Indeed, this about sums up my feelings on Shakespeare:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE5jB2tl70M

+1, but Charles Dickens.

Loved English lit, Shakespeare and hardy. It was Sylvia Plath I struggled with.

Absolutely Loved Plath. Loved "the Scottish play" and some other Shakespear. I loved most of the stuff I read in Lit; reading "To Kill a Mocking Bird" is still one of my favourite experiences and I never would have known it if it wasn't on the syllabus.

What really did my head in during my English Lit O level was "Larkrise to Candleford" - that has to be the most boring POS ever written, and I'm lucky I got a B because I only endured the first half!

+1

Harper Lee FTMFW!

I think Shakespear is more enjoyable to watch rather than read, being a playwright and all.

You've clearly never been subjected to Ken Branagh's Hamlet. We watched it across no less than three English lessons; it's worthy of use at Guantanamo Bay.

I know nothing about Hamlet, but have read and seen Macbeth and Merchant of Venice at the theatre. The theatre was much more fun than the books, but I haven't tried seeing any as a TV show.

Teachers ruin Shakespeare. It was never meant to dissected, but to entertain.

As a result, I can't stand it.

Let me fix that for you.

Mark

When the question "And why did [insert authors name here] write it like this?", I said "Because if they wanted to write a good enough story to make some money..."

Totally. Will doesn't compare. Harper Lee rocks and Gregory Peck actually makes it work even after you've read the thing several times and picked it apart with a Letts notes. Legendary.

Another vote here for Harper Lee. A couple of sections of To Kill A Mockingbird were used in English lessons for comprehension tests. I don't recall if we all had to read the entire book but when I did it became my favourite novel and it still is.

I do agree with you, but I find it's ability to hold up to dissection is why it's so widely commended.

I always thought when studying English lit that there was no way the author thought of most of that [LIFTED]. It must just come from some underlying force of the universe, or more realistically, the human experience.

For me, the fact that it all hangs together is just something wonderful about literature. The study of it is separate to both the enjoyment of it and the writing of it.

I never, ever read anything like I did when I was studying it now; I just read it to find out what happens and in some ways, that's a shame, but in reality, that's probably all the author ever intended.

I think it was my dad who suggested harper Lee to me. Certainly loved it.

Sounds like my mock RE GCSE. The question said "can you name eight of the ten commandments". I wrote "No."
Got a bollocking off the teacher for that one.