Murder by Death

I was a very contrary child; perhaps slightly more than the average kid.  As a reader, I avoided anything adults liked.  If they felt a particular author/book to be important and strengthening I avoided it like the plague.

In High School I had resigned myself to Shakespeare, but when the English teacher assigned us Cask of Amontillado, I groaned.  Poe?  Really?  Can we go back to the poetry unit?

Then I read it.  How was this read strengthening to my moral fibre?!  I couldn't believe how it ended.  I was totally agog that our English curriculum included anything as creepy and horrifying as this short story.  I can't say I loved the story - Poe is just not my speed - but it was a very effective and brilliantly written one; Poe certainly knew how to ratchet up the terror for a reader, one sentence at a time.  I paid closer attention to my English teacher after that.

NB: Do not go underground with people you've really pissed off.  Especially drunk.