Anybody remember any of their required class reading..?

   Any you especially liked/disliked..?

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   I remember reading "The Red Pony" (Steinbeck) and "The Old Man and the Sea" (Hemmingway) in the 7th/8th grades.  TRP I dont remember anything about other than it contained an extremely sad part.  TOMATS I loved and would still enjoy reading, I'm sure...

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   First year of high school I remember our two Orwell books - "1984" and "Animal Farm".  The former was chosen because we were heading into the title year and I'm sure it was planned that way by our English teacher.  It was a frightening glimpse of the future.  My response to the prophesy was, "Yeah, right..." ::)  I just purchased "1984" and plan on reading it soon.  I purchased "Animal Farm" a couple of years ago and have read it numerous times.  It's a metaphor for the rise of communism.  It sits on my bookshelf...

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   It was "The Good Earth" (Buck) and "D.A.R.Y.L." (Kleinbaum) for the 10th grade and "To Kill A Mockingbird" (Lee) for the 11th.  TGE was long, dry and boring.  I thought D.A.R.Y.L. a strange choice for a reading assignment, and yes, it's the novelization of the movie.  I loved, loved, loved TKAM...

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   By my senior year it was "The Color Purple" (Walker).  I don't remember much from this book even though I re-read it in college...

Don't remember The Color Purple?  That is odd, it was very good.  The Old Man and the Sea is the only Hemingway that I could get through, I don't know why he is supposedly considered our greatest, I find him dull.  Steinbeck is magnificent, I prefer Of Mice and Men to all of his books.  To Kill a Mockingbird is also wonderful, did you know that Dill was based on Truman Capote, who lived next door to Harper Lee for a couple of summers?  The remained life long friends.

I can't remember which books made a lasting impact on me in high school.  I do know that I loved reading and found the reading lists rather dull.  I had a very high reading/comprehension level and in tended to read the books my sister in college was assigned to read.  I can only remember one literature teacher who seemed actually interested in the books we read, and in getting us to discuss the meanings.  Most were the "read this and write a report, wake me in June" types.

I "read" To Kill A Mocking Bird, A Separate Peace, The Great Gatsby, Grapes of Wrath, Romeo & Julet, Julius Ceasar, Jabberwocky  8-P , Beowulf some other titles escape me.

Although Animal Farm and 1984 made one teacher's list in my school- my teacher did not make us read those

I say "read" because I managed to get through high school without ever actually doing any of the required reading. I was a talented writer and a good listener so I took all the stuff we discussed and had my friends fill in the blanks and did well on the papers and tests. Actually I read a little of Jabberwocky because we had to read it aloud in class-  and I had to memorize- 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears I come to bury Ceaser not to praise him-' 24 years later and I still remember it  ;D


I had a horrible GPA in high school because I was lazy and unmotivated but I got all As in English doing the least amount of work possible.  Too bad History, Sci and Math didn't come as easy.


going back to the 70s for a second....remember Scholastic Books?  I loved getting those fliers and ordering my books. I always read for leisure- I just wasn't very good at doing it when ordered to...

Quite how I managed to write essays on the following is beyond me!  :P

Shakespeare's 'Henry IV' and 'Henry V'

'A Clockwork Orange'

...and quite possibly the most tediously dull novel ever written, 'Z For Zachariah'...

Romeo and Julliet and Othello for Shakespeare. Animal Farm and 1984, The Pearl and Of Mice and Men, Sons and Lovers and Journey's End. All good cheerful stuff.  ::)  Really hated George Orwell and wasn't very keen on D.H Lawrence either.

Unfortunaly, until high school, I didn't get read any cool books.

When I was in high school, I had to read Macbeth (we even saw a really R rated movie version, of the film, directed by Roman Polanski, suprisinly, I was a Catholic high school, the parents would have flipped, if they found out!), The Pigman, The Outsiders, Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, Watership Down, The Last Canadian, Romeo and Juliet, and Flowers For Algrernon.

The later was the most depressing book, I have ever read.

Unfortunaly, until high school, I didn't get read any cool books.

