Of mice and twatting men may now become my new catchphrase.

I was bored shitless and no clue what was going on.

Alecmalloy@reddit

I know authors that use subtext and they're all cowards.

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htimchis@reddit

Yeah, good point.

It's more or less impossible for a human to create a piece of art of any kind that doesn't have a 'subtext', in the sense of subtleties that are reflective of the artists views and beliefs

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Any-Republic-4269@reddit

Studying English literature is just an easy way to equip us with the skills to decode, contextualise and see the complex meaning of any text. You can pull out important understandings of text and context from this Reddit thread for example

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ToriaLyons@reddit

There's a musician I follow called Ren, and one of his pieces of work has a plot point where people have figured out a different interpretation which is even more grim that what he intended.

https://youtu.be/TYAnqQ--KX0?si=y-L1rtsKETpKPgeu

Realistic-River-1941@reddit

Goole isn't a fishing place: it is too far upriver from the coast, and you have to pass Hull and Grimsby before reaching the sea.

Goole was more for coal, and handles industrial, timber, chemical etc traffic.

If you were in the top 2 sets for English it was Kez. I fucking loved Kez and the film.

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holytriplem@reddit

We had Educating Fucking Rita

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Creative-Pizza-4161@reddit

Oh, same, and Jane Eyre.

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E420CDI@reddit

Fucking Inspector Calls

I don't remember much about the ending (it was around 1999-2000), but I know we had to read it & were also taken to a theatre to watch it.

I would've rather seen The Woman In Black. That was on our suggested reading list, but thankfully we didn't have to analyse it in class so I can reread it without traumatising flashbacks!

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NotYourDoll_xo@reddit

Both of these! I left in 2013🙃

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EAGLE-EYED-GAMING@reddit

Left 2 years ago. We did both of these. Although Of mice and men was in yr9 instead of GCSE.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Of Mice and Twatting Men sounds pretty good

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Ocean682@reddit

I can only remember Wise Children by Angela Carter and An Inspector Calls. Somehow I have the books still. I found An Inspector Calls two days ago, completely forgot I had it. Sorry school.

That I remember: Of Mice and Men (I remember little of it), Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice (which continues to be my favourite Shakespeare play)

Probably some others but my memory sucks these days lol

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

You’re doing better than me!

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Oopsie_Daisy_Life@reddit

Nah, I put it the other way around.

Being forced to read specific books/genres (and then dissect them) really put me off reading in a big way.

I have a list of books I would love to read (1984, Animal Farm, Fahrenheit 451, To Kill a Mockingbird etc) but I can never get in the mood to actually pick one up.

I read the Shakespeare plays but I love to watch them more.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

The same thing happened to me but last year I quit facebook and instagram cold turkey. A couple months later I was reading again (kindle app) and this year I read Jurassic park, loved it and haven’t stopped.

I started a quest to read all the great books I’ve missed out on after loving JP so much, so here I am.

I meant you were doing better at remembering books from school, I feel like I only read OMaM but that can’t be true lol.

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lukeyboy987@reddit

We had to read excerpts of Dracula for something in about year 8, but we never finished the book. I think it was a similar situation with Northern Lights too. I remember we read Of Mice and Men with all the obligatory spoilers written on every other page. As for GCSE, we covered Jekyll and Hyde and Animal Farm, with Romeo and Juliet for the poetry portion. I left school in 2017.

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Not-That_Girl@reddit

Animal farm, which i nareltpy remember. If I'd had read it at my own pace I'd remember it

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tzwicky@reddit

Thank the Ghods that I never had to deal with a reading list in 12 years of school, and not even in College. I was tooooo busy reading the latest Stephen King book and those things required many hours and extreme concentration as they are all connected at on some level. I read a couple newspapers every day while in school, and had grown up before school, reading at a near adult level. Balls to "Catch 22", or "Catcher in the Rye". The best way to ruin reading for a young person is to force them to read and then discuss at a granular level, what it all means.

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AmeliaOfAnsalon@reddit

Y7: Holes

Y8: Stone Cold

Y9: Romeo and Juliet, something else I can't remember

Y10: Macbeth, A Christmas Carol

Y11: Animal Farm, lots of poems

Y12: Hamlet, Handmaid's Tale, 1984

Y23: A Streetcar Named Desire, A Thousand Splendid Suns, more poetry

1984 is definitely relevant now! Good read. I was in Honors and AP English since 7th grade, so there are many I've had to read, and few I enjoyed at the time. I think it's wise to read these books as an adult because as kids, we had no real life experience and didn't know what we were reading, or any of the context.

Of Mice And Men, Lord Of The Flies, Richard III, Romeo & Juliet

Those are the ones I remember after 15 years

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Doing better than me

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Radiant_Ad_9539@reddit

Finished secondary in 2006. The ones I remember: Lord of the Flies; Romeo and Juliet; Macbeth; Stone Cold (scared the shit out of me); The Crucible; The Outsiders; The Time Machine. A lot of poetry from Gillian Clarke, Carol Ann Duffy, Simon Armitage and the GOAT John Agard (mi half-caste symphony). My Last Duchess by Robert Browning was one lesson. Imtiaz Dharker's poem This Room about the furniture rising into the air?

The one I don't: it was a book about a boy saving leopards from a hunter. There was a leopard cub involved, possibly abandoned? I cannot for the life of me remember what it was called. Read in it year 8.

I did an oral on Romeo and Juliet called "Tybalt: Prince of Cats or King of Cool?" which shows you the kind of friendless weirdo I was at 15.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Haha sounds like you’re the kind of friendless weirdo I’d have been friends with tbh.

Shame you can’t remember the name of that one it sounds good! Let me know if it comes to you

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Financial_Breath5433@reddit

Death of a salesman. Of mice and men. The catcher in the rye

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docju@reddit

Lord of the Flies, The Demon Headmaster, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth (not sure if that counts as a book!), Henry's Leg, Collision Course (haven't thought about those last two in years!), All My Sons (again, that one's a play), there's probably others I have forgotten...

I left 2008, school/classes weren't great, majority didn't listen and regularly side-tracked the teacher who liked to give us personal stories for over half the lesson instead. I remember it was Shakespeare... I think Macbeth.

The other English teacher was much cooler and had an absolute stash of books in a cupboard in her room, I didn't do well in the lesson as a whole (lower 'sets' with people who harassed me on top of the rest). My best friend was super cool though and often helped me, I got extra lessons from the cool teacher. She'd let me pick a book from her cupboard each week or so (once I'd finished and returned the previous one), I ended up reading all kinds. but Bronte's stuck with me the most - Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, etc. I struggle to read standard print due to vision, so have re-printed and bound copies of my favourite books to still read them (not a fan of audiobooks, can't concentrate on them).

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Literature I’ve taught my students include Anthem by Ayn Rand, The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, Animal Farm by George Orwell, and, of course, plenty of Shakespeare.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Yea that one’s on my list now, Animal Farm is too. Would you recommend the others?

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Outrageous_Shake2926@reddit

At school I remember we had to read of Mice and Men

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Stratix@reddit

Lord of the Flies.

SFSpex1980@reddit

I think it was 'To Kill A Mockingbird', and 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' if I remember correctly. Plus Henry V for our Shakespeare text.

