What is the WORST book you were ever forced to read?  

Did you hate Tom Sawyer, too? Or did you never read it?

I don't remember intensely disliking that book, so it was either okay, or I didn't read it. :P

Do you actually think Huck Finn is a homosexual, or are you using it as a derogatory term?

That's too bad that you didn't like it. I found it to be an interesting portrayal of race issues at the time the book was set. I enjoyed it.

I never read it, but it's on the required list for this year. I can't say I'm really looking forward to it, especially after someone naming it Worst Book Ever. haha. Thanks for your response.

I didn't hate it so much as I wanted to throttle some people at the end of it. It introduced a very scary concept to the world, and it still holds true today. I didn't read it for school, and I think that if I did, I probably *would* have hated it; as it stands, it definitely wasn't my favourite.

I like Animal Farm better, but Orwell's other apocalyptic vision of the future was chilling and effective.

I have to agree I didn't like 1984 as much as Animal Farm. It was harder to read and I really didn't get into it. If it's work for me get into a book, it's just not enjoyable to me.

I also enjoyed Animal Farm, overall. We read it in oh... eighth grade, maybe. The earlier years of forced reading didn't tend to be as bad as the later.

1984's one of my favorite books. We never had to read it for class though.

I liked Macbeth too, actually. I think the teacher did have a lot to do with it, though. I had a good teacher when I learned Macbeth, and I had a horrible teacher when I learned Othello. I still don't like Othello, possibly because of it.

I LOVE MACBETH. I did like Romeo and Juliet a great deal. I actually just liked Shakespeare, I think. :P

uhm Death Be Not Proud..it was pretty boring..i had to read it in 8th grade...it was about this kid who had a disease or something...his family loved him and w/e..he tried to help others...meh u get the point ;)

I agree that Romeo and Juliet is not one of Shakespeare's strongest plays. I prefer the commedies, histories, and I like Othello, Macbeth, and The Merchant of Venice.

In my opinion, Romeo and Juliet is definitely one of his weaker plays (even though it has become the most famous, go figure). My favorites are Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew, and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

I adored Tuck Everlasting too, though I did like Romeo & Juliet my favourite Shakespeare is A Midsummer Night's Dream :)

I didn't think that Catcher in the Rye was particularly bad, but I'm not sure I understand why it became so popular.

I loved Catcher in the Rye. But my friends and I told anyone who particularly HATED the book that it was because they WERE Holden Caulfield. :P

I disliked Catcher In The Rye the first time I read it, which was around my first year in high school; I didn't get it and thought Holden was a blithering idiot. I read it again last year and I do like it now; I think it's more because I look back and think how silly I was (when I was younger), and Catcher pokes fun at that.

I understood Catcher In The Rye. I didn't think it was terrible, necessarily. I just didn't like it very well. I liked elements of it. We read The Catcher in the Rye and then read Shoeless Joe Jackson. I really didn't like it at all. I know that it's a great story and so many people love it, but I really just wasn't into it. I'm not a big baseball fan and a lot of it was focused on baseball. So it just wasn't as interesting to me.

I don't think that it's the author's strongest work. I much prefer Nine Stories and Fanny and Zooey. I am very sad that Salinger's has stopped writing, and I am morbidly hoping that more of his stories will be discovered at his death.

I wasn't too thrilled with Catcher in the Rye, but my SO loves it because he attended the prep school that inspired the school in the book.

We almost had to read that, but the teacher actually said that it was too dry. We're reading All Quiet on the Western Front instead, and the first two chapters were among the driest reading I've ever read, so I wonder how awful FWtBT must have been to her for her to say that... thanks for your response :)

My favorite Hemingway book is The Garden of Eden. I love his journalistic writing style, his crazy, macho adventures, his four wives, and the general lore that surrounds him. I would say that reading his more serious novels involves some work. Some of the backdrops, particularly Modernist paris, are great fun to read about.

I'll have to pick up Garden of Eden. I really enjoyed some of Hemingway's short stories, so I know I like his writing style sometimes. Maybe For Whom the Bell Tolls was just a bad novel to start off with.

For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of his heavier works unless you're really interested in the Spanish Civil War. I like his later work a lot better.

I'm not a fan of Hemingway at all *sigh* I just don't get him.

I hated his Old Man and the Sea. Absolutely the most pointless book. I don't understand how you can write so much about something that would take at most a paragraph to write. I've never like any of Hemmingway's works.

He is very existentialist... you can't read too much of his writing in a row or you'll want to slit your wrists.

I didn't mind A Separate Peace that much, but you're right, it is a little dated and it may be hard for younger generations to understand or get into it. I also feel like the relationship between the two main characters is not really concretely defined in the novel.

It's a depressing indictment of human nature. I think Golding was portraying that in every group of people there will be leaders, victims, and inane power struggles. The imagery was very powerful. I still remember Piggie's broken glasses.

I didn't mind Lord of the Flies nearly as much as I minded some others, though it was very, very slow-going.

Ok Lord of the Flies was awful for me, I remember watching the movie when I was younger and it disturbed me so much I cried for days and could never bring myself to read the book. At this point I have even blocked out most of the movie except for they killed someone who had really pretty eyes and that's all I remember.

Oh my god that's horrible! But in a funny way. Haha

You're right, that is absolutely terrible. Talk about dry reading! I don't think any book could possibly be as bad or boring as just a dictionary. Thanks for sharing :)

well i cant think of anything worse than having to read the whole dictionary so im not going to even try ;)