Horrible Books You Read/had to read 4 school From When You Were Younger

Honestly…Animal Farm.

At no point does it challenge me to think about the lesson I should learn–it just shoves the message in my face over and over. Everything about the book–the message, the symbolism, etc–is so blatant and forced, that it makes the book so boring imo. :confused:

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The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I thought that this horribly boring story would actually pick up----but no.

Maybe it’s something with me hating these settler-era “Little House on the Prairie” stories, but the book was so unbelievably bland and boring- that I wished for it to end already.
The climax was underwhelming, due to the whole buildup of the story. Basically, the story was a good idea- executed badly.
Maybe I have a bad taste in books. I dunno.

THANK you.

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Hmmm

I don’t agree, but I think that’s a valid point of view. A lot of people don’t like allegories. :stuck_out_tongue:

“I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence. I much prefer history – true or feigned– with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse applicability with allegory, but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author.”
–J.R.R. Tolkien

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Love that Quote by Tolkien.

Really the only book I didn’t care for that was mandatory reading was Lord of The Flies. Mostly because the teacher divided the class up into tribes and OF COURSE you all know how group projects in school go. More than that, I think he actually liked screwing us all over with the insanely difficult projects.

Now as to a book that I chose to read for a book report and almost instantly regretted was _____ um, uh, apparently the message boards censor out the second word in the title so I’ll just say “that Herman Melville Book about a great white whale.” sooooooooo booooooring.

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Yeah, Melville is no fun. I think English teachers like him because he constantly makes references to other cultural things, not because he actually tells interesting stories.

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If a comment has a Tolkien quote, it must be liked.
While on the topic of Tolkien, how come we never read anything by him? He’s so great.

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Anyway, I thought the book was interesting… but I can’t imagine doing a report on it. Really, over analyzing anything sucks the joy out of it
Unless it’s Bionicle

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Tolkien is passé because it’s “just fantasy/escapism” or “not real literature.” Which is stupid. I think the real issue is that modern literature, in the minds of those who try to decide such things, is “supposed” to be about immediate social issues and “realistic” or “down-to-earth” people. Think of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, et al. On the surface, Tokien’s writings are nothing like that. Of course, if you dig deeper, LotR in particular is an excellent exploration of the human condition and what’s really important in life, but a lot of modern critics don’t see that because they dislike the veneer and dismiss it out-of-hand. (I also think a lot of critics wouldn’t like a great deal of what Tolkien has to say about the human condition if they understood it, but that’s probably too controversial a subject for the Boards. :stuck_out_tongue: )

I bet that in 100 years from now, Tolkien will be one of the few writers from the 20th century to be remembered.

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Wholeheartedly agreed.

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Great as he may be, his books can also be a bit difficult to read at some parts. The only book of his that I have finished is The Hobbit. I tried reading Fellowship of the Ring, but lost interest partway through. I love the sheer amount of world-building Tolkien does, but he has a bad habit of getting into lengthy descriptions of minute detail. Some readers can look past that and enjoy the magnificence of his work, and there are some like me who prefer the movies (LOTR is the only time I prefer the movies over the books)

Now going off on a brief LOTR tangent, my History Teacher in my Freshman Year of High School absolutely Loved the LOTR books. We had just finished some strange point in world history, and it was the day before Spring Break. He decided to teach us some brief “european” history before Spring Break. So he boots up a powerpoint presentation about this king Fingolfin and his war with Melkor. There I am, little Kiixaar furiously taking notes like a good little student, and what does the teacher say at the end of class? “By the way, this was actually the history of the First Age of Middle-Earth, before LOTR.” I still don’t know how to feel about that…

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I read the Silmarillion when I was in fifth grade…
And I loved it.

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Then you are a league above me. I Applaud you.

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Thank you. Usually people call me “insane”.
I also read the Hobbit 17 times. That might be another reason…
And, we’re super off-topic.

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I’ve never read a book for school. I was supposed to read Lord of the Flies, but I never did. Got a B+ on my essay over it though XD.

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Oh yes. That book should be destroyed, it’s so annoying. It wouldn’t have been too bad if not for the fact that I had to read it during a pretty challenging time in my life, and it made me even more sad.

I enjoyed Lord of the Flies, Huckleberry Finn, all Edgar Allan Poe, and this bizarre book called Akhenaten: Dweller in Truth that was historical fiction on Ancient Egypt. The last one is surprisingly pretty engaging and entertaining.

Ah, you beat me; I read it in sixth grade.

No joke. I also loved it.

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I h8 reading, but I love listening to audio books BTW go to audible/ttv (am I doing it right var)

I had to read 8 books for school and they all sucked bleh what did it teach me? NOTHING.

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I hated speak by laurie halse anderson.

Funny, since I’m actually reading the book right now for enjoyment. school tarnishes everything

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Anything about the Holocaust, we read two.
The books themselves are good, but it’s so depressing.

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