School days
Back when I was a student, the school year never began before Labor Day, so I was never really thrilled when that holiday rolled around anyway. (But now that most schools open their doors in August, I guess everyone welcomes the three-day weekend.)
Still, Labor Day reminds me of class schedules and school supplies runs far more than some last rite of summer. It was also the unofficial deadline to get all that summer reading done.
Whether it was Sherlock Holmes or Shakespeare, I was pretty lucky; most of the books we read at good old James M. Bennett High were pretty enjoyable. And A Separate Peace is one of those good ones that I never would have come across without the guidance of Ms. Jenkins. But Lord of the Flies? Awful. And now I'll never know if it was as bad as I really remember it, or if being forced to read it with a group of angsty teenagers was the problem.
I remember high school English class always felt like some sort of forced book club that you attended with a bunch of people you'd never hang out with anyway. Maybe that's why I've never really joined one.
So what about you guys? Any books out there you're still bitter about? Any you wish you had read alone, or not at all? Or did you have a favorite teacher who opened up a whole new world of John Steinbeck and Maya Angelou for you?
Comments
I remember having to read "The Sun Also Rises" in 10th grade and hating it. Now, Hemingway is one of my favorite writers, and I never really thought about why it was I hated reading him in high school. But now that you mention the forced-book-club-nature of high school reading, it occurs to me that that was probably the reason.
Posted by: Mike | September 2, 2008 1:46 PM
I was forced to read "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley as a 14-year old soon-to-be freshman. I was beyond confused and hated the book. I feel like if I re-read it now, I would probably enjoy it, but I can't bring myself to pick up a copy again. I still can't believe that was on our summer reading list for an all-girls Catholic high school!
I read a lot of books my senior year that weren't typical high school literature. A favorite of mine was "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. I liked it so much, I picked up the sequel, "Children of God." Despite the sci-fi feel of the books, I really enjoyed them.
Posted by: Jenn | September 2, 2008 6:57 PM
I am still bitter about "Jude the Obscure." I had to read it for AP English and write a paper on it during the summer before my junior year of high school started. The book was so bad that I couldn't get through it. I dropped out of AP English before the school year started. I still don't understand how people got through the book!
Posted by: Dawn | September 2, 2008 10:22 PM
There were two books (in the same year, no less) which really taxed my patience in high school: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville's Billy Budd.I was especially irritated when I got to the point near the end of Billy Budd where the entire story is basically explained in a kind of "Cliffs Notes" segment near the end. What! I didn't have to read the whole thing?
I don't think I could explain the problem with Heart, but I have a hard time watching Apocalypse Now in a single sitting, too.
On reflection, I kind of had to be dragged through The Great Gatsby, too.
Books that turned me on in high school: The Grapes of Wrath was just plain inspiring. And Siddhartha was a nice, accessible book that allowed me entry into the rest of Hermann Hesse's work. [/nerd]
Posted by: Claude | September 3, 2008 8:36 AM
I'm with Claude on Billy Budd, a teacher's transparent attempt to get kids to read Herman Melville. I'd add Turn of the Screw, a teacher's transparent attempt to get kids to read Henry James. (And these are the same people who never assigned To Kil a Mockingbird!)
Posted by: Dave | September 3, 2008 10:52 AM
There are few things less attractive than adults bleating about what they were told to do when they were adolescents.Either reread the books or forget about them.And I am so grateful that no one ever 'forced' me to read Maya Angelou: a more self-satisfied, narcissistic individual would be impossible to find. Can you imagine Hemingway or Fitzgerald, whose egos were proof against most things,grinding out a line of greeting cards? Give me a dose of Orwell any time.
Posted by: Patricia the Terse | September 3, 2008 12:55 PM
Silas Marner -- ug! But I do agree with Patricia (love the name) -- I've re-read many books I loved as a teen or young adult and thought, "Whaaa?" So I might love the ones I hated... My AP English teacher, Mrs. Martin, had us read the Bible as literature. Being an non-church-goer, I didn't like the idea, but I ended up loving the whole process and building a good base for understanding much of Western literature. My husband had absolutely no exposure to religion and has great difficulty with crossword puzzles, not to mention lots of other culturally significant things!
Posted by: Erica | September 3, 2008 5:45 PM