EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club discussion

Most of my reading during the 4 years of high school was required books - not a lot of time to read for fun when I got home at 6pm!

There were some books that I hated, some that I felt neutral about but am glad I can say I've read them, and the rare few that I actually came to really enjoy.

Off the top of my head, a least favorite:
Heart of Darkness
Had to read this in postcolonial literature, and struggled through it. Maybe had something to do with the fact that the edition we got was like type 10 font!

One that I actually sometimes say is my favorite book:
The Things They Carried

So how about you? Were there any books that stick with you, for better or for worse, from school?

Hated Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain.

As an English major, I had to read many books over the course of my college career, depending on the course I had to take. I'll start with the British Women's lit course during my junior year-

Best: Jane Eyre

Worst: Pride and Prejudice and The Mill on the Floss

A closely related thread is here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Interestingly Stephen one of my worst required reads was Jane Eyre. I think if it wasn't mandatory, I would have enjoyed it.

A favourite required read was Lord of the Flies.

I didn't think Huck Finn was great. I also didn't enjoy All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren- one of those I read once, and won't read again. Conversely, in regard to required reading, I really liked Passing by Nella Larsen and Of Mice Men (from high school).

Betsy wrote: "Interestingly Stephen one of my worst required reads was Jane Eyre. I think if it wasn't mandatory, I would have enjoyed it.

A favourite required read was Lord of the Flies."

I found Jane Eyre to be self determined, a fighter- I read it after reading Pride and Prejudice. Jane Eyre was a nice change from the vapidity of the characters from P & P.

STEPHEN wrote: "I really liked Passing by Nella Larsen and Of Mice Men (from high school)."

Yes, I also liked Of Mice and Men. I remember it hit me as a kid. We studied it pretty young (12 years old).

I can see how Jane looks more like a warrior in comparison to some of the characters from P and P. The way we receive books is totally connected to what we're reading before and after, and who we're talking to about them.

Interestingly, the class that I read Jane Eyre and P&P was full of feminists- I was surprised they found the upper class female characters of P&P more sympathetic than Jane Eyre. I would have thought they would have found more sympathy for Jane as a symbol of the rebellious downtrodden- I found her very sympathetic and plucky.

Jane had more choices, in a way... she could focus more on striving after her own position and identity. Those aspiring to upper-middle class in P&P had to perform within confines of etiquette and protocol if they didn't want to be ostracized and to wreck the position of their families. (At least, that's how I read them myself a few years ago. And yes, I'm a feminist/humanist.)

I'm not sure she had choices- she was poor and mistreated by relatives. The characters of P&P would never need to worry about being physically abused or starved, as Jane was by her cousins and at school. This feeling of empathy for those who lived in the upper classes is akin to feeling sorry for the current Royal Family because they are under constant media attention: it's undeserved. Basic needs were, and are, met on a level unattainable for the poor and working class.

Well, that is why I said 'in a way." I guess it depends on what one's priorities are. Freedom is often seen as something to risk physical hardship for. Jane was abused as a child, sure, but as an adult she did have some limited choices in which position to take, where in the country, etc. And remember, Darcy was seen as a catch in part because he had money... the Bennets did not.

True, but the Bennetts were allowed on the field of play. The genres of the two books have a lot to do with the perception of each- one's more gothic romance, while the other is lighthearted.

True.
Well, I just offered one feminist's pov that may give you some insight on your classmates' perspective. Didn't mean to hijack the thread. :)

Discussion is discussion is discussion, no hijacking involved :)

I don't remember much of the required books, I could work around reading them and get away with murder. But I remember a couple of good and bad.

Best 2 El lazarillo de Tormes and Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte

Worst La metamorfosis and El astillero Every selected book for that last year of Literature was bad, the best of all Las flores del mal, not very good choices for 16 year olds

BEST and one of my all time favorites is Interpreter of Maladies (college required read).

WORST was probably Romeo and Juliet (high school required read), mostly because of the read-aloud sessions we had in class, ugh!

Worst = Moby Dick (Call me boring!)

Best = Walden's Pond. I actually remember loving the writing assignment afterwards. We were required to compare elements from the book to "something else". (I'm not sure how the teacher worded it.) And I compared it to the references of nature in many of the lyrics of Beatles songs. He was so impressed, he asked to keep the essay. (Wish I had it now or had made a copy:-(

Karen wrote: "Worst = Moby Dick (Call me boring!)

Best = Walden's Pond. I actually remember loving the writing assignment afterwards. We were required to compare elements from the book to "something else". (I'm..."

I'm okay with Moby Dick until the cetology section- an extensive, detailed study of whales in the midst of a narrative is unnecessary.

I think I hated The Metamorphosis the most.

I loved both Crime and Punishment and Fathers and Sons.

LOVED Crime and Punishment. We studied it for English Lit A Level (exams for being able to go to uni) and it was one of the best experiences I ever had, particularly because our teacher was so enthusiastic and made it relatable. It also has stuck in my mind because I chose to compare and contrast it with Hamlet; there is so much more to see and find in a book when you enjoy deconstructing/analysing it. I miss those times, well, not writing the final essay part!

Best: Great Expectations --> As an adult, this has become one of my favorite Dickens novels.

Worst: The Pigman by Paul Zindel --> I would have enjoyed reading this for fun, but it seemed immature to read for a high school English class. My high school friends were in other English classes and they got to read more challenging books. I was an honor roll student and this book made me feel like I was stuck in the slacker class. It was a little insulting and embarrassing.