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No_Topic5591@reddit

Great Expectations
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Merchant of Venice

And loads of absolutely bloody awful poetry, including a whole section of "poems from other cultures and traditions", which even 25 years ago, felt like political correctness / wokeness.

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BatsWaller@reddit

In Year 9: Julius Caesar Our Day Out

For GCSE: Macbeth and the AQA anthology (poetry and short stories)

Animal Farm and The Great Gatsby are the only two I can remember. Animal Farm because I loved it while my English teacher shat on it because it was "too short" and Gatsby because I hated it.

Nothing put me off reading more than being forced to take Higher English! It took years to get back into reading again. Now I'm back up to reading 15 odd books a year and actually enjoying it again.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

This seems like a common experience

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lovesorangesoda636@reddit

My main issue was that Higher English seemed to be less concerned with teaching you how to read critically, and more around "memorise these quotes because you'll need to write them down in your exam to answer the essay question".

Wuthering Heights, Tale of Two Cities, Othello, Nostromo are the ones I remember. 1977.

I don't recommend Nostromo.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Haha ok noted, thanks

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ramapyjamadingdong@reddit

That awful sci-fi where the answer is 42. Painful to read, and the teacher had such a boner for it.

The long and the tall and the short

Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, A midsummer night dream, King Lear,

An inspector calls

Of mice and men

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy?

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Deepfriedcyanid3@reddit

I might be commenting twice but my first one seems to have disappeared before I could edit it

Book - The Mayor of Casterbridge. Hated it.

Play - Journey's End. Loved it.

Poetry - Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. Urrghh,

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PerditaNicolette76@reddit

My daughter for GCSE read Romeo and Juliet accompanied by the Leo de Caprino and Juliet Lewis film. 2012 was her leaving year. Her year group had three weeks to do a years work after the school realised that they had taught the wrong syllabus for their GCSE Literature and Language exam. I don't recall exactly what or how it happened just that we got a letter home admitting their error. The pupils and parents were then given two options. The first is the pupil could submit work they had done knowing they would fail and get a U grade. The other option was for 3 weeks they would go in at 8am and finish at 4.30pm. The school would provide breakfast, additional lunch and late afternoon snack and unlimited soft drinks. They would then spend 15 days learning, writing and presenting etc for the Syllabus that was supposed to have been taught. They wouldn't have any other lessons just English Literature and Language. The school realised just a few weeks before they were supposed to start study leave for their GCSE'S so it would have of been in the April of that year. Obviously there was many angry and upset parents wanting to know how this even happened. I can't remember the ins and outs now. My daughter however resat everything and actually came out with better grades. It was amazing how the kids just buckled down and managed to complete everything required.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Omg that’s crazy! Well done to her for getting through it though

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georgexsmiley@reddit

Catcher in the Rye. Hated it at 15. Work of staggering genius at 24.

Animal Farm - liked it both times.

Macbeth - no comprehension at 16. Blown away at 30.

Call of the Wild. Hated at 15. Hated at 30.

Literature really is wasted on the young...

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jilljd38@reddit

No I read far more when I was younger than I do now as an adult , but I'd read the books at home too and not just in the lessons

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

I'd read the books at home too and not just in the lessons

Me too!

Got a fair bit of verbal abuse for doing so mind you.

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jilljd38@reddit

I think my teacher was just happy that someone in the class could and would read , tbf I was completely honest with the class about my opinion of them but I was the weird one at school so wasn't really all that bothered what a bunch of chavs thought about me , they left me alone and I didn't boot them in the shin or anywhere else while wearing para boots

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

I think my teacher was just happy that someone in the class could and would read

Oh man, the painful memories of having to listen to some of the morons in my class read out loud.

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oneyeetyguy@reddit

Year 10 and they're taking a whole five minutes to get through a single sentence.

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BigDsLittleD@reddit

Fuckin 15 year olds who still read by running one finger under the words as they read them.

2000. I had a great teacher for English A Level who really brought the books to life.

1984,

Animal Farm,

Pride and Prejudice,

Regeneration (Pat Barker),

Richard III / The Tempest / Macbeth,

A Streetcar Named Desire.

The Scarlet Letter,

The Mayor of Castorbridge,

Silas Marner,

Cider with Rosie.

Plus for French A level: Camus, The stranger

Maupassant, short stories

PerditaNicolette76@reddit

Of Mice And Men I Am David Merchant Of Venice A Midsummer Nights Dream Romeo and Juliet Oh and a book about a poltergeist Thomas Kemp possibly

Its 34 years since I finished year 11 so memory sketchy lol but they are the ones that I can clearly remember

I was introduced to Animal Farm, and indeed Orwell, through the animated film as a primary school child in the 1980s. Absolutely loved it. Then I read the book when I was a teenager. I think we studied it for history? Im not sure, it was a long time ago and I'd read it beforehand.

Anyway, the cartoon is a great intro.

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Zealousideal_Pop3121@reddit

While we didn’t read animal farm at school, we did out on a production of it. I was sheep 7 👌

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DeapVally@reddit

I hope you put in a powerhouse performance for such an important role!

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Original_Bad_3416@reddit

Animal Farm, not wasted on the thinkers of the generation.

I read 1984 at 19 and that was before telescreens….

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Did Jane Eyre for A-Level and it may have killed my (32m) ability to read for pleasure ever since

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electricmohair@reddit

I was just about to say I’m so glad Jane Eyre wasn’t required reading for me. I read it in my mid 20s for the first time and loved it, but I just know I’d have loathed it as a teenager.

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Mr_Marram@reddit

Macbeth about 4 times.

Also some mental English literature teacher wanted us to grind out Crime and Punishment, that was not enjoyable.

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garlicandherbsauce@reddit

omg animal farm what a throwback

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TheBeaverKing@reddit

Pretty much identical to our reading list, aside from Jane Eyre. We had The Canterbury Tales instead.

watergypsi@reddit

Romeo and Juliet, Wilfred Owen War Poems, Walkabout, Lord of the Flies, View from the Bridge - Fun Times! GCSE's 1991

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dan_in_his_own_way@reddit

Romeo & Juliet, Of Mice and Mine and Inspector Calls.

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OnceAHermit@reddit

The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff.

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ToriaLyons@reddit

Far From The Madding Crowd. (Bathsheba and Gabriel's love story, I think?)

An Inspector Calls. An insight into class and privilege.

Year 9:
Of Mice & Men
A Curious Case of The Dog in the night time

Year 10:
A Christmas Carol
An Inspector Calls

Also just remembered we did enduring love by Ian McEwan. That was great. Must reread it

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Zealousideal_Pop3121@reddit

Another memory - we did Ibsens A dolls house in drama a-level.

I’m thinking we probably also did an inspector calls because I remember being taken to see a production of it which we wouldn’t have done if we weren’t studying it.

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foxfunk@reddit

Macbeth, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Woman in Black, and A View from The Bridge for GCSEs.

The rest of school, I remember us reading Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh year 7 but nothing else. Our year 7 English teacher was a bit shit. Year 8 I remember us reading The Outsiders, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Boy in Striped Pyjamas, and The Road of Bones. Year 9 we read Animal Farm, Farenheit 451, Romeo and Juliet, and A Midsummer Nights Dream. Also vaguely remember doing bits of Chaucer.

