YA Must-Reads discussion

These are opinions on books that you were basically forced to read. Whether you didn't like it or want to thank the person for forcing you to read it.

Example: I had to read The Secret Life of Bees and i loved it. My friend wanted me to read The Hunger Games, and at first I didn't want to, but then I actually read it (more like still reading it) and I love it!

Ugh. Scarlet Letter and Their Eyes were watching god. Both for ecole (school). It's horrible!

Add to "must avoid". lol

The Count of Monte Cristo (Abridged Version). I had to read it for AP english && I fell in love with it && its totally worth reading!
<3

Never heard of that one.

Tori wrote: "Never heard of that one."

I lovved it, its one of the greatest ever probably number two on my all-time list!

I think I actually have read that. Um... Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, really good although long and confusing.

Oh, and I loved Pride and Prejudice. One I didn't like is what I'm reading now in English: Beowulf is soo bad! I like the story line, it's just confusing!

Sonia wrote: "Oh, and I loved Pride and Prejudice. One I didn't like is what I'm reading now in English: Beowulf is soo bad! I like the story line, it's just confusing!"

Beowulf?? Strange name.

Yes, it's a movie with Angelina Jolie in it! Never watched it but it's weird!!!!!!!!!!

i've read Scarlet Letter. i loved it, but i wasn't forced to read it. In 8th grade(that's the furthest back i can remember which was only last school year) we had to read To Kill A Mockingbird(which i did read before then) which i loved. We also had to read Across Five Aprils which i hated. We also had to read Our Town(which is a play; which i read before then) which i liked. over the summer we had to read The Secret Life of Bees which i hated, but i loved the movie.

I thought The Secret Life of Bees was good!

Beowulf was a weird movie! I didn't like the Secret Life of Bees either. Or To Kill A Mockingbird. I had to read Anne Frank for summer reading as well as the Secret Life of Bees. I'd read Anne Frank before for fun and liked it, but I didn't like rereading it.

This year for English I'm going to have to read:
Number the Stars, Three Cups of Tea, Of Mice and Men, Gifted Hands, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet. Plus textbook short stories.

Anyone read any of these?

i've read Of Mice and Men, The Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet. all were really good.

We have to read Romeo and Juliet, right Dessii?

Ah!!! Of Mice and Men made me cry! So I have to say I didn't like it. I'm a "happily ever after" person.

doesnt lenny go crazy or something?

... Not exactly, no.

rite.

did you like romeo and juliet? im not really a play type layout reader

the scarlet letter which i couldn't wait to finish, yet couldn't stand. pride and prejudice was pretty good and surprisingly the movie with kiera knightly was good too (you guys should go check it out) and also bride and prejudice is an Indian/American version brought to film a few years ago. that one was cute. ummm...the typical shakespeare classics macbeth and romeo and juliet. romeo and juliet is pretty idiotic considering today's world so i don't think i'll be picking thru that again unless its to point out the silliness of that silly girl juliet and that hot-tempered romeo. honestly, if i was going to take my life (in order to take away the 'pain of living') i would make it fast, not long and drawn out with a dagger...seriously

haha definitely wont read romeo and juliet for fun. i loved the pride and prejudice movie!

pride and prejudice the movie was amazing. romeo and juliet was ok to me. they keep on trying to do modern versions of it as movies, and they all sucked.

i agree with the person above me...*LOL*
all who tried making modern versions of romeo and juliet sucks...

well i'm forced to read fallong leaves by a friend of mine and i thanked her for that..because the book is do good..

recently being forced to read three cups of tea...

I read.. My Side of the Mountain many years ago for some 3rd grade project and hated it!! I havent read Pride and Prjeduce or Romeo and Juliet. I have to read them next year in English. :P Im not looking forward to it. Ive never heard of some of the books you guys are talking about. One book they made me read in Engish this year was The Giver by Lois Lowry and I didnt really like it. It was kinda boring. I didnt know how it actually ended but it was ok. A book similar to that is Matched. Which I am reading now. Not the good. Same general idea in both The Giver and this one. I guess. Not recommended to anyone unless they like to read about people who are the same. Same clothes,same everyday life, same family stuffs, and the same thing for there whole lives. Bor. Ing.

At first(I know, I know) I didn't felt attracted my The Mortal Instruments Trilogy. I totally waved them off. But then my best friend got it and read it. And she was all excited and kept telling how great it was. I finally decided to trust her (she have a nice taste in books, she recommended to me the HON series) and bought them.
So now I am a Mortal Instruments fan.

I didn't have to read my side of the mountain till 5th grade but I had already read it by then and really enjoyed it. As for the giver I love the ending... He begining was boring and the book gathering blue by louis lowry was much better. Did not like Romeo and Juliet, like pride and prejudice... My favorite book we had to read was where the red fern grows during fourth grade... I cried.

As for the mortal instruments series haven't read any of them…

oh and for pride and prejudice best version I've seen is the BBC version from 1985 (not the one with colin firth). Very good representation of the characters.

