The Literary Blog Hop is hosted by The Blue Bookcase. This week's question comes from Ingrid:
Discuss a work of literary merit that you hated when you were made to read it in school or university. Why did you dislike it?
To be honest, I really enjoyed most things I read for school. Especially when I was younger, I would read almost anything in print (I learned how babies were made because I was reading my mom's parenting magazine) and so I usually didn't have a problem with my school assignments. However, I do remember really hating The Crucible by Arthur Miller when I read it in 11th grade English. Looking back on it now, I'm not sure why I didn't get along with it. I think generally, I just found it to be depressing. Also, I'm not a huge fan of reading plays (although I will always make an exception for Mr. Shakespeare). I looked up some quotes online, trying to find what bothered me so much about The Crucible, but I liked the quotes I found, so maybe the overall feeling of the story was just a little dark for me.
I also have never been a huge fan of The Odyssey. I never hated it - I think the story is really interesting. However, I have never enjoyed muddling through Homer's prose. I don't know if I didn't have a good translation or if I'm just lazy. Also, I had to read The Odyssey for multiple classes, so by the 2nd and 3rd times I was so sick of it.
How about you? Any literary works you loathed in school? Do you think being required to read a book makes you more likely to dislike it?
PS: Does anyone else have trouble with the fonts on blogger? If I change the font, I can never get it to go back to normal!