A Levels we did a load of WWI stuff - Regeneration, Journey's End, and a lot of WWI poetry. Also remember doing The Great Gatsby, Brick Lane, Othello.

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FB0801@reddit

From what I can remember

The crucible (GCSE)
Mister pip (GCSE)
Noughts and crosses (Yr 9)

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lindaet16@reddit

An Inspector Calls, Macbeth, A Midsummer Nights Dream (Bottom got some giggles), The Owl Service, My Family and Other Animals, Carries War….I bloody loved them all. This was in Wales 1990’s.

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doll_lovedayy@reddit

At GCSE level- animal farm, Macbeth, pride and prejudice. Loved them all, got really lucky.

However we were made to read Jane Eyre in year 9 which is ridiculous and I still am reluctant to come back to it.

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brammmish@reddit

2cbterry@reddit (OP)

That sounds interesting and intense. Different to others experience (including my own).

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spookyflamingo17@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm, Tess of the D’Urbevilles, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, The Great Gatsby, and then a couple that were obviously not very memorable.

The Great Gatsby quickly became one of my favourite books, and the budget ITV(?) version of the film was brilliant.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

I love a good budget film

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t-a-n-n-e-r-@reddit

1984 is fucking incredible. I need to read it again.

mybrainat3am@reddit

16 year old in Scotland. Just done animal farm for English. It was good but when you have to start trying to memorize essays for it you get a bit bored of saying that Napoleon represents Stalin/ dictators ect ect. Other classes are doing the book thief, an inspector calls and the hate u give (more modern). I know the Great Gatsby is taught next year.

doc1442@reddit

I wasn’t evaluating the way the teaching of the book fits into the course, just your evaluation of what critical thinking is (and by extension, what “critical thinking” is considered as being at GCSE level)

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

I’m sure she only wants what’s best for you. Reading for an exam vs reading for fun is a completely different experience, please don’t let it put you off.

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I know the feeling, I was a massive scifi, fantasy and military history reader at high school, to the extent that the head of English would constantly be trying to make me read " Proper" Scottish contemporary stuff.

Yet I hated English as a subject. For my higher (in the pre-historic year of 1996-97) we got The Inheritors (good story, not completely ruined by the over analysis), Death of Salesman (pure depression that I still hate to this day) and the work of Iain Chrichton Smith (hated it at the time as it felt very much like his stuff was primarily a teaching tool but looking back some if it hits the feels of a middle aged man in a way you will miss as a teenager).

Do you still have to choose a text for something similar to ye olde RPR? Ie a big reveiw and discursive essay?

Of course back then nobody had a choice, if you stayed on after reaching 16 you had to do higher English.

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Matchaparrot@reddit

You will write a lot of essays at Uni for medicine, it's def frustrating having to memorize and it does take away some of the magic of what you're learning from, but try and remember the tips on structuring your essays that you learn. You will write a lot of essays at uni, so try and do as well in English as you can.

Kez (A Kestrel for a knave)

Z for Zachariah

An Inspector Calls

Of Mice & Men

Grandmaster-Glitch@reddit

I left school in 89 and I remember reading Lord of the flies,Animal Farm,1984,To kill a mocking bird,Emil and the detectives

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Bellatrixforqueen@reddit

Left in 1997. We read Roll of thunder hear my cry, Romeo and Juliet

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miss-mercatale@reddit

Macbeth both for O and A level Eng Lit. Loved it and still do and can quote loads of it

Pride and Prejudice

Jane Eyre

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Merchant of Venice

The Rainbow (DH Lawrence)

A lot of poetry, mainly Keats etc

The Aeneid by Virgil which I hated and still do

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FreyaAndMe@reddit

Gods I love Keats, and Wordsworth’s Ode to Intimations of Immortality also deserves an honourable shoutout.

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miss-mercatale@reddit

Yes me too! I loved all the poetry choices. I actually had really good English teachers all the way through school so that made a big difference.

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sjplep@reddit

'Great Expectations' is the one I'd recommend as a genuinely good read. It's long and was originally a serial with some fairly complicated plot lines, but at its heart it's a great read and accessible. Did GCSE English late 80s. :)

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We did King of the Castle. Dud my GCSEs in 98 so they must have been circulating those notes for years.

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proproctologist@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Romeo and Juliet, Lord of the Flies, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Macbeth. I’ve definitely forgotten a few because the latter 3 were for GCSE and I know we read more before GCSE’s

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Flosstopher@reddit

I remember doing Flowers for Algernon, All My Sons, Pride and Prejudice (I still hate Jane Austen), The Color Purple, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, An Inspector Calls, An Inspector Calls and the worst of the lot, Cold Mountain. Also shout out to the Canterbury Tales for making my 17 year old self think I was having a stroke!

We did a lot of Shakespeare as well. I’m a big reader anyway and have read a couple of them again and like them more as an adults

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SimpleExpress2323@reddit

I don't remember many but I do remember:

Macbeth
Inspector Calls
Cider with Rosie
To Kill a Mockingbird

Left school in 1992.

"Death of a Salesman"... I wasnt interested in this at all.

Far from the madding crowd.

Bloody hated it, but turns I was the only one in my year group that bothered to finish it - and thus the only one to get an A*, as half the exam questions covered the latter half of the book.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Good work!

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callmeeeow@reddit

Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Henry V

The Woman in Black, The Colour Purple, Stig of the Dump, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Diary of Anne Frank

Assorted poetry: Wilfred Owen, Robert Frost, Wordsworth, Dylan Thomas, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, Philip Larkin

And of course, Of Mice and Men.

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Darthblaker7474@reddit

Refugee Boy.

I became a mass debater after reading this

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

You’ve got a few different ones here, I’ll have to check them out too, thank you

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Original_Bad_3416@reddit

Required or just enjoyed.

I hated Shakespeare, found it absolutely pointless.

Holes.

Animal farm.

Schindler’s list.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Oh I remember watching Schindler’s List but I think that was for history class

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radiantr4y@reddit

I finished secondary school and completed my GCSEs in 2024, so it’s all still pretty fresh, I can remember every book and play we studied.

I did this in drama I loved it

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Of Mice and Men

Huckleberry Finn

Pride and Prejudice

The Great Gatsby

PLAYS:

Romeo and Juliet

King Lear

Oedipus Rex

POETRY:

Seamus Heaney

William Blake

Dylan Thomas

Maya Angelou

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Mission_Style_2593@reddit

I remember enjoying the Machine Gunners. We also read OMAM and TKAM. Thought they were both great to be fair. I had an excellent English teacher who made reading the books great fun.

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InviteAromatic6124@reddit

In Year 10 my class read a series of Victorian ghost stories: "The Red Room" by H.G. Wells, "The Man with the Twisted Lip" by Arthur Conan Doyle and "The Signalman" by Charles Dickens. If you count plays as books, we also read "Romeo and Juliet" and "An Inspector Calls".

In Year 11 my class read "To Kill a Mockingbird".

