The classics I've loved reading have included Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Animal Farm, Call of the Wild, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Native Son. Also The Fellowship of the Ring, although I'm not sure if Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as classic literature... The only classic book I've ever truly hated reading has been The Grapes of Wrath. I disliked A Farewell to Arms, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated it; TGOW is probably the only classic that I feel utter hatred for.
One of my faaavourite books is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I don't know why it isn't more widely appreciated- in the UK at least ...it's set in an American University, the main characters are Classics students who dabble too much in old rituals with the most unpredictable and unexplainable consequences. If you google "it is a very greek idea and a very profound one" there's a brilliant paragraph from the book that gives you a taste of the ideas and things :)
I love watching your videos because you are this burst of excitement that pops out at me every time I watch a video. Regardless of what it's about, your videos always put me in a better mood :)
I am in a lower grade, the kind that reads middle grade books. Most of the classics I enjoy I am going to be reading for school later in life. For example, I read the catcher in the rye (I wrote a hate-fiction where Holden gets hit by a bus) and it will not be required for school for three years, and I don't read Animal Farm for school for another two years, but I read it a few weeks ago and it blew me away. I usually read the books required for school WAY before I actually am required to read them
Oh my Gosh!! I loved reading The Giver when I was in 7th grade! I got really into it and it just flew by so fast! After we finished it I looked into more Lois Lowry's books and found that the giver had 3 more books in a series of it! I ABSOLUTELY loved them and the first ones Gathering Blue. I REALLY suggest you guys read it and the others because they are awesome!! :D
Night by Elie Wiesel was a book I really enjoyed reading in school. I got emotionally connected to the characters and the events happening around them.
What's so great about The Catcher in the Rye is that there's no middle ground. You either love it or you hate. I'm firmly in the love camp. I remember thinking To Kill a Mockingbird was boring, but loved Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm. I read Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as an adult and they were all amazing reads. Actually, Wuthering Heights is my favorite book EVER.
"Slaughterhouse 5" and "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, and "Grendel" by John Gardner (Beowulf from the monster's perspective) were my favorites in high school.
Books and my reactions During High school: -Tom Sawyer twice! (hated both times) -Huck Finn (better than Tom Sawyer but still found it boring) -To Kill a Mockingbird (meh) -Of Mice and Men (this was pretty good) -Pride and Prejudice (didn't like the idea of reading it, but liked it when I finished) -Fahrenheit 451 (not bad, definitely interesting) -Heart of Darkness (weird, but I don't really like it) -Holes (meh, fun, but nothing too exciting) -Hatchet (barely remember it...) -Call of the Wild (long, and detailed, but I kind of like it) -Frankenstein (hmm...long, different, but not too bad) During College: -To Kill A Mockingbird (dude! I never knew how good this book was!) -A Tale of Two Cities (going in: Charles Dickens? no... After: I love this book!) -Heart of Darkness (no! I didn't like it the first time, I still don't like it) -Frankenstein (I don't remember it being this detailed...ugh, so long...) -One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (excited to read it, really enjoyed it)
Would you mind telling me a little bit more about that? I am a teacher and my school has a class set of the book, but I'm not sure if it's something I should have my students read... or just something to get for my classroom library.
Its the story of a dystopian society where war is always going on, houses are all fireproof, reading is outlawed. The firemen burn books and the houses that they were in. The story follows firefighter Guy Montag and his struggle to understand the society that he lives in.
I wasn't supposed to read Fahrenheit 451 for school but my L.A. teacher said we should read it because later we had to read Something Wicked This Way Comes. When we were about to start it, my teacher looks at me and says "This is your worst nightmare." Predictable? I THINK NOT!
Absolute favourite school reading book was 'The Kite Runner'. I never used to like reading until this book, I couldn't put it down, I read in all the time. To the point I accidently dropped it in the bath which was full. I cried because I couldn't keep reading until it dried.
I could not stand Great Gatsby. I hated every single character except Nick. I though Daisy and Tom were stupid and Gatsby was kind of a jerk to bring Nick into his relationship issues. it's also a bit stalkerish to move right next to the previous love of your life. No hate for anyone that liked Great Gatsby, but I despised that book.
We read Maniac Magee in fifth grade and really loved it. It was probably so good because my teacher would give each of us a copy of the book and we would all have a part which was awesome to do.
Back when I was in school, I took Literature at Sixth Form, I had to read everything from Of Mice and Men, to Great Gatsby (never actually finished that one) and An Inspector Calls! Some of the kids in my school were able to read William Goldings 'Lord of the Flies' which I kinda wished I had a chance to as Golding went to my school!
I really dug Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." I was a very shy person in high school, but I loved it so much I volunteered to read a few passages in front of the class!!
read the giver in school and loved it like middle school or elem and i also loved a wrinkle in time and read the series now im re-reading it. Brings back good memories.
I'm dyslexic so reading books for school was like punishment to me. in collage I started reading books during summer break to get away form the computer screens and spend some time out side with out being board. I started reading all the books I could find in English (i live in the Netherlands) that had the penguin on it because I figured that they must be classic and hopefully good. I'm glad i did. my fave 'classic' is Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe first published in 1722.
