School reading program

In every school you've got to have some sort of obligatory book reports; some sort of reading program that makes you read at least a couple books. Well, I know Croatian schools do anyway. I was just wondering how that reading program works at your school and if you ever liked the books they made you read. For us, each year we get about 14 or 15 books that we have to read over the school year. Half of those we have a test on; the other half we just talk about and analyze during class. The thing is, they never tell you which is which XD So the kids in my class that don't feel like reading the actual books and just read the summaries often get a F on their test. Anyway, this is what my reading list looks like this year. I translated the Croatian titles as best as I could.

Dante Alighieri: Inferno (first 5 cantos)
Giovanni Boccaccio: Decameron (just 3 novellas, not the whole thing)
Miguel de Cervantes: Don Quixote
William Shakespheare: Hamlet
Marko Marulić: Judita
Marin Držić: Uncle/Man Maroje, Prank on Stanac
Ivan Gundulić: Dubravka, Tears of the Prodigal Son
Petar Hektorović: Fishing and Fishermen's Talk
Johann W. Goethe: The Sorrows of Young Werther
Jean Racine: Phedre
Voltaire: Candide
Edgar Allen Poe: The Black Cat

Have any of you read any of them?
Overall, I'm pretty excited. I've already read the Inferno and The Black Cat, so there's two down already XD
All in all, I think the best book I ever had to read because of school was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger and The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde.

I never really had anything as intense as that at my school. Each year there would be maybe two or so books/plays we would have to read for English class, but that would be it.

Out of the list you've got there, I've only read one, which is Hamlet - it was the play I had to study in my final year of high-school
The only other one I've heard of is Inferno, but that's only because it is mentioned in Frankenstein (another book I had to study in year 12).

Catcher in the Rye. I've been meaning to read that book for years and I just keep forgetting!! Okay, making mental note to take it out next time I go to the library...

I wish I had your program. Last year, we had maybe three decent books out of 15. I've read Frankenstein That's a great book, one of my favorite horrors, except I don't remember the Inferno being mentioned. The Catcher in the Rye is wonderful; the actual plot is just okay, nothing incredible, but the main chaeracter is wonderfully put together. I love the way he thinks and reacts; he's my favorite male charcter ever in fact. Anyway, what's Hamlet like? Was it good?

Nope, we don't have anything like that. The maximum we do is read a book in class. Uuuuuuugghhhh! They pick the world's most boring books. It's so annoying. The only good ones were Stone Cold and Cherub, the Recruit.
I found Holes and Lord of the flies the most boring... Most people sleep in class when we're reading something XD

My program is reeeeealy poor this year. 5 or 6 books.

I like some of them, and some are a serious bore. I guess it depends on what you like. For instance, I LOVED The Wild White Stallion, The Little Prince, Robinson Crusoe, Eagles Start Flying Early (That's a Serbian one, but still one of the best novels I ever read) but I barely got through some like Saint Sava's Journeys ( ), and some 30 page long, booooooring, poems about a guy who rides a silly named stag and gets visions from a fairy (my guess is hallucinations)

So, yeah, library it is!

I read the Little Prince too I think we had to in 8th grade. That was such a charming book; even my friend, who normally just doesn't have the patience for reading, loved it. She bought it, in fact XD

My worst book was Equinox by Ivo Vojnović. Well, it was actually a play, but whatever. It was awful. The worst romance I've ever read. Full of cliches, and I wanted to bark every time the two star-struck lovers met. It was like reading a soap opera.

LadyCobweb wrote:I've read Frankenstein That's a great book, one of my favorite horrors, except I don't remember the Inferno being mentioned.

Hmmm maybe it wasn't mentioned...but I definitely remember talking about Inferno during our lessons. Maybe it was just alluded to or something.

Anyway, what's Hamlet like? Was it good?

I enjoyed it! Others in my class got a bit bored though, so I guess it's just a personal preference type thing. It's a classic tragedy - wait until you read the last few pages!!
And Hamlet is quite an interesting character.
Apparently 'The Lion King' is based off it. Once you read it, it is really easy to see the similarities (plot-wise, not so much character-wise).

I had the same reading program last year and Hamlet was my favorite. The rest are pretty good too, with the exception of those by Croatian authors. I hated those. Always do. The best book I've ever had to read for school was The Catcher in the Rye. It's brilliant.
I've got a new professor this year and she didn't give us the list of the books we'll be reading.
I can't believe everyone else says they don't have this kind of reading program. It's not fair that we have to read one book per week. I love reading, but most of these Croatian books are painfully boring.