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3lbFlax@reddit

Let’s see - Mockingbird (bright orange), Mice & Men, Inspector Calls, Earnest (some wag had replaced Bunbury with bumboy in my copy), 21 Stories (Graham Greene), The Chrysalids… that might be it. I’m pretty sure I had ADD before they really cared because the only ones I actually read fully were Mice & Men and 21 Stories (both short). The Chrysalids had a promising cover but I just wasn’t or couldn’t get interested.

My teachers must have been frustrated because at O level I got an A in English language and something much worse (I don’t recall) in English lit. In the exam I just wrote what I imagined was a witty critique of their choices, perhaps expecting the NME would hear about it and offer me a job. Tragically English language wasn’t an A level option, and that was all I really enjoyed.

Perhaps rashly I went on to try English as part of a combined honours a couple of years later and had similar problems - I had no interest in Iris Murdoch (calling your novel about middle class sexual mores “A Severed Head” is just taking the piss) or the realist novels of H.G. Wells. I’ve no idea what I was expecting or thinking, though I did enjoy David Lodge’s Nice Work, which steered me in the right direction. Independently I found my way to the beats and Hemingway, then a full-on cliché phase with Camus and Sartre, and settled for the life of the autodidact.

I love 21 Stories in particular now. In poignant moments I might imagine going back in time to convince my younger self of the value and beauty in literature, but realistically I know I wouldn’t listen.

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Ben0202-@reddit

Finished school in the late 90s. We had Of Mice and Men, Macbeth and Lord of the Flies. Pretty standard list from what I remember.

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QuailTechnical5143@reddit

Remember a book called Grinny?

Animal Farm;

Some strange book about the fens, rationed food and betrayal;

Far from the Madding Crowd;

Lord of the Flies;

Julius Caesar

We were also allowed to choose two sets of books to read and analyse ourselves for GCSE. I chose four books by John Wyndham and a selection of apartheid-era South African literature. Possibly because I didn’t find them crushingly dull, I did far better on those than on the set texts.

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Left_Set_5916@reddit

For GCSEs I remember an inspector calls, Kes and romon and Juliet oh and the Signal man.

There was also something about Scouse criminals, which didn't work as we were meant to take their side rather than go all Daily Mail.

And lots of books we were wrong to read for fun: any non-fiction, anything old, etc.

2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Of Mice and Men is the only one I remembered too but after reading all this I’m sure I did Macbeth and the AQA Anthology of poems

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echo588@reddit

Left 6th Form in 2006. At various points we read The Hobbit, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and I’m sure we did Tess of the D’Urbervilles as well which was fucking awful.

I head to search the names of some of these titles because I couldn’t remember exactly what they were called sadly.

That said I remember that To Kill a Mockingbird was brilliant - to the point that variations of the word “Mockingbird” became my password when computers and the internet started to become a thing in school.

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St3lla_0nR3dd1t@reddit

Had to read Cannery Row as well, lifelong hatred of Steinbeck’s work followed.

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Lewis19962010@reddit

Animal farm, an inspector calls, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451 are the ones I can remember.

I finished school 2006.

Of mice and men, my left foot.

I reckon all schools should teach and make students read A dark web by Bali Rai.

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WritingSubstantial79@reddit

Animal Farm

An inspector Calls

To kill a mockingbird

Canterbury Tales

Merchant of Venice

Much ado about nothing

Great Expectations

Journey’s End

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nomadic_weeb@reddit

Great Expectations is fantastic, probably my favourite Dickens novel!

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Why do you think that?

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Matchaparrot@reddit

WolfMuted1171@reddit

Of mice and men

An inspector calls

Roll of thunder hear my cry

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Plenty_Suspect_3446@reddit

At primary school I read a lot and it was stuff like the works of Roald Dahl, Harry Potter books, Horrid Henry, Goodnight Mr Tom, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and works of Tolkien. I still like those books and look back on that time fondly.

I never read books in secondary school. My school was awful and reading wasn't required. I stopped going to school at 15 in 2007.

But I did read for personal enjoyment. I was a bit of an edgelord/stoner in the late 2000s till the mid 2010s. My favourite books during that time were Irvine Welsh and Howard Marks.

I've read most of Orwell. I prefer Down and Out in Paris and London and The Road to Wigan Pier over 1984 and Animal Farm, but I rate them all.

I read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men in one day. In fact every so often I will spend a day reading, if a book can engross me I won't put it down. On The Road. A Kestrel for a Knave. The Old Man and the Sea. The Bell Jar. The Junkers.

A lot of my reading has been non-fiction. I've read countless biographies and autobiographies.

These day I keep a book in my bag for downtime at work. Some of my colleagues prefer e-books and audiobooks. Most rely on netflix on their phones.

CourtneyLush@reddit

We did Cider with Rosie. It was the one book I loathed, hated it and I love reading. Made my eyes glaze over.

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MoreUnadventurous@reddit

We did that one too along with a selection of equally dull books. Torturous.

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WeirdPinkHair@reddit

Same. Always been an avid reader and I hated it!

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QuinnCampbell@reddit

Such a good selection!

I would have killed to be able to write essays about Wizard of Earthsea!

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JustAnother_Brit@reddit

The Hunger Games, the boy in the striped pyjamas, of mice and men, an inspector calls this was all before my GCSEs in 2020. We also had to a Shakespeare play every year. I did the Tempest, Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet

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Old-Growth-6233@reddit

To kill a mocking bird

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nomadic_weeb@reddit

I went to high school in South Africa so obviously read different stuff to everyone else here.

Grade 8: Holes, Spud

Grade 9: Private Peaceful, Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Grade 10: The Mark (worst book I've ever read), Romeo and Juliet

Grade 11: Things Fall Apart (also shit), Macbeth

I left before matric and did 6th form here, so nothing for that year (at least in terms of school, I obviously did read stuff in my free time)

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MoreUnadventurous@reddit

Far From The Madding Crowd and another Hardy one Silas Marner Middlemarch

These were horrendously boring. I just read the study guides. This was about 25 years ago, state school.

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Cantthinkifany@reddit

I actually missed the uk reading list, but I did attend a USA school for 2 years which would have been the time I would have been in secondary school. Two books I remember,

William Shakespeare - The Merchant of Venice and Wiiliam Golding - Lord of the Flies.

I hated both as I preferred fantasy Science Fiction like Lord of the Rings and Dune.

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sparky750@reddit

We read 1984, animal farm, Kes and of mice and men enjoyed all of them yet hated English 😂 I'm now wondering why we had to read 4 when most didn't 🫣

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Bloverfish@reddit

William Gol

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A view from the bridge Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha To Kill A Mockingbird

The House At Pooh Corner in Latin The Illiad in Latin

Ones I remember from primary: Stig of the dump Alfonso Bonzo

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DrunkenPangolin@reddit

Jane Eyre, of mice and men, holes, hamlet, Romeo and Juliet

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Queen_Dan_666@reddit

I moved schools in year 9 to an objectively worse schooling curriculum. That meant that after reading and enjoying romeo and Juliet, and hating A christmas carol.... I move to my new school to start year 10 and read?? Yep. Romeo and Julie, and a Christmas carol.

