What did you read at school? [Archive]

Michelle

8th September 2005, 21:05

Do you have any memories of books you read at school.. the ones you loved, or hated?

I have a memory from my first year at secondary school.. we had an English teacher who was really scarey (she was deputy head too), but really good. We read The Hobbit, and she would often read it out to us. She used different voices and such, but not in a silly way.. iykwim. I've always loved that book because of it.

I also have memories of reading Brave New World and 1984. Plus, I can remember looking at Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth), and thinking "huh?".. but then as we studied it, it all made sense. 8)

The book we all hated, and persuaded our teacher to drop was 'An Inspector Calls'.

lilmissmolly

8th September 2005, 23:53

we read Romeo and Juliet in school last year, and I read Macbeth and another book thing that explained it. my teacher made me read Ivanhoe, it is the worst book I've read. I read this really good book a few years ago but I can't remember the name! its bugging the **** out of me. Its about an orphan girl living at an orphange and her best friends name is Susan. she climbs this wall and finds a little cottage thing, and makes it her own. and there is this really well described room called the shell room. and I can't remember the girls name or the books name :banghead: . does that ever happen to you guys?

Debbie

9th September 2005, 04:29

When I was eight, I remember the teacher reading a story to us about some children who went into the sea and found another world beyond the 'white horses' of the waves, a bit like the Water Babies but the sea not a river. I was ill the day she finished it and never got to the end, and now I can't remember anything else about it. It is really frustrating, and even now I would love to know what happened at the end!

Other than that we did the usual at school - I remember Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies in the lower years; Romeo & Juliet, Great Expectations and poems by Tennyson for O' level (yes, I am that old!) and Hamlet and Chaucer among others for A level.

Debbie

Stuart

9th September 2005, 17:35

My school memories are poor here :(

We read Whitefang, Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus, but never read shakespeare............. we did watch it on video though :)

In my younger years we read things like Bogwoppit by Ursula Moray Williams and the Hobbit too.

Jeff

10th September 2005, 04:19

One of the books that made a big impression on me at the time was A Wrinkle In Time by Madeline Engle. I read this in elementary school basically because I had to do it for reading points. After reading the book I found that reading was not a chore but could be fun and I havent stopped.

I dont remember much about the book but if I could find a copy I think it may be worth a re-read.

Freewheeling Andy

10th September 2005, 06:39

I think the thing I was forced to read at school that I'm most pleased they made me read was To Kill A Mockingbird

I still haven't forgiven them for making me put up with the first world war poetry, nor with the awful A Merchant of Venice, which is amongst the worst of Shakey's plays (and we didn't even get to see it as a play, only read the script).

Louise

10th September 2005, 19:09

In school we read all the usual suspects like romeo and Juliet but the book that had the biggest impact was a book called Z for Zaccariah and it was all to do with nuclear warfare and the aftermath, it got me really interested in the events of hiroshima and I went on to read many other books of a similar nature.

We also read of Mice and Men which I really enjoyed.

Out of school I read almost everything by enid blyton - that lady was a saint!

Michelle

10th September 2005, 19:20

Z for Zaccariah and it was all to do with nuclear warfare and the aftermath, it got me really interested in the events of hiroshima and I went on to read many other books of a similar nature.

Ooh, ooh... I read that too! In fact, I wrote an essay comparing 1984 and Brave New World with Z for Zaccariah and another one.. can't remember the name. :D

(I've just bought Brave New World after starting this thread.. I may have to go look for Z for Zaccariah!)

Louise

10th September 2005, 19:34

Ive got it if you want to borrow it, I liked it that much I never returned the copy I got from school :oops:

They did say I could keep it though

pageturner30

11th September 2005, 17:08

My first introduction to English litteratur were Alice through wonderland and (help) Thomas Hardy as a cartoon!!!. I am please to say that my sense and pride has been restored through your extreme cheap book stores and book clubs. My shelveles are bent with the weight of Stephen King and female litteratur where my first real english pleasure read arise and sadly has now died: Patricia Highsmith - A woman on the edge of time. A science fiction with a twist. Try it if you dare

The Wizard Of Oz

18th September 2005, 08:45

There are just 2 which stick out in my mind from school and they are "To Kill A Mocking Bird" which I really hated, had to do an essay on it and only got a C because I hated it, I don't really like writing about a book I don't like.

The other is "Of Mice and Men" I really enjoyed this book and funnily enough I got an A. :)

Michelle

18th September 2005, 08:59

I enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird. :)

Freewheeling Andy

18th September 2005, 11:24

To Kill A Mockingbird's great. Of Mice And Men is good, but there's much better Steinbeck, I think - although the stuff I read, I read when I was in my teens. I much preferred Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat and The Grapes of Wrath.

Maureen

22nd September 2005, 22:34

I remember "The railway Children", "Macbeth" and "Julius Caesar" . I have to think hard to dredge up more names! I must say I forgot the railway children, but remember that it was not a boring book. The others everyone has read.

Loricat

26th September 2005, 20:08

When I was in fifth grade, I had a really horrible, abusive teacher. He was drunk almost every morning, and he did a lot of screaming and throwing chairs around the classroom. I'm still not sure how he got away with his behavior, but..........he did one pleasant thing that actually made me look forward to his class for a couple of weeks. He made the class read each day from a book called, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.

It was based on a true life incident involving a Native American girl living on an island that was evacuated after her tribe was threatened by another tribe. When a ship comes to rescue her people and take them to safety, her small brother is left behind on the island, and the young girl jumps ship to try to find him. The story is basically what happens to her after the ship sails without her, and she has to try to survive and make a life for herself on the island without her people.

As a young girl myself, I found the story really inspiring!

superdad

1st October 2005, 00:52

I remember reading 'of mice & men'. I think everyone in high school eventually ends up reading that one in some class.

It was a stupid exercise too, something about comparing the book to the movie. As always, in my mind the book won out big time.

Kell

18th October 2005, 21:15

We did Of Mice & Men, which I adored. We also did Sunset Song, which I thought was incredibly badly written & didn't deserve any of its critical acclaim or to be on the curriculum. My mother later sat her higher english & had to read the same text. She heartily agreed with me!

We also studied Macbeth as well as Romeo & Juliet (I had the great honour of playing the leading lady in both these while at drama school) which I adored.

We had to do a thing called an RPR which was an indepth review type of thing. I did Animal Farm & Dracula (both of which were, & still are, firm favourites of mine).

I think those are the only ones I remember as being set-texts or study choices.

I did a lot of reading on my own time & have lost track of all the things Ive read!

