Classic Literature You Hate

I'm hardly in any position to judge literary quality. I just have a high school education and I mainly read books for more surface enjoyment. Complex themes and ideas, whether the prose was well-done(I don't even know if that phrase makes sense) - all that crap means nothing to me. I just want to have fun and kill time.

As a layman, I have a deferential attitude to older, well-respected books. Who am I to criticize their merits or place in history?

However it seems I'm alone in this general approach. I was reading a topic elsewhere about "The Worst Books Ever" and a fellow named a few pieces of literature I had only ever heard a lot of praise for or were part of school curriculum - namely Ulysses, The Scarlet Letter and The Giver.

So then, what books of much renown do you dislike? And why?

I'm just gonna go ahead and say The Catcher in the Rye. Never read it but my god, I've never seen such teeth-clenched hatred for an old book like that.

I have nothing to contribute about classics because I have not read any classics that I hate. I also have not read many classics because I rarely attended class in high school and haven't bothered picking them up since, so, there you go.

As far as books of much renown go, though, The Outsiders gets my vote. I cannot understand why that book is so damn loved everywhere. It is a terrible, stupid, awful book.

I feel like there are more classic short stories I had to read in college that I didn't like, but I can't really remember what they were. Oh! Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville. I couldn't stand that little story!

As much as it pains me to say this, I'm not a big fan of The Odyssey. I love discussing Greek mythology, and I like the stories found within that text; but I just don't actually enjoy reading it very much. I don't like the character of Odysseus (yes, I understand why he is the way he is), and for some reason I just have trouble reading long poems. Paradise Lost is similar in that I just have trouble reading it despite the fact that I enjoy talking about it.

Despite that, I did enjoy The Aeneid when I read that, so maybe I don't know what my problem is with The Odyssey. The problem might actually reside in the fact that I had to try to teach The Odyssey to high school freshman, and that did not go over very well, haha.

How can you not like "The OUtsiders" !? You heathern!

Nah, I'm jk.. It's been years since I've read that book, but I quite liked it.

I tried reading Jane Austen novels once... It ain't happening. Screw that noise. Tom uh.. Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn I didn't enjoy either, but I'm going to re-read those just to be sure.

I'm sure there's others.. Like Dracula & Frankenstein. GAG.. I just can't think of them now

Lord of the Flies. Gosh darn it that was painful to read. I read it a grade ahead of time because I'd heard so much about it and wanted to see what it was and I hated it. I have never hated a book so much. And then they wanted me to read it again the next year? No.

Wuthering Heights.

Aptly nicknamed Wuthering troutes by my literature class. We all hated that book and I still hate it now. Love Kate Bush's tune though.

Atonement by Ian McEwan.

It's considered a modern classic but jeeeeez was it dull. I'm always wary now when a book is described as "intricate"... as that usually means I'm in for a borefest.

I find most of Shakespeare very dull but maybe thats because of all the spoilers.

Had to read Jane Eyre in school. It's been over ten years and I still hate it.

Quite a few.

The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, The Old Man and the Sea, On the Road, Heart of Darkness.

I sound like a curmudgeon, but there's plenty of stuff I love as well!

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Originally Posted by Kalevala

The Catcher in the Rye

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This I also did not enjoy

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Had to read Jane Eyre in school. It's been over ten years and I still hate it.

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What the heck bro that was one of like three books I read in high school that I actually DID like. xD

Books I had to read in school which I did not like:

Of Mice and Men
The Grapes of Wrath
The Sound and the Fury
Heart of Darkness
Their Eyes Were Watching God
King Lear (I normally like Shakes but I couldn't stand this one)
Some book about Native Americans whose title I can't remember
Probably a bunch of others

And now, Books I Had To Read Which I Actually DID Like:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jane Eyre
Crime & Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov (<---- favorite book)
Romeo & Juliet/Hamlet/Macbeth

Silas Marner, that was the focal book of my English Literature studies and I absolutely hated it. I never finished the book in fact, I based most of my writing on the film instead. It turns out the two differ quite a lot later in the story, but never mind. I just about got away with it.

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Originally Posted by Pike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psychotic

Had to read Jane Eyre in school. It's been over ten years and I still hate it.

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What the heck bro that was one of like three books I read in high school that I actually DID like. xD

Books I had to read in school which I did not like:

Of Mice and Men
The Grapes of Wrath
The Sound and the Fury
Heart of Darkness
Their Eyes Were Watching God
King Lear (I normally like Shakes but I couldn't stand this one)
Some book about Native Americans whose title I can't remember
Probably a bunch of others

And now, Books I Had To Read Which I Actually DID Like:
To Kill a Mockingbird
Jane Eyre
Crime & Punishment
The Brothers Karamazov (<---- favorite book)
Romeo & Juliet/Hamlet/Macbeth

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King Lear is my favorite Shakespeare :<

How did you hate Of Mice and Men! It made me so sad :(