On the brightside, I was very clever for the second school's standards 😂😂

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Llamallamapig@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Atonement, Frankenstein, Woman in Black, Jude the Obscure and then the Shakespeare was Macbeth, Othello and The Tempest

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Agitated-Leader1752@reddit

I was in the thicko English class and we weren’t given a Shakespeare play to read, so we were given A View From The Bridge. I remember loving it though and feeling so pleased we didn’t do Macbeth.

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caprimum@reddit

1984 for me. I went to high school in the 90s.

My kids are currently on An Inspector Calls

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The Go Between is an interesting choice for a school read. It’s one of my very favourite books but the actual denouement is a tad risqué for school discussion I would have thought? “The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.”

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spookystarbuck11@reddit

I really enjoyed the book too! I'll have to read it again now I'm older but I thought it was a fantastic read.

Also not sure why despite the return button on my phone, the book list is all written as one awful sentence 🙈

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Ashie2112@reddit

Ha ha. The future is also a foreign country. Your phones do things differently there. lol.

I remember watching the film first and then I read the book many decades ago. I’ve just reread it again and was struck by how much of a slow burn it is. It all happens really in the last few pages. But it gradually builds and builds and you can feel it through the pages. Wonderful.

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panthervk415@reddit

Of Mice and Men

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Divewench@reddit

Of Mice and Men, 1984, Chaucers Tales, Brave New World.

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AmbientSheep@reddit

For my O-Level (what would now be called a GCSE) English Literature exam:: Othello (very good) Julius Caesar (boring shite) Animal Fsrm (good) Brave New World (excellent) Death of a Salesman (struggled to get into it)

Before that: Macbeth (good) 1984 (which i'd already read; excellent) Lord of the Flies (meh) Catcher in the Rye (ok, didn't appreciate it as much ss I probably should have, ought to reread it).

Was at secondsry school from 1976-1983, English Literature O-Level taken Summer 1981.

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GrumpyCatPerson@reddit

Of Mice and Men, most of Shakespeare and Dickens and Holes! I think we read To Kill a Mockingbird as well! Some classes got to read The Great Gatsby! I loved Of Mice and Men but it absolutely destroyed me, I remember getting to the part (you know the part!) and trying not to bawl my eyes out in class! lol

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NegKDRatio@reddit

Cold Mountain.

War horse

Merchant of Venice

Macbeth

Romeo and Juliet

Wuthering heights

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

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FedUpFrog@reddit

For English 'O' level in 1980 I read Pride & Prejudice, Midsummers Night Dream and the prologue to the Canterbury Tales in its original old English that we had to translate. was not a fan of any of them.

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Jonoabbo@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, Huckleberry Finn

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Jamescg1972@reddit

We did pride and prejudice by Austin, Macbeth and I’m sure I read animal farm by Orwell, but can’t remember if that was one we all had to read or an optional “pick a book and write about it”

Pride and prejudice is still one of my favourite stories.

I was the first year of GCSEs - in 1988 and my English GCSEs were both 100% coursework which was awful as I’m much better at cramming / sitting exams than I am actually having to work for 2 solid years.

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No_Currency6911@reddit

To kill a mockingbird also the wasp factory- that was a mad book. My daughter who is 20 now did a Christmas Carol, Macbeth and an inspector calls. She absolutely LOVED inspector calls it was so sweet she had such a passion for it, she made me watch the movie so many times 😂💖 she really struggled with academic stuff and was the first group to do GCSES after Covid so I did pay for a tutor for English Lit and he really helped she went from a predicted grade 2 in her mocks to a 5 in the real exam. She was sooo proud of it and still loves an inspector call now 😂💖

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LlamaDrama007@reddit

Th wasp factory for...school?!

yalrightyeh@reddit

An Inspector Calls

Hatchet

Roll of thunder, hear my cry

Pride and Prejudice

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

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Chordsy@reddit

I read a handmaid's tale for a level English and I hated it. Like, actually hated it so much I dropped English a level.

I read it a few years ago (did my gcses in 2004) and it's actually a brilliant book.

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Dramatic_Prior_9298@reddit

Lots already mentioned but another I do remember was Buddy, it had some dark undertones but still sticks in my head after all this time. This would have been around 1995 or thereabouts.

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broken-runner-26@reddit

The Hobbit. Never did finish it. Left in 1972

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Flimflamsam@reddit

Required reading?

3rd year was Midsummer Nights dream.

For GCSEs it was:

Romeo & Juliet

Of Mice and Men

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Yorkshire_rose_84@reddit

They’re still reading of mice and fucking men?! Omg I read that in 1999!

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KnownLetterhead7279@reddit

Of mice and men .. the only one I actually finished God damn I was a slow reader. I can only read with a voice in my head narrating so I always took me 5 time longers to finish than everyone else Flowers for Algernon … made me cry and still didn’t read all of it Across the barricades A Man for all Seasons (I could not understand a fucking thing)

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0rlan@reddit

Billy Liar, and Lonlieness of a Long Distance Runner are two I remember

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WeirdPinkHair@reddit

Cider with Rosie and the Durrells both stick in my mind but for all the wrong reasons. Awful!

Loved A Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespear. The analysis almost made me hate it but thankfully didn't.

We did have a lot of classic scifi in the house so I read a lot of that; Asimov, EE Doc Smith etc.

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amorembalming@reddit

Animal Farm, Metamorphosis, The Myth of Sisyphus

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An_Fear_Glas@reddit

Catcher in the Rye. What a book!

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babyheartdirt@reddit

in the late 80s/early 90s. i am likely forgetting a few as i was a terrible student.

My favourite school-read was The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

I kept my school copy.

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GardenSecret2743@reddit

Lord of the flies is the big one I remember. I really liked it as a teenager!

My English teacher was extremely ambitious and thought he'd get us to read the fellowship of the ring but he quickly abandoned that idea and we did Romeo and Juliet instead.

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RufusWorld@reddit

I had to read Of Mice And Men and that was in the 80s 😯

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Coolnamesarehard@reddit

Far From the Madding Crowd. The first page came as something of a shock. There's a long paragraph which is just one sentence. It all seemed so long winded. By the end I was hooked, and read every Hardy book in the school library, one after the other.

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HoldsworthsLeftHand@reddit

To Kill A Mocking Bird

Across The Barricades

Macbeth

Romeo & Juliet

An Inspector Calls

There was another one that I vaguely recall that we read but can't remember what it was now (my school days were a LONG time ago). I have an inclination to think the title had the word "thief" in it perhaps, but it wasn't "To Catch A Thief".

I remember during the period we were reading "To Kill A Mocking Bird", our English teacher showed us the film "Mississippi Burning" (on that big telly that used to get wheeled in!) beause of its similar themes of racism in America's deep south. This was despite their literally being a movie of "To Kill A Mocking Bird" itself, which would have probably been even more of a relevant connection...

Also, I think my school/class must be the only one in the UK to not read "Of Mice and Men"!

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bettyswollocks22@reddit

Death of a bastard Salesman.

However in primary school (around 2008) we read Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo which was fantastic and I have since read as an adult.

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Christian-Gamer@reddit

Fahrenheit 451.

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ThicctorFrankenstein@reddit

I did English all the way through school and then studied the IB in sixth form, which meant I studied as many books in those two years as I did in my preceding five in the lower school. Excluding the “easier” texts from the first couple of years, I had to read:

Year 9 - Romeo and Juliet and Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm.