When I was in high school, I had to read Macbeth (we even saw a really R rated movie version, of the film, directed by Roman Polanski, suprisinly, I was a Catholic high school, the parents would have flipped, if they found out!), The Pigman, The Outsiders, Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, Watership Down, The Last Canadian, Romeo and Juliet, and Flowers For Algrernon.

The later was the most depressing book, I have ever read.


I read the Pigman and The Outsiders but not for school.

  I don't remember and hated my recomended reading.  It wasn't untill I was home schooled (8th grade and up)  That I got to read  Grapes Of Wrath and The Fellowship Of The Ring.  I like the book much better the Disney move Alice in Wonderland.

I don't remember any of the high school required reading except for Daniel Boerstein articles for AP American History.  He was very boring.

In elementary school we had to read Johnny Tremaine, though.  I loved that book.  Sarah has to read it this year, I hope she loves it as much as I did.

I considered myself lucky, I only had to read 2 books in High School, I was not an avid reader
back then and grew very bored reading books. The 2 I had to read:

Animal Farm

The Ox-Bow Incident

I actually enjoyed The Ox-Bow Incident.

I remember having to read The Pigman. I LOVED it.

Others:
Romeo & Juliet
Julius Ceaser
Macbeth
Hamlet
The Jungle - Upton Sinclair (we used to pronounce it The "Yungle"  :D ;D ;D )
The Prince - Machiavelli
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson (not one of my favorites)
The Pearl - John Steinbeck
The Sun Also Rises - Hemingway (college)
Beowulf (college)
The Odyssey (college)
A Good Man is Hard To Find - Flannery O'Connor (college)  8-P I prefer, "A Hard Man is Good to Find"  ;) :D ;D ;D



Cat

I say "read" because I managed to get through high school without ever actually doing any of the required reading. I was a talented writer and a good listener so I took all the stuff we discussed and had my friends fill in the blanks and did well on the papers and tests. Actually I read a little of Jabberwocky because we had to read it aloud in class-  and I had to memorize- 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen lend me your ears I come to bury Ceaser not to praise him-' 24 years later and I still remember it  ;D


I had a horrible GPA in high school because I was lazy and unmotivated but I got all As in English doing the least amount of work possible.  Too bad History, Sci and Math didn't come as easy.


going back to the 70s for a second....remember Scholastic Books?  I loved getting those fliers and ordering my books. I always read for leisure- I just wasn't very good at doing it when ordered to...




It's like you took a page out of my brain - I was EXACTLY the same way.  Though I read some of the required reading just for fun.  But I was the girl who got all A's in English and History, and D's in Math and Science.  My parents were beside themselves.

And the book orders?  Forget about it.  Book order day was the best day ever!   :)


I can remember reading Flowers for Algernon, Hound of the Baskervilles, and Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in Junior High...though I had already read the last two, so I don't think I actually read them when the time came to go again.  I liked all of them.  In high school we read the Great Gatsby, which I really didn't like for some reason, and Stranger in a Strange Land which I tried to read, but just couldn't get through.  I liked Of Mice and Men, The Old Man and the Sea, Othello, My Name is Asher Lev.  Books I LOVED in high school were To Kill a Mockingbird - still my favorite, Animal Farm, Hamlet, Othello, and Black Boy.   

Flowers For Algernon.




The Ox-Bow Incident



These two books are brilliant.  

I have a thing I do, I started in high school.  I go to the library and pick a stack, close my eyes and let my hand run over the books until I touch one that feels right, then I take it out and read it.  The first time I did it I found Lavengro by George Borrow, and it remains one of my favorites.  I actually have been very lucky with that system, kinda eerie, but there you have it.

It's like you took a page out of my brain - I was EXACTLY the same way.  Though I read some of the required reading just for fun.  But I was the girl who got all A's in English and History, and D's in Math and Science.  My parents were beside themselves.

