SC

I no longer enjoy literature.  I also no longer enjoy school.  We aren't really taught useful information, but rather, how to score well on the important tests.  Reading a best selling book is "useless" now without testing comprehension! Gotta do well on those SAT's.  My 9th and 10th grade English teachers drilled useless themes and ideas into my head about a book.  One such teacher could even make the classic, To Kill A Mockingbird un-enjoyable.  I read it again, on my own, and truly enjoyed it.   I don’t read much outside of school.  Sometimes I wish I did, but only recently have I been able to read a book and enjoy it.  I find it difficult to enjoy a book knowing that I SHOULD be looking for themes and important vocabulary I do not know.   Rather than enjoying reading, I’ve been finding it tedious to read.  This past summer I greatly enjoyed the books Nickel and Dimed, Fast Food Nation, both of which were for school.  I read both of them in late July, with a clear disconnect away from school, a solid month and a half past the last day of school.  I also read a Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini's second novel.  I could not put it down.  I read a few other books too, a very lax summer.  Then when assigned Into The Wild, finishing the book became a task.  Why? I’m not sure, perhaps I didn’t enjoy the book, which is the case, but actually finishing became a challenge.  This year there is more freedom with reading.  I greatly enjoyed the Great Gatsby, and Huck Finn is a good read as well.  But I know, weather it is this year or next, or in college, when I’m assigned analytical reading for literature,  I will not enjoy it.  Literature is for enjoyment, not analysis.  Non-fiction is for analysis.  I much rather read a book, not worry about themes, not know every word, and greatly enjoy it, than memorize some words, answer comprehension questions, and take a test.