Reading Sucks

Going to be a senior in high school next year and I'm taking an AP English class. Over the summer we've gotta read 3 books:

1) Macbeth
2)Things Fall Apart
3)Brave New World

Just finished Macbeth, I hate Shakespeare!! I think everybody died, as usual.

Wondering if anyone out there whose read these books. I'm not too big on reading. I mean I like my Sports Illustrated and I love reading threads here at MGs. But books....not so much!!! take it easy everyone

 

I've read Macbeth and Brave New World. I used to read only Sci-Fi when I was your age. I had to read Silas Marner for a Lit class. I moaned the whole time I was reading it, until I realized it was actually a very good book. I started reading more types of books after that. I think Lit teachers try to get you to expand your scope and see the world through different eyes. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from books.

Hey, what happened to Sly? (Rocky Balboa)

 

Brave new world is awesome. You will enjoy it, least i really did. Anyhow, reading is very important, you will just have to get used to it.

 

Yoa JakeD Reading is your passport to Knowledge, and yea some of the "Classics" may suck big time now, but in years to come you may start to appreciate the literary innovations the "Classics" have in them...........Shakespeare is definitely is an acquired taste, I read approx two books a week and yet still find the "Bard" a bore.......The secret is to read anything, just keep your love for reading even if "Class" reading is a snore.

This from an "Old Fart" who still loves reading everyday.

 

The reason why they force you to read is so that even people who have no interest in reading and would rather be shot than caught with a book in their hands can get a chance to see the vastness and diversity of the literary world!

Of course there will be books you hate, but at least it looks like that list is diverse enough, and maybe one of the other books with catch your attention more!

 

hi zbd21,
I take your thread as a general complaint that you have to read things that aren't in your interest area and that you don't enjoy. For that you have my greatest sympathy. How many times did I stare at a page when I was in high school, knowing I'd been reading it but thinking about something else and had to look at it again (and again and again). It simply wasn't interesting for me.

Behind your complaint, however, is an important issue. The school systems were set up long ago with the (false) idea that there's a limited amount of time in which to educate a person. They have to get it all in before you're 18 or so, because after you only learn what's in your field and you'll never get a chance again once you leave school.

Fortunately, people are coming to realize that education is the work of a lifetime and hopefully, the school systems will adapt and teach what makes sense for each age group. For instance, language acquistion is strongest when you're youngest and can be painlessly achieved through play and exposure for approximately 90% of the people. A few have problems with more than one language, but most people don't.

Consider that the school system is somewhat inefficiently tailored to mass-produce educated high school students with the least amount of expense to the tax payer. That means, your individual interests and needs are likely garbled together with those of all the other students as envisioned by someone who's not in your age group. It's an imperfect system.

Of the books you're reading, I agree you'll probably get the most out of Brave New World, because it's about how the class structure is programmed into the human brain. In terms of Shakespeare, I liked The Merchant of Venice when I was your age, because it was most easily understood, however, it's gotten a bad name for being anti-Jewish.

If you want to make things easier on yourself, first read about the pieces you're required to read in Wikipedia, and prepare yourself a bit through exposure to the character's names and the plot before you actually start with the original work. The language of Shakespeare is simply bizarre and it takes a good amount of exposure and a number of years to realize how incredibly great it is. Shakespeare's a language genius and a social critic, but for you, all you have to do is get through the stuff as painlessly as possible now so you can do well on your test. Consider you are caught up in a system problem that you probably won't be able to change at this point but which will hopefully get better several generations down the road.

Good luck to you and much success!
abri

 

Thx everybody for the replies, all are good points to think about!!!

 

Now I just hope the class won't be too hard!!! It should be alright.

 

your right, sly, much better. I'm changing back!! lol

 

I have always thought that it was wrong when they made me read at school. I"m very fond of reading, but it was too early for me to get into the real plot of the book when I was at school. Now, when I reread some books I once read at school, I begin to understand what the author wanted to depict. I just didn't have enough experience that moment to understand everything