And the book orders?  Forget about it.  Book order day was the best day ever!   :)


I can remember reading Flowers for Algernon, Hound of the Baskervilles, and Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in Junior High...though I had already read the last two, so I don't think I actually read them when the time came to go again.  I liked all of them.  In high school we read the Great Gatsby, which I really didn't like for some reason, and Stranger in a Strange Land which I tried to read, but just couldn't get through.  I liked Of Mice and Men, The Old Man and the Sea, Othello, My Name is Asher Lev.  Books I LOVED in high school were To Kill a Mockingbird - still my favorite, Animal Farm, Hamlet, Othello, and Black Boy.   


oh yeah Old Man and the Sea.   

After high school I went back and read some of the books listed. To Kill a Mocking Bird is the only one I liked.

MacBeth
Othello
A Midsummer Nights Dream

Treasure Island
The Crucible
13 21 Steps  hahaha!
Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
Lord of the Flies

In my college sociology class, we had to read A Clockwork Orange and F.I.S.T.

Another "Of Mice and Men" reader here.

One I loved was "My Family & Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell. Reading that takes me right back to being in a classroom in the mid 80s.

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I had to read "Counting The Stars" by Lois Lowery

Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

I had to read "Counting The Stars" by Lois Lowery

Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume





  I've heard of Judy Blume.  She wrote the popular "It's Not the End of the World".  The bleak novel that turned alot of girls off of marriage...

  I remember that book laying around.  Probably my sister's or cousin's...

   I've heard of Judy Blume.  She wrote the popular "It's Not the End of the World".  The bleak novel that turned alot of girls off of marriage...

   I remember that book laying around.  Probably my sister's or cousin's...


She wrote a few bleak ones.  Tiger Eyes was one of her more unsettling ones.

She wrote a few bleak ones.  Tiger Eyes was one of her more unsettling ones.


    I would suggest to Marty McFly that popular media such as books, movies, television have a profound impact on the cultural sensibilities of young people, carried with them into adulthood.  These books one reads as a kid must have some effect on one's outlook, in some way, if one paid attention, eh..?

  I suppose it's another arguement in favor of home schooling...

  BTW Kathie, that's just rhetorical... :)

    I would suggest to Marty McFly that popular media such as books, movies, television have a profound impact on the cultural sensibilities of young people, carried with them into adulthood.  These books one reads as a kid must have some effect on one's outlook, in some way, if one paid attention, eh..?

   I suppose it's another arguement in favor of home schooling...

   BTW Kathie, that's just rhetorical... :)


That's all the more reason for stuff to stay around.  I read a lot of books as a kid.  Everything from Beverly Cleary to encyclopedias, I has only enriched my outlook on life and people.  Books are meant to affect people in both a positive and negative way.  People wouldn't read them if they weren't.  I think some home schooling courses do require reading a variety of novels. :)

♦ Animal Farm
♦ Flowers For Algernon
♦ Go Boy! and it's follow-up book Bingo!

That's all the more reason for stuff to stay around.  I read a lot of books as a kid.  Everything from Beverly Cleary to encyclopedias, I has only enriched my outlook on life and people.  Books are meant to affect people in both a positive and negative way.  People wouldn't read them if they weren't.  I think some home schooling courses do require reading a variety of novels. :)


  You have a point.  A kid is either filling his/her head with state mandated propoganda or parental propoganda...

  If book reports achieve their aim of sharpening critical thinking skills, it can go a long way in separating the wheat from the chaff...

  You have a point.  A kid is either filling his/her head with state mandated propoganda or parental propoganda...

  If book reports achieve their aim of sharpening critical thinking skills, it can go a long way in separating the wheat from the chaff...


In some cases parental propaganda is more mind numbing than state.  Perhaps in some weird way that's why parents homeschool.  Growing up my Mom was a substitute teacher and she encouraged reading, even a few banned ones.

I can't recall all the books we had to read.  I loved reading the books I hated the coursework afterwards.

Books I can recall reading

In Sociology: Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies

In Eng Lit

Of Mice and Men, Brave New World, 1984, Taming of the Shrew (everyone else read Macbeth but our teacher was bored with it!), Under Milk Wood (play by Dylan Thomas),

In some cases parental propaganda is more mind numbing than state.  Perhaps in some weird way that's why parents homeschool.  Growing up my Mom was a substitute teacher and she encouraged reading, even a few banned ones.