Maureen

8th January 2006, 17:15

I just remembered two more we had at school, " The nun's priest tale", and Silas Marner. Anyone had/read them?

Kell

8th January 2006, 17:39

I've just realised, i missed out The Great Gatsby, which I've only ever read that once, but I can never quite remember whether or not I actually enjoyed it. isn't that weird?

Angel

8th January 2006, 18:27

I remember Macbeth, Fair Stood the Wind for France, Stig of the Dump, Jane Eyre, and Tess of the D'Urbevilles

Maureen

8th January 2006, 18:29

Gosh, Macbeth was very popular.

Inanna

8th January 2006, 18:30

In secondary school I remember having to read 'Romeo & Juliet', 'MacBeth', 'Hamlet', 'Midsummers Night Dream', 'Lord Of The Flies', 'Billy Liar' and 2 others that were quite weird but very good.
One featured chocolate covered ants and the other was based after some kind of nuclear war where this young girl and older man survived!!

When I was younger I read all the Famous Five books and I loved Nancy Drew too :mrgreen:

Maureen

8th January 2006, 18:42

Still have Lord of the Flies.

Tash

8th January 2006, 22:45

We studied:

Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
Various Shakespeare
Animal Farm

I think there were more but I'm not 100% sure as I studied drama also and covered some there.

kernow_reader

4th November 2006, 16:58

:coffee1: Oooh..I just joined the other day and I can write on this too,
yes?

In junior school I used to love Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers books.
In senior school we read HG Wells "The History of Mr Polly" and Shakespeare's "Henry V for O-Level.

For A-level we read Walter Scott's "Guy Mannering", Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey" and Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra".

I remember our English teacher making us read John Wyndham's "The Kracken Wakes" which I hated....yeuch. But he then wowed me by reading Alexander Pope's poem "The Rape of the Lock" so he was forgiven.

I used to read my kids (now aged 17, 21 and 23) stories in silly voices, one to match each character in the tale. Their favourite was Roald Dahl's "The BFG". Even now they embarass me about it. :an8:

~V~

4th November 2006, 17:59

i was a bit of an odd reader when i was young. when we were eight we were asked to write about a book we had read. most people chose enid or the like, i chose 'animal farm' *rolls eyes*. a couple of years later, we had a similar project, this time about a charactr in a book, i then chose 'mein kampf'. i fear i got worse!

however, for o'Level (say it quick and it doesn't hurt) we did wuthering heights, twelfth night and a book of wartime poetry (stephen spender, w h auden, et al)

my hatred for all things tolkein also originated at school when our form teacher insisted on reading from LOTR to us every morning. not only did i hate the book, but i hate being read to. (probably why i read so early)

Janet

4th November 2006, 19:13

however, for o'Level (say it quick and it doesn't hurt)...
:lol: For CSE (you're right!) we did Animal Farm, The Day of the Triffids and a book of poems called Every Man Must Shout. We did something else too, but I'm blowed if I can remember what it was!

For GCSE last year, we did Othello and Of Mice and Men, oh, and poems from other cultures.

For AS Level this year we're doing Richard III, Wise Children by Angela Carter, A Woman of No Importance by Oscar Wilde and for poetry, The World's Wife by Carol Ann Duffy.

kernow_reader

5th November 2006, 16:01

my hatred for all things tolkein also originated at school when our form teacher insisted on reading from LOTR to us every morning.

I thought I stood alone in this. Anyone else dislike Tolkein's works:an8: ?

~V~

5th November 2006, 16:22

I thought I stood alone in this. Anyone else dislike Tolkein's works:an8: ?

i thought i was alone for many years. until the films came out and the amount of people who, like me, think of it as 'goblinshite' is huuuuge. believe me

(and please forgive the naughty words, there's no substitute in this case) :blush:

Kell

5th November 2006, 17:25

I thought I stood alone in this. Anyone else dislike Tolkein's works:an8: ?Nope, I find Tolkien impossible to read - I refuse to wade through 16 pages describing a field before having another hobbit song & only THEN getting 5 minutes of action - it's just not on! I love the stories & I loved the films, but the books were just far too dull for me to continue. I couldn't even read The Hobbit - I got 3 chapters in & threw it across the room - & this was in preparation for a theatre production of it - LOL!

I remember reading a play in school called Unwin, Wittering & Zigo. I can't remember who it was by, but it was about a bunch of pupils (I think it was an all-boys school) who have a new teacher to replace the one who misteriously died recently. If I remember correctly, it transpires that the lads pushed him off a cliff or something like that. Of course, I may be misremembering that, or I may have dreamed it, in which case, I may write it mmyself! :lol:

Michelle

5th November 2006, 17:47

Whereas, we read The Hobbit at school.. and I loved it. I also enjoyed it when I re-read it not long ago. LOTR, however, I gave up half way through book 2.

Gyre

5th November 2006, 18:05

poppy

5th November 2006, 22:01

The ones i can remember

Lord of the Flies
Day of the Triffids
Grapes of Wrath
Black Like Me
1984
Animal Farm
MacBeth
Romeo and Juliet
Brave New World

I was one of those weird kids who loved all our set books - reading for homework ..... sheer bliss:D

There was one book I'd like to read again that I've forgotten the name of. It was set in King Arthurs time, pretty sure it had the Excalibur in it but in contained a lot of anachronisms. Think it contained the word Stone in the title. Any ideas?

~V~

5th November 2006, 23:12

I remember reading a play in school called Unwin, Wittering & Zigo. I can't remember who it was by, but it was about a bunch of pupils (I think it was an all-boys school) who have a new teacher to replace the one who misteriously died recently. If I remember correctly, it transpires that the lads pushed him off a cliff or something like that. Of course, I may be misremembering that, or I may have dreamed it, in which case, I may write it mmyself! :lol:

thank you thank you thank you

i saw this as a film years ago and could never remember the title. i knew there was somebody with a Z in their name and that it was the last few names in the register but beyond that .....

so a big thanks (again) from me :mrgreen:

Michelle

6th November 2006, 20:01

I was one of those weird kids who loved all our set books - reading for homework ..... sheer bliss:D

I imagine quite a few of us were like that! :mrgreen:

Liz

6th November 2006, 20:11

I always love the homework that's reading. It hardly feels like work!

Sugar

11th November 2006, 19:10

Have I not replied to this? I'm losing my mind!!!

I remember reading (this includes up to A Level Eng Lit):
Macbeth
Romeo and Juliet
Othello
Anthony and Cleopatra
Merchant of Venice
As You Like It

Animal Farm by George Orwell
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred Taylor (author?)
The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Mill on the Floss - George Elliot
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

And as an extra reassurance - I find Tolkein unreadable too!

