Reading novels is a typical assignment in English classes. If prompted, many students could list the books they have read for a class assignment, either as “independent reading” or the subject of a book report or a novel read as a class. These literary classics may be important for students to read, but that does not mean they will like the books. What would students say are the worst books ever read for an assignment?

Staples of the English curriculum were the answers of many students—among the answers of “worst book” were Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the translation of Beowulf done by Seamus Heaney, and Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, the latter of which was required summer reading for AP Literature and Composition classes for the 2010-2011 year. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad came out as the winner in this anything-but-great contest. It appears students did not care for the short psychological novel.

Not even non-classics are safe from the ire of students. One favored answer was Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Required as summer reading for incoming tenth graders of the 2009-2010 school year and that some tenth graders read as a class novel in the 2010-2011 school year, the book was a teen girl’s account of the apocalypse in the near-future after a comet hits the moon and knocks it closer to Earth, triggering volcanoes and tsunamis. A best-selling paranormal novel, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, also received a vote or two.

One student declared that all of the books they had read for the class were the worst they had ever read—they did not like reading, they explained. At least three other students said something along those lines, that they did not read the novels and instead used sites such as Sparknotes and Shmoop to summarize the novels and save them the pain of reading.

Reading novels for school is a requirement that cannot be escaped without damage done to their grade, but there is nothing that requires students to love the novels they read. There will be the great books, the decent books, and the books they wish time had never been wasted on.