Years 10/11 (GCSE years) - Lord of the Flies, Macbeth, Frankenstein and an anthology of poems about conflict. I can no longer recite Charge of the Light Brigade from memory, which is a shame as it was a good party trick to whip out.

Year 12/13 (IB) - We did novels (A Clockwork Orange, Fight Club and The Sailor who Fell From Grace with the Sea), plays (A Doll’s House, Miss Julie, Antigone, The Tempest, Our Country’s Good and Translations) and poetry (William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience).

My English teacher was a fan of gothic literature so in addition to An Inspector Calls we studied Dracula(2012) and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (2013). What always got me was that it was the impurity in the salt in the initial batch of his experimental concoction that he tried so hard to replicate but could not, which is thought to have brought about the revelation of his uninhibited self.

I will be forever grateful for the introduction to the genre as I am a massive fan on gothic literature as well as exploring the likes of MR James and those inspired by him as well as tales of the Wyrd. Just shows how much having a teacher who still enjoys the subject they teach can bring so much life to it before it is beaten out of them by a society that is driven by growth and accumulation and does not give enough credit to the caring professions or roles that help shape the next generation other than to create more fodder to fuel the ever expanding workforce.

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2MB26@reddit

Midsummer nights dream 4 times. I fucking hate that play now.

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BrokenNorthern@reddit

Goodnight, Mr Tom (Year 6) Wringer, Room 13 (Year 7) Midsummer Night's Dream (Year 9)

Roll of thunder, hear my cry (have no idea what it was about)

And Chinese cinderella (awesome book!)

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earthandanarchy@reddit

George Orwell wrote other books too! I love 1984, such a great read. I had to read Make Lemonade and honestly I still think about that story, I'm not sure I've ever heard someone say they'd like it but I enjoyed it and it's one of those books that has always stayed with me, I remember it well despite only reading once. I was hardly ever at school and I've also wanted to read these books that 'everybody' read at school, so thank you for posting! I'll be checking the comments and adding them to my reading list

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Silver_Assignment673@reddit

Left in 2006! Ones I remember are The Mayor of Casterbridge and The Withered Arm and Other Stories by Thomas Hardy, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, poems by Simon Armitage and Carol Ann Duffy, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Then A-Level was Pride & Prejudice, Canterbury Tales, The Changeling (Renaissance play but good!), The Taming of the Shrew.

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CyndersParadigm@reddit

The only ones I can remember are Buddy and To Kill a Mockingbird

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smoking-gnu@reddit

Bridge to Terabithia

Death of a Salesman

The Cone Gatherers

I chose Animal Farm for my personal text.

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Saltyspaceballs@reddit

Lord of the Flies here. Hated every second of that book.

Funnily enough I read 1984 as an adult and was blown away, a superb novel. I wonder if I read Lord of the Flies as an adult I would have a different opinion of it

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Bubbly_Cauliflower40@reddit

From the US, but been in the UK for a decade now. I was in the Advanced Placement English Classes.

Sophomore year, we read a lot of Dickens and Chaucer, To Kill a Mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet, and Lord of the Flies.

My junior year of high school we did Macbeth, Death of a Salesman, The Metamorphosis, The Tell-tale Heart, The Lottery, The Picture of Dorian Grey and I think Jane Eyre.

Senior year we did Things Fall Apart, Animal Farm, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet, and got to pick two 'banned books' to do our final reports on and I chose I Never Promised You a Rose Garden and Fahrenheit 451.

I think at some point we read something from Mark Twain and I'm sure we read The Catcher in the Rye. And loads of poetry.

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ROGERS-SONGS@reddit

Frankenstein. Twelfth Night. The Scarlet Letter. The Colour Purple. Lord of the Flies.

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Frequent-Rain3687@reddit

Romeo and Juliet , The Canterbury Tales , Great Expectations , The Outsiders , Underground to Canada ,Inspector calls , Macbeth , Of mice and men .

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Forestory@reddit

Half our year group did mice & men, my half did lord of the flies

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MiniCale@reddit

In middle school Holes, Goodnight Mr Tom and a weird book called Face about a teenage rapper who got his face disfigured.

In high school Romeo and Juliet, Much ado about nothing and a bunch of of poems.

The Duchess of Malfi

Lord of the Flies

Othello

King Lear

The Crucible

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ShitBritGit@reddit

Covered some shakespeare (I get mixed up which was in English and which was in drama, it was a very long time ago), Of Mice and Men, An inspector Calls...

But one I looooved in English was Empty World by John Christopher. The fact I still remember the author 30+ years later is impressive. A virus kills most of humanity and a boy has to fend for himself.

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Guava-Choice@reddit

For my year’s GCSE it was Macbeth and Inspector calls, with the power and conflict selection of poems! This would’ve been 2015-2017 I think? 10 years has gone by far too quick…

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Danzos@reddit

Had to read a fair few of the ones above, but the one that's always stuck with me the most, and which I don't see above, was The Crucible. We read the play, studied McCarthyism, and watched the movie. I've returned to both the movie and the script for the play so many times over the years and it still fascinates me. Especially the dialogue which has some incredible moments.

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Superb_Ladder915@reddit

Animal farm.And one day someone brought in a different version of it and it was disgusting

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Bossman_Mike@reddit

From memory it was a load of Shakespeare (a different play each year) and we also had Great Expectations, Nineteen Eighty Four, All Quiet on the Western Front, To Kill A Mockingbird...

There was definitely more but bugger me if I can remember it all.

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rabid-fox@reddit

Of mice and men, the crucible, lord of the flies

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DuplicaDitto96@reddit

Of mice and men

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fergie_89@reddit

Tess of the d'Urbervilles was my A level English one. Cant stand the book to this day.

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tallbutshy@reddit

Early 1990s English

Bridge on the River Kwai
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Secret Garden
Wuthering Heights
Twelfth Night
Macbeth

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BuckTeethedGirl@reddit

Macbeth

An inspector calls

Joby

Cider with Rosie

The rime of the ancient mariner

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Alarming-Check9188@reddit

Some of the ones that stuck in my mind:

Shakespeare - Midsummers Night Dream, Twelfth Night, Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Coriolanus, King Lear, Much Ado about Nothing, Romeo and Juliet.

A lot of the ones already mentioned but, as I was in Scotland, there were some Scottish authors and poets. Burns, Macaig, and the worst book ever written to get young teenagers reading, Kidnapped by RL Stevenson. We also read a lot of Thomas Hardy which I don’t recall enjoying

I grew up without a TV, most of the books I recall as being required reading in secondary school I had read long before. The only one that I hadn't actually read that springs to mind is "To kill a mockingbird".

Fun fact, a school in Manchester recently sacked their librarian. After running their book stock lists through their friendly local LLM it flagged "1984" as a subversive and damaging book. The librarian pushed back, the school sacked them. What a time to be alive.

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JumpyGap422@reddit

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee.

Midsummer Night's Dream.

Mid 80s

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Majestic-Airport-471@reddit

I haven’t seen “boy in the striped pyjamas” mentioned

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-Gypsy-Eyes-@reddit

Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls, Animal Farm, Sign of Four (sherlock Holmes), and a bunch of war poetry. That covers most of what I can remember from year 9 and GCSE

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fruitcakefriday@reddit

Some of these were 6th form, not sure which, but Macbeth, Educating Rita, Animal Farm, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Heart of Darkness were some of them.