Going to school in Denmark I haven´t read a lot of the books you´re talking about here. But we did read a lot of books that just stuck with me like damn. (I´m translating the titles here, unfortunately I don´t think any of these books have been translated to English.) The "Daughter of the Shamer" series by Lene Kaaberbøl basically was my Harry Potter. I´d already read the first book, and the rest of the series, when my teacher picked it up and to this day no series has stuck with me quite like that. "Nothing" by Jane Teller gave me my first existential crisis when I was like 12, and "The Mad Ones"by Kim Fupz Aakeson opened the world of Dystopian fiction to me. I think I was incredibly lucky with the books we read in class. They really just fueled me and made me hunger for more. Also I completely agree about Hemingway ...
My school favorites are 1984 by George Orwell, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel. You should definitely check them out! All of these were read during my AP English class senior year.
I've read a book called Seven Per Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (No he is NOT related to Stephine Meyer) way back in middle school but it wasn't for a class. I'm into Sherlock Holmes in a big way and this was a Holmes story that was diffferent from all the others I've read then. It was published in the late 70's and there was a movie too. The author responsible for the book also wrote the screenplay for the film.
I don't know if it's an English school thing, but the only classic I had to read in school was Great Expectations, and I adored it. I read it in 'middle school' and high school, plus I think it helped that we watched the BBC Douglas Booth dramatisation in class alongside it. I almost wish we read more books in school because I've only really recently gotten into classics and I feel like I've missed out on so many good books. I recently read A Tale of Two Cities and it may be my favourite book ever.
For school I've read (other than divergent) were Animal Farm, The Giver, Savvy, Shades of Gray, Siddartha, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet and The tragedy of Julius Caesar.
I loved the Great Gatsby. The characters were a little distant, but i think that was on purpose. Daisy was a cold, self-involved person, and Gatsby had only one goal for his life, which was getting Daisy. Nick was a good narrorator for the story, being an observer of Gatsby and Daisy's story. I love the 20's and this story with all it's description. I also love love love Pride and Prejudice, The Yearling, The Westing Game and The secret Garden. A Tale of Two Cities is defiantly worth reading as well!
I liked reading the outsiders. I hated reading Enders Game the first time in middle school but I enjoyed it more when I was a senior I high school. I didn't like reading of mice and men and lord of the flies.
A few of the classics I now like are because I had to read them for school. I'm currently reading the Scarlet Letter. It's hard to chose a favorite, but I really like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Tale of Two Cities.
The only required books that I ever really enjoyed were The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and Yellow Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Those books really made me feel things other than boredom. I remember with The Outsiders I had to read the book three times before I could reread it and watch the movie with my classmates without crying.
I'm homeschooled so I never had to read any of those books, but I have read a few classics. I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird, and I loved it. One of my favorite books. I read Dracula by Bram Stoker earlier this year and I liked it. It was harder to get through than Mockingbird, though. I read A Wrinkle In Time years ago and I loved it. It's been a while so I'm thinking of re-reading it. I love all of your videos and I'm getting lots of books for my Summer Reading List. Thanks!
"The Count of Monte Cristo" (Alejandro Dumas), "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (Edgar Allan Poe - story compilations), "Rafaela" (Mariana Furiasse), and "October, a crime" (Norma Huidoboro).
I loved Secret Life of Bees, I picked it up out of curiosity because I saw it in my school library...finished it in three days. Now I can tell where it is from it's spine on the other side of the library! I also really liked The Outsiders when I read that in 7th grade....everyone else hated it :(. I read Gathering Blue in 5th grade for a required lexile reading thingy...this book blew my little eleven year old brain. So yeah, I have good experiences with school books. I'm going to be reading To Kill a Mockingbird in a few months, what are your opinions on it? Sorry for such a long comment lol
In high school we read The Chrysalids, To Kill A Mockingbird, Lord of The Flies, Animal Farm, Julius Caeser, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Diary of a Young Girl, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ones that stood out for me were Shakespeare's plays! I love William Shakespeare's work!! But novel-wise, I liked To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.
Others -The Givetr (One of the extremely few books I cried about) -Polyanna -Anything by L.M Montgomery -Black Beauty (finished the children's version in about a day at 3rd grade) -Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm -Where the Red Fern Grows -The Nightingale that weep (or something like that) (the ending was kinda creepy) -The Joy Luck Club -Don't if this is a classic but anything by Lloyd Alexander -The Picture of Dorian Gray -Jane Eyre (liked it WAY better than Jane Austen)
My favorite book I read in school was Catcher in the Rye. Since high school, I've actually gone back and read more J.D Salinger. A close second favorite was Romeo and Juliet.
I loved a Thousand Splendid Suns: it was so true and realistic. You could actually feel the growing bond within the characters and as you read you grew a bond with them through all of their many tough events. One book I seriously dislike is The Awakening. I couldn't deal with the ending or just the main characters actions in general.
