Best book that you HAD to read

[BlueDozer]

Fairly disturbing and unsettling, but I enjoyed it. Has been on reading lists since the 1960's.

Read it in Yr 9 during the 80s. Whether it was too old for us at that stage, unsure, but couldn't get into it at all. Understood the message, just struggled/did not enjoy the book.

Each to their own.

 

[bresker]

Ash Road

Wuthering Heights

 

[fairdinkum]

I studied literature at university so there are a number of books that I had to read but loved. Crime and Punishment was the best and I ended up writing my Masters thesis on it.

I know this bacause you have posted it in at least four threads about books. I know that because I thread-searched 'books' today to find some recommendations for books to read (as I felt like hiring a book from the library today), and it was me who bumped this ancient thread as a result.

Given your high praise for Crime and Punishment, I will try to read it over the summer (among a few others).

I notice you have what appears to be a huge interest in Russian writers. Did you move to Russia before or after this interest?

 

[Kaladin Stormblessed]

Of Mice and Men
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Outsiders
Game of Thrones p)
The Hobbit

 

[grizzlym]

I have only read The Catcher in the Rye. Any suggestions as Sallinger's books I should read?

Nah, I've read a couple of other things but not in the league of Catcher.

I read the books of a guy called John Fante a few years back - Charles Bukowski was a huge fan - and he's really good. 'Ask the Dust' is excellent. So in the same zone.

 

[stmookeyj]

Grade 12.....Deadly Unna. If you watched the movie "Australian Rules" this is the book they adapted it from. The fact that I was playing footy and was indigenous helped I suppose. As part of the assessment I had to write "Blacky's" eulogy, which inspired me to do something similar in the QCS Year 12 exam later that year.

 

[Mitigated Karma]

The Great Gatsby - only book I read from years 8-12 and I could count on 2 hands the number of fiction novels i've read in almost 21 years

 

[volcboy]

The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) - Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

An Italian classic - about mid-19th century Sicilian life. Read it in year 12 - a fantastic book.

 

[The Goon]

Harold and Maude

Flowers For Algernon

Both great, was waiting to see if someone mentioned Flowers for Algernon.

On the topic of Aussie books: A Fortunate Life. Brilliant story, should be compulsory reading in this age of entitlement.

 

[SugarShane]

The only one i can remember not hating was The Outsiders. We also read through the script of 12 Angry Men but that doesn't really qualify.
Everything else we were made to read i hated. Especially MacBeth. Even if it wasn't rubbish it would've been by the 2nd time in 2 weeks we were forced to watch the movie after reading it. There was another one too called Deadly Unna, which we were meant to have a class set of but ran out before i got one. I was supposed to share with or borrow from someone. But instead i just faked my way through the book report and got an A for it.

 

[THRILLHO]

The Great Gatsby - only book I read from years 8-12 and I could count on 2 hands the number of fiction novels i've read in almost 21 years

I straight up feel sorry for you.

Just recently, the best books I've had to read (all were because I needed to teach them):

-- Holes: Read this last summer and knocked it over in a day. Rollicking good read, very entertaining and perfectly pitched at a year 8 level.

-- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: This is what English texts should be about. An important theme that relates to teenagers written in a style that they just lap up. Had a blast teaching this book. Will always remember when a year 9 girl was reading a passage from the book and pronounced masturbation as maarrsturbation. The whole class just looked at each other for a second, then at me and then we all just collapsed into laughter.

-- Night: Didn't like this as much as everyone else who reads it. Felt like I was labouring toward the destination rather than actually losing myself in the journey. Almost turned to the end to find out what happened.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Absolutely_True_Diary_of_a_Part-Time_Indian

 

[Max Rockatansky]

I have only read The Catcher in the Rye. Any suggestions as Sallinger's books I should read?

There are no other novels - he has 3 other books but they are short stories and novellas - mostly all pretty good ... mostly ...

