Does anyone have a novel or play that they read at school that they’ve appreciated ever since?
Does anyone have a novel or play that they read at school that they’ve appreciated ever since?
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The Child in Time by Ian McKewan, I did it for A level and loved it, read it once a year now.
Oooo I haven’t actually read that, will be popping on my list- thank you.
God I hated enduring love by same author!
I don’t like a lot of his other work but really enjoyed child in time
I had to read it for a level eng lit it was painful
Yes! I did this too and loved it.x
The Crucible, I find anything to do it the Salem witch trials fascinating and I think it’s because of this!
This is one of my favourites to teach ?
Me too! Before I read this I found English so boring and then BOOM. ?
The two that immediately spring to mind are “Goodnight Mr Tom” and “Othello.” Absolutely hated Shakespeare in school, but fell in love with “Othello” during A Levels.
Ahhhh Othello ? As did I! I’ve seen some amazing productions also which have just added to my love. The Chicago Hip Hop version at the Globe was incredible.
I love othello xx
One of the reasons I went to uni was to study Shakespeare. I still can’t get enough.
Jane Austen. Did “Pride and Prejudice” for O-level and “Emma” for A-level. Not sure I really quite got them at the time, but they interested me enough to go on and read all her books, several times, as well as discovering literature from the same kind of time period.
Jane Austen, just beautiful! Have you read Longbourn or Death Comes to Pemberley, Alison? I’ve read both recently and really enjoyed.
I liked both of them although I thought that the ending of Longbourn was a bit of an anticlimax after the rest of the book had been so good.
Yes! And also Pride and Prejudice with Zombies 😀
Was that any good?
I really enjoyed it. I’m a Jane Austen fan but I never did her for school.
Me neither. I’ll check it out ?
Totally agree re Longbourne, @Claire.
Great Expectations, anyone? In recent years I have taught Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones which is a stunning GCSE text.
Yes, we did that and I still have the book sitting proudly on my shelf! I never got round to any other Dickens though.
Love Great Expectations 🙂
Yes, completely! I love Dickens in general (despite dodgy portrayals of women) but it’s nice to have had the chance to really get to know one book closely.
An inspector calls, Othello, and to To kill a Mockingbird Bird. Love re-reading them. I have to get my Shakespeare head on for Othello though, always struggle to read Shakespeare coming from something different.
Pleased to see An Inspector Calls get a mention ?
Omg, I’d forgotten about that play!
My son has been reading An Inspector calls for GCSE, I had forgotten how much I had enjoyed it!
I remember reading it and liking it at school, then we went to see it performed and it was just amazing, I reread it probably once a year after that and still love it now.
I quite enjoyed the BBC adaptation that went out recently too. Still trying to convince my son how good the story is (his words….”but nothing much happens”), typical boy?
Of Mice and Men always stuck with me. Beautifully written. I still love reading anything by Dickens too.
It’s a lovely one to teach, sad that I haven’t for a few years now but yes I agree, beautifully written.
I was going to say this, read it in year 9 or 10 and bawled my eyes out!
Lord of the flies!
This is my favourite from school. I remember watching the film at the end of term but it just didn’t do it justice. The magic of reading, Eh!
I’ve never seen the film but absolutely loved the book
I can’t believe I managed to forget a much-loved favourite of mine!
The Woman in Black – saw the play as part of my theatre studies AS Levels. If you haven’t seen, I highly recommend it. Its superb!
We sat in the front row as managed to get hold of some freebies- my husband hates anything to make you jump and it was hilarious watching him ?
I’m a wuss but I still laugh at my husband about when we went to see it years ago. We were sitting at the back fairly near one of the aisles and I just knew she would come in from the back so wasn’t surprised when she appeared behind us. My husband, on the other hand, was.
Took my zombie/horror-crazed daughter (11) to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is on opposite and as soon as she heard TWIB was scary she was desperate to see it – from what I’ve heard I think it’s probably too scary for me, never mind about her!
Mind you, I’m still laughing about my friend taking his aged mother to see it for her birthday – matinee weekday show, mainly elderly audience. *She* makes her entrance and my friend (strapping man in his 30’s) is so scared he involuntarily shouts “Jesus FUCK!” at the top of his voice, and the little old lady sitting on the other side of him patted his arm and went ‘there, there, dear, don’t be scared, it’s not real’… =D
Of mice and men, and Hobsons Choice
I haven’t thought about Hobson’s Choice in years- I think I need a revisit.
i hadn’t thought of it till now, me too
The great gatsby, I did it for a levels and adores it and my favourite play was A Midsummer Nights Dream or A view from a Bridge xx
The Great Gatsby ???