1984 is a great book, I'm reading it at the moment so I won't assume it's my favorite classic yet but I think it probably will be by the end of it. Of mice and men and the time machine are great too.
Enders Game is one of my favourite books. My Dad had them all in the attic and he only remembered them cause he heard the movie was coming out so I read them before hand. Have you read any other Orson Scott Card books?
Have you ever read To Kill A Mockingbird ? It's a really good one . As for dislike ... Ernest Hemingway : The Old Man in the sea . It wasn't bad but .. I couldn't get through it . I was thinking about re-reading it . It was amazing writing , but some chapter's ...
Four classics recommendations: Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild; The Bell Family by Noel Streatfeild; Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer; and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
To Kill A Mockingbird. I'll be honest and say I hated it the first time I read it for school, but I had to reread it (I went on student exchange and that class was reading it) and it was so beautiful to me the second time because I understood the symbolism right off the bat.
The rest of the "A Wrinkle In Time" series is definitely worth reading. They don't have much to do with each other, but they all have the same characters. A Swiftly Titling Planet is probably the best one, and the strangest.
My all-time favorite classic, as well as favorite book/story period, is Little Women. Which i didn't even read for school, but because my sister gave it to me one Christmas and i read it for the first time that summer, before 7th grade. The '94 movie is one of my favorites, and i tear up every time. almost 150 years before Prim Everdeen, there was Beth March...
omg I am so happy that I am not the only one who feels that way about the great gatsby! I had like not idea who daisy even was as a character because she was only in two scenes! it was so frustrating because I really wanted to like it.
I really want to finish reading Alice in Wonderland since it's already becoming a favorite of mine. I plan to read The Island of Dr. Moreau especially since I love Orphan Black. Oh! I'll also be reading Fahrenheit 451 for school soon.
I read Percy Jackson because my mom was my teacher and she let me pick since I' m so bad at concentrating. I also read some boring ones that I can't really remember.. That's how much I enjoy that.
Have you read On the Road by Jack Kerouac? That's something to read and reread during the lazy days of summer and still enjoy the 3rd time. Yes, it can be hard to follow bc of the dialect (1940s America), but the characters are so clear and fun that you get so swept up in the line. The main characters Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty are really cool together and so likeable. I HIGHLY recommend it for a read.
I'm just started reading Classics. Though I'm still beginner for it, I already finished reading 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility'. Yeah, I don't like Pride & Prejudice much, but I don't feel hate it. I found some work of Austen that is better than it like 'Persuasion' and 'Sense and Sensibility'. I haven't finished reading all of her work but I might try again soon.
That one book where it's like a family in a cabin in the woods and I can't remember the book too well but it was BORING. I LOVE LOVE LOVED the Wayside books that my 3rd grade teacher read to us as well as The Giver, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and The Outsiders.
Oh I LOVED a wrinkle in time!!! You definitely should read the rest of the series. The second book, A Wind in the Door, is more confusing but it's still good. And then the third book, A Swifty Tilting Planet, is AMAZING. I reread that book so many times, IT'S SO GOOD. And then there's a companion book called Many Waters, and it's about Meg'a brothers Sandy and Dennys. Many Waters was probably my favorite book of all time until I got into the Mortal Instruments. I literally read it so many times
When i was in highschool my english teacher had us read great gatsby but also the hunger games and the life of a part time indian. I enjoyed the first two but not so much the third. I also had to read things fall apart which i liked alot.
I feel like there are a lot of people in this comment thread that disliked Hatchet. I liked it. I also really liked The Giver and loved Number the Stars. There's also a book called The Indian in the Cupboard that I really enjoyed but I'm not entirely sure if it's a classic.
One of the first books I remember reading in school was Street Child by Berlie Doherty. It's a kids book about a runaway called Jim in the 1860s and I loved it. I'd love to reread it now to see if I find it as good.. but I reccommend. I usually like books we read in high school... espech Romeo and Juliet. I was probably the only on in the class who could read it fluently. I also loved Hobson's choice and Of Mice and Men... not so keen on the snippet of Great Expectations that we read.
I remember HATING The Great Gatsby when I had to read it in high school. I may try to read it sometime given the fact that I graduated back in 2003 and my tastes have somewhat changed since then. I really loved The Catcher in the Rye though :P
My brother made me read "Ender's Game" & it's seriously one of my favorite books ever. A school that includes that book in their curriculum is amazing to me. I love a lot of classics, but I've had to read some terrible, pointless ones (i.e. "Ethan Frome" & "Wuthering Heights"). My apologies to those that enjoyed them; I just couldn't!
The Great Gatsby is an INCREDIBLE re-read. I read it after having read it, like, 6 years ago in high school. I absolutely loved it. It's suuuch a classic, tragic story, and I appreciate it so much more at 23 than I did at 16. Guess that's what an English minor has given me. :P
I am guilty of loving reading classics at school while everyone was like ah so moist! We did a lot of Shakespeare and I loved The Tempest, the extended metaphors In Romeo and Juliet, Of mice and men
I remember absolutely hating Oliver Twist and A Separate Peace when I read them in ninth and tenth grade respectively. Some of my most favorite books have come from my high school's curriculum, though-- The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, and Invisible Man, being a few. My all time favorite book that I ever read in high school is The Hobbit. I read it as a senior, and it sparked an incredible interest in Tolkien. I fell in love.
