Crap books that you were forced to read at school

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What's your top ten list of all-time worst books you were forced to read in English class? Here's mine -

1) Wuthering Heights. Ridiculous bodice-ripping Harlequin bilge. Why anyone foists this tripe on innocent kids is beyond me.
2) Any transcript of Shakespeare. Outdated, obscure Elizabethan language in a format that's bad enough when viewed on stage, Shakespeare's work is nothing short of torture in book form.
3) The Club (script from a famous Australian stage play) I don't go and buy scripts of TV shows to read, so why would I waste my time with a script from a play I don't even want to see?
4) The Fountainhead. Ayn Rand masturbates all over her readers for 700+ pages.
5) Catcher In The Rye. One long pretentious w*k by J D Salinger.
6) Pilgrim's Progress. 17th century Jack Chick tract.
7) The Great Gatsby. Like anyone wants to read about dimwitted upper class wastrels and their vapid boring friends.
8) Jane Eyre. Written by a Bronte sister. 'Nuff said.
9) The Crucible. Possibly the most excruciatingly dull play ever performed, and the script is even worse to read.
10) Pride And Prejudice. Just plain sucked, without a single redeeming feature.

Yes yes yes yes yes!! !
Finally, someone who agrees with me on no 5) the catcher in the rye.
Longest and most boring piece of crap I ever had the misfortune to encounter.
Never understood why anyone would rate this book anything other then a big steaming turd with no redeeming features, other then it's relatively short length compared to other books.

I agree, and have something to add: The Scarlet Freaking Letter. It is the only book I have come across that has made me want to travel back in time and shoot the author's great-great grandfather, in order to make sure the collection of DNA that made him up never comes close to existing. The first 50 pages are random musings that add no value (I use the term loosely) to the story. I also use the word "story" loosely.

It's a complete mystery why this book ever became popular. Pages and pages of contrived whining by a pathetic loser, and the author all the while congratulating himself because he imagines he's recapturing his teenage angst.

1) Believe it or not we read this when I was in school ! ! Hated it ! !

When I was in Uni, i made the mistake of taking a course on existential philosophy. Had to read some book by Kierkegarde, UGH ! ! Couldn't make heads or tails of whatever he wrote, one of the few truly painful books to get through that I had to read.

I was going to add the Scarlet Letter to my list, but I could only pick ten shite books. The actual body of literature which I loathe is considerably larger.

The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books. Maybe I'm a pathetic loser, eh?

A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller was inflicted upon us in English Literature. I found it rather tedious, as did the other people in the class.

I don't see you as a loser at all, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I was merely voicing mine. If you loved the book then i'm genuinely happy for you, even though I don't fully understand how you could like the book.
As far as i've read so far in this thread nobody has taken any potshots at other people, just at some books they don't like. Maybe it's the aspie in me that can't read how others are feeling but I wrote this reply because i felt you thought you'd been personally attacked, which is absolutely not the case (well, at least from me it isn't!)

"The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favourite books. Maybe I'm a pathetic loser, eh?"

Nah, you just have really bad taste in books

Last edited by Zzzzeta on 20 Mar 2008, 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hahaha...no

Relax, it's purely about the books and no reflection on the reader. Nothing personal, in other words

dude shut up

Easy there, compadre. Just making a joke

well a post like that seemed like you were itching for an argue, and Nico is my friend so...yeah I don't like people being mean to my friend

you will adapt

You called Holden a pathetic loser and I really identify with him as a person.

I'd say expressing a desire to exterminate the author's genetic line qualifies as a personal attack, but I was of course kidding.