  Banned books?  Wonderful!  The power of the inexplicit.  The great thing about children's literature is that it's subversiveness is passed on without the knowledge of the ruling elite...

  I should open this topic up to include books read outside of school.  I don't think a similar thread is appropriate.  Done...

  To bleak novels such as certain Judy Blume selections I'll add "Dune" (1965 but wildly popular in the 80s which I read outside of a learning environment), "Children of the Dust" (1985), "Down to a Sunless Sea" (1979), &etc.  Doom and gloom.  What's amazing is that creativity seemed to come directly from the bleakness where things like nuclear holocaust, familial disintegration were the subject matter for movies, music and books...

 

 
 

There was one Judy Blume book in the school library called Forever. If you put it down spine first on the desk it would always fall open on the sex scene, which was obviously the page everyone looked for first!  ;D

I remember reading ....

Animal Farm
Watership Down
The third Man/Fallen Idol
Lord of the Flies

Another one I remember reading was The Chocolate Soldier.  Don't recall who wrote it.  It appears to be an adaptation of GBS's Arms and the Man.  I know that we watched a film version of it with Richard Briers but I can't find reference to that either.  :-\\

   Banned books?  Wonderful!  The power of the inexplicit.  The great thing about children's literature is that it's subversiveness is passed on without the knowledge of the ruling elite...

   I should open this topic up to include books read outside of school.  I don't think a similar thread is appropriate.  Done...

   To bleak novels such as certain Judy Blume selections I'll add "Dune" (1965 but wildly popular in the 80s which I read outside of a learning environment), "Children of the Dust" (1985), "Down to a Sunless Sea" (1979), &etc.  Doom and gloom.  What's amazing is that creativity seemed to come directly from the bleakness where things like nuclear holocaust, familial disintegration were the subject matter for movies, music and books...

   

   
   



The first bleak, political thriller I read was Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler. The only way I can describe my reaction is BRAIN POP. 

She wrote a few bleak ones.  Tiger Eyes was one of her more unsettling ones.


She also wrote "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret"
Our 6th grade teacher had a fit over this book and none of us were allowed to have it in class. He was a male teacher and didn't like the idea of a female character getting her period among other things in his class room. ::)

I just read that one recently.

There was one Judy Blume book in the school library called Forever. If you put it down spine first on the desk it would always fall open on the sex scene, which was obviously the page everyone looked for first!  ;D



Good book, and our library copy was the same way. ;D

Anyone read her book Blubber?  That's one I have yet to read.

Favorite all time book read in school was "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"  Emogene Herman was my hero. :D

The books I remember reading in high school -

Lord of the Flies
The Grapes of Wrath
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Old Man and the Sea

I had to read "Counting The Stars" by Lois Lowery

Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume






in high school?


oh I love Lois Lowery but I didn't read Counting the Stars...was it good?

in high school?


oh I love Lois Lowery but I didn't read Counting the Stars...was it good?



No, not in High School.  In fourth grade.

Counting The Stars is about the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation.  It's a great book, a tear jerker though.

No, not in High School.  In fourth grade.

Counting The Stars is about the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation.  It's a great book, a tear jerker though.



oh okay.... in fourth grade. Whew I was a little worried...  ;)



I think I'll look into Counting the Stars. I love teen novels.  Some are well written and a nice easy read.  ;D

The Odyssey and The Illiad.  (I prefer The Odyssey).

Les Miserables

No, not in High School.  In fourth grade.

Counting The Stars is about the Dutch Resistance during the Nazi occupation.  It's a great book, a tear jerker though.


