Nika Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 I rarely enjoyed novels I was forced to read at school. We were made to read books that we just couldn't appreciate- too long, too difficult, on things we just didn't understand. Dante, Goethe, Kafka, Horace,Conrad, Camus, Shakespeare, Diderot, Dostoyevski. I mean when you are 16 you don't necessarily enjoy reading the most amazing writers ever. You have to grow up to appreciate them. The ones I really enjoyed at school were Bulhakov, Vonnegut and Beckett. With the rest it took some time. Right now kids have the choice. They read classics but also Harry Potter and other popular stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frankie Posted June 30, 2012 Share Posted June 30, 2012 Well if you count reading books for uni lit classes as books one is forced to read, then yes, I've enjoyed books I've been forced to read. For example, I loved A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, Northanger Abbey, Ragtime, The Natural, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itsmeagain Posted June 30, 2013 Share Posted June 30, 2013 Well...... At 17/18 I ATTEMPTED (with not so good results) to do my Alevel English literature, and as a class we had to read "The Dubliners" by James Joyce, initially I thought "Oh I aren't going to enjoy it" but in actual fact, if I'd not had to study it, I wouldn't have read it, and I found I really liked it. I'm not saying I'm going to go and buy his whole collection because that'd be a lie, but I did find that I really enjoyed it. I loved all the short stories. Just a shame I failed I liked it too.A bit too much focused on pubs though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted July 1, 2013 Share Posted July 1, 2013 I can enjoy a book I've been forced to read, however generally the enjoyment is a bit less than how I would've enjoyed the book if I had picked it myself to read and hadn't been forced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kittytn1 Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 I found that when I was at school I ended up enjoying lots of books that were on the reading list. The same was true at University. I really loved Lord of the Flies, Dracula and lots of the Shakespeare. There were some I didn't enjoy but I think that because I'd been made to read them I ended up with an experience I wouldn't have otherwise got. I also found that when I was a member of a book club and had to read other people's choices it really expanded the sort of books I was reading. What I do think is hard is when you are stuck reading a book you hate and can't stop because it is for school or University! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander the Great Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I think that really depends on the book you're forced to read. The knowledge it's being forced on me doesn't generally affect my opinion on a book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie West Posted July 2, 2015 Share Posted July 2, 2015 I rarely enjoyed novels I was forced to read at school. We were made to read books that we just couldn't appreciate- too long, too difficult, on things we just didn't understand. Dante, Goethe, Kafka, Horace,Conrad, Camus, Shakespeare, Diderot, Dostoyevski. I mean when you are 16 you don't necessarily enjoy reading the most amazing writers ever. You have to grow up to appreciate them. The ones I really enjoyed at school were Bulhakov, Vonnegut and Beckett. With the rest it took some time. Right now kids have the choice. They read classics but also Harry Potter and other popular stuff. I endured this just last year... My teacher told us that we would all really like a book and no one did. Even the big readers in the class didn't really understand why we were reading it. I would say that I have enjoyed 1 of the books that I have had to read for school but it was a genre that I like and I could understand it. May times they pick books that we don't understand at our age (I am a Sophomore in high school) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chesilbeach Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Just out of curiosity, what was the book, Ellie? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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