I liked Pride & Prejudice but it took me a month to read. I remember hating this one book I read in HS that was set in Minnesota. I can't remember what it was called.... It started with an S and was the name of the town it was set in. Hmm.. Anyway.
@NEHOMAS2 I actually want to read The Left Hand of Darkness. Funny enough, I discovered it mentioned in a movie called The Jane Austen Book Club. Weird how things work out.
I hate to disagree but not every great book can just be labeled as a "classic". Reading The Giver, Bridge to Terabithia, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and A Wrinkle in Time were among some of the defining moments of my childhood, but I can't see calling them classics. Similarly, Ender's Game (along with Douglas Adams) will someday be considered classics alongside Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein- just not yet. Tolkien and Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are just becoming recognized classics, Harry Potter has a long way to go. This in no way diminishes how great a book is, but being a classic is about more than just the overall quality of a book. The only modern authors I can think of that might be considered as having written classics (and even then only after breaking some rules) are Salman Rushdie (though it's too early to tell how much of his notoriety is due to the controversial nature of his writing), Kurt Vonnegut (maybe), Doris Lessing (if more people were familiar with her work), and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who is the only author still alive today, whose work was published during our lifetime, that I have no qualms about firmly categorizing as classic literature.) But as far as the so-called established classics go, some might be rather dry and tedious, but there's a reason they're considered classics and the majority of them I simply adore. The Russians and Irish are unparalleled in their contributions to literature and I can never get enough of them and I can honestly say that I would be a fundamentally different person had I never fallen in love with Camus and Proust the summer before I left for college. The classics are classics because no matter how long ago they were written, what they reveal to us about our nature is universal and timeless. Give them a chance and you'll find one speaks to who you are, your fears and beliefs your insecurities and ideals and dreams and aspirations, and you'll find that someone who has been dead for hundreds of years understands you better than your closest friends. That's amazing and beautiful.
loved this place has no atmosphere...tht was going into 7th grade and i actually read tht one...i pretended to read the giver when we had to and i pretended to read a wrinkle in time...and my mom read ender's game for me...i liked catcher in the rye and the great gatsby...and i only got through half of a prayer for owen meany...omg hatchet, i forgot about tht one...and i did actually read the secret life of bees...and losing julia was freaking amazing...i cried, love...
Are you going to watch the Ender's Game movie that's coming out soon?? I want to watch it, but I don't know if I should read the book first...same with Maze Runner since Lily Collins will be in it....hmmm...
Mr. Darcy is a boss.
My two ultimate fave books: Ender's Game and A Tale of Two Cities
I LOVED "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas"!!
Animal farm was my favourite from school, I really like Orwell's writing :)
The classics I've loved reading have included Great Expectations, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Animal Farm, Call of the Wild, The Scarlet Letter, Of Mice and Men, Native Son. Also The Fellowship of the Ring, although I'm not sure if Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as classic literature... The only classic book I've ever truly hated reading has been The Grapes of Wrath. I disliked A Farewell to Arms, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I hated it; TGOW is probably the only classic that I feel utter hatred for.
One of my faaavourite books is The Secret History by Donna Tartt. I don't know why it isn't more widely appreciated- in the UK at least
...it's set in an American University, the main characters are Classics students who dabble too much in old rituals with the most unpredictable and unexplainable consequences. If you google "it is a very greek idea and a very profound one" there's a brilliant paragraph from the book that gives you a taste of the ideas and things :)
The only two classics I've even read are A Tale of Two Cities (I read it because of the Infernal Devices) and The Great Gatsby.
I love watching your videos because you are this burst of excitement that pops out at me every time I watch a video. Regardless of what it's about, your videos always put me in a better mood :)
I am in a lower grade, the kind that reads middle grade books. Most of the classics I enjoy I am going to be reading for school later in life. For example, I read the catcher in the rye (I wrote a hate-fiction where Holden gets hit by a bus) and it will not be required for school for three years, and I don't read Animal Farm for school for another two years, but I read it a few weeks ago and it blew me away. I usually read the books required for school WAY before I actually am required to read them
Oh my Gosh!! I loved reading The Giver when I was in 7th grade! I got really into it and it just flew by so fast! After we finished it I looked into more Lois Lowry's books and found that the giver had 3 more books in a series of it! I ABSOLUTELY loved them and the first ones Gathering Blue. I REALLY suggest you guys read it and the others because they are awesome!! :D
Night by Elie Wiesel was a book I really enjoyed reading in school. I got emotionally connected to the characters and the events happening around them.
What's so great about The Catcher in the Rye is that there's no middle ground. You either love it or you hate. I'm firmly in the love camp. I remember thinking To Kill a Mockingbird was boring, but loved Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm. I read Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights as an adult and they were all amazing reads. Actually, Wuthering Heights is my favorite book EVER.
