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Best and Worst Required reading

#1 moonunit4eva

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Posted 12 April 2007 - 11:38 PM

So what were the best and worst books you ever had to read in high school English? It's hard to choose just one of each, but I'll try

Best: Hamlet or Beowulf
Worst: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Red Badge of Courage

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#2 Cippy

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Posted 12 April 2007 - 11:56 PM

Hamlet and Beowulf were both pretty good. I also liked Huck Finn, but a lot of people that I know didn't like it that much.

I really enjoyed The Tipping Point, so I'd probably put that among the best.

As far as books I strongly disliked, Pride and Prejudice and Things Fall Apart are definitely up there.

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#3 Solid

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:05 AM

Best: Macbeth, The Sorrow of War, The Stranger

Worst: Story of Zahara, Things fall apart (Definitely with the Cip on that one)

[1:50] anti: " Don't forget the sunglasses, its like a gun on your face"
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#4 moonunit4eva

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:13 AM

Weird.. I love Pride and Prejudice. Although, I'm basing that off of the movie, not the book. Jane Austen is really hard to get through.

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#5 Solid

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:18 AM

moonunit4eva, on Apr 13 2007, 01:13 AM, said:

Jane Austen is really hard to get through.

tru™.

This post has been edited by 3vil L337: 13 April 2007 - 12:21 AM

[1:50] anti: " Don't forget the sunglasses, its like a gun on your face"
/Fiesta Grande\

#6 Pufer

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:30 AM

Red Badge of Courage did suck, but I read it in third grade or something. I also disliked Raisin in the Sun and A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, both were so bad that I couldn't finish them. Thank heavens for Sparknotes.

Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was one that I really liked. Narcissus and Goldmund fired up my appreciation of Hesse and is still probably somewhere on my top-25 list all time. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller was rather sharp, although not earthshaking, as was Kafka's The Metamorphosis, although both were rather unorthodox selections on the parts of my teachers. Lysistrata introduced me to Artistophanes, for which I'm rather grateful, and also saw me dress in drag (yes, I had a beard even then, but it matters slightly less with a mask on) and lead on the menfolk who had huge erect phalluses strapped onto them for an acting assignment in 12th grade.

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#7 The Journalist

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:33 AM

Does it have to be books?
If so:

Best: Inherit the Wind, no question.
Worst is in middle school: The Red Pony; Nothing I read in high school could top that.

I also really liked Harrison Bergeron but that's a short story..

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#8 moonunit4eva

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 12:19 PM

I forgot about Inherit the Wind. That was great... I should re-read that one. Yay Evolution!

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#9 mrxak

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 03:00 PM

Best: Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut (RIP)
Worst: The Scarlet Letter by who the ###### cares

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#10 Manta

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 03:36 PM

I would like to second The Scarlet Letter as the worst book that was assigned as reading, and I would like to thank Hurricane Katrina for getting me out of reading that book.

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#11 Rickton

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 04:38 PM

I can't remember all from previous years so I'll just do this year.
Best: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard (Slaughterhouse Five by Vonnegut may replace it soon if it's as good as everyone says though!)
Worst: Wuthering Heights

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#12 moonunit4eva

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 06:24 PM

I wish Kurt Vonnegut was required reading in high school. I would've liked that.

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#13 The Journalist

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 09:00 PM

I think some of his stuff was in certain classes...

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#14 Anaxagoras

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Posted 13 April 2007 - 10:29 PM

I haven't been assigned too much stuff that I've enjoyed, since school-reading always feels like work, but there's a decent amount of it.

Best: Cat's Cradle, The Great Gatsby, A Prayer For Owen Meany, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (There're probably more, I just can't recall them right now)

Worst: EASILY The Scarlet Letter. For years, people around me raved about it and stuff, but seriously - it sucks. My English teacher even claims he could've done the same thing without topping more than 70 pages total AND he says he would've made it less of a pain to read. I'm inclined to agree with him, really.

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#15 Gray Shirt Ninja

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Posted 18 April 2007 - 11:55 AM

Best book in high school English? That's so constraining! I haven't even finished high school yet!

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#16 daowei

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Posted 18 April 2007 - 01:58 PM

best was one of the following: The Sun Also Rises, Heart of Darkness, All the Pretty Horses, or All Quiet on the Western Front.
the worst was either Jane Eyre or The Handmaiden.