I must have read it at least 6 times since…. what did you think of the new film?
I expected not to like it…… But I did ?? I too studied it in college and was enthralled by the glamour of it all…. Whilst I sat there in my tracksuit ?
I’m so there with you, dreaming of finger waves and tassels whilst in jeans uggs and a hoody with a messy bun ???
I loved Lord of the flies, woman in black and for the life of me I can’t remember the title but it was about an alternative time and women were used to carry children
Doesn’t dound much different to now ?
Was it the Handmaid’s Tale?
That’s it! ?
Any good?
Yes I loved all the books I read at GCSE and A Level for English, they are good texts chosen for a reason
The Handmaid’s Tale is a fantastic read. It will terrify and infuriate you!
A few spring to mind, already mentioned actually!
Goodnight Mr Tom
Lord of the Flies
Animal Farm
and To Kill a Mockingbird which is my all time favourite book
I could never get on with To Kill a Mockingbird ???
Lord of the flies and of mice and men for me
Merchant of Venice!
The diary of Anne frank, even though i cry every time ?
My Beardface read that for the first time this year, going to get our 10 year old son to read it
To kill a mockingbird
This be the verse by Phillip Larkin!!
Pride and Prejudice- hated it and read about 10 years ago and loved it – also To Kill an Mockingbird and Great Gatsby!
Jane Eyre. Resented it at school, now one of my all time favs xx
I love Jane Eyre ?
We did The Importance of Being Earnest. I’ve loved the Oscar Wilde plays ever since :). On the other hand, we also did Middlemarch and I hated it so much I didn’t even finish it. I keep thinking I should try again sometime!
I love Oscar Wilde, so clever and so funny! I liked Middlemarch but didn’t read it at school, probably in my late 20s.
I loved Middlemarch – did it for A level. But when I decided to read it again, years later, couldn’t get into it at all
Has to be Paradise Lost by John Milton. It completely captivated me back then and still does now xXx
Some of my long lost loves on here ? othello, of mice and men, the great gatsby (adore!), to kill a mockingbird, animal farm, Romeo and Juliet and I also really loved my A level English lit as we did First World War poetry which I could read all day xx
All Quiet On The Western Front was confronting as a 13 year old but it has stayed with me.
Haven’t read the book but the film is wonderful and the battle scenes are very realistic for something made in 1929
Another for Of Mice and Men, and Animal farm. I rather like shakespeare and Jane Ayre.
Where it stops nobody knows. Great book. X
I could never stay awake reading Cider with Rosie in class or at home.
I had to get the audio version from the library and that didn’t help. Had to have my curriculum changed in the end ?
The Outsiders, loved reading that in school.
Great Expectations.
Of Mice and Men, and Lord of the Flies always stuck with me. We didn’t read Shakespeare for school but I have always been a big big Shakespeare fan. I had to read Pillars of the Earth for History when I had been away a lot and it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.
I have Pillars of the Earth but haven’t read it yet. You’ve maybe convinced me that it should be my next read!
It’s honestly amazing. I didn’t think I’d enjoy something like that as I was only 18 but yeah. Still one of my favs.
We always seemed to get rubbish choices of texts but I did fall in love with some of the war poetry.
We did the war poets. I’d forgotten.
Hanging by a Fred.
I was the kid who spent all her time in the school library – they had a play section. I read all of them
An Earwig in the Ear was another one in the same series
Jane Eyre and To Kill A Mockingbird 🙂
Atonement, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Crucible and then Homecoming which is a poem by Simon Armitage… Oh and Goodnight Mr Tom
Oh I loved The Crucible! I still have my A-level copy with my notes scribbled all over it
If I hadn’t read The Crucible I don’t think I would’ve done Literature at A level… And I certainly wouldn’t be doing my History thing now! My Tess book is like that… All scribbled. I don’t have the heart to throw it away even tho it’s falling apart ???
I did Tess and The Crucible for GCSE. Love them still.
Yes!! George Orwell 1984, love it!
I did Tale of Two Cities, Twelfth Night and the poetry of Robert Browning. Still love Rthe B’s poems but with an adult eye I do wonder if he actually liked women very much, seeing as how they were all either evil or dead in the poems we had to study!
I can still recite Viola’s speeches from 12th Night, I love that play (although the character motivations of Feste the Jester are still beyond me…). But I never did get into Charles Dickens. I know he got paid by the word but crikey he goes on a bit.
The crucible, z for zachariah, gatsby, great expectations, for Shakespeare, Henry IV sticks in my mind. Recently bought a set of 8 Shakespeare for children books in a charity shop for £1 & they are awesome. Some of the plays I didn’t know & are just great stories even without the great language. My 6 year old son loved them! For poetry, we studied John Clare. I loved him & ‘I am’ is a great poem (but thoroughly depressing!)
