School Prescribed Texts (1 Viewer)

[jmakowiak]

Did / do you enjoy the texts prescribed for you to read by the Board of Studies?

Your vote should incorporate ALL of the texts you read during all of your high school years.

This come as a result of receiving "the Secret River" by Kate Grenville, a book I read for school which I dearly enjoyed.

 

[Cinnamonster]

I can't really remember much from year 7 and 8 because I wasn't really good at English in those years so I didn't really enjoy it.

There were some texts which I loathed.
Those being:

• Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence (year 10)
• A Dry White Season by Andre Brink (year 11)
• Othello by Shakespeare (year 10)
• Super Size Me (year 11)

There were some texts which I'm not sure whether I hated them or liked them.
Those being:

• The Watertower by Gary Crew (year 8)
• Whatever poetry we studied in year 8. I just remember it being really boring.
• Romulus, My Father by Raimond Gaita (year 12)
• Blade Runner (year 12)
• Cry Freedom (year 11)
• Poetry of Bruce Dawe (year 11)

There were texts which I loved dearly.
Those being:

• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (year 12)
• Hiroshima by John Hersey (year 10)
• Poetry of Keats and Coleridge (year 9)
• Poetry of Kenneth Slessor (year 12)
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (year 7)
• The Rabbits by John Marsden and illustrated by Shaun Tan (year 7)
• Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare (year 7)
• Macbeth by Shakespeare (year 11)
• The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare (year 9)
• Julius Caesar by Shakespeare (year 12)

There was one text which has remained the most inspirational book I have ever read despite it being the worst damn book I have ever read.
That being:

• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (year 10)

So overall, I enjoyed most texts. Hated about four of them.

 

[jmakowiak]

Awesome, thanks for your input. I'd agree with such books as The Rabbits also - a picture book with a serious message. And The Hobbit was great too.
Have never read the Time Machine by H.G. Wells - shall look into it if it's as inspirational as you say it is

thanks

 

[Cinnamonster]

Well see the Time Machine was only really inspirational to me because it's what got me interested in science fiction and just writing overall. Ever since I've read the book I've been really interested in the concept of time travel and it's had a lot of influence on my writing. I mean the book was just terribly boring purely because of the way it was written, but the ideas presented in it where just amazing. It's difficult to explain why it's such an inspirational book. It may not come across as inspirational to other people but to me it was.

 

[jet]

I very much disliked Lord of the Flies in year 10.

In year 8 we studied To Kill a Mockingbird (film version), which I really liked. We even had to rewrite a monologue from it for our assessment. I loved that task.

IN year 7 we did the Roald Dahl autobiography Boy. I remember it being not too bad.

Year 11 was Robert Gray poetry; Othello and O; and Persuasion for Advanced. The poetry was great, though I hadn't developed an appreciation for austen at that point in time. For extension we did the Petrarch sonnets, Taming of the Shrew (original and Shakespeare ReTold version) and tess of the d'urbervilles. Sonnets were ok, but the rest were excellent (Taming of the Shrew is one of my favourites - both versions.)

Year 12 was Dickinson, Frank. and BR, Hamlet and the Fiftieth Gate for advanced, all of which I enjoyed. Hamlet the most though. In extension we did Plath poetry, Waiting for Godot and Catch-22, all of which remain some of my favourite texts of all time. Godot and Catch-22 in particular.

 

[jmakowiak]

I very much disliked Lord of the Flies in year 10.

In year 8 we studied To Kill a Mockingbird (film version), which I really liked. We even had to rewrite a monologue from it for our assessment. I loved that task.

I give so much kudos to you, the kudos stretches to the end of the universe and back.

 

[russianROULETTE]

i can't remember a lot of the texts that we did, but out of those i remember:

hated
Emma - Austen
My Place - Sally Morgan

liked
Hitler's Daughter - Jackie French
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare

loved
Falling Asleep in Snow
46 Lines, Joanna's Bedroom - Steven Herrick
Sourcery - Terry Pratchett
Clueless
Birthday Letters - Ted Hughes
Macbeth - Shakespeare
King Lear - Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare


so i apparently liked more than i disliked. some texts were a drag but overall our teacher was pretty good at selecting engaging texts, probably because our class were such whingers lol.