But BEWARE, beware my friend of the impenetrable self indulgent maw of madness that is 'Seymour, an Introduction' .. Page after page of rambling gibberish.

 

[Hellgood]

Grade 12.....Deadly Unna. If you watched the movie "Australian Rules" this is the book they adapted it from. The fact that I was playing footy and was indigenous helped I suppose. As part of the assessment I had to write "Blacky's" eulogy, which inspired me to do something similar in the QCS Year 12 exam later that year.

Blacky didn't die though? He ended up running away didn't he? Dumby Red was the guy shot by the pub owner wasn't he? It's been a few years since I've read it.

 

[Papa G]

I for one hated The Catcher in the Rye, although I read it long after school. Just found it tedious and horribly dated.

Best books I read at school of the ones not already mentioned was The Outsider by Albert Camus, not the Susan Hinton one of a similar name which I did read in my early teens and loved also. The Third Man by Graham Greene was also very good.

 

[Messenger]

I read Catcher in the Rye as an adult; the one that stuck with me from school was All Quiet on the Western Front.

 

[THRILLHO]

I read Catcher in the Rye at uni, but not for uni.

Loved it. Smashed it out in a day. Extremely readable.

 

[MarcusP2]

All Quiet on the Western Front and Of Mice and Men.

Also King Lear, but that's not a book.

 

[CLUBMEDhurst]

Went to a Tech school so literary choices were few. Lucky to have had an enthusiastic english teacher with a passion for Steinbeck, so I'd have to say "Of mice and men", "Cannery Row" and "The grapes of wrath"

Was more enjoyable than Engineering workshop practice

 

[Plugger35]

Remember reading Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Flies. Catcher in the Rye was probably my least favourite of those books, enjoyed reading the others more.

We also had to read some book called Go Ask Alice which was about some teenage girl who got addicted to drugs and went off the rails. Was obviously designed to scare us off taking drugs but it wasn't a bad book, a bit different to the usual school literature we had to read.

 

[Wallaby]

Huckleberry Finn - Great.

Lord of the Flies - great when you are 14.

Shakespeare - does anyone really, honestly enjoy Shakespeare? I think it's a pose.

 

[The Goon]

I like Shakespeare. It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the language, which is what I think turns a lot of people off, but the stories are rippers.

Midsummer Nights Dream - great comedy (they used to stage it in the botanical gardens in summer, made it even better).
Macbeth - ambition, murder, remorse, witchcraft, war.
Romeo and Juliet - have you seen the Baz Luhmans version? Absolute ripper.

 

[Caesar]

Washington Square

+1. It stands out to me as one of the books that most surprised me in terms of how much I enjoyed.

That said, I liked most of the books I read in high school to some degree. The only one I couldn't really get into was Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus which we did in Year 11.

EDIT: A poster above reminded me - I didn't really like Lord Of The Flies either.

 

[I bleed Blue]

Havn't gone through the whole tread to see if this book has been mentioned so appologies if it already has. Now this is not a book that I had to read at school or anything, but just simply a brilliant novel that I thought I would share.Shantaram- By Gregory David Roberts. This book is hands down the best novel ive had the pleasure of reading. This novel is a story of Roberts life which can only be described as amazing. Roberts is from Melbourne and this follows his escape from a maximum security prison in Melbourne to India and the Indian underworld. Every page of this book leaves you wanting more. I really dont know what to even tell you about this book, as this story of his life is so extrodinary! Not only is the story so amazing but Roberts is such a brilliant writer.Look just do yourself a favour and go out and get this book! You will be hanging on everyword of this 900 page masterpeice! 5 stars!

 

[Mitchemx]

It was either year 10 or 11 english. The book was 1984. Still my favourite.

 

[Stats Man]

maestro by peter goldsworthy.


worst was off the rails. we woke up, we fought, we had porridge, we fought, we rode off, we met up at dusk, we fought, we cooked, we ate, we fought, we slept. rinse and repeat.