Forum members who'd never opened a book in their whole lives

[Blondie]

Did he actually finish secondary school being the mandatory question here.

As i know he did it and after that he went to university for a short time.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

In the european schools, you must read tons of book and its mandatory. Mortimer grew up in Europe so he does not really fit in this list.

It's probably why Europeans come across as more intelligent and knowledgeable than Americans. We're not expected to read many books. In high school, I had a few books I was expected to read every summer. I seriously doubt most of the students read them. Most were also garbage books. For example, I had to read a book about the assault on Nancy Kerrigan the summer before my freshman year. Why would that be considered of any importance? Some books were fine: books by Mark Twain and Richard Wright.

Also throughout the year, we didn't read many books. I have to think it was worse in a public school.

[Kess]

I've read around a thousand books, give or take. I'd advise anyone to not focus on books unless they want to be a lawyer or a philosopher or something. The problem with books, is that while you read them, some jacked dude is sexually satisfying your wife.

I actually laughed at the bold part. Don't forget that sex is temporary; you just come and go, but what's learned is forever.

[Anglo-Celtic]

It's probably why Europeans come across as more intelligent and knowledgeable than Americans. We're not expected to read many books. In high school, I had a few books I was expected to read every summer. I seriously doubt most of the students read them. Most were also garbage books. For example, I had to read a book about the assault on Nancy Kerrigan the summer before my freshman year. Why would that be considered of any importance? Some books were fine: books by Mark Twain and Richard Wright.

Also throughout the year, we didn't read many books. I have to think it was worse in a public school.

Did your school have literature classes? That was my introduction to Holden Caulfield, and it worried me that I identified with him, especially when I recalled the unsavory types who thought of him as a role model. We had to read Hawthorne, Poe, Orwell, Steinbeck, etc. I read the Kurt Vonnegut collection for class, and I can't remember more than one or two passages from his books.

Education has declined so much in the American public school system. My dad and my mom were born and raised in coal camps, and Latin was *mandatory* at their high schools! No one but the super brains took it in my era, although I took Spanish. It went down the memory hole too.

[Abaddon]

Rajputprincess is the first one who comes to my mind

[Blondie]

It's probably why Europeans come across as more intelligent and knowledgeable than Americans. We're not expected to read many books. In high school, I had a few books I was expected to read every summer. I seriously doubt most of the students read them. Most were also garbage books. For example, I had to read a book about the assault on Nancy Kerrigan the summer before my freshman year. Why would that be considered of any importance? Some books were fine: books by Mark Twain and Richard Wright.

Also throughout the year, we didn't read many books. I have to think it was worse in a public school.

In Hungary, we have old prussian school system, it based on huge lexical knowledge. We must learn tons of irrelevant things what you will never use in your life, for example classical music history and such bullshit. I have read tons of classic books from hungarian serious literature, or Romeo and Julia, Uncle Tom's Cabin, Iliada by Homer, Antigone by Sophocles, Divine Comedy by Dante, Decameron by Boccaccio, Tartuffe by Moliere, Faust by Goethe etc

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Did your school have literature classes? That was my introduction to Holden Caulfield, and it worried me that I identified with him, especially when I recalled the unsavory types who thought of him as a role model. We had to read Hawthorne, Poe, Orwell, Steinbeck, etc. I read the Kurt Vonnegut collection for class, and I can't remember more than one or two passages from his books.

Education has declined so much in the American public school system. My dad and my mom were born and raised in coal camps, and Latin was *mandatory* at their high schools! No one but the super brains took it in my era, although I took Spanish. It went down the memory hole too.

No, it was just called English class. For those that don't know Holden Caulfield is the main character in The Catcher in the Rye. I'm pretty sure every American teenager has to read The Catcher in the Rye.

I remember a lot of Shakespeare and Arthur Miller. The Great Gatsby, of course, which was so boring. I did not have a spiritual connection to that book. I asked people in class what happened instead of reading it and somehow I managed. I still have no clue what the book is about.

[~Elizabeth~]

No, it was just called English class. For those that don't know Holden Caulfield is the main character in The Catcher in the Rye. I'm pretty sure every American teenager has to read The Catcher in the Rye.

I remember a lot of Shakespeare and Arthur Miller. The Great Gatsby, of course, which was so boring. I did not have a spiritual connection to that book. I asked people in class what happened instead of reading it and somehow I managed. I still have no clue what the book is about.

I never read The Catcher in the Rye. I don't know what it is about.

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

I never read The Catcher in the Rye. I don't know what it is about.

Maybe it became the norm in the 90s.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by American author J. D. Salinger that was partially published in serial form in 1945–46 before being novelized in 1951. Originally intended for adults, it is often read by adolescents for its themes of angst and alienation, and as a critique of superficiality in society.[4][5] The novel also deals with themes of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, connection, sex, and depression. The main character, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion.[6] Caulfield, nearly of age, gives his opinion on a wide variety of topics as he narrates his recent life events.

The Catcher has been translated widely.[7] About one million copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 65 million books.[8] The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923,[9] and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.[10][11][12] In 2003, it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey "The Big Read".https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catcher_in_the_Rye

[Voskos]

Rajputprincess is the first one who comes to my mind

Please don't shame women who haven't read books.