I'm sure there was a lot more, although I also remember many collections of poetry (Ted Hughes, John Clare, Michael Rosen) and "Comprehension" exercises (Hemingway, and Doris Lessing seemed to be favourites for this!).

Angel

11th November 2006, 20:53

At school we read Kes, Elidor, Death of a salesman.

We also read the Joan Lingard series of books:

The Twelve Day of July
Across the Barricades
Into exile
A proper place

At school we read the first two and I read the rest of the series myself, I am pretty sure there is another one but I have forgetten the title.

:readingtwo:

I enjoyed Kes, but I do remember Across the Barricades, this one was about the Northern Ireland troubles if I remember correctly. I've been racking my brains for the correct title 'cos I wanted to include it in my school list!!

Purple Poppy

11th November 2006, 23:38

Ditto to Sugar's last post with the addition of Silas Marner, which I really liked. I remember reading A tale of two Cities as a set book and finding it very heavy going. Should really have another go.

PP:006:

Gyre

11th November 2006, 23:43

I enjoyed Kes, but I do remember Across the Barricades, this one was about the Northern Ireland troubles if I remember correctly. I've been racking my brains for the correct title 'cos I wanted to include it in my school list!!

Hello,

That is the only titles I remember from the series, and yes there were about the troubles in Northern Ireland. :readingtwo:

Icecream

12th November 2006, 17:20

The book we all hated, and persuaded our teacher to drop was 'An Inspector Calls'.

I love this play because we studied in school. I really want to go and see a production of it. It is good when you look at the deeper reasons behind it.

Janet

14th November 2006, 18:18

Oooh yes, I remember reading Across the Barricades too. Possibly in my last year of primary school!

Icecream

14th November 2006, 22:29

Yes i remember that too!!

Sarahrob

16th November 2006, 14:45

Ooh yes, Across the Barricades and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Very popular choices in primary school.
I remember reading How Green You Are when I was in primary school. I had a lovely teacher who saw that I had read every single book in the school library and so started bringing books in from home for me. I had read the Hobbit and loved it (though if I'm honest Farmer Giles of Ham was at the back and that was the part I loved), so she brought in the Lord of the Rings and helped me through bits I didn't understand.

The books I hated at GCSE were The Country Girls by Edna O'Brien and Spring and Port Wine (can't remember who wrote it and I'm too lazy to look it up). A whole play about Hilda not eating her kippers? Just feed them to the blinking cat and move on...

At AS level we had a bit of a feminist tutor so studied Top Girls as our drama piece. Fascinating play.

Maureen

16th November 2006, 15:49

Does anyone remember the "Peter and Jane and PAt the dog " books?

Janet

16th November 2006, 16:16

Does anyone remember the "Peter and Jane and PAt the dog " books?
I do - in fact, I thought I'd mentioned them in here, but I must have meant to and then got sidetracked! :blush:

I'd never heard of Janet and John, although maybe I'd have liked them more as we shared a name!

Michelle

16th November 2006, 16:51

I can't remember which version we had.. although Pat the dog sounds familiar.

Sarahrob

16th November 2006, 17:36

Not only did I not have Peter and Jane, I didn't have Janet and John either (deprived child).

I had Roger Red Hat, Billy Blue Hat and the village with three corners.

Purple Poppy

17th November 2006, 00:09

Maureen said;

Does anyone remember the "Peter and Jane and PAt the dog " books?

Yes. I learnt with Janet and John. They were so stilted! But they did the trick. Has anyone been listening to Terry Wogans show in the morning? They have a slot for Janet and John where they do their own versions of a Janet and John story. The ones I've heard were hilarious. I don't listen to TW, but my other half played it back to me on the computer.

:lol: http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q77/Catkintails/3dtext_30549.gif

Kell

17th November 2006, 07:11

Does anyone remember the "Peter and Jane and PAt the dog " books? Yup, these were the ones I was given once I got to school & I was mortified because I was already way past that reading level. The next level up was Bangers & Mash (two chimps who only wanted to have some fun but who were always in trouble) but I was past them too. Actually, when my sister got to that reading age, Bangers & Mash got their own cartoon on the telly with a theme tune done by Chaz & Dave!

Michelle

17th November 2006, 11:25

Yes. I learnt with Janet and John. They were so stilted! But they did the trick. Has anyone been listening to Terry Wogans show in the morning? They have a slot for Janet and John where they do their own versions of a Janet and John story. The ones I've heard were hilarious. I don't listen to TW, but my other half played it back to me on the computer.

Somewhere on the forum is a link to the online scripts.. I'm sure. try a search...

Purple Poppy

17th November 2006, 12:39

Bagpuss said;

Originally Posted by Bagpuss
My name was in books that were very popular for teaching reading in the 50s, 60s and 70s!

Janet and John - Terry Wogan Style! (http://www.togs.org/J&J.htm) :lol:

See 'Janet and John'. My husband writes those :D It's TRUE! :wave:

Gosh you've got a good memory Michelle! I clicked on the link and the scripts are there. Is Janet teasing, or is she for real (given the subject of the thread I'm a bit confused)? It doesn't take much to confuse me. Own up Bagpuss...or is this really you???

PP

Janet

17th November 2006, 16:52

Bagpuss said;

Gosh you've got a good memory Michelle! I clicked on the link and the scripts are there. Is Janet teasing, or is she for real (given the subject of the thread I'm a bit confused)? It doesn't take much to confuse me. Own up Bagpuss...or is this really you???
PP
I'm confused too! I may have posted the link (I listen to Wogan), but I didn't say that it was my husband - I think someone else said that bit!

Purple Poppy

17th November 2006, 17:37

Its ok Janet... It was Knitnurse. Sorry! I got confused, forgetting it was a quote and then a comment. Not only do I get confused easily, I manage to confuse everyone else!! Thats narcolepsy for you!

:sleeping-smiley-009 PP

Fiona

24th May 2007, 11:44

My favourite book to read at school was Goodnight Mr Tom. The teacher said 'don't read ahead because we're reading it as a class' and I think I finished it by the next day. Oops...

For AS I had to read The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks which was okay but I think it only played on shock factor. A Level we read Frankenstein and Dracula.

In year six I remember reading Charlotte's Web and not being very impressed. I read it a few weeks ago and thought it was okay.

Laramie

24th May 2007, 16:16

My favourite book to read at school was Goodnight Mr Tom. The teacher said 'don't read ahead because we're reading it as a class' and I think I finished it by the next day. Oops...

In year six I remember reading Charlotte's Web and not being very impressed. I read it a few weeks ago and thought it was okay.
I love Goodnight Mr Tom!!