Are you sure it's the Dutch resistance?  I thought they were Danish  :-\\  Elizabeth read the book last year

lets see how good i can remember!!  yeah 1984,  fail safe,the outsiders, flowers for algeron,the martian cronicles, the satan bug, soylent green, faherinhiet 451(one of my favs)  i still dont like to read so could relate to it very well! :D

lets see how good i can remember!!  yeah 1984,  fail safe,the outsiders, flowers for algeron,the martian cronicles, the satan bug, soylent green, faherinhiet 451(one of my favs)  i still dont like to read so could relate to it very well! :D



OOOOh Farenheit 451 is great, but it wasn't anything they would have had us read in the 60s when I was in high school. I would say my favorite books are the ones that weren't encouraged(to put it mildly) in schools at that time.

Are you sure it's the Dutch resistance?  I thought they were Danish  :-\\  Elizabeth read the book last year



Shoot you're right because it mentions about King Christian being part of it.  It is a good story though. :)

OOOOh Farenheit 451 is great, but it wasn't anything they would have had us read in the 60s when I was in high school. I would say my favorite books are the ones that weren't encouraged(to put it mildly) in schools at that time.

this was the early 70's, so i guess they lightened up a bit! :D

going back to the 70s for a second....remember Scholastic Books?  I loved getting those fliers and ordering my books. I always read for leisure- I just wasn't very good at doing it when ordered to...





OMG...I LOVE those!!! My mom used to always let me pick books out and order them...and now I do the same thing with Vaughn. I would be lying though if I didn't say that sometimes I still pick out what I like!! ;D :D

OMG...I LOVE those!!! My mom used to always let me pick books out and order them...and now I do the same thing with Vaughn. I would be lying though if I didn't say that sometimes I still pick out what I like!! ;D :D


I know I want to find a friend who has a kid in fourth grade so I can look at their order sheet.

scholastic books

scholastic books


TY

in high school?


oh I love Lois Lowery but I didn't read Counting the Stars...was it good?




I read Counting the Stars in college.  :D ;D ;D  Ok, ok, it was one of my education classes and I also read The Giver & Zlata's Diary in that class, too-but it wasn't FOR the class per say but to check out the children's lit that is out there. Also in that one class, we got the Scholastic books and I help the teacher with the order forms and yes, I did order a bunch of books for myself-not to mention that I got a little extra credit for helping out.  ;)
I also took a children's lit class and had to read a bunch of books-including Peter Rabbit & Winnie the Poo.  :D ;D ;D That

Zlata's Diary was pretty heavy. It is a REAL diary of a girl living in Sarajevo in the 90s-very similar to the Diary of Anne Frank.


I also remember WAY back in 7th grade having to read "They Were Dark and Golden Eyed" by Ray Bradbury from the Martian Chronicles-even though I did not know they were from the MC when I had to read it.



Cat

Shoot you're right because it mentions about King Christian being part of it.  It is a good story though. :)


At the school Elizabeth goes to they had a stage group come in and work with the fourth graders in acting out parts of the book.  They also talked about the issues raised in the book and were given copies to take home.

I read Counting the Stars in college.  :D ;D ;D  Ok, ok, it was one of my education classes and I also read The Giver & Zlata's Diary in that class, too-but it wasn't FOR the class per say but to check out the children's lit that is out there. Also in that one class, we got the Scholastic books and I help the teacher with the order forms and yes, I did order a bunch of books for myself-not to mention that I got a little extra credit for helping out.  ;)
I also took a children's lit class and had to read a bunch of books-including Peter Rabbit & Winnie the Poo.  :D ;D ;D That

Zlata's Diary was pretty heavy. It is a REAL diary of a girl living in Sarajevo in the 90s-very similar to the Diary of Anne Frank.


I also remember WAY back in 7th grade having to read "They Were Dark and Golden Eyed" by Ray Bradbury from the Martian Chronicles-even though I did not know they were from the MC when I had to read it.



Cat



I have always had a long love affair with children's literature- especially young adult novels.

Joan Lowery Nixon, Lois Duncan, Christopher Pike and Richie Tankersley Cusack are among my favs.

I used to work at a toy store, mom & pop operation, and the owner expected her staff to be knowledgeable and required us to read as many of the books as we could. I devoured them.  It helped me get my next job- Children's Section Manager at Barnes & Noble.  ;D

I have always had a long love affair with children's literature- especially young adult novels.

