Welcome to the online discussion forum for English 2025-2! Here is where I will post discussion prompts, and then you will leave your reading responses in the Comments section.
A few ground rules:
1. You must respect yourself and others with the words you post.
2. I encourage you to respond to things your classmates have already said, but you are required to read through existing comments so you don't simply repeat what someone else has contributed.
3. Responses are due (and therefore must be posted) before the class meeting where we discuss the assigned reading to which you're responding.
4. In addition to posting your response here, you will also turn in a hard copy to me the class period your response is due.
Reading responses are just what they sound like: your personal response to what you've read. However, don't take these lightly: the 5 responses you'll write over the course of the semester count 20% of your final grade, so I expect a high degree of thoughtfulness about what you've read. That doesn't mean that you have to have all of the answers -- exploring questions or highlighting problems or complications you find in the text is perfectly valid -- but you should have a focused point to make or a focused question to pursue, and you should spend your words fleshing out that point or question. You should demonstrate that you've read the text, but don't summarize: we want to know what you think about it. I also expect these responses to adhere to the conventions of standard, edited English and to be free from careless errors. I encourage you to draft and revise these; typing up some sentences an hour before class starts is not likely to produce a response that will earn you full credit.
To compose your response, simply click on the Comments link below the post. A separate window will pop up. To minimize the risk of losing your responses, I highly recommend that you compose your responses in a word processing program, save them, and then copy and paste into the comments window. When you're ready to publish it, choose Other under "Choose an Identity" (unless you have a Blogger account), and type your name (first name and last initial is fine). Next, you'll have to fill in the Word Verification letters. Then, click "Publish Your Comment." It may not appear right away, but it will show up eventually.
To practice before you actually have a response to write, please leave a comment on this post telling us what the worst book you ever read was and why you disliked it (a couple of sentences will do). Please do so before class on Tuesday, September 4.
33 comments:
Callie R.
The books that I consider the worst books I have ever read are some of the “classics”. My junior year of high school made me despise anything by John Steinbeck. We had to read The Grapes of Wrath (the one I hated the most) and Of Mice and Men. I fought with myself every night to make myself read Grapes, and it often took me hours to read a few chapters because I continuously stopped reading because I was so bored. In fact I did not even read the inter-chapters. They were pointless, and they only added length to the already drawn out, anti-climatic story being told. The real problem that I had with this book was the ending. It had no resolution, and you leave family before they finish the journey that you were forced to take with them.
I have to say that my least favorite book that I ever read was 100 Years of Solitude.I was required to read this for my sophmore year IB english class over winter break. I think timing also added to my strong disliking of the book as well. Despite the fact that it was a book that has been highlighted by Oprah as a must read I must admit that it was a book I could’ve done without. I didn’t like the plot and how the transition between the characters was so swift and on top of that they had three to four generations with the exact same name just the middle named changed so it was quite easy to get them all confused.
I have to be honest and say I do not read for pleasure. I used to when I was younger and now I read just for school work. I do not have a least favorite book in mind, but the books that were most dreadful for me to read were the typical scholastic ones, that seemed to have no personality or edge, and focused on a subject to which I had no desire to read. Unless I am interested in the plot or subject to begin with, I get bored and I have no interest what so ever to read it.
The worst book I ever read was The Scarlett Letter. It was a required book that I had to read in Junior English. By this time in my high school career I was getting really tired of reading books only to analyze them. I didn’t enjoy reading anything anymore. I felt like this book took 10 pages to describe the plot in what could have been described in about 2 pages. I felt like the author rambled quite a bit and that the story itself would have been better as a short story. Analyzing this book and writing papers on it probably made this experience worse for me, but still to this day I will not read or discuss The Scarlett Letter.
The absolute worst novel I ever attempted to read was, without a doubt, "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens. After treading through about fifty pages of ridiculously overwrought jargon, I decided that my best bet was to throw in the proverbial towel. If you were to ask me any questions about what actually went on throughout that novel I would be unable to provide a single answer. It was so confusing and wordy that I walked away more frustrated than fulfilled. Thank god it wasn't required reading!
