Jonathan Livingston Seagull

I was forced to read this for school when I was 12 and... ugh.

You know, when people talk about schools killing children's potential pleasure for reading by forcing down their throats some classics without proper context and without easing the kids into them through more dynamic, age apropriate literature, it's hard for me to relate - I went to excellent schools that yeah, made us read some classics, but there was always a pretty awesome class about those books so we would know what we were getting into. It just nurtured my love for reading.

That is, except when they did this: recommend message-y, self-help drivel. The sort of annoying, preachy nonsense you get in a motivational cult. Hated those books at 12, continue to hate them 30 years on.