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MooMF@reddit

The French Lieutenant’s Woman.

Of Mice and Men, Spring and Port Wine and Macbeth. There was a sci-fi novel, as well, that I thoroughly enjoyed but can't remember the name of.

I think it's important for young people to read these hard hitting books and I hope it continues.

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TehTac@reddit

Autobiography of a Supertramp, quite enjoyed it at the time

Tenant of Wildfell Hall, don't remember anything about this now

The Siege of Krishnapur. Have a feeling this was ok

King Henry IV Part 1 was the obligatory Shakespeare. Not really a fan

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ghostformanyyears@reddit

Yeah reading 1984 as a teenager would have been a WHOLE different experience

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Alzdeejay2@reddit

Of mice and men and Macbeth are the ones I remember.

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el_smithy8@reddit

- for my gcses (completed in 2024): Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls, Pride and Prejudice

splendidvinyl@reddit

Emma by Jane Austen, hated it with a passion

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Jolly-Outside6073@reddit

chapters (plural) on the risk of her catching a cold if they open a window at the dance that they might organise. Give me strength.

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Maybe I just remember watching stuff at school more than reading it. Although I was an avid reader as a kid, but I preferred things like ghost stories and science fiction, so I forget the school stuff I had to read.

Finished secondary school in 2001.

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wizzywoo22@reddit

Animal Farm, An Inspector Calls, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet

Also remember the Anthology book of poems if anyone else remembers that 🤣

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Jolly-Outside6073@reddit

The File on Frauline Berg, Goodnight Mr Tom, Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, The Woodlanders, Jane Eyre, Of Mice and Twatting Men (love the new title), A Choice of Poets, Juno and The Paycock, Brother in The Land,

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Apart from Macbeth (which I hate because we studied it for 4 out of 5 years) that’s a stellar list. I’d have loved that 😂

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CourtneyLush@reddit

It makes me scratch my head that English Lit classes make you 'read' plays. It's a play, Macbeth is a great play but it's not enjoyable to read as a text.

I get why they do it but it's enough to put most people off Shakespeare.

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Serious_Badger_4145@reddit

Of mice and men The woman in black

Also did some Shakespeare and animal farm

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Another_Random_Chap@reddit

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee - that was our O Level book, along with Julius Caesar and some modern poetry by Ted Hughes, R S Thomas and a few others that had so little impact on me that I can't remember their names. Mind you, it was the best part of 50 years ago now.

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No_Priority_1839@reddit

Death of a Salesman, An Inspector Calls, Sunset Song and Fahrenheit 451

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Upset_Accident_8435@reddit

This question has really thrown me because I did my GCSEs in 2010 and for the life of me I can't remember what we read (and I got a decent grade so I must've actually read them).

I've had a google of the set texts from around that time and the only ones that ring a bell are maybe Pride and Prejudice and Much Ado About Nothing.

We did To Kill A Mockingbird for GCSE, finished Year 11 in 2008. I still reread it, it’s a phenomenal piece of literature. The film is excellent too.

I recently read 1984 for the first time and loved it. I preferred Brave New World as a take on a future dystopia though, the veneer of cheer and freedom is far more unsettling than the brutal Orwellian oppression.

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Award2110@reddit

Animal Farm. Inspector Calls. Of Mice and Men. To be fair, I actually enjoyed all 3 of those. Have read 1984 more recently. Also, have a read of "A brave new world" Aldous Huxley. Another really good book.

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RedNightKnight@reddit

Wuthering Heights, Great Gatsby, Macbeth, Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Animal Farm, Lord of the Flies. Loved them all! I used to read WH and GG over and over through my teens. Revisited Animal Farm in early adulthood and from that I read 1984. Absolutely loved that too. Had kids and haven’t read since.

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StampyScouse@reddit

For GCSE, An Inspector Calls, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, and the entire AQA power and conflict poetry anthology.

Outside of that, we also did Blood Brothers, Of Mice and Men, Macbeth, and a bunch of other shakespeare I can't remember.

Orwell was a prat.

The Steinbeck book people should have to read is grapes of wrath.

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LazyBarracuda@reddit

Why was he a prat?

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John_0Neill@reddit

Colonial cop, racist, rapist, and gave a list of leftists to the government to execute

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Disastrous-Theme-208@reddit

Finished in 2005, only book i remember reading was Goodnight Mr Tom. Didn't have to suffer of mice and men.

Hate all that fucking poetry we had to do for English lit GCSE

Macbeth was good though

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Random_Guy_47@reddit

A Kestral For A Knave.

I hated that book so much. It was incredibly boring.

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xXKittyMoonXxParis@reddit

Boys don't cry (very contemporary), animal farm, a Christmas carol, blood brothers, Frankenstein, Macbeth

The ones I remember, in order of doing them in school starting from y7. For GCSE I did blood brothers, Frankenstein and Macbeth. Blood brothers is bloody amazing (no pun intended) so is Frankenstein. Very gay undertones. Macbeth? Ehhhh. It's good. But I never got the Shakespearean language

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Medium_Roof_3745@reddit

Lord of the Flies Sunset Song Of Mice and Men Canterbury Tales

Lots of plays: The Caretaker The Crucible Death of a Salesman Romeo and Juliet Merchant of Venice Hamlet A Midsummer Nights Dream Coriolanus

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History_86@reddit

Of mice and men and Jesus sandals or something, it was actually quite a good book. I can’t really remember any others but it was a very long time ago

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randomusername123xyz@reddit

Lord of the Flies.

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danjimian@reddit

Lord of the Flies, Brave New World, The Chrysalids.

Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth

1988

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Soy_Saucy84@reddit

Scarlett Letter,

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QuinnCampbell@reddit

Lots that have already been mentioned, and we also read Persuasion.

I think we were the only class that year to do anything by Austen, and I was so glad that my rather quirky English teacher had chosen it over some of the other possible options.

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Catcher in the Rye

To kill a mockingbird

Macbeth

Assorted poets including Seamus heany (hated) ted Hughes (hated) , Wilfred Owen (sad but tolerable) and John Cooper Clarke (feckin loved it)

Brother in the Land.

An Inspector Calls.

Macbeth.

Romeo & Juliet.

Animal Farm.

Lots of short stories as well, like The Withered Arm, The Tell-Tale Heart, Rats, and The Masque of the Red Death.

Finished in 2006.

I've recently been reading the original version of The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer. Anyone who tells you that vulgarity is a modern affectation doesn't know their literature. There's a story where someone hangs their arse (spelled "ers" in this case) out of a window and tricks someone into kissing it.

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Complex-Piano-81@reddit

Animal Farm, Of Mice & Men, and Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry, which was so heartbreaking!

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Stuck_Duck16@reddit

Jane Eyre and King of the Castle. I just couldn't get through Jane Eyre. I rented the film from the library. It skipped a lot of the detail from the book but got me through my GCSC!

