thank you, teacher. You did know best after all.


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## D/W (Dec 29, 2010)

Reading _Of Mice and Men_ started my love affair with John Steinbeck.


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## SD Livingston (Mar 13, 2011)

'The Chrysalids' by John Wyndham, no doubt about it. As a constant reader I'd always had my nose in a book but never even heard of Wyndham until 'The Chrysalids' became required reading in grade 9 English.

Loved it then and still have a copy on my bookshelf today. In fact, I think it's overdue to be read again  

Sandra


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## William BK. (Mar 8, 2011)

The only two books I was glad to read at the time were _Animal Farm_ and _Beowulf_, which remain to this day two of my three favourites.

I very quickly forgot everything else I read, but I have found myself rereading all of those books in recent years. I am more than a little annoyed that I gave so little attention to Shakespeare, Steinbeck, et al, though I certainly agree with the sentiment above that these tend to be over-analyzed in school, which is probably what killed them for me at the time. Now that I can read them for personal enjoyment, I find them much more agreeable.


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## KerylR (Dec 28, 2010)

Okay, to me forced to read indicates that it was something you didn't expect to like and it took a while to get into it. 

On that front there were no book I was forced to read that I ended up liking. 

There was a decent selection of books that were on the curriculum that I enjoyed and was not forced to read because I was happily tearing through them for fun.  (The Westing Game, The Tripods Trilogy, The Glass Menagerie, Julius Caesar, Lord of the Flies, The Fountainhead, and on and on...) 

I am glad I was forced to read The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.  Having read that, I have a baseline for how bad a book really is.  Would I rather read what's in front of me or Heart...?  As of this time I've almost never come up with a no on a book I've finished.


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## R. Doug (Aug 14, 2010)

Thanks for bringing up John Wyndam. I loved Wyndam's _The Midwich Cuckoos_.


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## Kimberly Spencer (Apr 10, 2011)

_And Then There Were None_ by Agatha Christie. That book gave me the creeps, but I loved it lol. Now that I think about it, it's still one of my favorite books to this day. I remember being home alone when I read it and being terrified everytime I heard a sound. I actually went and got a steak knife from the kitchen. I was just that creeped out lol.


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## sharonC (Apr 3, 2011)

omg..like halmet. and romeo and juliet. brings back memories.


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## gryeates (Feb 28, 2011)

I would say the only thing I read in school that I took anything away from was Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' as it triggered my interest in the First World War, the time period that my vampire saga is set in. Nothing else springs to mind as all of the writers I studied at high school or later at university have been of little influence to me whereas those I discovered in my own time are the ones who have stayed with me.


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## Mike Cooley (Mar 12, 2011)

gryeates said:


> I would say the only thing I read in school that I took anything away from was Wilfred Owen's poem 'Dulce et Decorum est' as it triggered my interest in the First World War, the time period that my vampire saga is set in. Nothing else springs to mind as all of the writers I studied at high school or later at university have been of little influence to me whereas those I discovered in my own time are the ones who have stayed with me.


Are you french-kissing Yorick?

Oops, sorry, off-topic.... 

--Mike


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## Iwritelotsofbooks (Nov 17, 2010)

I'll throw in 1984.  It was nice for the teachers to throw a dystopian sci fi book my way.


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## sighdone (Feb 4, 2011)

To Kill A Mocking Bird - though I didn't feel I was being forced to read anything in school, especially this, it's brilliant.


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## Jon Olson (Dec 10, 2010)

JRTomlin said:


> Dickens. It took me a lot of struggle to get "into" Dickens. Otherwise, almost everything they gave me to read, I'd read long before.


Dickens, me too. Huck Finn, especially. But in general, I think, reading for school, swallowing the teacher's take, everybody nodding together in a group think, kinda spoiled a lot of books for me. Better is/was, coming to a private understanding of a book. Making a deal with it.


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