I love Charlotte's Web!!

:lol:

sib

24th May 2007, 18:28

The TV Kid by an author whose name I´ve forgotten.
The Owl Service, can´t remember author
The Machine Gunners
The Mayor of Casterbridge, which I thought was really good and have read since.
Animal Farm, same as above.
Can´t remember any more.

Kylie

24th May 2007, 23:28

angerball

25th May 2007, 12:13

These are some of the books I remember reading:

The Harp In The South - Ruth Park
Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Macbeth - Shakespeare
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Looking For Alibrandi - Melina Marchetta
Tomorrow, When The War Began - John Marsden
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

Ahhhh, The Harp In the South. :mrgreen: I read that for school as well. Also, we read Poor Man's Orange, which I think is the sequel? Another Aussie book we had to read was The Delinquents.

We had to also read Lord of the Flies, Slake's Limbo, and I think To Kill A Mockingbird. I'm sure there were many others, but I really can't recall them!

I wish they would choose more contemporary authors, and books that encourage kids to read more. I know Shakespeare did squat-all for me when I was that age. :roll:

Edit: I've just found the HSC Syllabus, and remembered some other books we had to study:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain
Away - Michael Gow
Empire Of The Sun - JG Ballard

Laramie

25th May 2007, 15:21

We read...I can't remember what it was called now...it was smash, I think. I can't remember who wrote it either!! Then we read a Dracula play, then we read Face then next we're gonna read Stone Cold.

Squawk

25th May 2007, 16:52

In school all I can remember reading is a ton of goosebumps stories when I was in primary school.

Practically void of any reading whilst in Secondary school.

chocolategal

26th May 2007, 13:41

we have just done shakespeare, very long, but dramatic, i didn't think that i wold like it at first but then came the death and destruction scenes, hehe!

Janet

26th May 2007, 14:45

we have just done shakespeare, very long, but dramatic, i didn't think that i wold like it at first but then came the death and destruction scenes, hehe!
Which Shakespeare did you do?

wrathofkublakhan

26th May 2007, 19:13

1. Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
2. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
3. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
4. Othello by The Bard
5. Silas Marner by George Eliot

I too read ahead - reading and stopping at each chapter makes the act of reading dreary and laborious.
Making this list is kinda fun because I had no idea my teachers were working us through the classics at the time.

On my own reading list seemed to be a ton of "cautionary tales" that flooded the market in my youth warning us of the evils of drug use, drinking and sex. For example, Go Ask Alice was super popular. Pure propaganda.

Fiona

26th May 2007, 19:53

For Shakespeare we did Romeo and Juliet, which I thought was okay. It's just such a common story now though and so well known it's horrible. Not one of his best.

MacBeth, I hated because as we were reading it they showed us this modern remake set in a Liverpool council estate with just chavy criminals with guns. It was just so horrible I could never respect the play after. Now when I read that it is always in a scouser accent.

Othello was brilliant though. I loved that story - I liked the character of Iago, horrible as he was he is such a good creation.

I can't really remember most of the books I read for school really. Which is sad.... oh. I am Cheese, but to be fair, I thought it was ****.

Oh, and The Wasp Factory for AS English Lang. & Lit. and for A-level we looked comparratively at Frankenstein and Dracula. I hated Dracula. The copy of the book I had was rubbish as well as pages kept falling out and I kept losing them or they'd get mixed up. I think eventually the whole book just fell to bits.

wrathofkublakhan

28th May 2007, 15:27

Othello was brilliant though. I loved that story - I liked the character of Iago, horrible as he was he is such a good creation.

Brilliant indeed. Easily my favorite of all the Bard's plays. Second place goes to Taming of the Shrew because I just laugh and laugh.

happyanddandy

28th May 2007, 21:16

I don't remember much of what we read in school as a class. I was a big reader outside of school

I do remember very well 'Northanger Abbey' for O level and thought it dreary then. Alongside King Henry IV Part 1 and Tennyson poetry I could barely keep my eyes open at times. Now I realise it was the text choices of the English teacher and I feel cross with her - my sister at the same school did Brighton Rock (a fantastic read for teens), Midsummer Nights Dream and modern poets for O level - much better choices for that age group

Maureen

31st May 2007, 17:29

5. Silas Marner by George Eliot

i had this as well, but shame on me cannot remember the story. ....I have a vague feeling that I used to feel sorry for the guy.:confused: If I will find the book I had I will add it to my TBR pile.

Karen

3rd June 2007, 11:45

I remember when I was in primary school we read Charlotte's Web by EB White which went on to become one of my favourite books. I just fell in love with Wilbur!

In high school we did the usual Shakespeare - MacBeth and A Merchant Of Venice - and I have to admit that I think the essays and the fact that we studied both of them so indepth actually helped me understand them at the time because of the style of writing. Not a big fan of Shakespeare, sorry!

We also studied To Kill A Mockingbird, which is another fave of mine and A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute which I'd actually like to reread now I'm that much older. We also did Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor which I wouldn't mind reading again as it was so long ago I can't remember that much about it but I think I enjoyed it.

Paige

3rd June 2007, 21:03

Primary School - The only book I remember reading was Little House on the Prairie. I loved it so much I bought and read the rest of The Little House books and I still have them!:blush:

High School - John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men springs to mind. And then there was MacBeth and The Merchant of Venice. For my higher English I read The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I loved that book.

JudyB

4th June 2007, 21:26

Primary School - The only book I remember reading was Little House on the Prairie. I loved it so much I bought and read the rest of The Little House books and I still have them!:blush:

Oh I love The Little House on the Prairie books - read the whole set too.

kitty_kitty

5th June 2007, 10:39

The books i really remember reading at school all my schools First school, Middle School, Grammar School and College for A levels are:

The BFG
The Witches
Matilda
Charlottes Web
The Sheep Pig
The Silver Sword
Kes
Juilius Ceaser
Othello
Ghosts - Ibsen
Middlemarch
An Inspector calls
Death of a Salesman
Metaphysical Poets
Death of Naturalist

Rosie

5th June 2007, 14:19

Such a long time ago now:blush: and I can't remember what we read in junior school - just what I read at home but I do remember the first couple of years at grammar school reading 'Tiger in the Smoke' 'Jane Eyre' and 'A Tale of Two Cities' - I also remember one year doing 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and I think we also did 'Merchant of Venice':)

Paige

5th June 2007, 19:15

Oh I love The Little House on the Prairie books - read the whole set too.

Yay! I'm glad I'm not the only person who loves them!

