Lord of the Flies is a short book telling a simple story in which lots of very identifiable stuff actually happens. It’s not exactly Ulysses. Sixteen year olds used to routinely read more complex works of fiction for fun.

I might have been more interested if there was some complexity.

I think it's a prerequisite for a book to become required reading in schools to be boring as shit first :)

I couldn't disagree more. And it was the one thing that surprised me every time we cracked open a new book. "All Quiet on the Western Front" sounded terrible to a 14 year old me, but after starting it, I couldn't put it down. Same with Lord of the Flies. Fahrenheit 451. The Giver. I loved Animal Farm. And the Great Gatsby (though I get people not liking this one). The Outsiders was good. The Old man and the Sea was pretty boring I'll admit. Who thinks To Kill a Mockingbird is boring as shit?

You liked all of those at 14? We lived completely different youths :)

No lasers or dragons -> I skipped the book at that age.

Today-me would agree with you about all those books, teenage me would not.

I loved those books when I was younger (still do). They're good stories regardless of age. Lord of the flies is about a bunch of young kids having to play real life survival after a plane crash and devolve into some pretty crazy people during it. How could that be boring?

And Besides a bit of Orson Scott Card and LoTR I didn't get into fantasy until later in life.

I read quite a bit when I was in school, but I honestly don't remember a direct assigned book I actually liked. There were times we got to choose what we were reading for school and in those cases I read some that stuck with me like "1984".