I love these weekly challenges because the topics SPEAK to me sososo much! Today, it’s Books I had to read in school and didn’t like.
Kids, there were hundreds! Hundreds, I tell you!
The number one book I hated was CATCHER IN THE RYE. I hated Holden, I hated the premise of the book, I hated the theme that was supposed to be universal and was sososo not! I struggled to read it and when we had to write a thematic opinion book report on it, I was scathing with my words. Got an A+, BTW, on it!
Didn’t like the GRAPES OF WRATH because it was sosososo depressing. And yes, I get that it was written in the depression, but still…just sayin’.
1984 seemed a little farfetched in 1972 to my 12 year old mind, and I couldn’t get into it.
Great Expectations was too sad and lugubrious a read for me. I struggled to finish it and write my book report.
War and Peace was a month of my life I will never get back. Plus, it was boring!
The Picture of Dorian Gray. I really wanted to slap somebody silly when I read this one. Again, a scathing book report and another A+.
Maybe I should have been a book critic instead of an author….
Nah!
Let’s see what books the other writers in this challenge struggled through in school. L&SR
Hey, don’t forget I’ve got a book sale going on. Before book 2 in my MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN series releases, book 1 DEARLY BELOVED is on sale for just 99cents until 8.23. If you need one more book to complete your summer reading list, this is the one for you!
Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.Until next time ~Peg
Peggy Jaeger, Author 
I wasn’t a big fan of Catcher in the Rye either.
My post.
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I really think only boys who couldn’t get dates in high school ever like it.
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Ya, Catcher in the Rye wasn’t one of my favs, either.
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I tried Catcher in the Rye and never got far in it. I thought 1984 was scary at the time I read it (I think I was 16), so I get why it wouldn’t be a favorite.
Great post.
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I had to read the whole bloody thing in English class. A class where I was one of 3 girls and the rest( 18) were boys who loooooooooved it.
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Of course. Lol!
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I’ve tried to read the “classics”. So many are boring. Different times I suppose. Great post.
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I seem to remember learning that they used to get paid by the word so that’s why so many “classics” are so long winded. Figures.
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I hate anything Steinbeck. He’s awful. Actually, most authors from that time period were terrible. 🙂 My daughter loved the Picture of Dorian Grey. Go figure.
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I agree with you on Steinbeck. Depressing is his middle name
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I loved The Picture of Dorian Grey and Great Expectations, but I agree with you on the others. My post is here.
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Well., to differ, I taught most of these classics and loved them for their themes–hard for high schoolers to grasp sometimes. 1984 seems chillingly to have come true in current America. Catcher’s theme is really about morality and Holden’s morals are top notch–look how he felt sorry for the prostitute and cared for his sister, though a lot of people miss this because of his language. Sigh. Nice, thought-provoking blog!
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I’ve never read any of these, oddly enough. Have contemplated reading Catcher in the Rye a few times though.
My post
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It always amazed me that so many of the novels offered in high school English classes were dark and depressing. As a student, I struggled with anything by John Steinbeck…The Pearl…Red Pony…all downers. I loved All Quiet on the Western Front. Great post, Peggy.
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This may be sacrilegious, but I hated The Sun Also Rises by Hemingway. It was one I read as an adult, and maybe better understood the motives and actions of the adults. It was so boring, repetitive, the main male character repeating the same dumb mistakes with the woman who used him over and over and he continued to love and stick by her. The end very unsatisfying, waste of my time. I read most of his others in high school & early college lit. I liked analyzing The Old Man & the Sea, taught me about symbolism and metaphors. What is considered ‘literary’ today versus his day has changed a lot, i think.
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I explain why I didn’t like Great Expectations on my blog. Preachers raised a fuss about Catcher in the Rye and the school system didn’t make it required. I had to read 1984, Brave New World and Animal Farm in 7th grade English. Mrs. Mojica was a tough teacher.
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I didn’t read Catcher In The Rye until college, which may have colored my impressions of it; I mainly found Holden self-indulgently whiny. I’m familiar with the rest of the list, but weirdly I haven’t read any of them.
My response is here.
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I loved 1984—and Brave New Word and Fahrenheit 451–yep. Ah, the innocence of youth. But Peggy, I had to l laugh when I read your comment about War and Peace–a month of your life you never got back 🙂 You had quite a list of required reads!
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Barbara – at this age, I need every month, moment, and day I can get!
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