Fay

6th June 2007, 13:34

I read and studied an awful lot of books when I was at school and college. One that really stood out for me though was ' I know why the caged bird sings' by Maya Angelou. I also enjoyed Alan Bennetts 'Talking Heads' and Ted Hughes 'The crow'.

We did a lot of Shakespeare and modern poetry too.

Icecream

6th June 2007, 21:27

Stig of the Dump was my favourite from primary school.

For GCSE I did Great Expectations, An Inspector Calls, Lord of The Flies and Romeo and Juliet (was almost forced to do a different play I was expected to read in one night!)

Merflerher

6th August 2007, 11:54

In my first year at secondary school we did Emil and the Detectives, with Miss Chorley who was a very old-fashioned English teacher and made it more boring than it should have been! But we also did Alison Uttley's Country Child which is beautiful.
For O level I did Macbeth (it's been on the syllabuses for centuries:D) and Keats. We went to see a production of Macbeth at Wigan Little Theatre which was dire, all the swords were bent and one of the actors came on stage so mincingly he got catcalls from all the boys in the audience (there were at least three school parties there, so you can imagine:roll:).
For A level I did Chaucer, Richard II, Antony and Cleopatra, Return of the Native and The Spire which I absolutely hated, it's put me off Golding ever since.

scottishbookworm

6th August 2007, 13:05

I read DR Suss books like green eggs and ham and also the wizard of Oz

:readingtwo:

Echo

7th August 2007, 05:23

When I was in elementary school, I remember reading Bridge to Terabithia and The Outsiders. I don't remember a single thing I read in my three years of middle school, except the John Saul and Dean Koontz books I read on my own. I of course read a ton of things in high school, especially since I was in honors English classes:

Crime and Punishment
The Baghavad-Gita
The Tao te Ching
Romeo and Juilet
Macbeth
The Bell Jar
Heart of Darkness
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Invisible Man
Short Stories of Hemingway
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath (hated it)
Huck Finn
A Separate Peace
selections from the Bible and the Koran, and all sorts of poetry by Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson. I probably read more, but it was so long ago!

NiceguyEddie

7th August 2007, 18:10

The most memorable books from school were:

Wuthering Heights,
The Crucible,
Canterbury Tales

From university

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,
Yeats & Auden.
Discourse on the Method

From those times, but not education:

Wilt :lol: In fact any Tom Sharpe!

beef

9th August 2007, 12:17

Unfortunately we did not get to read many books in school that i can remember the few that i do remember are:

The Outsiders

Of mice and men

I did (and still do) most of my reading in my own time. We did not do a lot of diff books at my school, we would spend months on the same book.

FishAndChips

9th August 2007, 12:27

The Outsiders

Oh is that by Susan Hinton? I read that a couple of years ago. It was really good.

beef

9th August 2007, 14:53

Oh is that by Susan Hinton? I read that a couple of years ago. It was really good.
Yes it was! :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Outsiders_(novel) is a link to more info for anyone else interested. I enjoyed it very much at school. Probably why it stands out in my memory and the rest of the books we read generally dont.

FishAndChips

9th August 2007, 16:48

Thanks for the link!

"Hinton was 15 when she began writing the novel and 18 when it was published."

I didn't realise that, I'm impressed!

And I see she also wrote Rumble Fish! Didn't know that either - its a great film. I'm going to have to read the book now.

angerball

9th August 2007, 17:28

I loved SE Hinton books when I was a teenager. I discovered The Outsiders when I was going through my brothers school books. It was such a breath of fresh air, compared to the books that I was reading at the time. :mrgreen: My other favourites of hers are Tex and That Was Then, This Is Now. I read them over and over. :mrgreen:

beef

9th August 2007, 17:50

Thanks Angerball, may have to have a look for those books as i do remember enjoying The outsiders a lot.

lovesreading06

10th September 2007, 15:37

Stone cold i read that in 4th and 5th year

Princess Orchid

10th September 2007, 15:58

I'm not too quick on the uptake today - I read the thread title and was about to reply "English, English Lit, french, French Lit, German, Art and American History"!

Oh wait, I just did...

scottishbookworm

10th September 2007, 17:03

For me it would be DR Seuss books like Green eggs and ham and the grinch and cat in the hat.

I Also learned to read with the ladybird books but that was at home with my mum

angel_5393

14th September 2007, 15:16

i read stone cold it was good at first but it has a really bad ending :( also read richard III and macbeth

lovesreading06

14th September 2007, 15:29

i read stone cold it was good at first but it has a really bad ending

The ending was mixed. In some ways it was good and in some ways it was bad. I didn't like the book

Child.of.God.1989

3rd October 2007, 21:51

When I was eight, I remember the teacher reading a story to us about some children who went into the sea and found another world beyond the 'white horses' of the waves, a bit like the Water Babies but the sea not a river. I was ill the day she finished it and never got to the end, and now I can't remember anything else about it. It is really frustrating, and even now I would love to know what happened at the end!

Hey, Debbie. That book your class read reminds me of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis. The characters and adventures are great in that one! I think I remember the description of the waves like you said.

I only read three-quarters of any of his Narnia books when I was younger, than in 2005 I read all seven in about two weeks!

The part about another world is throwing me off, though. If this doesn't ring a bell, at least we'll both know a new great kid's book.:D

Child.of.God.1989

9th October 2007, 09:54

I thought I stood alone in this. Anyone else dislike Tolkein's works:an8: ?

i thought i was alone for many years. until the films came out and the amount of people who, like me, [don't like it] is huuuuge. believe me

Nope, I find Tolkien impossible to read - I refuse to wade through 16 pages describing a field before having another hobbit song & only THEN getting 5 minutes of action - it's just not on! [...] I couldn't even read The Hobbit - I got 3 chapters in & threw it across the room - & this was in preparation for a theatre production of it - LOL!

Whereas, we read The Hobbit at school.. and I loved it. I also enjoyed it when I re-read it not long ago. LOTR, however, I gave up half way through book 2.
The Lord of the Rings series IS admittedly hard to get through. It's kind of sad that people our age today enjoy classical books that were written for children in their time, huh? I applaud patient readers for their effort!

I read The Hobbit once voluntarily and once in school and loved it both times. The cartoon movie was funny! I suppose it's the intoductory material for Fellowship that got to me. --Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf, and Sam are so dear, though! (I only read the first fifty or sixty pages, and then I had to give it back to my uncle.)

I plan on trying the trilogy again. For now, however, has anyone who can't stand Tolkien's verbose tendencies in his Middle-Earth books tried his translations? Sir Gawain and the Green Knight was very entertaining and well-styled, all in rhythmic prose. Worth a shot for such a little story, right? I think Tolkien also did a translation called The Pearl or something like that, but those days in my British Literature class are a little fuzzy.