Z for Zachariah!!! Total blast from the past!
I was desperate for everyone else to be wiped out so I could hoke through all the houses & gather the pretty trinkets!
I don’t think we ever finished it at school and to be honest I don’t remember much about it ?
Didn’t finish it at school?! Jeez that’s disappointing. I’d say to re-read though I never have so not sure how it would stand up!
We were a rowdy class with a teacher whose control skills left a lot to be desired ?
Z for Zachariah! I remember the film as well with Jeremy Irons (he puked and you saw him naked).
I did at one point think it was just me that had read Z for Zachariah , well along with my fellow gcse classmates, lol because everyone that I mention this book to has never heard of it!!!!
The glass menagerie too x
Another came back to me. The Mouse and His Child x
Oh I loved that! It used make me cry.
I want to re read it now. We took the mickey out of it as teenagers but I still remember liking the story even though it wasn’t cool to ?
My family and other animals
We did a whole term on dystopian novels. A Handmaids Tale and Children of the Dust are the ones that have stayed with me and been reread over and over.
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith. Read it, all of you. It’s wonderful.
Ooh I have this waiting! A colleague urged me to read it so gave me a copy x
It’s one of my all time favourites.
I’ve read a few of her others too, they’re charming.
It’s a bit different from 101 Dalmatians.
Very!
I read it recently and really enjoyed it.
Great book
And how many miles to Babylon!
An inspector calls. I’ve loved it since I first read it, I think it’s very, very clever.
I saw the BBC adaptation last year and thought it was fantastic, still not read it though ?
That adaptation was brilliant!
I loved it too- I re-read it recently, alongside Time And The Conways and Dangerous Corner. Have you tried them?
I haven’t read them for years! I’ll have to hunt them down 🙂
We did Decline and Fall for A-level which I loved and led me to read all of Evelyn Waugh’s novels, brilliant.
I really liked that and did the same. I didn’t read it at school though.
At primary school we were read The Sky is Falling by Kit Pearson, the first of three in the ‘guests of war trilogy’. I loved it so much I went on to complete the series independently. I recently found the first on Amazon and need to re-read it, and pick up the whole series to reminisce. I love books that take me back to being a kid x
Northanger Abbey opened up the world if Jane Austen to me and it is still my favourite Austen novel ?
We read A Dolls House (only 2 years ago, think im the only teenager on here ?) which was a cool feminist-sort, theres also a film adaptation 🙂
The tenant of wildfell hall…….xx
Blood brothers. I’ve got twins
Love blood brothers – I’ve seen it twice in Liverpool and both times I wept like crazy. Think they love performing it to a local crowd too x
To Kill A Mockingbird- still my favourite ever book (and film with Gregory Peck)
That sounds fab! I’d love to see it one day!
Always read the book. My sister didn’t and watched the film instead. She failed Eng Lit O level when she was asked a question about the old lady next door. They expunge her from the film.
The history boys!
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, I read it for A level English and when I finished and handed the book back to school I went and bought myself another copy as I had to have it! It’s a brilliant book. X
Of mice and men had always stuck with me, I was way to happy when my daughter did it at GCSE too! Xx
Lord Of The Flies haunts me still. There’s very little from school that I actively disliked, actually. Maybe The Hobbit, lower down the school.
1984, Brave New World and Lord of the Flies. Also loved all Shakespeare after reading Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet in school.
The Grapes of Wrath.
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
A play called The Game Of Love And Chance by Marivaux from my drama days at university. Never forgotten it for some reason, out of all the novels and plays I’ve read.
Of mice and men also Jamaica Inn.
Of Mice and men. I read it for a book review. I took dd, 14, to see it at national theatre live last year, it was brilliant. I’m about to start reading it to 8yo ds, I think it’s a simple enough tale.
I had to read LOTF for gcse English literature. I got a B, even though I didn’t finish the book. I asked a girl on my way into the exam what happened at the end. She said “they get rescued”
Sorry for the spoiler! ?
I also LOVED the tenant of wildfell Hall, I recommend that to everyone.
I LOVE the language, it’s a shame lots of words are no longer used. I loved how the main character told the interfering old busy that she was an interfere old busybody without actually using the words “you are an interfering old busybody” 🙂
The insults were SO subtle 🙂
Love the sound of this! Have you seen true grit? I’ve only seen the Coen brothers version but the language is great. Love anything where you can pick up a good subtle insult!
No, I haven’t seen that, I will add it to my list.
Definitely add this one to your reading must-haves 🙂
Roll of thunder hear my cry, always struck a cord with me xx
There’s a whole series.
