Ok, so I have now finished school forever (scary thought isn't it) I thought I would share with you the books that I studied in English throughout my GCSE's and A-Levels and what I thought of them.

*spoilers alert*

Lord of the Flies (LOTF) -  William Golding

 Lord of the Flies is a classic GCSE text. To the point that not only did I do it, my Uncle did it and so did my Gran! I personally hated LOTF and although you aren't really supposed to like it, because that's the point of dystopia in a way. I still hate it. It's fine to analyse. But the characters annoy me. There's only two that I actually like and they die. Why kill the nice people? Because Golding is supposedly proving a point. But if there is a point which is supposed to be about the World Wars on a smaller scale. It's still stupid and annoying. Probably because I find war generally stupid and annoying (Sorry).

Considering I love English I apparently don't like very many of the text choices. R&J is probably the worst of them all. I hate it. The whole thing is just ridiculous. If you tell me it's romantic I may actually cry out with frustration.  Firstly knowing each other for 3 days does not warrant true love. Nor does it warrant a suicide. Looking at someone and falling "in love" is LUST. The whole thing is just ridiculous and it truly put me off Shakespeare for awhile.



School of Eloquence (SOE) - Tony Harrison

Tony Harrison's poetry is something that I find to be quite moany. Although I do like a few of his poems he appears to just whine about his relationship with his father and really who has the time to read poetry about someone whining over their parents, sorry Tony there's bigger issues. Although 'V' pointed that out quite nicely. Bonus you don't have to read the whole thing.

The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter


The Bloody Chamber is definitely interesting for sure. It's quite weird and gruesome at times. But I do love some of the short stories. Especially the one based on Beauty and the Beast, mainly because I really like Beauty and the Beast. Carter is fantastic and I think everyone should read her once. Analysis on this was also fun especially because of the feminist angle and the imagery that she uses makes it truly great. Horray one that I liked.

 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood


Ok this is just weird and not in a good way. I found it dull. Even though that was the desired effect at a lot of points I seriously cannot deal with a boring book. Why read a boring book. Life can be boring enough without having to read a boring book on top. Spark notes this one.
 To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAMB) - Harper Lee

Everyone should read this. Whether or not you study it you should just read it. The characters are the kind that you can fall in love with. You can love the nice ones anyway. Without even thinking about it, like they're your friends. The quotes you can get from TKAMB are killer. You can do pages of analysis and seeing the world, especially a racist world was fascinating from an innocent child's point of view. Oh and of course Atticus is just fabulous. If any character could run the world I wish it would be Atticus.









The Wife of Bath (WOB) - Chaucer


Although you will definitely need a translation if you read any Chaucer, I found it to be funny and entertaining. The character of the Wife is hilarious and her extravagant character is both ridiculous and hilarious. If you have enough time to sit and read the work with the translation or even just the translation I think it's definitely worth it.