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Macbeth, A Christmas Carol, An Inspector Calls (2017)

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750volts@reddit

War of the Worlds I enioyed fully, being from the South East of England it was great fun reading about towns like Basingstoke and Woking being trashed by Martians.

Kes as well, Macbeth, we also had this AQA Anthology with some of the most depressing stories and poems known to man. Silvia Plath poetry, stories about a Grandad that deliberately poisons himself etc and then having to analyse them in painful detail.

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BumblebeeForward9818@reddit

GCSE was to kill a mockingbird, Romeo and Juliet and pride and prejudice

A levels was beloved, Frankenstein, Dorian grey and the tempest with some Sylvia Plath poetry in there

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Howthehelldoido@reddit

Lord of the flies 2005

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Lord of the Flies, 1986

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129sapphires@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Animal Farm and Across the Barricades in 1986-1987

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wwrd77@reddit

Death of a salesman, junk, two weeks with the queen, holes,

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Separate_Wing_6685@reddit

Julian Barnes 'History of the World in 10 1/2 Bullshit Chapters'. Left school in 2002, saw it in a charity shop recently and thought about buying it if we hadn't analysed it to death.

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Dull_Banana5349@reddit

I left school in 1993. I remember doing An Inspector Calls (which I loved unlike most people on here it seems) Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, the lower set did Of Mice and Men which I only read recently and absolutely sobbed... I work with people with learning disabilities and I had no clue what it was about! We did the poem Warning too which I still aspire to.

Also Brother in the Land which no one else seems to have mentioned but it was about life after nuclear war... I think my school were slightly obsessed with nuclear war. I grew up in Sheffield and they traumatised us all by making us watch Threads and having "interesting" conversations about how we would all die depending on where we lived.

At A-level I did Sense & Sensibility, Hamlet, The Rape of the Lock (great epic poem) The Merchants Tale from Canterbury Tale's and The Return of The Native which I absolutely hated!

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taknyos@reddit

Of Mice and Men, Blood Brothers, Pride and Prejudice, Lord of the Flies, Hamlet are the only ones I remember. (Finished in 2013).

I liked Of Mice and Men and hated the rest at the time. There are much more interesting (to me) classics than the ones we had to read.

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Unhappy_Clue701@reddit

I didn’t read Of Mice and Men in school, and read it instead at the age of about 45. Read it end to end in a few hours whilst on holiday - what a fabulous book. Piled straight into Grapes of Wrath the next day.

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creativequine74@reddit

' Walkabout '

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TheLibrarian75@reddit

The Silver Sword - Ian Serrallier The Red Pony - John Steinbeck

Merchant of Venice (enjoyed it) Romeo and Juliet (loved it) Macbeth (not for me) Lord of the Flies (loved it) Flowers For Algernon (enjoyed it)

Left school 1999

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Brilliant-Second5749@reddit

Measure for measure, Julius Caesar,Macbeth,othello, corialanus

Of mice and men, war of jenkins ear,animal farm, 1984

Like you, Of Mice and Men. Also, An Inspector Calls, and lots of war poetry.

Macbeth a couple of times. Once in middle school and again later on. Also, Othello, which I quite liked.

I think we read at least some of the Canterbury Tales too.

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Pukit@reddit

Merchant of Venice. Lord of the flies. 1984, animal farm, Romeo and Juliet are the ones I remember.

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Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit

Roll of thunder hear my cry (anyone else have to read this?)

Animal farm

Romeo and Juliet

Then in gcse drama it was look back in anger, I was the shortest, youngest and nerdiest of the lads and I was cast as the colonel cos the drama teacher hated me because I wrote a script, I was literally studying scripted performance as my exam subject

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Of Mice and Men and The Lord of the Flies

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OrganizationFun2140@reddit

O level (left school 1982) was Julius Caesar, prologue to Canterbury Tales, and Pride and Prejudice. I loved reading but hated Eng Lit as really struggled with the “what are this characters motivations?” and “what is the author trying to say here?” type questions (so grateful to have Chaucer for poetry element as didn’t ask these). Turns out, I’m autistic. No wonder I struggled with motivation and subtext questions. Ruined a lot of great books for me.

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Cornelius-Figgle@reddit

For GCSE: A Christmas Carol, Romeo & Juliet, and Lord of the Flies.

LotF is actually a good read.

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putowtin@reddit

Macbeth and Animal Farm (finished school 1996)

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TranquillityQuack@reddit

An inspector calls and lord of the flies, but every other class done of mice and men lol

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HydraulicTurtle@reddit

Silas fucking Marner.

A room full of 11 year olds are not going appreciate Silas Marner, miss.

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jamtart68@reddit

Far from the Madding Crowd The Crucible *The Merchant of Venice

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Teacherymoment@reddit

Left school in 1999 so it’s a long way back to remember! I feel like we read lots. Lord of the Flies. Far from the madding crowd. Animal Farm. 1984. To kill a Mockingbird bird. Twelfth Night. Macbeth. Romeo and Juliet. Much ado about Nothing. Mansfield Park. The Crucible. Kes.

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bopman14@reddit

There was a point in my life where I could almost recite The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. I saw the play 3 times in a year. I analysed the balls off that book. Still one of my favourite stories I've read tbh.

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iM3GTR@reddit

Romeo and Juliet and Of Mice and Men for GCSE. Then Othello, Death of a Salesman, Hamlet and Atonement for A-Level. Maybe a few others I have forgotten.

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OptionalQuality789@reddit

The heart of darkness
Romeo & Juliet
The great Gatsby

Hmm, there were a few, but the ones that spring to mind are:

Of Mice And Men.
Lord of The Flies. Macbeth.
In Nôs Ola Leuad. Te Yn Y Grug.

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2cbterry@reddit (OP)

Omg yes i remember the newspaper thing now too

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1AlanM@reddit

Novels: Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Catcher in the Rye.

Plays: Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, An Inspector Calls, Death of a Salesman

Too many poems to remember

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unknowntoff@reddit

Literally same

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EverywhereHound@reddit

Of mice and men

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Feisty-Lifeguard-550@reddit

Walkabout

Animal Farm

Darkness at Noon 😬

All Quiet On The Western Front

Journeys End

Far From The Madding Crowd

Romeo and Juliet

Macbeth

Hamlet

Loads of poetry Dylan Thomas , Robert Burns

I think I left school in 1988/89

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Feisty-Lifeguard-550@reddit

Yeah Death of a Salesman, hated that

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shark-with-a-horn@reddit

I'm sure at my school we mostly never read the full books, it might have just been my specific teachers

We did read Skellig and Holes I think in the earlier years , then later "read" great expectations and Romeo & Juliet but that was actually just reading extracts and watching movies

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Liquidest_Ocelot@reddit

To Kill A Mockingbird

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McWhopper98@reddit

Of Mice and Men

Huckleberry Finn

Romeo and Juliet

Animal Farm

The Odyssey

I feel like I am missing some but these are the main ones

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Icy_Priority8075@reddit

We had a new teacher who ditched the approved school curriculum and brought 'Othello' and 'The Crucible'. The other classes were stuck on 'Death of a salesman' and the Tempest.

Roll of thunder hear my cry (GSCEs) and My Oedipus Complex (A Levels, 2009)

In year 9 in top set we read Of Mice and Men and An Inspector Calls.

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