Joan Lowery Nixon, Lois Duncan, Christopher Pike and Richie Tankersley Cusack are among my favs.

I used to work at a toy store, mom & pop operation, and the owner expected her staff to be knowledgeable and required us to read as many of the books as we could. I devoured them.  It helped me get my next job- Children's Section Manager at Barnes & Noble.   ;D






Going off on a tangent (just a bit), are you familiar with the Jenny Linsky books? I didn't HAVE to read them in school but they were my favs when I was a kid (and I recently just bought most of them for my own personal collection-I use my granddaughters as an excuse but they are really for me.  :D ;D ;D )


Cat

Going off on a tangent (just a bit), are you familiar with the Jenny Linsky books? I didn't HAVE to read them in school but they were my favs when I was a kid (and I recently just bought most of them for my own personal collection-I use my granddaughters as an excuse but they are really for me.  :D ;D ;D )


Cat


those i'm not familiar with but I just googled it and no wonder you like them.... CAT  ;D

scholastic books


  I remember ordering stuff from those Scholastic catalogs in grade school.  Curious George, mostly, and a Star Wars pop-up book...

At school I was forced to read Animal Farm by George Orwell and Slias Marner by George Eliot. Now I am older in life I appreciate both now than I did before.

For my GCSEs, had to choose 2 books of my own choice, they were:

Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall by Spike Milligan
Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence

I was controversial back then.

At school I was forced to read Animal Farm by George Orwell and Slias Marner by George Eliot. Now I am older in life I appreciate both now than I did before.

For my GCSEs, had to choose 2 books of my own choice, they were:

Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall by Spike Milligan
Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence

I was controversial back then.



Nice choices Philip.......a real balance of reading material. One very funny.....and a quality 'dirty' book!  ;D  I was just this minute telling my daughter about Spike Milligan's manic humour!  I'll always remember The English carving litte wooden mushrooms to drop on nazi Germany to show that English craftmanship was alive and well.....

Nice choices Philip.......a real balance of reading material. One very funny.....and a quality 'dirty' book!  ;D   I was just this minute telling my daughter about Spike Milligan's manic humour!  I'll always remember The English carving litte wooden mushrooms to drop on nazi Germany to show that English craftmanship was alive and well.....

Over the last few years I had been wondering on how I got to learn the 'naughty words' at a young age. And the only solution I came up with was I read those words in the books of Spike Milligan, so it was he that taught me. Over the spread of the years I did get to met Spike Milligan a dozen times, and not once I thought about informing him that. Now that he has sadliy passed on, I will now never get the chance.

I'm to old to remember half of the books I read in school ;D.I do remember reading The Outsiders and Johnny Tremaine,I'm sure I read lots of books,but brain damage has occurred.

Gosh, I did a bunch of reading in school.

To Kill A Mocking Bird
1984
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer's Nights Dream. (my grade was an early fall's nightmare)
The Hatchet (in 5th grade)
Call of the Wild
Porky and Bess
The Diary of Anne Frank
Mein Kamf (sp?) supposedly Hitler wrote this.
Roots
A Tale of Two Cities.

Is it strange that in between reading all THAT, I still found time to read other books for my own entertainment. LOL. And writing my own stories?

Gosh, I did a bunch of reading in school.

To Kill A Mocking Bird
1984
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer's Nights Dream. (my grade was an early fall's nightmare)
The Hatchet (in 5th grade)
Call of the Wild
Porky and Bess
The Diary of Anne Frank
Mein Kamf (sp?) supposedly Hitler wrote this.
Roots
A Tale of Two Cities.

Is it strange that in between reading all THAT, I still found time to read other books for my own entertainment. LOL. And writing my own stories?


A Tale of Two Cities is a good book.  I did a book report on The Prince And The Pauper in grade school. :)

My daughter just finished reading The Hatchet (she's in 5th grade)

Gosh, I did a bunch of reading in school.

To Kill A Mocking Bird
1984
Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer's Nights Dream. (my grade was an early fall's nightmare)
The Hatchet (in 5th grade)
Call of the Wild
Porky and Bess
The Diary of Anne Frank
Mein Kamf (sp?) supposedly Hitler wrote this.
Roots
A Tale of Two Cities.