"Slaughterhouse 5" and "Cat's Cradle" by Kurt Vonnegut, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse, and "Grendel" by John Gardner (Beowulf from the monster's perspective) were my favorites in high school.
I'm homeschooled, so I get to do a co-op Fridays and I'm reading a wrinkle in time; so far, not bad.
Books and my reactions
During High school:
-Tom Sawyer twice! (hated both times)
-Huck Finn (better than Tom Sawyer but still found it boring)
-To Kill a Mockingbird (meh)
-Of Mice and Men (this was pretty good)
-Pride and Prejudice (didn't like the idea of reading it, but liked it when I finished)
-Fahrenheit 451 (not bad, definitely interesting)
-Heart of Darkness (weird, but I don't really like it)
-Holes (meh, fun, but nothing too exciting)
-Hatchet (barely remember it...)
-Call of the Wild (long, and detailed, but I kind of like it)
-Frankenstein (hmm...long, different, but not too bad)
During College:
-To Kill A Mockingbird (dude! I never knew how good this book was!)
-A Tale of Two Cities (going in: Charles Dickens? no... After: I love this book!)
-Heart of Darkness (no! I didn't like it the first time, I still don't like it)
-Frankenstein (I don't remember it being this detailed...ugh, so long...)
-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (excited to read it, really enjoyed it)
I fucking loved Fahrenheit 451! even though it told my worst nightmare.
Would you mind telling me a little bit more about that? I am a teacher and my school has a class set of the book, but I'm not sure if it's something I should have my students read... or just something to get for my classroom library.
Its the story of a dystopian society where war is always going on, houses are all fireproof, reading is outlawed. The firemen burn books and the houses that they were in. The story follows firefighter Guy Montag and his struggle to understand the society that he lives in.
Love it too. I love Ray Bradbury's writing style and I loved the character of Clarisse. I don't know why everyone hates it so much.
I wasn't supposed to read Fahrenheit 451 for school but my L.A. teacher said we should read it because later we had to read Something Wicked This Way Comes. When we were about to start it, my teacher looks at me and says "This is your worst nightmare." Predictable? I THINK NOT!
Absolute favourite school reading book was 'The Kite Runner'. I never used to like reading until this book, I couldn't put it down, I read in all the time. To the point I accidently dropped it in the bath which was full. I cried because I couldn't keep reading until it dried.
I could not stand Great Gatsby. I hated every single character except Nick. I though Daisy and Tom were stupid and Gatsby was kind of a jerk to bring Nick into his relationship issues. it's also a bit stalkerish to move right next to the previous love of your life. No hate for anyone that liked Great Gatsby, but I despised that book.
That's the point. You're not supposed to really like the characters like Daisy or Tom.
1984 by george orwell AMAZING book kind of depressing tho
We read Maniac Magee in fifth grade and really loved it. It was probably so good because my teacher would give each of us a copy of the book and we would all have a part which was awesome to do.
Back when I was in school, I took Literature at Sixth Form, I had to read everything from Of Mice and Men, to Great Gatsby (never actually finished that one) and An Inspector Calls! Some of the kids in my school were able to read William Goldings 'Lord of the Flies' which I kinda wished I had a chance to as Golding went to my school!
I really dug Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451." I was a very shy person in high school, but I loved it so much I volunteered to read a few passages in front of the class!!
read the giver in school and loved it like middle school or elem and i also loved a wrinkle in time and read the series now im re-reading it. Brings back good memories.
I'm dyslexic so reading books for school was like punishment to me. in collage I started reading books during summer break to get away form the computer screens and spend some time out side with out being board. I started reading all the books I could find in English (i live in the Netherlands) that had the penguin on it because I figured that they must be classic and hopefully good. I'm glad i did.
my fave 'classic' is Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe first published in 1722.
So sad ... in Germany we never ever read so many books for school. Had to read like... 4
I absolutely love the outsiders by S.E. Hinton! Only school book I ever liked :)
Going to school in Denmark I haven´t read a lot of the books you´re talking about here. But we did read a lot of books that just stuck with me like damn. (I´m translating the titles here, unfortunately I don´t think any of these books have been translated to English.)
The "Daughter of the Shamer" series by Lene Kaaberbøl basically was my Harry Potter. I´d already read the first book, and the rest of the series, when my teacher picked it up and to this day no series has stuck with me quite like that. "Nothing" by Jane Teller gave me my first existential crisis when I was like 12, and "The Mad Ones"by Kim Fupz Aakeson opened the world of Dystopian fiction to me.
I think I was incredibly lucky with the books we read in class. They really just fueled me and made me hunger for more.
Also I completely agree about Hemingway ...
My school favorites are 1984 by George Orwell, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel. You should definitely check them out! All of these were read during my AP English class senior year.
I loved The Secret Garden!!