My least favorite novel is The Taking by Dean Koontz. I read this novel for pleasure over the summer. The novel is science fiction based and pertains to an alien invasion of Earth. I dislike science fiction books to begin with, but Koontz’s plot was, in my opinion, overdone. It incorporated almost every type of enemy in order to create suspense. Koontz tried too hard to scare his readers. He began by creating alien characters, but also incorporated a Chucky-like doll as well as a serial killer into the plot. As if worried that characters would not provide an adequate horrific thrill for his readers, the author also integrated destructive weather including tornadoes and hurricanes. Refusing to give up, I competed the novel only to find the ending a complete failure. Koontz ended The Taking by all alien and alternate evil beings simply disappearing as if nothing had happened. This book was a disappointment from page one.
My least favorite book is Beowulf, and I am quite positive that most can agree with me. It's not even a book, it is an epic poem. That right there is enough to make me hate it. Honestly, I do not even remember much about it, except that there are dragons and it is based in the 5th century, not very appealing.
The worst book I have ever read was Dickens's "Great Expectations". He would waste an entire page and a half describing a scene that, to be frank, I could care less about. At the time, I am sure that his style and qualities of storytelling were pushing the boundaries of literary art, but it just did not impact me in the way that I would have liked: a story that keeps my attention and causes me to be lost in itself.
After reading several summer books, I think I have come to the conclusion that the worst book I have read is "For Whom The Bell Tolls"- Ernest Hemingway. For the most part, I thought it was a very masculine book and could not get into it. When I asked others what they thought, they also thought so. Hemingway, From the main character being an expert on explosives to the description of Maria. It is all about death, so it does not make the novel any better. Length, is also one thing that does not make the book better either.
This is why I think For Whom the Bell Tolls is my least favorite.
The worst book I have ever read was "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I have tried to block this book out of my memory but I can still remember a few details that made the experience excruciating. For one, I hated Arthur Dimmesdale. He was so weak and pathetic. I don't see what's so bad about what he did. I guess these days his sin would have to be more shocking for readers to be able to empathize with his painful regret. The ending also wasn't what I was looking for either and the writing style was rather boring.
I have two books that come to mind when I think about my least favorite books. These two books are"Silas Marner" and "The Scarlett Letter." Both of these books were required reading for school that made me dread going to English class each day. "Silas Marner" was terrible because it was not interesting. It was just a simple story with predictable situations. "The Scarlett Letter" has too much rambling in it. The book has many paragraphs that could be omitted from the text, and would only make the book better. When there are paragraphs that have nothing to do with the importance of the story, a reader's mind starts to wonder, making it pointless to even attempt to finish reading the chapter. "The Scarlett Letter" was so bad that my teacher even allowed us to omit chapters and paragraphs that did not pertain to the story because she did not want to have to discuss them.
My least favorite book is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I was required to read this book my senior year of high school. As soon as I began the book, I became bored. The first chapter contained a series of letters. Rather than capturing my attention immediately, it caused me to dread reading the book even more. The book continued to get worse. I quickly became irritated with the main character, Victor Frankenstein. Frankenstein desperately wants to discover the secret to life and therefore creates a human being. As soon as his creation is complete and he sees how hideous it is, Frankenstein abandons his creation and leaves him alone to fend for himself. Throughout the entire book, I was annoyed at the fact that all of the misfortunes could have been avoided if Frankenstein would have aided his creation through the tribulations of life. All in all, I was frustrated with the book and the overall plot that Mary Shelley had developed.
The worst book I have ever read is Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. I had to read the majority of it my senior year in high school. The whole experience, from reading it to studying it in class, was tedious and unrewarding. I think the study of that text should be confined to the field of linguistics where it is useful as an example of Middle English prose. Just because it is old doesn't mean it's good (same goes for Beowulf).
I do not think I have a least favorite book. This would probably be because of the fact that if I do not enjoy a book within the first two chapters or so, I do not continue reading. Therefore, I have pretty much enjoyed every book I have read. An example of this would be Breach of Faith. By reading the first couple chapters, I thought the book was way too slow. This made it hard to follow, so I did not finish it.
