School Books

A Classic--A book everyone talks about but has never read willingly.

We read all kinds of stuff for English, whether it be poetry, non-fiction, short stories, or the crappiest novels in the universe.

Rant and rave about the things you've had to read at school.

Rating system is out of 5. 5 means you loved it, 1 means you hated it.

"Catcher in the Rye"
Rating: 1
My thoughts: Worst. Book. Ever. There was no plot. The book made no sense. If you took out every cuss word, it would probably only be three pages.

"Animal Farm"
rating:4
My thoughts: it actually was an interesting book but only because of the background of the book. Its a lot like how i'm setting up Revelation of the gears where the whole story is set up to represent another event. The event this book represents the rise of Communisum in Soviet Russia
however, if you don't know the background, its basically a book about farm animals trying to run their own farm.

"Odyessy"
rating:2.5
My thoughts: interesting story because its all mythology. however its too damn long and too f***in hard to understand the writring.

"Tom Sawyer"
Rating: 4.5
My thoughts: I like Twain, so I thought it was hysterical. Everyone else in my class... not so much... Funny if you can catch the jokes.

"Animal Farm"
Rating: 4.2...?
My thoughts: Haven't finished it yet, but so far so good... Straightforward writing style without treating us like morons. Not too simple, not too frilly. Make sure you know something about the Russian Revolution before reading.

sailor didn't you see that i already posted animal farm?

...Repeats are fine. XD More thoughts on the same book.

"Frankenstein"
Rating: 4.6?
My thoughts: Just barely into it, but I like the story Frankenstein and the book isn't anoying. XD A bit wordy, but I like it so far.

I have this DS game which is basically 100 classic books on one cartridge, and i quite like it (mostly) . Right now I'm reading:

"20'000 Leagues Under The Sea"
Rating: 4.?
My thoughts: An alright book with an interesting character in the form of Captain Nemo, but the first few chapters are rather slow.

THERE'S A DS GAME LIKE THAT?!

...And... um... this is stuff you've had to read for school, not willingly. If you'd like to discuss those, put them in another topic.

"1984"
Rating: 5

An all around amazing book that I read several times after I was done with it in school. The way it enforces the idea of subjective truth is amazingly complex and wonderfully enjoyable. This and just about any book by Orwell is a must read.

"How to Read Literature like a Professor"
Rating: 4.8
My thoughts: They guy is very sarcastic about how to read literature. Some of the references he makes are a little lost on me, but overall it's pretty good. Funny and cracks jokes about specific things found in literature. One of the better things I've been stuck reading for school.

"Oedipus Rex"
Rating: 2.5
My Thoughts: Eh. It's a play. It was short. It was Greek. The translation was bad (they kept using "God," as in singular, not Greek)

"Othello"
Rating: 4
My thoughts: Shakespeare. Gotta love him (if you can understand him)

"A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"
Rating: 4.5
My thoughts: There were a lot of good parts, but it flowed a little weird and there were times it was boring.

"To Kill a Mockingbird"
Rating: 2.5
My thoughts: If the whole book was like the last couple chapters, it would've been pretty good. But it wasn't. Most of the story was just the kids doing stuff and the plot didn't even develop until halfway through. If I wasn't forced to read it for school, I probably wouldn't have finished it.

"The Portrait of Dorian Gray"
Rating: 3.5
My thoughts: While it was an interesting book, I didn't need to read a thirty page intro to get that Basil has a man-crush on Dorian, who has a man-crush on Lord Henry. >_<

"The Road"
Rating: 3.5
My thoughts: Two words: Bad grammar. Otherwise, a decent book filled to bursting with symbolism.

"The Awakening"
Rating: .1
My Thoughts: Worst. Book. Ever. Nothing happens in the first ten chapters.

"Night"
Rating: 4
My Thoughts: The book went a little fast, I heard there's a 700 page version in German....I want to read that version. The story line goes real fast, but it's catching and is written in a first person account.

Goldeyedalchemist wrote:"Night"
Rating: 4
My Thoughts: The book went a little fast, I heard there's a 700 page version in German....I want to read that version. The story line goes real fast, but it's catching and based off of a real event.

Isn't "Night" that first-person account of the concentration camps? I read that. It's all true.

Yeah, some of the events were 'deleted' though

Yeah, but "Night" isn't based off the events. It's a first person account. That's what I wanted to correct.

Ooh, okay. That's what I meant, I'll go fix that. ^^;;

"Anthropologist on Mars"
My Rating: -9001
My comments: Just... no.