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3catwoman3

(29,267 posts)

57. "HS English ruined American Classics for me."

Sat Feb 28, 2026, 01:35 PM

Feb 28

Boy, isn't that the truth. I totally detested Great Expectations - bo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ring to the extreme, and creepy. When I found out that Dickens got paid by the word, it explained a lot. Silas Marner - bo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ring. I don't even remember, lo these many decades since, most of the classics we had to read, just that they generally were really dull, and a slog to get thru.

A Tale of Two Cities was OK, and the Shakespeare plays were alright. I did enjoy The Call of The Wild, The Jungle, Arrowsmith, and To Kill A Mockingbird, but that was about it.

I wondered about the wisdom of having high schoolers read only things written by people with a lot more life experience than teenagers yet have - were we able to relate to enough given our youth?

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electric_blue68

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What is your favorite genre of book? Mine is mystery. What is your's? [View all] debm55 Feb 27 OP

Both mysteries and true crime. sinkingfeeling Feb 27 #1

Great choices, sinkingfeeling. Thank you for sharing. debm55 Feb 27 #5

I like cultural histories. applegrove Feb 27 #2

Wonderful choice. Thank you very much for sharing, applegrove. debm55 Feb 27 #6

History/Biography. Aristus Feb 27 #3

Great choices, Aristus. Thank you for sharing with us. debm55 Feb 27 #7

Civil War and Black history. Keepthesoulalive Feb 27 #4

Great selections, Keepthesoulalive. Thank you very much for sharing. debm55 Feb 27 #8

Tie for historical fiction and beveeheart Feb 27 #9

Thank you very much for sharing your selections with us, beveeheart. My love of mysteries goes back to my Nancy Drew debm55 Feb 27 #12

Loved Nancy Drew! beveeheart Feb 27 #24

Mystries and science fiction LogDog75 Feb 27 #10

Thank you LogDog75, for sharing your selections with us. debm55 Feb 27 #17

Mysteries, although I read the occasional non-fiction political book. Vinca Feb 27 #11

Thank you Vinca for sharing with us. My favorite is mysteries and my second is historical non-fiction. debm55 Feb 27 #18

History, Biography LoisB Feb 27 #13

Thank you, LoisB. for sharing your two selections with us. debm55 Feb 27 #19

History related. CanonRay Feb 27 #14

Thank you very much, CanonRay. I wrote the title down for future reading. debm55 Feb 27 #20

I highly recommend it. CanonRay Feb 27 #21

My book club read that one last year. beveeheart Feb 27 #25

Sadly a lot of descendants of those people CanonRay Feb 28 #35

Biography, History and Mystery novels. virgdem Feb 27 #15

Thank you very much for sharing with us.virgdem. debm55 Feb 28 #37

Is Quirky Nonfiction a genre? johnp3907 Feb 27 #16

I count it, Thank you for sharing with us. johnp3907 debm55 Feb 28 #38

Biographies JMCKUSICK Feb 27 #22

Thank you very much for sharing with us, John. debm55 Feb 28 #39

A Variety of Science Fiction... electric_blue68 Feb 27 #23

Thank you very much for your selections, electric_blue68 debm55 Feb 28 #40

Mystery MIButterfly Feb 27 #26

Me too. Thank you for sharing with us. MIbutterfly. debm55 Feb 28 #41

Science Fiction and Fantasy LuvLoogie Feb 27 #27

HS English ruined American Classics for me. electric_blue68 Feb 28 #33

"HS English ruined American Classics for me." 3catwoman3 Feb 28 #57

Hahahahaaaa! Ohhhh, boy.... electric_blue68 Feb 28 #61

Thank you very much, LuvLoogie. I feel the same. debm55 Feb 28 #43

I enjoy Cold War era espionage. pdxflyboy Feb 27 #28

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing with us.pdxflyboy. debm55 Feb 28 #44

Epic fantasy Ferrets are Cool Feb 27 #29

Great, Thank you very much, Ferrets are Cool debm55 Feb 28 #46

I don't know if I have a "favourite" buzzycrumbhunger Feb 27 #30

Wow, you are an exceptional reader. Enjoy yourself while reading, Love, deb. debm55 Feb 28 #47

Historical fiction, especially the old sailing days.... Movies like Master and Commander. Book/movie like The Godfather. Norrrm Feb 27 #31

Thank you very much for sharing your selections with us.Norrrm debm55 Feb 28 #48

Relationships womanofthehills Feb 27 #32

Thank you very much for sharing the selection of books.womanofthehills. debm55 Feb 28 #49

SF/Fantasy and Romance. retread Feb 28 #34

Thank you very much for sharing with us, retread. Two great selections. debm55 Feb 28 #50

I'm an old fuddy-dud. I like art history. CTyankee Feb 28 #36

HAHAHAHAHHAH. Thank you very much for sharing with us. CTyankee. debm55 Feb 28 #51

Cozy mysteries with a touch of romance! BlueKota Feb 28 #42

Thank you very much for sharing with us, BlueKota. Great combination. debm55 Feb 28 #52

Science Fiction if my favorite. Swede Feb 28 #45

Thank you very much for your selections. Swede. debm55 Feb 28 #53

I mostly read non-fiction books on a range of topics. pandr32 Feb 28 #54

Thank you very much for sharing with us. pandr32. Great selection debm55 Feb 28 #55

It depends on what I'm in the mood for. There's more I like than I don't like. 3catwoman3 Feb 28 #56

Thank you very much for your selections, 3catwoman3. I agree with you. I like to read the book first and then maybe see debm55 Feb 28 #59

History and science PJMcK Feb 28 #58

Thank you very much, for sharing your selections with us, PJMcK, debm55 Feb 28 #60