I think the book that irked me the most, that made me the most reluctant to leave the nice sanctuary of middle school and its “AR points” and make my way to the mature world of high school reading was Billy Budd by Herman Melville. I hated it while reading, because it pushed my comprehension of a language to the limits, and required multiple reading of pages just to remember what the subject of a sentence was. The prose made me feel like I hade a speech impediment; If I ever see a copy of Billy Budd, I’ll punch it in the face. Wait a minute, I seem to recall that might not be such a good idea…
Out of the hundreds of books I have chosen to read, “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Swift is perhaps the worst I have selected. I decided to read this book sometime during the 8th grade, since I am a fan of fiction in historical settings. However, as I progressed through the book, I quickly became bored by Swift’s seemingly endless and dry narration, and felt little connection to the settings and characters he presented. The book was devoid of any excitement, and read very slowly, even during the few exciting passages.
The worst book I ever read was "The Scarlet Letter." It was a required novel in my Junior American Literature class. My teacher set my expectations too high, saying it was such a wonderful story. The reason I didn't like it was that it took several pages to describe one scene. The plot itself was quite short and did not justify the length of the novel. The rest of the pages were full of ramblings and descriptions that were, in my opinion, unneeded. The book was more of a chore to read than an enjoyment.
By far the worst book that i have ever read was Gone with the Wind. I,like Austin up there(insert up arrow here) could not answer a single question about this book. I "sincerely" tried to read this book.but never got around to finishing it,and therefore failed the test... HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA here is my blog.
High school reguired literature sort of turned me away from "reading for fun" since at least 3/4 of the books were some of the worst books I've ever read. I must say the worst was Beowolf! I felt like there was no eye-catcher or supspense...it was just not enjoyable to read. ..not really sure why someone would read it for fun! :)
I have to say that the worst book I ever read would have to be Flatland; it was summer reading for my freshmen English class. In case you�ve never heard of this novel, it is basically about a two dimensional square and his realization that there are other dimensions around. I understand the message the writer was trying to convey, but the novel was so tedious. I explained the social hierarchy in Flatland, how the shapes moved through their pentagonal houses, and the professions of the shapes. Need I have more explanation as to my dislike of this book?
The least favorite book I have ever read was �The Scarlet Letter.� If I had actually read only the story of The Scarlet Letter itself, it would not be the worst book. However, because of having to read the first section of the book called, �The Custom House,� it set the tone for being a long and boring book to read. �The Custom House� was so painful and boring that it created a mental block for me to finish reading the book. This is a shame because the actual story of The Scarlet Letter was not that bad. I strongly recommend to teachers that assign this book to not make their students read �The Custom House.�
The worst book I ever had to read was, Mountain Beyond Mountains. We were required to read it for my freshman first semester of college. The reason it is the worst thing I have ever read is because it is a 10 page story that is retold over and over again for about three hundred pages.
the one I think of most often,
the one that dangles from me like a locket,
was the Catcher in the Rye
which I borrowed from the local library
one slow, hot summer.
I was just beginning high school then,
reading books on a davenport in my parents' living room,
and I cannot tell you
how vastly my loneliness was deepened,
how poignant and amplified the world before me seemed,
when I found on one page
A few greasy looking smears
and next to them, written in soft pencil-
by a beautiful girl, I could tell,
whom I would never meet-
"Pardon the egg salad stains, but I'm in love."
To be honest, I don’t read books unless it is required for school. Though I have enjoyed reading some books, the worst book I have read that comes to mind is “Valparaiso” by Don DeLillo; it was required for a Religion course. I felt as if the book did not have a purpose at all. I thought the plot was hard to follow, and it went back and forth through time, which also made it difficult to comprehend. There was no climax, and it was just dull from start to finish. I’m very studious, so I tried my best to make sense of it all, yet I still felt lost and very disappointed with the ending.
