It's your fault my kid's a cheater!

[Giggle Goose]

I never used Cliff Notes either, though I wish I had when my English teacher assigned us "The Sound And The Fury" by William Faulkner. Most books I have no trouble with, but I just couldn't wrap my brain around that one.

*horrible flashbacks of AP English slowly starting to creep in...*

So you're not the only one, huh? I suppose if you can read and make sense of the majority of PFB letters then you might be able to understand such a novel. I use the term "novel" loosely.

[Reyneth]

No, P&P was actually readable. If you're going to do the Cliffys thing, do it for Grapes of Wrath

Awww man, I love Grapes of Wrath! I've read it a good 2-3 times since graduating High School. Of course writing a paper on it would be a different matter....

Hemmingway was/is my most-hated.

[iradney]

*blush*
I finished all our assigned reading before the first week of school was finished.
I'm a speed reader...I can't help it

[Princess-Snake]

*blush*
I finished all our assigned reading before the first week of school was finished.
I'm a speed reader...I can't help it

So was I. And when summer came, I was finished with the summer reading and the summer book report on the first week of summer. I remember one summer we had to read two books. When the teacher announced this, you would have thought she announced we were all going to be thrown into a pit filled with wolves as a sacrifice to the gods of the demons. They said it wasn't fair that they had to read two books. I said, "You're right. It's not fair. We should at least have fifty!" They all shut up after that.

[Geek King]

*horrible flashbacks of AP English slowly starting to creep in...*

I got lucky in my AP class. We got seperated into small groups and had to choose a small group of books to read, with several groups available to choose from. I was able to wheedle into Fahrenheit 451, The Great Gatsby, and Kafka's The Trial. I didn't think Gatsby was too bad, for assigned reading. Now later, the whole class had to read Crime and Punishment, and that sucked. The "Great Russian Authors" all seem to ramble on and on without finding a point. I skipped hundereds of pages of that book, and still aced the test. One of the worst I've ever read (IMHO, of course ).

[tollbaby]

Only thing I ever bought Coles Notes for (we don't have Cliff's notes here, we have Coles... different name, same company) was Shakespeare. I could usually understand enough to get through the play, but I'd rather just read the story in current English Made me appreciate the plays so much more. I'll probably buy it for the Canterbury Tales as well, but otherwise, I'd rather read the book.

(y'all think Grapes of Wrath was bad? Sound and the Fury? Try reading Les Misérables, int he original French - THREE LARGE VOLUMES. Ugh. I never even made it half-way through the first one).

[Becks]

No, P&P was actually readable.

I know. I enjoyed it greatly...and still do, actually.

I misspoke before.

I didn't mean to give the impression that I found P&P unreadable.

Beowulf and Great Expectations, on the other hand... UGH.

I'll probably buy it for the Canterbury Tales as well, but otherwise, I'd rather read the book.

Oooooooooh, can I borrow after you? I have a copy of CT and it kills me. Makes my head ache like you wouldn't believe.

[XCashier]

(y'all think Grapes of Wrath was bad? Sound and the Fury? Try reading Les Misérables, int he original French - THREE LARGE VOLUMES. Ugh. I never even made it half-way through the first one).

I read the unabridged English translation. It was pretty good, except Hugo would get the story going at a decent pace, then stop it dead to do an endless chapter about the Napoleonic wars or the sewers of Paris.

Then again, I liked the musical better.

[trunks2k]

I recommend CN for Pride and Prejudice.

Oh god, yes. P&P was the first time I ever used Cliff/Monarch notes. I just could not stay awake while reading the book. So I bought the Cliff/Monarch notes, while reading those, I could BARELY stay awake. God I hated that book. I later used Cliff/Monarch notes for Frankenstein, a bunch of Shakespeare (also used a great Romeo and Juliet one that had the original old english on one page and a modern english translation of it on the opposing page), and the Great Gatsby.

[protege]

Beowulf and Great Expectations, on the other hand... UGH.

Never read GE, but UGH about Beowulf pretty much sums it up. Halfway into that, I could stand it no longer! If you really want to have fun, try reading Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle sometime. I couldn't figure that one out!

[Bagga]

Because we had time to spare in our English classes, the teacher offered us a chance to read one of the book's from next year's exam classes. I think he pushed us a bit, but finally we decided on Lord Jim, by Joseph Conrad.

Weeks, maybe months later, he asked the class who had finished it. Out of the 30 pupils, only me and Pete Travis had read it. He asked us our opinion - we had both hated every minute of it. But at least we had finished it....

I really hate not finishing a book, I have only abandoned about 10 books in my 50+ years of reading. Most of them because they were just too irritating to bother with. The most recent was Michael Moorcock's "Byzantium Endures", which rambled on so self indulgently about a dislikable protagonist that I eventually gave up in disgust. (Last week, actually)

But the book I am most ashamed of giving up on is Tolstoy's "War and Peace" - I always lose heart at about page 108. There are far too many people in it, and they are all called Piotr. Although that may be just recollections of the nightmares I experienced while reading it!

[Gurndigarn]

Oooooooooh, can I borrow after you? I have a copy of CT and it kills me. Makes my head ache like you wouldn't believe.

Uh, which tales are they having you read? Some are more readable than others. Of course, for the full effect, you want to read the whole thing, because of the way Chaucer changed his voice to match the character.

[Gurndigarn]

I later used Cliff/Monarch notes for Frankenstein, a bunch of Shakespeare (also used a great Romeo and Juliet one that had the original old english on one page and a modern english translation of it on the opposing page), and the Great Gatsby.

Shakespeare really should be seen, not read. Just find a video of it, though not one done by PBS. They take Shakespeare way to seriously, and manage to make the comedies not funny, the tragedies lifeless, and the histories entirely dry. BBC does a better job, but honestly, try to find a for-profit production. Something about needing to make money gives them the proper incentive to make the shows lively.

[Becks]

I really hate not finishing a book

I always try to finish a book once I start it. Sometimes that doesn't happen, though.

Books that I have never finished: Great Expectations, a book on Amazon queens, a book devoted to the letters of Mary, Queen of Scots, Canterbury Tales, and a few others.

Uh, which tales are they having you read? Some are more readable than others. Of course, for the full effect, you want to read the whole thing, because of the way Chaucer changed his voice to match the character.

I am so far out of school it's not funny. (OK, I graduated HS 10 years ago...) I was rummaging around in the future in-laws' attic and found CT there. I asked if I could borrow it and they said I could keep it. I think I got to the second page of the first story, then tried other stories. Nope. Not happening.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I am so far out of school it's not funny. (OK, I graduated HS 10 years ago...)

I graduated college 10 years ago, so shut up.

My senior year I had to read Beowulf twice in the same semester, in two different classes, in two different translations, with the same professor. I was taking Medieval Lit and History of the English language (HEL). Medieval Lit is also taken by some people as a core class, and we had an anthology that included Beowulf, but HEL was all English majors, and he got a better translation for us. (Luckily we weren't reading it at the same time, or I probably would have gotten confused.)