Where do I start? I was "forced" to read many books through high school and uni and I enjoyed all bar one ("For Whom the Bell Tolls", Hemingway). I suppose I'd better cut the list down to just a selection, though. 2 from high school and 2 from uni:

High School
- "Of Mice and Men", Steinbeck
- "All Quiet on the Western Front", Remarque (coincidentally, one of the only books I've read that made me cry - no mean feat for a 14 year old at an all-male boarding school)

Uni
- "Dracula" Stoker
- "The Metamorphosis" Kafka

I would say I would never "The Wild Children" if my Language Arts teacher did not force me to read it. It has a primary setting in USSR, so I am not inclined to read it.

Actually, I can't remember ever dreading to read a book in school except perhaps Romeo and Juliet. After Mercutio kicked the bucket though, (he talked WAY too much and used words I'd never heard before,) I enjoyed that one enormously. It took a while to get used to, but Shakespeare's writing style was beautiful and quickly grew on me.

Yes, animal farm was extremely interesting, but never meant to be funny...or so I assumed

I had to read Animal Farm - I didn't understand the ideaology when we studied it (15/16 years of age, and long before the fall of the communist regimes ). It's only with the hindsight of advanced age that I can see the political satire that the book proposed and forecast..
And with that knowledge I wonder if the Government of the day were trying to promote or denigrate the ideas prorposed!

Oddly enough, I was force fed "The Great Gatsby" in high school. It was a tough start but, obviously, became a very influential book in my life. "The Return Of The Native", by Hardy, was another one.

"Mrs Dalloway" by Virginia Woolf, took about three readings to really get to grips with it but well worth the effort. I also began my degree with the idea that Jane Austen was someone I'd "have" to read as payback for the stuff I was really interested in. She's since become one of my favourite writers and I've read all her novels for sheer enjoyment.

Just my opinion but life is far too short to bother with Joseph Conrad

"Moby Dick" by Herman Melville. I really enjoyed it.
I dreaded Shakespeare, but I absolutely loved all the plays we read in Lit class.

Sebastaincat mentions "Frankenstein". I never had to read it for class, but I have read it, just recently reread it, and I thought it was truly excellent. It is certainly much, much different from the old Universal movie.

I second "Moby Dick." I always loathed the idea of reading it, until was finally forced to. While I still found the text-book quality portions of the novel excruitiating, overall, I was very glad I read it, because it had a power and an impact that was truly resonant with me.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" is the first book that I was forced to read that I absolutely could not put down.

I also (and I may have been the only one in my class who felt this way) really liked "All the Kings Men", I think it was Robert Penn Warren.

In college I read a book called "The Porcupine" about a deposed eastern European leader. It was fantastic, but I cannot remember the author.

In my 12th grade English class we read Macbeth. It took me about half the play to get used to the language, because we had to read it in English (my native language is German), but once I managed that problem and figured out what was going on I absolutely loved it.
I actually went on reading Hamlet and Midsummer Night´s Dream without being forced to do it.

In grade 5, I was forced to read Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by my friends. Now I'm glad I did because I'm absolutely addicted to the books. I've literally read each one (not including book 5) at least 8, 9 or 10 times each, and I have tonns of Harry Potter posters and pics around my room. I'm grateful to my friends for getting me interested in it, though now it's like a competition between us to see who knows the most about the books. lol.

I'm with you Fosse4. I had to read "Animal Farm" while in the eighth grade (13 yrs.) and I didn't understand the ideology either, but I found it interesting. When I was about 21 I re-read it and at that age of enlightenment, I could smack my forehead and say "Oh, so THAT's what this meant". It's now one of my favorites (many years later)..

Chris- I think it takes most native speakers of English half the play to get used to the English!

I had to read "Madame Bovary" in high school. We were supposed to have it as summer reading and discuss when we came back for the new school year. Because I read it during the summer and didn't really have to spend time analyzing it, I enjoyed it, although I certainly didn't like the main character (and I don't think you're supposed to). However, when we started school, the way my teacher analyzed the book totally killed any enjoyment I would have had if I had just read the book by itself. I'm glad I got to read the book before having to do assignments on it.

Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. The only poem I was ever forced to read in grade school. I still love it.

I was forced to read "To Kill a Mockingbird" as well. I'm so glad that my teacher made me read it, it's become one of my favorites. The others I'm glad I was forced to read are:

"The Grapes of Wrath" Steinbeck
"Jane Eyre" Bronte
"Wuthering Heights" Bronte
"Brave New World" Huxley

I'm really glad that someone had forced me to read these books, I probably wouldn't have otherwise and I would have cheated myself out of some wonderful literature.

The Sea Wolf by Jack London. I had to read it for my literature club and loved it (even though half the club members thought it too boring to finish...).

Also, The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas. I didn't really have to read it, but my father was always going on and on about how wonderful it was so I read it to make him be quiet. I was first daunted by the fact that it was twice as big as any book I'd ever read, but it turned out to be every bit as enthralling as my dad had hinted. Or, at least, that's my opinion .

"The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner, "Beloved" by Toni Morrison and "The Rain King" by Saul Bellow; and I could also include in this category Poe's Tales, but I had already read some of them when I was forced to read them in a course of Northamerican Literature.

I think some of my college professors will be very proud of me right now.

"The Count Of Monte Cristo". I wasn't strictly forced to read it, I chose it when required to read a novel by a French author. This book opened my eyes to the fact that I COULD enjoy a book in spite of its formidable length.

The Catcher In The Rye by J.D. Salinger

I was forced to read "of mice and men by steinbeck and Macbeth oops lol "the scottish play by shakespear" thoroughly (sp) enjoyed them both, and was glad I was forced to read them. I even contemplated buying them!

i had to read "The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood in my yr 12 english class. It is today still one of my favourite books. Even though i had to analyse it to death i liked it the comement it makes. It was really influencial on me. I would recommend this book to any one who is a fan of dystopic fiction .. its a great read.

I almost always questioned the relevancy behind any book they made us read in high school... I just could not understand when in my grown up life (barring a possible stint on Jeopardy) was I going to need to know anything at all about "Hamlet"... I still can't say I enjoyed any of the Shakespeare literature, the language was just beyond my grasp, but the one book I did love was "The Lord of the Flies" (the author's name escapes me). I absolutely loved that book! "To Kill a Mockingbird" was nice too. "Death of Salesman" was just weird to my 17 year old self at the time.