Child.of.God.1989

18th October 2007, 22:40

I'll write as many as I can remember from seventh to twelfth grade.

Seventh Grade
Book: (nonfiction) Let God be God by Assoc. of Christian Schools
Comments: -
Book: (nonfiction) Wise Up! by ?
Comments: A summary from a home school website: "You've wanted to say it, and now you get to tell your students to 'Wise up.' Middle school youth need to get biblical wisdom for relationships, character family, friends, leadership, and decision-making. This study in Proverbs helps your students get wisdom."
--I doodled a lot in this one, but I especially liked the part about building friendships.

Eighth Grade
Book: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Comments: Sweet! My teacher read it aloud to us each day in English. We watched the old cartoon movie afterward; I wish Peter Jackson made a movie of it instead!
Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Comments: Actually, I read this one myself for a book report.

Ninth Grade
Book: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Comments: We didn't actually read this as a class; I moved up to ninth grade English in the second semester, but still had to write a couple of book reports.

Tenth Grade
Book: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Comments: I had read an abridged modern adaptation of this book by Jim Reimann two weeks before we started this one in class! I guess having a birthday late in the summer and having a grandma who gives books for presents sometimes is not as wonderful a mix. I can't remember which movie we watched after the final exam for the book.
Book: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Comments: Another re-read book! My English teacher knows much about it, however, so I learned much more than I did reading it by myself.

Eleventh Grade
Book: Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Comments: -
Book: Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Comments: -
Book: Various American literature excerpts
Comments: Much of them were sad! We were taught how to recognize the talent of but argue against Ralph Waldo Emerson's and Thomas Paine's humanist essays. I have always enjoyed Emily Dickinson's sweet (or bittersweet) poems.

Twelfth Grade
Book: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Comments: Interesting, memorable story. I would not want to be Viola! There's a movie with Amanda Bynes that borrows names and some of the plot from this play.
Book: *something about Sir Thomas Kent or Ken*
Comments: I'll think of the name and author later. Sorry for leaving you hanging on a pretty good book!
Book: King Lear by William Shakespeare
Comments: I think I liked Hamlet the best of the tragedies:drama:, but King Lear's daughter Cordelia and servant Kent were super. Nine seniors went on the trip to England, Scotland, and Normandy and saw the play with Sir Ian McKellen... he was naked for a few minutes.:eek2:
Book: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J.R.R. Tolkien
Comments: It was fun writing poems in this style. The story was good, although I can't remember the ending =-/ .
Book: various excerpts from British literature
Comments: I liked The Three Strangers by Thomas Hardy; The Canterbury Tales By Geoffrey Chaucer; Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift; most of the English Romantic poets like Lord Byron and John Keats ("To Autumn" is BEAUTIFUL!); and others I don't recall at the moment.

sib

27th October 2007, 09:26

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy was my favourite book that we read at school.
We also read Twelfth Night by Shakespeare which I quite enjoyed.

Adam

27th October 2007, 12:08

In school I had to read alot of Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams. I also remember reading Night by Ellie Weisel and Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Icecream

27th October 2007, 19:34

Lord of The Flies was incredible.

Adam

27th October 2007, 23:33

Lord of The Flies was incredible.

I agree 100%. It is such an amazing book about human spirit. One of my favs.

AndyGrayUK

20th April 2008, 22:27

I'm still in School and my favourite books I've read whilst in Secondary School so far is Skellig, Private Peaceful and at the moment were doing "A Tempest", but as a play.

Blossom

21st April 2008, 14:05

We read a wide variety of things, books and plays. If memory serves me correctly, I read these, among others (titles are correct but I may have confused the authors):

An Inspector Calls (JB Priestly)
The Machine Stops (EM Forster)
Androcles and the Lion (GB Shaw)
Midsummer Night's Dream and Richard III (Shakespeare)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) - my favourite.

Kerri

Kell

21st April 2008, 15:52

Ooh, we did An Inspector Calls too - I'd forgotten that one! We also did Death of a Salesman and Spring and Port Wine, neither of which impressed me like Inspector did.

Talisman

23rd April 2008, 20:52

I don't remember much at all of my time at school, but the book I remember most of all was My Family and other Animals by Gerald Durrell - I actually won a copy of this in a creative writing competition - I got second prize. I still have it, and although I have seen the film, have not read the book at all since I left school in 1982. Perhaps that will change soon though.

nursenblack

12th June 2008, 04:33

I graduated from high school (secondary school) nine years ago, but I actually remember every book we read as a class and ones that we got to pick from a list. Freshman year I read Romeo & Juliet, The Great Gatsby, Mr. & Mrs. BoJo Jones (uugg), Jane Eyre, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Where the Lilies Bloom.
Sophomore year was ridiculous because all we read was The Pearl, and some Mary Higgins Clark books.
Junior year I read The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, and Of Mice and Men
Senior year was Wuthering Heights (my fav), Hamlet, Crime and Punishment, Anthem, and Their Eyes Were Watching God

Well, needless to say I had the same English teacher for freshman and senior year.

kb.marsh

12th June 2008, 13:55

I read:
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Twelfth Night - Shakespeare
How To Kill A Mockingbird
Othello - Shakespeare
King Lear - Shakespeare
The Woman in Black - Susan Hill
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
Mansfield Park - Jane Austin
Macbeth - Shakespeare
The Turn of the Shrew
Paradise Lost

There were probably more but I can't remember

angelofboox

12th June 2008, 15:47

Not sure if I can remember them all and I only left school last year... This is the list of stuff I can remember studying in [roughly] chronological order; I did English Literature up to A-Level.

Plays:
The Granny Project (Anne Fine)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare)
An Inspector Calls (J.B. Priestley)
Macbeth (Shakespeare)
The Browning Version (Terrence Rattigan)
Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)
Translations (Brian Friel)
King Lear (Shakespeare)
'Tis Pity She's A Whore (John Ford)

Novels:
The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (Penolope Lively)
A Pack of Lies (Geraldine McCaugrean)
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (Mildred D. Taylor)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Emma (Jane Austen)
Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)
The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Poetry:
Seamus Heaney New Selected Poems 1966-1987
The Nun's Priest's Tale (Chaucer)

We did unseen poetry for GCSE and some other stuff I can't remember, as well as a collection of short stories that focused on the role of women. We also studied La Chateau de ma Mere during French A-Level. I feel I've forgotten some things, so I'll edit the list if I remember anything else...

Severnlad

12th June 2008, 16:02

My English Lit book was "Pride and Prejudice" - at that tender age I hated it. Have read it again recently and could at last apreciate it. :readingtwo:

NiceguyEddie

12th June 2008, 16:39

The book we all hated, and persuaded our teacher to drop was 'An Inspector Calls'.