You need to read The Land, which is the prequel. Then all the other in the series.
It will blow your mind
I’m trying to remember the titles.
Let the Circle Be Unbroken;
Here we are:
https://www.goodreads.com/series/54001-logans
We read it at school as a book project and its leads stuck with me xx
We didn’t read many books that made a difference. By the time I got to gcse, we were reading stuff i’d already read, or studying shakespeare and poetry .
I just didn’t get to do all the same classics that everyone else seemed to.
What poetry did you do, @Andrea?
I’m guilty to sat I can’t really remember much!
It was 24 years ago
We did Death of naturalist
And something about being a coward “yeller! He’s yeller!”
And “making venereal signs”
I think we did some sonnets too.
I’ve remembered we also did An Inspector Calls
@Andrea, I adored the Seamus Heaney we did!
1989, I think.
I was uninspired by the books we read at school. The worst was Larkrise To Candleford. Fucking awful. For A level I did King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Emma, A Passage To India, Goodbye To All That, DH Lawrence short stories – The Fox, The Captain’s Doll and something else – the Four Quartets and collected poems of Thomas Hardy. I did okay. I think it’s all right to say you don’t like the books if you can explain why.
Jayne eyre ?
I liked Jane Eyre. I found bits of it modern and feminist
The Red Room bit will always stay with me.
Only reason I read Jane Eyre as we had a section for anthology and I wanted to find out if helen lived or died.
@Gillian me too! I imagine it was quite revolutionary for it’s time and it was also the first time I’d read direct address to the reader.
And her response to St.John’s proposal.
We had just a short section. And it cut short. It was mean to leave it on a cliff hanger. And my copy is well read. but not analysed.
Although it was definitely not the book I thought it would be from the extract. 😀
Did you know that ‘Rebecca’ is a modern revision of it? It’s definitely interesting to read it in that light.
I haven’t read Rebecca, I’ll have to give it a go x
@Lauren I had to keep reminding myself of when Jane Eyre was written. I also felt the same about A Confederacy of Dunces. It’s written in about 1960 in New Orleans but is very modern in terms of class, race, work relations, sexual politics and politics politics
Will try that too X
Rebecca is very good
The film is great too. You can watch it on YouTube.
Yes I fancy it but Ive been waiting to read the book xx
Oh definitely read the book first. There are some differences at key points. The book is a bit darker.
Daphne du Maurier cleverly never reveals the name of the protagonist. Much like J.J. Connolly in Layercake.
@Gillian I managed to go to Bronte country and visit the house, some of the things that was going on within the village (haworth?) was quite revolutionary and the public health issues were big news and would have brought into play a lot of the aspects reflected in the book. It was interesting seeing the influences of life experience and how they play out through the book. It is an interesting trip and really deserved more time than I could allow it.
Yes it’s lovely there x
I keep telling myself to read Somerset Maugham. Should I?
I think so. I should too. I recently found a charming postcard in the loft from my dad that he’d written home to his mother in about 1949, when he was convalescing from rheumatic fever in an army hospital in Aldershot. He was enthusing about having met a chap on the ward who was a big Somerset Maugham fan, and saying how nice it was to find a fellow admirer.
Rheumatic fever – how romantic? Reminds me of MN thread today where someone was scoffing about being told that black and white pix made people look like movie stars. Yes they do, but maybe her relations don’t look like movie stars in BW. My dad did. So did the woman you featured.
I *will* get that glam pic of my dad in uniform circa 1942 off my sister and when I do I’ll show you.
Show us your dad again! I’ve seen the handsome devil. Here’s my dad around that time- he grew up in the slums, but my, he could be a character from Brideshead Revisited ?
I don’t have a picture of my dad but here is a picture of my mum and her dad (right) on her wedding day in 1947
Gorgeous. And very like you.
This is Ellen, my grandmother, my mum’s mother. She died shortly after giving birth to my mum and her twin George in June 1923
Such a recognisable face, right through to you.
It’s the Tefal forehead. It’s okay. I can take it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r7XfhTKRMw
I remember those adverts! No, it’s not that. It’s just the space between your features, your symmetry.
I haven’t read it x
Oh my lord this thread brings back all the feels….! To Kill a Mockingbird made me realise all the horrors in this world, A View a From The Bridge, Death Of A Salesman…. And The Visit which is more of a playwright but awesome all the same X
I love Arthur Miller’s plays x
All My Sons SLAYED me.
Same here, they’re so tragic! Can’t you tell I did theatre studies?! All My Sons was another just to add to my teenage drama!!
Of Mice and Men, god i still get emotional about poor Lenny