I've read a book called Seven Per Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (No he is NOT related to Stephine Meyer) way back in middle school but it wasn't for a class. I'm into Sherlock Holmes in a big way and this was a Holmes story that was diffferent from all the others I've read then. It was published in the late 70's and there was a movie too. The author responsible for the book also wrote the screenplay for the film.
I don't know if it's an English school thing, but the only classic I had to read in school was Great Expectations, and I adored it. I read it in 'middle school' and high school, plus I think it helped that we watched the BBC Douglas Booth dramatisation in class alongside it. I almost wish we read more books in school because I've only really recently gotten into classics and I feel like I've missed out on so many good books. I recently read A Tale of Two Cities and it may be my favourite book ever.
Ender's Game was SUCH A GOOD BOOK! Right now I'm reading the companion Ender's Shadow. It's basically the same story from Bean's POV.
For school I've read (other than divergent) were Animal Farm, The Giver, Savvy, Shades of Gray, Siddartha, Twelfth Night, Romeo & Juliet and The tragedy of Julius Caesar.
I loved the Great Gatsby. The characters were a little distant, but i think that was on purpose. Daisy was a cold, self-involved person, and Gatsby had only one goal for his life, which was getting Daisy. Nick was a good narrorator for the story, being an observer of Gatsby and Daisy's story. I love the 20's and this story with all it's description. I also love love love Pride and Prejudice, The Yearling, The Westing Game and The secret Garden. A Tale of Two Cities is defiantly worth reading as well!
Gone with the Wind :D
I absolutely hated treasure island and a light in the forest, I could NOT get through them
Liking the character a very important factor in a book!
I liked reading the outsiders. I hated reading Enders Game the first time in middle school but I enjoyed it more when I was a senior I high school. I didn't like reading of mice and men and lord of the flies.
i remember really loving the outsiders and tuck everlasting
A few of the classics I now like are because I had to read them for school. I'm currently reading the Scarlet Letter. It's hard to chose a favorite, but I really like the Scarlet Pimpernel and Tale of Two Cities.
Also I didn't like Great Expectations but I'm planning to try and reread it since Cassandra Clare is basing The Last Hours on that classic 😁
The only required books that I ever really enjoyed were The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, and Yellow Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. Those books really made me feel things other than boredom. I remember with The Outsiders I had to read the book three times before I could reread it and watch the movie with my classmates without crying.
The second and third A Wrinkle in Time books are FANTASTIC. I haven't read the fourth and fifth yet, though.
The Outsiders was by far my favorite! To Kill a Mokingbird and Of Mice and Men were pretty good as well
My favorite book I ever read for school was And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. It was so good and mysterious and cool and omg yeah okay bye
We didn't actually studied or read the classics but i'm interested to read Catcher In The Rye and To Kill A Mockingbird...
I loved The Outsiders. I remember I came home the day we watched the movie and I found it on UA-cam and watched it again. I think I re-read it too.
I'm homeschooled so I never had to read any of those books, but I have read a few classics.
I just finished To Kill a Mockingbird, and I loved it. One of my favorite books.
I read Dracula by Bram Stoker earlier this year and I liked it. It was harder to get through than Mockingbird, though.
I read A Wrinkle In Time years ago and I loved it. It's been a while so I'm thinking of re-reading it.
I love all of your videos and I'm getting lots of books for my Summer Reading List. Thanks!
"The Count of Monte Cristo" (Alejandro Dumas), "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (Edgar Allan Poe - story compilations), "Rafaela" (Mariana Furiasse), and "October, a crime" (Norma Huidoboro).
I loved Secret Life of Bees, I picked it up out of curiosity because I saw it in my school library...finished it in three days. Now I can tell where it is from it's spine on the other side of the library! I also really liked The Outsiders when I read that in 7th grade....everyone else hated it :(. I read Gathering Blue in 5th grade for a required lexile reading thingy...this book blew my little eleven year old brain. So yeah, I have good experiences with school books. I'm going to be reading To Kill a Mockingbird in a few months, what are your opinions on it? Sorry for such a long comment lol
In high school we read The Chrysalids, To Kill A Mockingbird, Lord of The Flies, Animal Farm, Julius Caeser, Hamlet, Macbeth, The Diary of a Young Girl, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The ones that stood out for me were Shakespeare's plays! I love William Shakespeare's work!! But novel-wise, I liked To Kill A Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies.
Others
-The Givetr (One of the extremely few books I cried about)
-Polyanna
-Anything by L.M Montgomery
-Black Beauty (finished the children's version in about a day at 3rd grade)
-Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
-Where the Red Fern Grows
-The Nightingale that weep (or something like that) (the ending was kinda creepy)
-The Joy Luck Club
-Don't if this is a classic but anything by Lloyd Alexander
-The Picture of Dorian Gray
-Jane Eyre (liked it WAY better than Jane Austen)
some of my favs are the neverending story, Narnia, LOTR, the Hobbit, Anne of Green Gables, crime and punishment, the Count of Monte Cristo and etc.
My favorite book I read in school was Catcher in the Rye. Since high school, I've actually gone back and read more J.D Salinger. A close second favorite was Romeo and Juliet.