We still have to read half an hour a week though. You have to have a 'reading record book' signed by your parents to prove you do or you get a detention.

I had the same reading program last year and Hamlet was my favorite. The rest are pretty good too, with the exception of those by Croatian authors. I hated those. Always do. The best book I've ever had to read for school was The Catcher in the Rye. It's brilliant.

Alright, am now officially looking forward to Hamlet. About the Croatian authors, yeah, they always disappoint. Although I did get my hopes up for Suze sina razmetnog. It just sounded kind of cool. I also really enjoyed Catcher. I read it in Croatian the first time around, since it was a lektira and all, but I loved it so much I bought and read the original in English. That was even better than the first time around.

Meh, Mac, believe me, this kills you XD They can really take a lot out of you. I mean, just try reading the Genesis, the Exodus, Judith and John's Evangel in one week. Just try. And to top it off, we had test questions like 'Which wood is the Ark made out of?' and 'What are the four rivers of Eden?' -.-'' The Bible wasn’t actually all that bad; it’s just that we had a week to read it plus insane questions.

You had to read the Bible? In Serbia, only those who go to religious education have to read the Holy Tradition (I think that's what it's called in English).

Yeah. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad, and I actually wouldn't have minded so much if we had had a bit more time. I hate speed-reading; if I'm not in the mood, I just can't read. Plus we had a bunch of other exams that week and things like that.

I liked it. Especially John. We had to read it because it's one of the main examples of... I don't feel like translating this xD temeljna civilizacijska djela, zar ne? Učimo književnost po razdobljima.

Before I translate this, I'm going to take a guess that the second word has something to do with Civilization....


Wow. I was right!

Nah, my favorite was the Genesis. Adam and Eve was interesting plus the almost vulgar themes in it really surprised me, but in a good way. Also, Jacob totally rules. He had 12 children off 4 wives, and wrestled an angel and all that. While I was reading John, I was seriously getting sick of Christ never actually answering questions anyone asked him. He'd always start talking about light or sheep or something, and it annoyed me to no end. Plus, he always seemed to be repeating himself. ‘Zaista, zaista’ and all that. But then again, I might have liked it more if I had been in a better mood. I read it at 2 o’clock in the morning XD

We had to read it because it's on of the bases of civilized literature... Is that right, Maris? XD Right up there with Gilgamesh and The Iliad. See, we study literature by time periods. Right now, for example, we're doing Pre-renaissance and then we'll do Baroque. .

Romanticism is my favorite period so far. Edgar Allan Poe and all those Byronic heroes...

Ohh... Wow. That's pretty intense. If that kind of thing was in Britain, we'd have riots! No one ever reads in this country - or at least, most young people don't.

Oh, I adore Poe. I do.
Ulalume is one of my favorite poems ever.

Hahahahaha, Mac, no one reads here much either. Maris and I are a rarity. Most kids just look up quick summaries online. Although you can't really do that in my school. Our Croatian teacher is super strict.

I look up summaries sometimes when I get a Croatian book. They're always full of words nobody uses anymore so I don't understand a thing and they're boring. I rather spend my time reading something I like. I don't think I'll be able to do that anymore, though. We've got a new teacher and it looks like she's going to give us tests for each book we read asking all those silly questions to make sure we read it.

I did that for Novela od Stanca in 8th grade. However, we're reading it again this year, and this year I'm going to have to read it. Nothing gets by this professor. You really have to read every single book. I know what you mean about Croatian authors though. They just don't do it for me. God, I remember reading Skup by Marin Držić and I'm just sitting there thinking to myself 'What the...?' I literally read that book with a dictionary next to me.

Same here for authors from Ye Olde Times who wrote the book in 1976 BC. Lord of the flies *smashes head on table* Holes *Digs a hole screaming "PEACHES! ONIONS! LATVIA! ZERO!"*
Apparently people in my class enjoyed it though. I think I'm weird.

Really? :O
I heard that Lord of the Flies was good... Man, now I'm disappointed. What didn't you like about it?
Ye Olde Times and Holes does sound horrible though.

Ye Olde Times is an expression I use to say that it was written a billion years ago XD

I dunno, for me it was a bit too old fashioned. The idea itself was great but I just got a bit bored. There was a lot of description...

Oh, oops XD

Meh, maybe I'll try it some day when I'm older. I know my dad liked it; he's the one who recommended it to me.

LadyCobweb wrote:I heard that Lord of the Flies was good...

I heard that too.


I'm currently supposed to be reading Father Goriot. Has anyone read it?