Holes. I had to read Holes in eighth grade despite reading it in grade 3. Yeah, so you can say I was an advanced reader, but in grade three I didn't like it too much, and in eighth grade I liked it.

Rereading books at different stages in your life can definitely change your point of view.

I will have to read Brave New World for summer reading junior year, and according to some of my friends who have already read it, it was torture, so I am not looking forward to that.

Forced to read: Romeo and Juliet, The Outsiders.

For Romeo and Juliet, I like their devotion for each other....However, I'm not so keen on the entire "love at first look of appearance" aspect of it. Overall, it was OK.

As for The Outsiders... I love it! You can tell that S. E. Hilton is a girl after reading the first two chapters and see that the main character/narrator Ponyboy doesn't really have that guy feel to him and the way he refers to everyone. Hmm...maybe I just like the violent aspect of it...? Though it is pretty corny towards the end.

I actually didn't like the Outsiders...just not my cup of tea.

Reading Romeo and Juliet now. Doesn't make it any better that my English teacher is a lunatic!

Interesting side note on Romeo and Juliet... Wherefore art thou Romeo actually means why is your name Romeo. I never knew that until recently. I thought it meant Where are you Romeo. Did everyone already know this?

nope. yep. maybe.

Forced to Read : Silas Marner
In my opinion , I think maybe it is too advanced for highschool? My english teacher is a little out there. But i could not get thru the book

What's it about?

I had to read The Stranger by Albert Camus at the end of my junior year and it sparked my love of existentialism. I read a lot of books after The Stranger that I wouldn't have touched otherwise.

Going to have to read Of Mice and Men soon, anyone read this?

This summer my list is Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm

Animal Farm has a good story, but it can put you to sleep.

Ok so…my english teacher (she is crazy) decides we're not going to read of mice and men, we're just going to read passages online and watch the movie (is lieutenant dan from forrest gump george in this?). I seem to be the only one that is bothered by this. It's like she knows no one will actually read it so she doesn't give a damn. I have yet to meet a teacher that has actually found a way to motivate students to read books. Anyone experience this before?

Forced to read: Night by Elie Wiesel

Horror, death, by the time you get through this book you'll understand that the Jews run to those concentration camps for shelter, and it's completely fine. He loses hope, belief, and will to go on.
Death is nothing, compared to walking without a soul.

Lord of the Flies…More like Lord of the Guys. If this is an allegory to government, isn't it a little antifeminist? No women at all…and I really don't think that the first thing a bunch of kids would do would be to create a republic. This is boring me to death.

Hmmm, well I agree with Shiver! That was my winter in the summer, but somehow, my mind refuses to read Linger. What about yours??

Read Linger. I'll force you to! The new characters are so good!!!

Forced to read from school: A Wrinkle in Time (it was good), Stargirl (also very good), The Watsons Go to Birmingham (i didn't love it), Letters from Rifka (it was ok), Number The Stars (loved it), The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (loved it).

what is Shiver about?

Shiver is about werewolves, but their change isn't caused by the moon, it's caused by the temperature. The colder it is, the longer they change, so during the winter, they're always wolves.

Here's a link:

So far I've been forced to read All Quiet on the Western Front. And so far...?
I like it!! It makes me laugh and get angry and pity them. It's definitely better than the movie. Let's see if this joyous attitude keeps up.

Forced to read:

My review: A true tale of brotherly bonding between strange soldiers as they slowly dip into despair, into the life of war. Their stories are amusing and there are good times shared by all...! I'm crying right now. My heart cries out for this book, to tell the characters to stay.
By the end of the book, I just want Paul to die. That is all I want.
As read the last chapter of twelve and even beyond "please let him die. just die." ring throughout my head, my thoughts.
I've gotten angry with some of the characters, but slowly they change my perspective of them in time.
All men are equal in war, fears and all.
I fell in love with some of the characters, only to scream upon their deaths, so cold, so forgotten.
But a man get used to that sort of thing in the army.
Those bitter words...
I died in this book, with this book.
I have become accustomed to the war and thus feel lifeless when it ends.
It's too peaceful, the end...too peaceful for me to bare.
Just let me die, and we'll play scat up in heaven with everyone, feasting ourselves up and having a grand ol time, okay? We'll look down on everyone and yell "All quiet on the Western front!" And maybe those words won't feel so empty, so biter, so...hateful.
...Let me believe...that I am not as alone as I'm feeling right now...
Kropp, Kat, Tjaden, Leer, Dertering, Muller, Kemmerich, Haie, Berger...
Paul.

My Side of the Mountain. My best friend at school for some reason gave this to me one Christmas & I felt duty bound to read it. At the time, I didn't even like first person pov. And had nothing in common with a young american boy who was a bit of an outsider. But I found it strangely enjoyable, although these days like the Enid Blyton's famous five you can't imagine parents encouraging their kids to go off adventuring on their own. My Side of the MountainJulia

i was forced to readThe Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures it was a love hate relationship. i liked the actually story about the girl but the historical stuff was kinda annoying.