Classic books that you HATED

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  • MsTanya77
    MsTanya77 Posts: 357 Member
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    The Scarlet Letter
  • HLeAnn
    HLeAnn Posts: 261 Member
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    Moby D!ck *SNORE* ....and I generally LOVE literature...but that one went on and on. That was the ONLY novel I faked my way through the paper on. Spark notes, anyone?


    Edited because apparently MFP won't let us write D!ck spelled out, so I had to add the !... :laugh:
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
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    Catcher in the Rye and Wuthering Heights. GAAAH
  • jmartin1219
    jmartin1219 Posts: 31 Member
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    agree!
  • tyrannosarousREX
    tyrannosarousREX Posts: 28
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    Honestly I have to say. Either Lord of the Flies or Animal Farm. Could not motivate myself to read those books more than once.
  • Shannota
    Shannota Posts: 312 Member
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    I made it to page 20 of "A Tale of Two Cities". My English teacher was very confused at me (I was one of her top students) missing more than half the questions on the test over that book. She asked if I had the right answer key to grade it. I just said, "Yep" and walked away. I wonder if it would be as bad if I tried to read it again...16 years later.
  • ReclaimingSarah
    ReclaimingSarah Posts: 250 Member
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    I hated Cormac McCarthy's Child of God so much that I couldn't finish reading it. I wrote a 5 page paper critiquing the portion of the book that I did read and then defending my position on why I would not finish reading it. My teacher gave me an A because he'd never had someone with such a passionate reaction to a book.

    Also, I hate Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness with a passion. I had to read it for a class in high school and again a few years later in college...hated it both times.
  • Mom0fTwo
    Mom0fTwo Posts: 326 Member
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    Great expectations, great story unfortunately it doesn't get anywhere till chapter 21 or something, my god it took forever
  • SeanNJ
    SeanNJ Posts: 153 Member
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    The Sirens of Titan. Firstly, because the ending sucked donkey *kitten*. Secondly, because my English teacher wanted us to be impressed that she made a sci-fi book required reading. She underestimated our tastes. An awesome book would have impressed us even more.

    *sigh* Probably my favorite Vonnegut novel.

    Now, if you want bad "classic" sci-fi, William Gibson's "Neuromancer" is simply intolerable.
  • etherealdoll
    etherealdoll Posts: 25
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    Awh, I'm seeing a lot of my favorite books listed here. The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1984, A Separate Peace, Catcher in the Rye...I really hate it when people say they hate Catcher in the Rye because Holden is whiny and annoying. Congratulations, you just missed the entire point of the book.

    We had to read The Once and Future King, and it was the worst experience of my life. Actually, I didn't even read it. I got through the first few chapters then sparknoted the rest because I couldn't take it any more.

    Oh, and this short story by Hemingway (something about a river?) that was like 20 pages long and had absolutely no plot whatsoever. It makes me angry just thinking about it.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    Moby ****. Yes, they're going to censor it. Too funny.
    Red Badge of Courage.

    HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.

    Yes! I'm an English teacher and I have loved practically all the books mentioned on this thread, But I could not, just could not make it through The Red Badge of Courage. Oh the smoke and the musket shells. . . and the running away across fields. NO!
  • jsukhan
    jsukhan Posts: 149 Member
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    The Hobbit was read our class in 5th grade I loved it but I kinda like fantasy. Right before the Lord of the Rings movies came out I bought a book set, on the back it said "the world can be divided into two groups, those who have read Lord of the Rings and those who have not" I speed read the first book just to finish it before I saw the movie. The next year summer I read it again and continued to the second book and then had to read the third. I now have two box sets of the books and box sets of the movies.

    Lion the Witch and Wardrobe was also read to my class (but in grade one) once again before the movies came out I bought another box set (seeing a pattern here?:)) and read the entire set. Hope they make more Chronicles of Narnia.

    I actually enjoyed Catcher in the Rye, but probably due to my teacher. Later I took an Englis Lit class at university, my prof had a PH.D in english, but he told us he had never read Catcher in the Rye because he thought it was about baseball and he hated baseball. I had to bite my tongue not to call him an idiot.

    But back on topic,
    Books I did not like:

    Grapes of Wrath
    Death of a Salesman.
  • Nerdybookgirl
    Nerdybookgirl Posts: 105 Member
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    This post makes me cry.
  • kinzytg
    kinzytg Posts: 42
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    Walden, so sad, I still cannot get past page 3 without falling asleep.
  • swarla
    swarla Posts: 105 Member
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    Heart of Darkness. That book was boring, I think I got through the first few pages before I gave up on it. But I don't know why people dislike Catcher in the Rye so much. It's one of my favorite books.
  • NYChick84
    NYChick84 Posts: 331 Member
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    I'm an avid reader, but I hated a lot of the books I was compelled to read in school.

    The two that stand out most are I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and The Scarlet Letter

    I teach both of them....and The Scarlet Letter is AMAZING - Anything Hawthorne I'm a fan of!! I'm a big Hawthorne fan.
    Also Arthur Miller - his plays are phenomenal!! I loved 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible'.
    I'm a huge fan of reading plays - 'A Doll's House' by, Henrik Ibsen oh!! And how can I forget 'The Glass Menagerie' by Tennessee Williams!

    Ok, I'm an English teacher - I love to read....Just some of my favorites.......

    All-time favorite short story is 'The Yellow Wallpaper' by, Charlotte Perkins Gilman

    And anything Edgar Allen Poe ('The Tell-Tale Heart', 'Annabel Lee', 'The Bells', 'Lenore', 'The Raven' )

    And.....Shakespeare. lol I can read him all day long too....

    *kitten*....I sound like such a nerd!!! grrr....lol

    And for what I didn't like to read lol ...um..... 'The Red Badge of Courage' by Stephen Crane........YUCK!!!

    I like so much more....just won't even attempt what I love to read on this thread since it's about what I DON'T like....

    I wrote my college English term paper on The Yellow Wallpaper. Only term paper I enjoyed writing :D
    And I had a English teacher in 8th grade that told us the histories of Poe and Shakespeare, which just made me appreciate their writings so much more.

    I read Pride and Prejudice in the 8th grade, but didn't really understand it. Now after seeing the movie, I think I'll go get it from the library since I'm old enough to understand now :D

    I went to St. John's University...and that's where I wrote my term paper on it too. lol I still have it....all 16 pages of it...A+ of course!! ;)
  • ReinasWrath
    ReinasWrath Posts: 1,173 Member
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    A street car named Desire :grumble: SO happy it was short. but UGH. One book they made us read that I liked a lot was Life of Pi and I guess now they're making it into a movie! I hope they do it well cuz every stinking time they make a book that I liked into a movie I go and tell everyone how good it will be and how it was a good book and then BAM the movie blows !!! lol then I look like a doof :noway: LOL like the Ruins by Scott smith I loved the book but the movie was a joke >_< And of course I made a big deal about it to my then new bf about how we HAD to see it lol
  • EricC7788
    EricC7788 Posts: 102 Member
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    Any summer reading books I was assigned in high school. :mad:
  • fitontherun
    fitontherun Posts: 90 Member
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    Fahrenheit 451 and The Scarlet Letter.

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