I thought that was a great play. I'm surprised you didn't like it. It was Agatha Christie-esque in that it was a closed room whodunnit, except in this case they alldunnit. I loved it at school. We also did A Man For All Seasons (mainly because my school was St. Thomas More. Novels - at O'level Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies and A' Level; Wuthering Heights, Hard Times. Shakespeare was A Winter's Tale & Anthony & Cleo.

I can tell you the biggest GCSE titles today. To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies & Of Mice and Men. The website has them all on CD and unabridged. The amount of each and particularly Of Mice & Men sold in April is quite staggering as the exams approach. Easily 150 copies of the Steinbeck in 6 weeks.

angelofboox

12th June 2008, 16:43

My class loved An Inspector Calls too, although we disliked writing essays on it. I remember one tiresome task we had was to write the essay "What does the character x contribute to the play?" and I chose Sheila - needless to say, it was a bit half-hearted. In any case, I still thought the play was really good and the ending had us all wondering.

Michelle

12th June 2008, 16:53

You know what, I lie!:blush: It was Far From The Madding Crowd that we didn't like.. (I don't know what was going on there!)

kelly2008

12th June 2008, 16:56

Oh 1 books sticks out more than the rest but I cant remember the name, it was about George and Lennie, hmmm :irked:

FishAndChips

12th June 2008, 16:57

Of mice and Men

kelly2008

12th June 2008, 17:03

Of mice and Men

Thats the one lol I knew it was something to do with a mouse/mice :lol:

NiceguyEddie

12th June 2008, 18:08

You know what, I lie!:blush: It was Far From The Madding Crowd that we didn't like.. (I don't know what was going on there!)

I've not read that, but I loved Tess. I missed that off of my A'level list, but there was also the film with Nastasjja Kinski (sp?). We were all taken to watch it at the cinema at the time.

I'm an early riser (no jokes please) and recently on Radio 7 there was a dramatisation of Tess that brought it all back. I could even recite to my wife the last lines.

Loopyloo100

29th June 2008, 11:35

GCSE, 'O' level, 'A' level, cse, highers, standard, degree etc etc?

I remember doing Jane Eyre and Macbeth at 'O' level and certainly not appreciating either at the time.

happyanddandy

29th June 2008, 11:48

GCE - Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen - a bit dull for a fifteen year olds :irked:
Henry IV Part 1 - desperately dull and irrelevant at the time. :irked:

Tennyson poems - I really liked the Lady of Shallot.

I was cross with my English teacher at the time because she could have chosen a different selection. My sister 2 years earlier studied 'Brighton Rock' by Grahame Green - how good was that? She also studied modern poets and a much better Shakespeare play.

The Library Nook

29th June 2008, 12:18

Measure for Measure, Macbeth and bits of Midsummer Nights Dream
Silas Marner by George Eliot
An Inspector Calls
The Go-Between by L.P Hartley
The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy

There must have been more but as others have said I read so much at school they have all merged and I cannot remember what was what! At primary school we had the Roger Ret Hat etc but again like others have said I was way past that and onto adult novels by year 5 and 6 which my teachers didn’t like very much. I don’t remember the process of learning to read, just remember always being able to do it and loving it more than anyone else in the class!

Kylie

29th June 2008, 23:25

In NSW, we do the HSC, and I studied (if memory serves):

Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
The Harp in the South by Ruth Park

Now that I think about it, they're pretty basic texts to study compared to the classics that the rest of you did.

We also did poetry by Robert Frost and another Robert whose surname escapes me at the moment.

shelbel

30th June 2008, 00:15

Animal Farm - George Orwell

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare

Lots of Australian bush poets - Henry Lawson, Henry Kendall - which I absolutely hated, and never ever want to read again in my life time.

Amanda

30th June 2008, 01:13

I remember reading Wuthering Heights, and having the whole experience be pure agony (I think I even cried a little over it) until the night before the test I was trying to finish the book and found that the last four chapters made everything right. Although Heathcliff and Catherine and Linton screwed things up so badly, it still turned out okay. After my test that day, I immediatly went home and started reading Wuthering Heights all over again.

I also read:
A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee, twice: in 7th and 11th grades.
The Outsiders by Susan Hinton: Loved it.
There were many others, but these were most memorable. Me went in depth on at least half of Shakespeare. I also remember some short stories that I liked: My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn by Sandra Cisneros, and The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier.

3rd July 2008, 14:08

I took a Shakepeare class and read and studied all of his works. Hamlet, I loved and Othello I liked.

These books also stood out in High School:

Lord of the Flies

The Good Earth

A Separate PEace

SHANNA by Kathleen Woodiwiss (sp) LOL, not on the req reading list -- a romance my friend handed off to me when she was done with it. MY FIRST romance, and she'd covered the cover with a brown wrapper! Oooh, we thought we were so clever...

carm

3rd July 2008, 14:20

I can't remember specific books I read but I do remeber getting the Scholastic Reader which was an order form for books and I remember getting tons of books from them, mostly scary stories

Echo

3rd July 2008, 21:38

Oh, I remember those Scholastic orders!! That was always an exciting day for me! I loved getting new books, even as a kid. I think I got a lot of Babysitter's Club books that way. ;)

Kylie

3rd July 2008, 23:04

We had something like that too. And I think ours was also Scholastic. Ooh, I used to love getting the brochure to look at, and then collecting my order of a small stack of books. <sigh> Those were the days.

Speaking of the Baby-sitter's Club books, I found a report card from Year 5 the other day. My teacher wrote a lot of nice comments about me and how I obviously loved reading. She then wrote: 'I would like to her reading less Baby-Sitter's Club books'. I cracked up laughing when I read that :lol: That was pretty much all I read when I was younger.

slywaka1

4th July 2008, 09:21

I remember reading
Julius Ceasar,
The Merchant of Venice, (My favourite Shakespeare play)
To Kill A Mockingbird,
An Evil Cradling, by Brian Keenan about when he was kidnapped in Beirut with John McCarthy and Terry Waite (roughly anyway, it may not have been Beirut and he was only kidnapped with one of them but I can't be bothered finding the details now!)

I must have read more seeing that is 7 years of high school in 4 books, but I can't for teh life of me remember them now. The above were obviously my favourites.

Anna

tbain

4th July 2008, 10:47

I remember reading at Secondary school:

Macbeth.
Romeo and Juliet.
Kes.
My family and other animals.( I really hated reading this)
The Glass Menagerie- Tenessee Williams.