Is it strange that in between reading all THAT, I still found time to read other books for my own entertainment. LOL. And writing my own stories?




Porky and Bess?


Man that pig got around... wonder if Petunia knew  ;)   


;D 

I remember in high school one of my friends read an abridged version of Stephen King's The Stand... and I was like why would you read an 800 page book  :o .....for pleasure  ::) ?


A few years later I got a copy of the unabridged version-  about 1200 pages and I started to read page 1 and then couldn't put it down... It was pretty good. The problem with King is I love the start of his books but they always go off tangent after the halfway point and end somewhere you never expect them to.

the two books that affected me most growing up were both Scholastic purchases....

Tuck Everlasting... I so wanted to drink out of the well- still do.  ;)


and Bridge to Terabithia.

I think my favorite book that I was ever specifically assigned to read in school was Popcorn by Ben Elton for a class i took on college on novels about visual media. That book was full of bloody murder but still very entertaining and actually quite uplifting by academic book standards.

There are many, many candidates for the saddest/ most depressing book I had to read. I might have ended up being a bit less scared of bees if not for The Taste of Blackberries. All I really remember about the giver is the ending showing that what the giver gives. I completely misjudged Finny in A separate Peace but the tragic ending proved that he was innocent but you can't really say the same for the guilt-ridden narrator. 1984 is about as grim as books get, and we never read any Shakesperian comedies. Entertaining reading was pretty much done exclusively outside of school.

My daughter just finished reading The Hatchet (she's in 5th grade)

Both my kids had to read that.

and Bridge to Terabithia.
Saw the movie last Christmas, it was atrocious.

I remember in high school one of my friends read an abridged version of Stephen King's The Stand... and I was like why would you read an 800 page book  :o .....for pleasure  ::) ?


A few years later I got a copy of the unabridged version-  about 1200 pages and I started to read page 1 and then couldn't put it down... It was pretty good. The problem with King is I love the start of his books but they always go off tangent after the halfway point and end somewhere you never expect them to.





Yup-that is what I don't like about Stephen King. His stories start off great but then the end... :-\\





the two books that affected me most growing up were both Scholastic purchases....

Tuck Everlasting... I so wanted to drink out of the well- still do.   ;)


and Bridge to Terabithia.



Had to read both of them for my Children's Lit class. I cried when I read Bridge to Terabithia.



Cat

Yup-that is what I don't like about Stephen King. His stories start off great but then the end... :-\\

Cat
Stephen King starts writing from scratch, with no real plot in mind, and types, and types, types (constructing as he goes). Thus producing a long many paged book with no real ending.

Yup-that is what I don't like about Stephen King. His stories start off great but then the end... :-\\




Had to read both of them for my Children's Lit class. I cried when I read Bridge to Terabithia.



Cat



I cry every time I read Bridge to Terabithia...then I cried when I saw it in the theater too.. I felt sorry for the parents who were cluess to true story for the ads focused on imaginative aspect of it but not what lies at the heart of the story.

those kids were probably traumatized

Another 5th grade class is reading Bridge to Teribithia at the moment.  I don't know if Elizabeth's class will do so or not

I remember in high school one of my friends read an abridged version of Stephen King's The Stand... and I was like why would you read an 800 page book  :o .....for pleasure  ::) ?


A few years later I got a copy of the unabridged version-  about 1200 pages and I started to read page 1 and then couldn't put it down... It was pretty good. The problem with King is I love the start of his books but they always go off tangent after the halfway point and end somewhere you never expect them to.




The Stand is my favorite Stephen King book, if not my favorite book period.  I love it.

The Stand is my favorite Stephen King book, if not my favorite book period.  I love it.


I really did love the beginning I can still visualize the germs, flying through the air in the movie theater as one person coughs and then another.

I really did love the beginning I can still visualize the germs, flying through the air in the movie theater as one person coughs and then another.
I have read The Stand twice (the abridged and long versions) and I do not remember a thing of that book.