The worst book I ever read was “1000 Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne. Part of the reason I did not enjoy the book was because my English teacher, whom I was not very fond of, made my class read this book, along with two other books, the summer before 8th grade. This book should be read by older adults, not children in elementary school, because of its complex dialect. Jules Verne uses many foreign words that are hard to pronounce and unknown to most people. When reading the book, I had to keep a thesaurus next to me at all times because I was constantly looking up the meaning of words. I found that Verne tended to drag the story out more than needed by elaborating on unnecessary objects. For example, the author used half a page to describe one sea creature- it was absolutely ridiculous. In my opinion, the novel had a slow moving plot with very little action scenes. A large portion of the plot consisted of Captain’s Nemo’s diary entries about the different places he encountered. Reading his letters made me feel as if I was reading a dry historical novel. I really did try to get into the book, but “1000 Leagues Under the Sea” was definitely one of those typical summer reading books with very little excitement that children cannot connect with at all and simply read to get a good grade in the class.
Like many people have said before me, I hated reading the Scarlett Letter. I thought it to be very boring and full of so much rambling, I could barely get through it. I read it sometime in high school English. I found that researching the book and analyzing it was a better use of my time than actually reading it. I also hated the sections of the Canturbury Tales that was also a required reading in English.
The worst book I've read was probably Virginia Andrew's Web of Dreams. I thought her thoughts were very repetitive. There were also some parts that were unclear because of the lack of description.
I believe that the worst book I have ever read was Grendel by John Gardner. Grendel was the telling of Beowulf from the monster’s perspective. My 11th grade English teacher made us read it; however, we were not first required to read Beowulf. I believe I would have had a much greater appreciation for the book if I had only had the other perspective to compare it to. Instead, I found it to be a boring and meaningless novel.
I believe that the worst book I have ever read was Grendel by John Gardner. Grendel was the telling of Beowulf from the monster’s perspective. My 11th grade English teacher made us read it; however, we were not first required to read Beowulf. I believe I would have had a much greater appreciation for the book if I had only had the other perspective to compare it to. Instead, I found it to be a boring and meaningless novel.
The worst book I have ever read is undoubtedly Beowulf. I’m not even the kind of person to complain about a book for this reason, but I really thought it was a “guy book”. There was too much action for my taste. I also could not relate to Beowulf in any way. I remember reading it my senior year in high school. My English teacher said that the only reason we were reading it was because we would most likely read it in college, and it would help to talk about it before we got to college. This was the worst reason to read a book, so I couldn’t get into it. I also couldn’t pick up on the writing style of the 8th century. I felt that it was too old to relate to.
The worst book that I've ever had the displeasure of reading was Simon's Saga for the SAT I Verbal. For those of you who do not know this book, it basically is a story with a bunch of SAT vocab words used in it. The best way I can describe it is it's like a novel that had a thesaurus explode in it. It was my teacher's attempt to help us learn those difficult SAT words through context clues in the novel. The plot was ridiculus, I distintly remeber thinking to myself at moments in the book "You can't be serious." The flow of the novel was thrown off by them trying to cram in as many SAT words as they could. It was just a horrible reading experience, and I'm pretty sure I was laughing so hard at the book I didn't really learn or remember that many SAT words.
The worst book I ever read was On My Honor which I think I read for summer reading before my sixth grade year. For starters, the concept of summer reading made me furious. Homework in the summer? And not just homework-- reading-- my least favorite type of school work. Cruel and unusual punishment. If I recall correctly, the plot centers around a boy who isn't allowed to ride his bike to some kind of bluffs near a river (details are quite a bit foggy 10 years later). Naturally, he goes anyway, and brings a friend. They go swimming in the river, and his friend drowns. At this point, my 11 year old self is already horrified. This all takes place in the first 60ish pages of the novel; the remainder of the book is about him lying about where he had been, and the search for his dead friend (this is a good time to say that dramatic irony usually makes me angry). I have a great personal distaste for dishonesty, and as a result, I can't stand a story which centers around a lie. You know they're going to be caught, and it's just a matter of time until it happens. I can't tell you how the story ended because I don't remember. In fact, I probably never read the whole thing.
Post a Comment