All during my high school years we didn’t read anything like that. We had to read a lot of really really bad Australian literature though. Oh my God, A Fringe of Leaves was atrocious but because it depicted the Aboriginals engaging in cannibalism and raping white settlers, it was considered a good ‘debate’ book, Jack Davis’ play ‘No Sugar’ was just tedious, I didn’t have to read many Paul Jennings books but there was one (darned if I can remember the name of it) that wasn’t too bad but stuck with my for ages…
I could go on.
But I won’t.
There’s nothing really that exciting on the list…
I totally understand your plight, Nettie.
In my middle school days, we read Animal Farm. Cold Sassy Tree, The Golden Compass, etc.
Once I got up to high school, ALL WE READ was slave literature!
And honestly, that’s not a problem. America should be aware that we’ve sucked big-time in the past.
However, for the first two years of high school, we watched Roots, read The Color Purple, A Lesson Before Dying, The Bluest Eye, read about black poets and authors… all that we did had the underlying theme of slavery and racism in America.
It didn’t get much better my senior year (I did journalism junior year.. no novel-reading pour moi! ), because we started out by reading Coming of Age in Mississippi. After that we finally, FINALLY read something different!!
All during my high school years we didn’t read anything like that. We had to read a lot of really really bad Australian literature though. Oh my God, A Fringe of Leaves was atrocious but because it depicted the Aboriginals engaging in cannibalism and raping white settlers, it was considered a good ‘debate’ book, Jack Davis’ play ‘No Sugar’ was just tedious, I didn’t have to read many Paul Jennings books but there was one (darned if I can remember the name of it) that wasn’t too bad but stuck with my for ages…
I could go on.
But I won’t.
There’s nothing really that exciting on the list…
Hear hear! I always cringe when I hear Tim Winton’s won yet another writers award. I found that the book I was forced to read for year 12 was so tedious. Like most of the books I was forced to read in high school. Thank goodness I’m a quick reader, so could go back to my regular books sooner!
an·ti-u·to·pi·a (nt-y-tp-, nt-)
n.
1. An imaginary place or society characterized by human misery and oppression; a dystopia.
2. A work describing such a place or society.
dystopia
A dystopia (from the Greek δυσ- and τόπος, alternatively, cacotopia,[1] kakotopia or anti-utopia) is a fictional society that is the antithesis of utopia. It is usually characterized by an oppressive social control, such as an authoritarian or totalitarian government.
Some academic circles distinguish between anti-utopia and dystopia. As in George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, a dystopia does not pretend to be good, while an anti-utopia appears to be utopian or was intended to be so, but a fatal flaw or other factor has destroyed or twisted the intended utopian world or concept.[2]
*shudder* Tess is the only book I have ever been unable to finish.
It was so very, very tedious.
“Tedious” doesn’t quite give the pain and sorrow that I went through reading that story any justice!
I’d describe reading Tess more along the lines of excruciating, horrific, and TERRIBLY boring!
I had this feeling when by mistake I decided to read Dicken’s “The Old Curiosity Shop”. Bloody hell, what a boring, melodramatic book.
The worst book however when it comes to tedious (and the only book I never finished, so far as I can remember - even with bad books I am usually masochistic enough to read it out), was Kafka’s “The Castle”.
*shudder* Tess is the only book I have ever been unable to finish.
It was so very, very tedious.
“Tedious” doesn’t quite give the pain and sorrow that I went through reading that story any justice!
I’d describe reading Tess more along the lines of excruciating, horrific, and TERRIBLY boring!
I had this feeling when by mistake I decided to read Dicken’s “The Old Curiosity Shop”. Bloody hell, what a boring, melodramatic book.
The worst book however when it comes to tedious (and the only book I never finished, so far as I can remember - even with bad books I am usually masochistic enough to read it out), was Kafka’s “The Castle”.
I like most Dickens, at least when I am in the right mood. But then, melodrama isn’t always a bad thing. I’ve never tried Tess, though.
But as for the actual subject of the thread…It’s been a long while since I’ve read 1984 or Animal Farm, but as of the last time I read them, I liked 1984 better. For whatever that’s worth.
In my middle school days, we read Animal Farm. Cold Sassy Tree, The Golden Compass, etc.
I saw a sneak preview of the movie adaptation of “The Golden Compass” last night. I can see anyone not having read the book being kind of bored with it. Having read the series, I thought it was fairly good. Everything looked right, but they take all the heavy details and smoosh them into two hours, which is understandable but makes the it all even more confusing to non-readers.
The one thing they nailed dead-on was the bears. The bears are f**king awesome and exactly as I hoped they would be.
), because we started out by reading Coming of Age in Mississippi. After that we finally, FINALLY read something different!!
