[paulorlando]

I happened to have been assigned Moby Dick in 9th grade English class. Foolishly put off reading it until the night before the book report was due. Got about 1/3 of the way through and went through life thinking it was boring. Fast forward decades, I'm now reading it for real. It hilarious, it's pause encouraging, I love it! (And I'm still only 1/3 through.)

[wavemode]

I had a similar experience with the play "A Raisin in the Sun". Reading it in class, it was boring and difficult to relate to. Watching the play live as an adult, you realize it's actually hilarious and heart-wrenching.

Part of it is growing up, but part of it is (obviously) that plays aren't meant to be read. There's a lot of detail and tone that doesn't really come across properly, and it sucks the life out of the story. Not sure why it's such a common practice in school.

[dreamcompiler]

To this day I still think Shakespeare is the most overrated buffoon ever to put words on paper, probably because I was forced to read so much of his work in school.

I realize I'm probably wrong about my assessment, but I've tried to watch performances of his plays as an adult and the outcome is always the same: His words just sound like random noise to my brain. They bounce off.

And yet I love Cormac McCarthy. Blood Meridian is one of my favorite novels. Go figure.

[watwut]

It is very likely that a book funny to adult you would went over 9th grade you regardless of reading speed.

[beams_of_light]

This is a problem I have yet to see schools tackle. A kid in junior high school has no mental context for the Russian Revolution of 1917, for instance. Having them read Animal Farm is a pointless waste of time.

[theoldgreybeard]

In grade 9 I had to do a book report that compared two books by the same author and I chose Moby Dick and Billy Budd.

My teacher tried to talk me out of it, but I insisted and ultimately she let me do it because Billy Budd is very a short novella.

To this day, Moby Dick is still my second favorite book of all time (with my all time favourite being The Lord of the Rings). I only read it once, 20 years ago, for a book report but it really stuck with me.

[RealityVoid]

I read it maybe 15 years ago and I just remembere it as that book with wale facts.

[hasbot]

Slightly tangential but I was discussing high-school English book selection with a relatively new English teacher. He was frustrated that his 9th/10th grade students were uninterested in the books. He was hamstrung in book selection by budget (buying new books wasn't an option) and essentially seniority (he couldn't select any books that were read in more advanced classes even though few of his students will take those classes). So the system was unintentionally teaching most kids that reading books was boring.

[lucaslazarus]

Honestly, even getting through 1/3 of it in a night is pretty impressive. Certainly took me several weeks freshman year of college.

[q-base]

I read it a few years ago and was severely disappointed. All these comments about Moby Dick makes me reconsider giving it a second go.