Janet

7th July 2008, 07:42

My family and other animals.( I really hated reading this)
You hated it? What did you hate about it?

I read this a few years ago and I loved it!

JudyB

7th July 2008, 20:43

I read it at school and loved being whisked from a gloomy classroom in Manchester to sunny Corfu.

elizabeth Chadwick

7th July 2008, 21:05

I was mostly underwhelmed by what we got given to read at school - with a few notable exceptions.

Books I remember reading as set tomes through my secondary education.
The Oddessy - Homer I loved this one. One of the exceptions.
Chaka the Lily - Rider Haggard - yuk
The War of the Worlds - ho hum
David Copperfield - put me off Dickens for life and one of the few times I bunked off reading a book - bleurggh
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen nearly got given this for 'O' level. Had to read in the school hols - bleurgh. I still can't stand Jane Austen.
Brighton Rock - Graham Green what we DID do for 'O' Level thank goodness.
The Hobbit - Tolkien - I loved this one.
A Kestrel for A Knave - ho hum.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner - Alan Silitoe - yawn
Sons and Lovers - D H Lawrence - 'A' Level. Yawn
Wordsworth the Prelude - 'A' level. Huge yawn
Chaucer - Prologue and the Merchant's Tale - 'A' level. Great stuff. Really loved it.
Various Shakespeare plays including Macbeth, King Lear, Twelfth Night. Nooooooo. Hated it - well except for Macbeth and that was only because of the Polanski film starring the Oh so yummy Jon Finch.
The Duchess of Malfi - ho hum
Lady Windermere's Fan - Oscar Wilde - not bad.
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde - enjoyed a lot
Pygmalion - George Bernard Shaw - okay
Various English/Scots Border ballads including Tam Lin and Edward Edward. For 'O' level - loved these a lot.
Tam o' Shanta - Robert Burns - loved it
The Ryme of the Ancient Mariner - Coleridge - quite liked.
The Catcher in the Rye - okay
Catch 22 - not bad.

Gyre

7th July 2008, 21:09

The Twelve Day of July by Joan Lingard
Across the Barricades (or through the) by Joan Lingard
Gumble's Yard by John Rowe Townsend
Elidor by Alan Garner
I am David by Anne Holm

:)

tbain

7th July 2008, 23:41

You hated it? What did you hate about it?

I read this a few years ago and I loved it!

I'm not totally sure ! I was 14 at the time and I remember finding it monotinous. Who knows I might like it if I read it now. Might give it another go one day.:)

Janet

8th July 2008, 16:17

I'm not totally sure ! I was 14 at the time and I remember finding it monotinous. Who knows I might like it if I read it now. Might give it another go one day.:)
There was a great TV adaptation of it a few years ago. :) I thought it was charming, but I might not have appreciated it when I was 14. :)

Enthusiast

8th July 2008, 16:26

My school library is awful, I don't read at school no more. Just at home. :)

Mia

8th July 2008, 20:46

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen nearly got given this for 'O' level. Had to read in the school hols - bleurgh. I still can't stand Jane Austen.

Ah, so it's your fault we had to do this for O Level - obviously your school turned it down so they allocated it to mine instead. :lol: It was absolutely terrible. It's only a few years ago that I managed to read Pride and Prejudice, but I found it quite hard going. I think, like you, I've been put off Austen for life.

I wish we'd had some interesting books; some fantasy, or Oscar Wilde or GB Shaw. All the books we did for O and A Level were boring, depressing or (mostly) both. :roll:

Severnlad

8th July 2008, 21:11

Our book for English Lit was Pride and Prejudice - hated it :doh:

Bronwen

8th July 2008, 22:00

Gobilino the witches cat made me cry at the end. Jerry (i think) the burglars cat - i was in hysterical tears at the end of that, beautiful story.

Ermmm... the fish that could wish. What Katy Did. What Katy Did Next.

Then I read Goosebumps - too tame. Point horror - too tame. Went straight to Stephen King when I was about 11.

Kylie

8th July 2008, 23:21

It's a shame your schools all put you off Austen! Maybe it's just as well I never had to study her books in school.

Severnlad

9th July 2008, 09:42

It's a shame your schools all put you off Austen! Maybe it's just as well I never had to study her books in school.
You will be pleased to know that I have recently read P & P and also Mansfield Park and have enjoyed the read. :readingtwo:

Echo

9th July 2008, 11:37

I wasn't forced to read Austen or even Dickens in high school, and I love both now. But I did hate a lot of the books we had to read, and some are considered masterpieces, like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Ugh...that book was soooo slooooow. I didn't even finish it.

Kylie

9th July 2008, 23:26

You will be pleased to know that I have recently read P & P and also Mansfield Park and have enjoyed the read. :readingtwo:

Ah yes, that makes me very pleased :D

Severnlad

10th July 2008, 10:35

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Ugh...that book was soooo slooooow. I didn't even finish it.

Now I liked this book Echo but maybe that was because I had seen Henry Fonda in the film? My OH didn't rate it though she couldn't stand the language "Deep South".

aromaannie

10th July 2008, 12:14

The Twelve Day of July by Joan Lingard
Across the Barricades (or through the) by Joan Lingard
Gumble's Yard by John Rowe Townsend
Elidor by Alan Garner
I am David by Anne Holm

:)

I remember reading this as a kid at home though not at school. I'm pretty sure this was the first book that me me cry

Antoinette

10th July 2008, 17:35

The first book I ever remember reading as a class at school was a book called The 99 Dragons. I don't know who it was by without checking but I remember the story well. I must have been around 7 at the time.

We never did Shakespeare at school, neither did we do anything that I could class as classic literature. The one book I remember doing for GCSE was Walkabout. Another was D H Lawrences poem The Snake.

happyndhilarious

10th July 2008, 17:41

Once we read 'The Imaginary Invalid' by Moliere.

eschulenburg

11th July 2008, 02:39

I had to read Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain a grand total of FOUR times in my educational life, and I just hated it more each and every time. I have an almost unreasonable hatred for this book. I can hardly even say why anymore, but I know it's true.

Other books I remember reading are:

To Kill a Mockingbird - loved it
Uncle Tom's Cabin - a tough read, but some great discussions
The Epic of Gilgamesh - ??? still clueless on this one
Silas Marner - yuck
Romeo and Juliet - I have no idea how my conservative, protestant school allowed us to read this, but it was a good one
Cry, the Beloved Country - magnificent
A Tale of Two Cities - pretty sure I never actually read this one...
Return of the Native - ...or this one...
The Scarlet Letter - loved this one too
Pride and Prejudice - I happen to LOVE Jane Austen