 

[klaris]

I was indifferent to a lot of texts that I've studied. But I'm still in junior school so they've been pretty bland. Liked and Disliked listed below.

LIKED:

Hitler's Daughter - Jackie French
To Kill A Mockingbird - Harper Lee

DISLIKED:
The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (That's an understatement I HATED THIS BOOK!)

PFT:
A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove - James Moloney.

Obviously my school is pretty sketchy on actually giving us books to read. Hence, I've read one a year and it takes a term to finish that unit. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me. I would've enjoyed something with a little more substance than The Hobbit and stupid YA books. Something like 1984, Wuthering Heights or even The Hours would have done nicely.

Argh. I hate junior texts.

 

[occer]

Liked -

To Kill a Mockingbird (Year 9)
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Year 10)
Maestro (Year 10)
Henry V (Year 10)
12 Angry Men (Year 8)
Outfoxed (Year 8)

Meh -
Lord of The Flies (Year 9)
Macbeth (Year 9)
Romeo + Juliet/Romeo and Juliet (Year 8)
Witness (Year 10)
The Arrival (Year 9)

Disliked -
Wild Cat Falling (Year 8)

 

[klaris]

occer, you studied awesome texts. Lucky. See my post, mine are pathetic.

 

[occer]

True that. TKAM is classic though.

 

[possessionless]

loved:
looking for alibrandi (year 9)
my big fat greek wedding (year 9)
the simple gift (year 12)
road to pedition (year 11)
clueless (year 11)
mean girls (year 9)
romeo and juliet (year 7)

hated:
Henry V (year 11)

and everything else is just meh lol

 

[ehtefaz.hedayet]

the only one i really liked was my prescribed text for Module B:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

 

[MzBiiBii]

i only remember a few

Liked

• Stepford wives (yr 11)
• Matrix (yr 11)
• The Great Gatsby (yr 12)
• The hobbit (yr 8)
• To kill a mockingbird (yr 9)

Disliked

• Fiesta: The sun also rises (yr 11)
• Frankenstein (yr 12)
• possession (yr 12)
• coleridge (yr 12)

 

[jmakowiak]

Stepford wives (yr 11)
Matrix (yr 11)
The Great Gatsby (yr 12)
The hobbit (yr 8)
To kill a mockingbird (yr 9)

I liked 2, 4 and 5. The great gatsby never really appealed to me, whereas stepford wives I just wasn't programmed to like.

 

[klaris]

loved:
looking for alibrandi (year 9)
my big fat greek wedding (year 9)
the simple gift (year 12)
road to pedition (year 11)
clueless (year 11)
mean girls (year 9)
romeo and juliet (year 7)

hated:
Henry V (year 11)

and everything else is just meh lol

Your prescribed texts were freakin' awesome! I can't believe you were able to watch Mean Girls and Clueless and I hate to sit through a black and white version of To Kill A Mockingbird.

As for your books, Looking for Alibrandi (an all-time fave) and The Simple Gift are really good as well.

 

[possessionless]

Your prescribed texts were freakin' awesome! I can't believe you were able to watch Mean Girls and Clueless and I hate to sit through a black and white version of To Kill A Mockingbird.

As for your books, Looking for Alibrandi (an all-time fave) and The Simple Gift are really good as well.

haha yeah well we did the film looking for alibrandi not the book but i love both anyway!

clueless was in extension english as a comparative study with emma.

 

[Omnipotence]

To Kill a Mockingbird
War of the Worlds - H.G Wells Radio Script
Lord of the Flies
Catcher in the Rye
Othello
Go Ask Alice
Animal Farm
Wild Cat Falling
The Crucible
Romeo and Juliet
Christmas Carol
I have a dream, speech - MLK.

 

[sydchick]

Good ones:

- The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Pride and Prejudice
- TKM
- If On A Winter's Night A Traveller (although, I'm finding it a little frustrating...)

 

[jmakowiak]

Everyone seems to love To Kill a Mockingbird. I think Lee fully deserved her Pulitzer Prize win in this instance... on the other hand, Lord of the Flies only confirms William Golding's status as a methamphetamine addict.