HELP! My school gave me the crappiest summer reading books ever! I DONT WANT TO READ THEM!! HELP ME?

Question

The list is George Orwell 1984 (which I don't mind)
J.D Salinger Catcher in the Rye (*vomits)
Shakespeares Macbeth (*vomits blood) *note: I actually did vomit blood after reading his "A Comedy of Errors)
AND THE WORST OF ALL
JOHN STEINBECK EAST OF EDEN
OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
I HATE HIM AND THE SWILL HE WRITES
maybe its just me

So what do I do? I really enjoy reading good books, but for me, books are like movies...I refuse to stomach a bad one.

So I was planning to just do my book reports on 4 books I like....do you think I'll get away with it if I use the same questions they asked? Tolstoy, Thackeray, Dostoyevsky, Balzac? Do you think I'll get in trouble?

Answer 1

For you to consider J.D. Salinger, George Orwell, William Shakespeare, or John Steinbeck garbage shows your profound ignorance. Not every work written by those authors was a favorite to me but they are all amazing, talented, and well worth the read.

Get out of your sheltered little world and open your eyes. All are great books and will really help you learn something for once.

Answer 2

First of all, every book you are talking about is a classic. I have read every single one of them and some were a little more dry then others. John Steinbeck writes the most amazing stories. Macbeth has a little bit of everything in it, drama, comedy, romance. Just read them and get through it and you will be glad that you did. Eventually you will come to realize that you can't just read what you like forever, sometimes teachers assign books that you can't read, but you have to. Spark Notes are good but only if you are stuck, not for the whole story, otherwise you miss the point of it.

Answer 3

Have you started to read Catcher in the Rye? It will probably make you laugh. Holden is very sad, but he's still a lovable character.
MacBeth isn't that bad, really. There's death and such, if that interests you.

You could cheat and go on sparknotes for summary and analysis, although that won't help your growth any.

You should talk to your teacher about the book report business. Seriously, give Catcher in the Rye a chance. It's an excellent book. I kid you not. Good luck. :)

Answer 4

Catcher in the Rye was Okay
1984 was awesome
And I friggin loved the drama involved in Macbeth

But if you don't want to read them you can always check out www.sparknotes.com or www.pinkmonkey.com for the summaries and in depth anaylsis. Man Spark Notes got me through Junior year like you wouldn't believe back in HS.

It's not got to be a snob about books. Even if you do't liek something its always a good idea to at least try it. You miss out on a lot when you don't try out new things

Answer 5

Take a deep breath and exhale. Get a bottle of of something to settle your stomach in case you feel you're ready to "vomit blood". Commit yourself to reading the assigned books.

I've read all of the books on the list and reread all but East of Eden within the past few years. They are all excellent choices to broaden your exposure to good literature.

I understand how you feel. Like you, I enjoy reading good books, but I have my preferences. For example, I discovered during a college course on Russian literature that Tolstoy's Anna Karenina is pure soap opera. I learned that by listening to the Russian emigres in my class discuss the book. They saw more in it that I did (and I saw quite a bit).

"1984" is reasonably short and extremely appropriate in the era in which we live. Think of the wars we (the U.S.) have fought in the last 60 years. They are remarkably similar. Our government keeps redefining enemies as friends and vice versa. Check out the similarity between big brother and our government's illegal wiretaps/

And "Catcher in the Rye" is great for most high school students. I had a student 2 years ago who hadn't been to class in 8 months. When they finally tracked him down and got him to come to school he told me he didn't like the books we read in school. I gave him a copy of "Catcher..." and asked him to try reading a few pages. He loved it. He really connected with Holden, the alienated student who looked on adults as "phonies"

"Macbeth" is one of the easiest of Shakespeare's plays to read, watch and comprehend. It's got witches, ghosts and descent into madness. If you can get a copy of the Folger edition of the play, you'll find a glossary and synopsis on each facing page, a real help in not getting bogged down by looking things up.

The only book for which you won't find a film in the library is "Catcher in the Rye". Watch the films and compare what you see in the film with the books. Think about the differences and why they're there. It will help you understand the books a lot better.

These are easy reading (and relatively short) compared to Tolstoy, Thackeray, Dostoyevsky and Balzac. If you've read "Crime and Punishment", there are comparisons to be made to "Macbeth". Compare the social criticism in "Catcher in the Rye" with that in Tolstoy's, Thackeray's, Dostoyevsky's and Balsac's.

I know it sounds wierd, but when I was in junior high school and high school I was reading Salinger, Orwell, Shakespeare and Steinbeck on my own. Our school reading list wasn't as satisfying. You have ten weeks to do the reading and since you're used to reading classic literature, you'll get through your list in 2 or 3 weeks.

Read some books you think you'll like and through in mention of them with the required work. I think you'll get twice as much enjoyment and the real satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

Happy Reading!

p.s. I finished every book I started until I was about 20 years old and in my 4th year of college. Even though it's considered a modern classic, I couldn't get into Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man". It required a little too much suspension of disbelief.

Answer 6

Well, I hate to tell you this, but those books were assigned to you for a reason. If you give them a chance, they are actually very good books. Granted, they are slightly out of date, but they still hold up. Give them a chance.

If you don't follow the assignment as given, yes, you will probably not get the points (or the education) that you should. We all have to do things we hate, sometimes, even if it's for our own good. The true merit of a person is how well they do in that situation.

Answer 7

Teachers often assign books that students wants to read because it would open a whole new field of learning. You can read your favorite authors everyday, but will never learn about others. Open your mind to other possiblities. In college I had to read Beowulf and I thought it was the most boring story made to man.

However, one day I had my class read it and I loved the story when I told it in another way. Try reading the story and put your own spin to it.

Often we do not like authors that are to deep or profound or use words we do not understand.

Give a chance and see if you learn something new about the authors.

Answer 8

Grapes of Wrath. God, i do no longer even want to think of approximately it. this is been approximately 5 years because i substitute into compelled to envision it in school, and it substitute into throughout the time of a time the place i assumed interpreting substitute into undesirable. So this relatively might desire to be an extremely good e book that i'll in no way have the skill to journey because of the fact i'm in no way ever touching it lower back. i substitute into pleasantly shocked with All Quiet on the Western front, which continues to be one in each of my sought after books to on the present time!

Answer 9

If you like reading non-fiction, about what goes on nowadays - I recommend these two -

1) "Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader"
written by Bradley K. Martin

2) "Rogue Regime"
written by Jasper Becker

These two well-written books give an insight about the North Korean Government.

Fiction?

Try all the books written by Clive Cussler.

The hero is Dirk Pitt, with his sidekick Al Giordino. These are well-written.

Answer 10

Try to get the books on tape or cd, you could even see if you can download them onto your ipod, that's what everyone does at my school. I do think that you should stick to the books that you've been given, you'll probably get a 0 if you do any other books. Also, don't forget sparknotes and cliffsnotes, they helped me so much last year.
God Bless!!