Who Were You Put Off Reading At School?

[Carole]

Realising a couple of you were put off having anything to do with Thomas Hardy by having to "do" him for school - who else can't you bear, having been forced to do them for "O" or "A" level?

I had to do Joseph Conrad's Nostromo for "A" level ... it was so awful that I never actually managed to read the whole thing :eeeek: Thankfully Joseph Conrad doesn't get dramatised much, so I'm fairly safe now, but I'm also very allergic to Geoffrey Chaucer.

I thank the gods that I didn't have to do Jane Austen and so can read and enjoy her today :D

[Leah]

Brilliant thread Carole. Thomas Hardy was murdered, so was Chaucer, Dickens and lamentably Jane Austen.....and later in university I was assaulted by Villette memorably and Thackeray...... put me off pretty much for life....

At the same time I was devouring on my own time [thank God they were never 'taught' to me or I'd have hated them too :( ] Wuthering Heights, Silas Marner, JG Farrell, Oscar Wilde , American novels, .......

After my last exam I ran into Woolworths, bought a handful of pulpy tosh bodice rippers from the bargain bin, heaved a hooooge sigh of relief, and actively resisted reading anything remotely regarded as a 'classic' for at least 10 yrs!

[Joanne]

Shakespeare, Ted Hughes, Franz Kafka and William Goulding,yuK,yuk,yuk.
Funnily enough Carole i'm sorry to say Jane Austin does nothing for me and, oddly enough even though everyone hated Chaucer I just fell in love with the Canterbury tales.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was inspired and of course Thomas Hardy's Tess Durbyfield.

When I die I wish I could go to Xanadu instead of heaven (or of course hell).

Oh I forgot to mention I love The last of the Mohikans. James Fenimore Cooper hence my GCCF prefix Chingachook (slightly mispelt).

Oh goodness I could go on and on and on.

[spicey]

Shakespeare for me too!! :lol:

[Needleworker]

Left school when I was 15 and never had to read anything at school that I can remember.

[Lucia]

I actually loved Shakespeare, was annoyed and frustrated by Chaucer, loathed Hardy - even though his aethos fitted my family's 'doom and gloom' attitude to life to a 'T' - adored the poetry of Auden, Houseman and TS Eliot, protected myself against the tedious novels selected for perusal in 'English Lit' by secretly reading 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' - and any PG Wodehouse book I could manage to get my hands on.

[Carole]

We "did" TS Eliot as well - I didn't hate it but I've never wanted to read any again.

I forgot Kipling because we "did" Kim for "O" level and I hated that as well, the only Kipling I've touched since are the cakes :lol:

I don't know what it says about education that being forced to read and dissect something can put you off the author for life :(

I'm very thankful I wasn't made to do Houseman because I know if I had, he wouldn't be my favourite poet now, along with Walter de la Mare.

[Sharon]

I was really lucky at school, I had an amazing English teacher and she brought all the books to life for me. We did some Shakespear, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austin and I still love them now.
But I remember my brother doing Chaucer and was really glad I didn't have to.

[DizzyJenni]

For part of my English A-Levels, who had to read Birdsond by Sebastian Faulks. Most people in the class loved it, but for me, being so squemish, it was torture. I got half through the year and had to ask for them to change my book, resulting in pretty poor results.

Now i can't watch anything on the war really, and will never, ever read anything on the war!

[Carole]

I've never read Birdsong. I've always meant to but have never got around to it. I've read so many sad WW1 service records that I don't think it would upset me too much :(

[Princess Leia]

Sebastian Faulks is one of my favourite authors - Birdsong, Fools Alphabet, Girl at the Lion d'Or - all fantastic :)

Apparently he has also written a Bond novel - back to the genre of the original Ian Fleming character. That should be interesting

[Willie]

Chaucer, 'Journal of a plague year' H.G.Wells 'a history of Mr.Polly', so boring, why do we have to disseminate language?

I was very lucky, I had an english teacher, who was a bit of a rebel & he introduced me to Shakespear by taking us to Stratford to see the plays, a passion I still have today. Read Huxley, 'Island' is my prefered novel of his, did the Golding bit, plus Steinbeck, love Hemmingway 'The old man & the sea' especially, Patrick White was heavy but poetic. ' Johnathan Livingston Seagul' by who I can't remember.
Still read a berlina sheet paper every day, when on holiday last week I was on my own for a couple of days, so could spend the time with the cats & a book, in the caravan, whilst it pi--ed out side. Don't read heavy stuff now, Harry Potter, keeps me going, plus things like 'Two Caravans' & 'A history of Tractors in the Ukrane'.

[magwitch]

Dickens. Never read any since.

I hated English Lit at school - all that dissection - and yet I've always read avidly. Thank god I never had to 'do' any Graham Greene as he's one of my favourites.

[Carole]

I really can't help thinking what a sad reflection it is on education that most of us seem to have been put off ever reading again who we had to study :(

[Mystic-Tree]

I wasn't put off Shakespeare by school. I don't think I was put off anything at school but I've always loved reading.

I couldn't get into Lorna Doone though. So I don't think I would like Chaucer!!!

G xxx

[Carole]

Lorna Doone is incredibly difficult to read ... it's all that dialect. Mind you I've tried to read other novels by R.D. Blackmore and they were impossible to read as well :lol:

Shakespeare is fine when you see it performed. It wasn't meant to be read like a novel so I don't see why it's taught like that.

[capricciosababs]

had the option of doing shakespeare or a mixture of 20th century poets ( was qawful!) together with taking George Bernard Shaws Pygmalion the book but wasnt allowed to see the film til after the exams - we also did Gerald Durrels famous and so funny My Family and Other Animals - fantastic! did some shakespeare at later stage and liked it lots! also read most of Arthur C Clrkes sci fi for less serious ...

[Ellie]

I had to do Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights at the same time, with awful, boring teachers. It was so formulaic! "Right, read the next five chapters for next week. Now, who can tell us what happened in the last section?" *YAWN*! They didn't manage to put me off Shakespeare, though, luckily.