Best -Night -Eli’s Wiesel
Because of Winn-Dixie - Kate Dicamillo
Maniac Magee - Jerry Spinelli
All Edgar Allen Poe

Worst -The Great Gatsby (yawn)
ALL William Shakespeare (double yawn)
The Scarlet Letter (heavy sigh)

I’m still a big child, I’ll always love the children’s books from our mandatory reading lists. The books on my “worst” I’m sure are perfectly fine books, they definitely aren’t for me.

Best-The Scarlet Letter. This one I learned how GOOD classics could be. I was enthralled

Worst- Walden. So boring

Agreed about Walden being boring...

I only had required reads in middle school, we read them in class, I suppose the system is different.

Most enjoyed The Masque of the Red Death, and the most useless was The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 3/4.

In my english lit. class, we had to read Dante's Inferno. I can't even remember what it was all about -- except that I hated every minute of it. Maybe now in my older years, I might just revisit this book just to see if my perspective has changed.

Catherine wrote: "Claire wrote: "In my english lit. class, we had to read Dante's Inferno. I can't even remember what it was all about -- except that I hated every minute of it. Maybe now in my older years, I might ..."

I'll let you know. Too bad I discarded the book -- it contained a slew of classics in it (I swear it was 4" thick with tissue thin pages.)

Two worst required reading when I was in high school were Moby Dick and Silas Marner.

Worst Of Mice and Men. Best Lord of the Flies.

worst: Howards End (high school), this book is so boring
also Typical American (college)
best: Macbeth (high school)
Story of the Stone (middle school)

worst - red badge of courage, best - to kill a mockingbird

Best:
1984
Brave New World
(Tie)

Worst: Can't think of any I despised. If they bored me, I've probably just forgotten.

By far the best book I've been required to read is Mission 3-R by J. Michael. It's about how a treasonous General Ben Jackson steals a top secret trillion dollar time machine and leads a group of rogue African-American soldiers back in time 400 years, to prepare his African ancestors for when the first colonists set foot on the dark continent, and prevent the slave trade from taking place. The real kick to this story is all the deceit and conspiracies he uncovers on his journey. A friend recommended this book and I couldn't put it down once I started. You should definitely check it out on Amazon
https://bit.ly/Mission3-R

Best A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Worst The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Best: so so many good ones, but most recently Cloud Atlas

Worst: also the The Scarlet Letter and As I Lay Dying

Interesting to see what people rank as their worst books. Some of them, like The Scarlet Letter, are books I loved as an adult, but I suspect I would not have liked it I had been forced to read them at an age when I couldn’t understand or appreciate them. Frankenstein was such a book for me. I hated it when I was made to read it at 15, but I reread it this year and I enjoyed it very much.

It’s difficult to choose my best book, there were so many I loved! Probably Romeo and Juliet or To Kill a Mockingbird. I really liked Hedda Gabler (from Four Major Plays: A Doll's House / Ghosts / Hedda Gabler / The Master Builder) too. At 16 it was the most difficult text I’d ever been made to read but my teacher did a great job of explaining it to us.

The worst book was Pygmalion. I could not stand Eliza Doolittle. I wonder if it’ll be different if I reread it now?

Worst-probably the tempest
Best- the things they carried

Best - Hamlet
Worst - At the time Frankenstein but I suspect that I would appreciate it much more if I read it now. I can't say the same about Philip Larkin who can can never envisage enjoying!

WORST: Heart of Darkness - I had to read it in my senior year of high school and found it to be abysmal.

BEST: The Jungle, Lord of The Flies, The Scarlet Letter

In high school, the worst was anything by Mark Twain. I just cannot get into Twain. The best was Great Expectations.
In university, the worst in world lit was probably Gogol. The best was jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is such a gem, though I'm in that minority who think Mansfield Park doesn't get the praise it deserves.

worst: "The Yellow Wallpaper"
best: "To kill a mockingbird" and "We"

Best: To Kill A Mockingbird/The Grapes of Wrath
Worst: Red Badge of Courage/Daisy Miller/Moby Dick

The book I hated in high school and couldn't get through and absolutely loved as an adult was The Tale of Two Cities

As a brazilian student, my school required Brazilian literature so unfortunately it wasn't mandatory for me to read any of the books that you guys mentioned, but I had the pleasure of reading Machado de Assis and I really enjoyed Memórias Postumas de Brás Cubas (Epitaph of a Small Winner), altough I had to read Escrava Isaura (idk the equivalent title in english) of Bernardo Guimarães, a very racist book.

Funnily enough because it's a BOTM next month, but I absolutely HATED Old Man and the Sea in high school. It will be interesting to revisit it and see if my feelings are any different.

My favourite was probably Macbeth.

The worst was The Great Gatsby without a doubt! I just found it super boring!

The best was Animal Farm, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and Lord of the Flies. I even memorized the songs from Animal Farm on my own because I wanted to! Then I would sing them... 😅

Best: The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Lord of the Flies (When I was homeschooled we also read The Odyssey out loud which was such an amazing experience.

Worst: Heart of Darkness and The Glass Managerie (Though I would like to re-read The Glass Managerie as an adult, but I hated it as a teen).

Andy wrote: "Best: The Three Theban Plays: Antigone, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Lord of the Flies (When I was homeschooled we also read The Odyssey out loud whi..."

I think Antigone should be read more. I think its one of those plays that is a good starting point for where loyalties lie, the law versus doing what honor requires - not always the same thing.

I think i had more worse then best.
Worst

Lord of the Flies
Catcher in the Rye
IIvanhoe
For whom the bell tolls

Best
To Kill a mockingbird
Great expectations

Least favorite were:
the Old Man and the Sea
Huckleberry Finn

Favorites:
the Great Gatsby
of Mice and Men
the Outsiders