<p>When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip. Gah. That book was utterly pointless. WASTE of my time. In her preface, the author explained that she wanted the book to heal a wound between America and Vietnam..but I think the only achievement was that she vented her guilt for whoring herself.</p>
<p>I've read about half of the books mentioned, and the only ones I intensely disliked were those by Hemingway. Though, I can see why other people like him. I just find him boring as hell.</p>
<p>But I simply cannot believe that you guys hate some of these books! Perhaps you read a bad translation of All Quiet on the Western Front? And, I can understand why guys would not appreciate The Awakening. </p>
<p>Otherwise, all I can think is, I wish our godforsaken educational system would fall off the face of the earth. Darn them for shovelling such great books down students' throats and expecting them to get something out of it! All they do is make their students despise whatever they teach. I've had to read books for school and ended up hating them. Then I went back and reread them on my own, and they were fantastic. The educational system is simply amazing at making wonderful, profound literature godawful and boring.</p>
<p>/rant</p>
<p>Hear, hear!</p>
<p>Preach it Trima! Preach it!</p>
<p>probably the tale of two cities and all dicken books. It's too dry.</p>
<p>Is 1984 that bad? I plan to read it but if you think it's bad then it's not worth it.</p>
<p>Has anyone ever read 'The Iliad' ??
I couldn't finish the first page...</p>
<p>sweetdream, I don't think you should base your reading choice on what people on CC say.</p>
<p>sweetdream, 1984 is definitely not bad. It's a very good book.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, I feel "The House on Mango Street" is more for a younger audience. I read it in the 9th grade and at the time, I thought it was good but if I was to read it now, I'd probably kill myself just like GreedDayFan said.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>my teacher says it's a book that people of many ages read. Like, one girl in my class read in it middle school, now we're reading it as sophs, and my teacher read it in grad school(for a class). hehe.</p>
<p>"The House on Mango Street" in grad school?!?! Wow, I guess life really isn't as hard as it seems.</p>
<p>1984 is definitely not bad. I'd even call it important. *Brave New World<a href="which%20I%20finished%20last%20night">/i</a> is creepy. Not very good, either. The characters were terribly developed. The dystopia stuff is fascinating, though, and it's amazing that Huxley wrote it in the '20s!</p>
<p>I didn't like The Awakening very much at all--the story was interesting, and of course the feminist elements were significant, but I didn't like the way it was written at all.</p>
<p>really? I thought the awakening was very good (it wouldn't fly today because the feminist elements are too revolutionary, but considering the context...)
And I otherwise thought the story was good. Oh, the yellow wallpaper is similar but far better. I kind of thought it was excellent. well done, and not as blatant as the Awakening</p>
<p>Ah! Yellow wallpaper!
That was so interesting. And now I'm afraid of going mad in my kitchen, oppressed by our patriarchal society and the tiny multi-colored flowers ;)</p>
<p>I didn't like Kate Chopin's style for some reason. It wasn't an enjoyable read. The theme of the book, though, was good--I've been reading a lot of feminist stuff lately (The Feminine Mystique, The Handmaid's Tale, etc.).</p>
<p>The Great Gatsby. How could something so short be so boring?
On Strategy. Ok, most of you won't have heard of it, but same sentiment.</p>
<p>I wrote an essay or book report on Great Gatsby in high school and panned it. Teacher's response was "are you aware it's a classic?" I recently commented to my father that maybe I could appreciate it now. He said probably not. I suspect that it would be like the poster who tried Moby Dick again after many years-- yuk.</p>
<p>Moby Dick? What's that? Sounds like a genital disease!:)</p>
<p>Fun thread. </p>
<p>My kid found Guns, Germs and Steel really interesting.</p>
<p>how come someone not know what Moby Dick is? No offense though if you living outside the states or just moved here. It's a book by Herman Melville about a guy going out in the sea and meeting a whale, blah, blah, blah. It's quite entertaining, though</p>
<p>It was a joke:). Ha!</p>
<p>sweetdream...how silly of you.</p>
<p>OK, I'll admit it, back in my high school days I read a few Star Trek and D&D novels. They're all horrible wastes of paper that should never have been published. But I'll admit I never read anything by Ayn Rand, which should certainly be in this list...</p>
<p>I really liked Guns, Germs, and Steel. I agree with mom58. I hated The Great Gatsby, even if "it was one of the greatest American novels of all time," as said by my English teacher. -.-.</p>