Literature you had to study in High School

I was half comatosed in High School. I hardly remember anything I learnt from reading books assigned for us in English Class.
Junior High
39 Steps-don't remember a thing
Shane- there was a fight scene at the end?
Where Eagles Dare. I was utterly lost, why was this book given to 14 year olds to read I don't know, apparently there were double agents..what???
Silas Marner snorefest
Senior High
The Loved One good book but I was dreaming about girls at the time
Huckleberry Finn Great Book but I was mentally preparing myself for the next game of football
Macbeth- I remember the controlling mother part, mainly because we watched the movie
Billy Budd vaguely remember, it was on a ship right?
Return of the Native, it captured my imagination with the cute milkmaid characters...that's about all

Eek.

I just went to one high school...and remember being bored. It was high pressure too.

In english we were assigned

Shakespeare plays - macbeth, king lear, othello, merchant of venice
Other plays - The Crucible
Novels - Animal Farm, One Flew over the cuckoo's nest, Lord of the Flies, The day of the Triffids, Fahrenheit 451

The only one I really liked was Animal Farm but studying it ruined it for everyone.
I reckon for high school they teachers ought to ask students what they would like to read, or choose books that appeal to teens, not literature from another era thats not really relevant!

For example, teens could definitely handle The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or the Harry Potter series. They would enjoy it and then diseccting the plot would be much livlier. Or even the Bible. They could go for graphic versions.

I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank in intermediate. I think diaries or true stories are better than novels because you can research the background better rather than just assume the author made it all up. Everyone was affected by this diary because we know it really happened.