I hated The Great Gatsby as well! I had to read it in high school and found it really boring. I don't understand the appeal or hype about it at all.
I loved flowers for algernon. Had to read it sophomore year of high school and it is totally a book I recommended to everyone
I really enjoyed the outsiders, where the red fern grows, tuck everlasting, and more recently the kite runner, and the things they carried :)
I loved a Thousand Splendid Suns: it was so true and realistic. You could actually feel the growing bond within the characters and as you read you grew a bond with them through all of their many tough events. One book I seriously dislike is The Awakening. I couldn't deal with the ending or just the main characters actions in general.
I loved Where The Red Fern Grows, I think that was favorite book we had to read in school.
1984 is a great book, I'm reading it at the moment so I won't assume it's my favorite classic yet but I think it probably will be by the end of it. Of mice and men and the time machine are great too.
I HATE CATCHER OF THE RYE WITH A BURNING PASSION
Enders Game is one of my favourite books. My Dad had them all in the attic and he only remembered them cause he heard the movie was coming out so I read them before hand. Have you read any other Orson Scott Card books?
Love: A Tale of Two Cities (Carton!!!!)
Hate: Bless me, Ultima (there are cute, funny parts but overall, I just couldn't get it =.=)
Have you ever read To Kill A Mockingbird ? It's a really good one .
As for dislike ... Ernest Hemingway : The Old Man in the sea .
It wasn't bad but .. I couldn't get through it .
I was thinking about re-reading it .
It was amazing writing , but some chapter's ...
Four classics recommendations: Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild; The Bell Family by Noel Streatfeild; Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer; and I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith.
To Kill A Mockingbird. I'll be honest and say I hated it the first time I read it for school, but I had to reread it (I went on student exchange and that class was reading it) and it was so beautiful to me the second time because I understood the symbolism right off the bat.
The rest of the "A Wrinkle In Time" series is definitely worth reading. They don't have much to do with each other, but they all have the same characters. A Swiftly Titling Planet is probably the best one, and the strangest.
I didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird at first when I was in 8th grade but I reread it in 11th grade and I'm totally loving it.
My all-time favorite classic, as well as favorite book/story period, is Little Women. Which i didn't even read for school, but because my sister gave it to me one Christmas and i read it for the first time that summer, before 7th grade. The '94 movie is one of my favorites, and i tear up every time. almost 150 years before Prim Everdeen, there was Beth March...
omg I am so happy that I am not the only one who feels that way about the great gatsby! I had like not idea who daisy even was as a character because she was only in two scenes! it was so frustrating because I really wanted to like it.
I really want to finish reading Alice in Wonderland since it's already becoming a favorite of mine. I plan to read The Island of Dr. Moreau especially since I love Orphan Black. Oh! I'll also be reading Fahrenheit 451 for school soon.
I read Percy Jackson because my mom was my teacher and she let me pick since I' m so bad at concentrating. I also read some boring ones that I can't really remember.. That's how much I enjoy that.
I read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi and I LOVED that book. I read it before anyone else. It was AMAZING and I highly recommend it.
Have you read On the Road by Jack Kerouac? That's something to read and reread during the lazy days of summer and still enjoy the 3rd time. Yes, it can be hard to follow bc of the dialect (1940s America), but the characters are so clear and fun that you get so swept up in the line. The main characters Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty are really cool together and so likeable. I HIGHLY recommend it for a read.
I can't comprehend "I don't like catcher in the rye". How. It's incredible.
And my favorite classic books are the Narnia books!
Oh my gosh, my two absolute favorite books I had to read for school was To Kill a Mockingbird and The Westing Game.
I'm just started reading Classics. Though I'm still beginner for it, I already finished reading 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility'. Yeah, I don't like Pride & Prejudice much, but I don't feel hate it. I found some work of Austen that is better than it like 'Persuasion' and 'Sense and Sensibility'. I haven't finished reading all of her work but I might try again soon.
That one book where it's like a family in a cabin in the woods and I can't remember the book too well but it was BORING. I LOVE LOVE LOVED the Wayside books that my 3rd grade teacher read to us as well as The Giver, Al Capone Does My Shirts, and The Outsiders.
Oh I LOVED a wrinkle in time!!! You definitely should read the rest of the series. The second book, A Wind in the Door, is more confusing but it's still good. And then the third book, A Swifty Tilting Planet, is AMAZING. I reread that book so many times, IT'S SO GOOD. And then there's a companion book called Many Waters, and it's about Meg'a brothers Sandy and Dennys. Many Waters was probably my favorite book of all time until I got into the Mortal Instruments. I literally read it so many times
When i was in highschool my english teacher had us read great gatsby but also the hunger games and the life of a part time indian. I enjoyed the first two but not so much the third. I also had to read things fall apart which i liked alot.
I feel like there are a lot of people in this comment thread that disliked Hatchet. I liked it. I also really liked The Giver and loved Number the Stars. There's also a book called The Indian in the Cupboard that I really enjoyed but I'm not entirely sure if it's a classic.
I loved The Outsiders. I might be the only one who didn't like To Kill a Mockingbird. I just found it really boring
Finally! Somebody else that loved The Outsiders.
One of the first books I remember reading in school was Street Child by Berlie Doherty. It's a kids book about a runaway called Jim in the 1860s and I loved it. I'd love to reread it now to see if I find it as good.. but I reccommend. I usually like books we read in high school... espech Romeo and Juliet. I was probably the only on in the class who could read it fluently. I also loved Hobson's choice and Of Mice and Men... not so keen on the snippet of Great Expectations that we read.
I remember HATING The Great Gatsby when I had to read it in high school. I may try to read it sometime given the fact that I graduated back in 2003 and my tastes have somewhat changed since then. I really loved The Catcher in the Rye though :P
My brother made me read "Ender's Game" & it's seriously one of my favorite books ever. A school that includes that book in their curriculum is amazing to me. I love a lot of classics, but I've had to read some terrible, pointless ones (i.e. "Ethan Frome" & "Wuthering Heights"). My apologies to those that enjoyed them; I just couldn't!
Your video book talks are hilarious and I love Clockwork Angel
The Great Gatsby is an INCREDIBLE re-read. I read it after having read it, like, 6 years ago in high school. I absolutely loved it. It's suuuch a classic, tragic story, and I appreciate it so much more at 23 than I did at 16. Guess that's what an English minor has given me. :P
Hi Christine! When I was young, I read 'Runemarks' by Joanne Harris. I re-read it this summer, and it is so good! You should really try it. Really.
we're gonna start readint The Giver tomorrow in school and I'm sooo excited for it😍
Have you read any of my favorite classics like fahrenheit 451, Slaughterhouse Five, The picture of Dorian Gray, Animal Farm, Sherlock Holmes.. ??
I am guilty of loving reading classics at school while everyone was like ah so moist! We did a lot of Shakespeare and I loved The Tempest, the extended metaphors In Romeo and Juliet, Of mice and men
In 5th grade I read percy jackson and the lightning theif for a school book and I loved it
I remember absolutely hating Oliver Twist and A Separate Peace when I read them in ninth and tenth grade respectively. Some of my most favorite books have come from my high school's curriculum, though-- The Picture of Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, and Invisible Man, being a few. My all time favorite book that I ever read in high school is The Hobbit. I read it as a senior, and it sparked an incredible interest in Tolkien. I fell in love.
I liked Pride & Prejudice but it took me a month to read. I remember hating this one book I read in HS that was set in Minnesota. I can't remember what it was called.... It started with an S and was the name of the town it was set in. Hmm.. Anyway.
@NEHOMAS2 I actually want to read The Left Hand of Darkness. Funny enough, I discovered it mentioned in a movie called The Jane Austen Book Club. Weird how things work out.
I hate to disagree but not every great book can just be labeled as a "classic". Reading The Giver, Bridge to Terabithia, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, and A Wrinkle in Time were among some of the defining moments of my childhood, but I can't see calling them classics. Similarly, Ender's Game (along with Douglas Adams) will someday be considered classics alongside Clarke, Asimov, and Heinlein- just not yet. Tolkien and Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia are just becoming recognized classics, Harry Potter has a long way to go. This in no way diminishes how great a book is, but being a classic is about more than just the overall quality of a book. The only modern authors I can think of that might be considered as having written classics (and even then only after breaking some rules) are Salman Rushdie (though it's too early to tell how much of his notoriety is due to the controversial nature of his writing), Kurt Vonnegut (maybe), Doris Lessing (if more people were familiar with her work), and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (who is the only author still alive today, whose work was published during our lifetime, that I have no qualms about firmly categorizing as classic literature.)
But as far as the so-called established classics go, some might be rather dry and tedious, but there's a reason they're considered classics and the majority of them I simply adore. The Russians and Irish are unparalleled in their contributions to literature and I can never get enough of them and I can honestly say that I would be a fundamentally different person had I never fallen in love with Camus and Proust the summer before I left for college. The classics are classics because no matter how long ago they were written, what they reveal to us about our nature is universal and timeless. Give them a chance and you'll find one speaks to who you are, your fears and beliefs your insecurities and ideals and dreams and aspirations, and you'll find that someone who has been dead for hundreds of years understands you better than your closest friends. That's amazing and beautiful.
You are so lucky! The books you have to read are way newer than the ones we have to at my school (I don't mind though).
loved this place has no atmosphere...tht was going into 7th grade and i actually read tht one...i pretended to read the giver when we had to and i pretended to read a wrinkle in time...and my mom read ender's game for me...i liked catcher in the rye and the great gatsby...and i only got through half of a prayer for owen meany...omg hatchet, i forgot about tht one...and i did actually read the secret life of bees...and losing julia was freaking amazing...i cried, love...
Are you going to watch the Ender's Game movie that's coming out soon?? I want to watch it, but I don't know if I should read the book first...same with Maze Runner since Lily Collins will be in it....hmmm...