That book was awesome

[Polaris]

A problem I've come up with here where I live among some people, who say they like to read is the fact that most people tend to treat bad some classics like Kafka (I even read one person saying Kafka was boring) and others seem to don't understand the classic books at all, they know there is something there but they can't find it and therefore they say they don't like it. I've found out that almost like in 6 people only 2 enjoyed "Alice in Wonderland"... and then I am accused of being stuck in the past... did you ever get across this thought? Is there any "classic" book you don't personally enjoy?

[Bunny]

Shakespeare is horrible.

[Madame Adequate]

With the sole exception of the first page of Bleak House, I cannot stand Dickens.

[Boney King]

A problem I've come up with here where I live among some people, who say they like to read is the fact that most people tend to treat bad some classics like Kafka (I even read one person saying Kafka was boring) and others seem to don't understand the classic books at all, they know there is something there but they can't find it and therefore they say they don't like it. I've found out that almost like in 6 people only 2 enjoyed "Alice in Wonderland"... and then I am accused of being stuck in the past... did you ever get across this thought? Is there any "classic" book you don't personally enjoy?

This irks me in the same way that people call black-and-white films "boring", based solely on the fact they aren't shot in colour. Of course they're entitled to their opinion, and just because something is considered a classic doesn't mean it's great by default. It's when these classics are automatically written off as boring for no real reason that bothers me.

As for classics I don't enjoy, I managed to slog through Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey and didn't really care for it.

[Raistlin]

Catcher and the Rye and The Great Gatsby were both underwhelming for me.

And depending on how broad your definition of "classics" are, I have gotten yelled at for not liking Ender's Game very much.

[DK]

Shakespeare is horrible.

I agree wholeheartedly.

[Meow]

yeah, <i>Catcher in the Rye</i> is pretty obnoxious if you aren't twelve and/or like your parents

EDIT I super loved <i>Gatsby</i> though, fitzgerald is <a href="http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=197" title="Crazy is the Night." target=_blank>the bomb</a>

[Nice]

I truly do sympathize. I've just finished The Great Gatsby and I have to say, it was nice! I'm reading The Catcher in the Rye and it's pissing me off like Hunter S Thompson's death. Earlier this summer i was reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I loved the first bit about the Bishop and the introduction to Valjean...but after that i got kinda bored. I think it all comes down to taste. I mean I love Hunter Thompson, his is radical, but I also love Shakespeare, his , on stage, is awesome. Reading Shakespeare and watching it are two different things.

[Nominus Experse]

fewfdsfew

[Meat Puppet]

I thought the old catcher in the rye wasn’t bad, I mean I was able to read it, but I didn’t really feel like it was amazing or anything/understand why it’s a classic
I guess It’s the age?
Also, like MILF, dickens. I hadn’t tried to read any of that stuff until very recently, and I’m glad I wasn’t wasting my time doing it when I was younger

[Q=Nice]needlessly mentioning Hunter S. Thompson every sentence[/Q]
wtf?

[Rye]

I don't like Kurt Vonnegut. It's bizarre because he's very much the type of author I SHOULD love, but I don't. Granted I've only read one book of his (Cat's Cradle), but I hated it deeply and it'll take a lot of convincing for me to read another of his.

There are not many others that I dislike. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens, but I've also never tried very much of him.

I also tried Les Miserable, but considering the first hundreds of pages don't even touch upon the main character(s), I couldn't read it. I lost total interest.

I did not like Sense & Sensibility by Austen one bit. I'll try some of her other stuff sometime, and probably will have to as an English major, but that book did not make a good impression on me. On the contrary, a similar period book The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of my favorite books and one of the only books I like of that style.

I absolutely despised, beyond any other book I have ever read, Heart of Darkness. It is one of the worst written books I have ever had the misfortune of having to read. It should not even have been published. It's not because of its subject matter (English colonists in the congo, controlling the Africans), because controversial and grotesque subject matter often makes the best books (Hello, LO-LITA (seriously, this L-O-L censor is getting on my last nerve), my favorite book of all time, and The Metamorphoses), but the style is just so goddamn AWFUL.

[Necronopticous]

<center><img src="http://userweb.port.ac.uk/~joyce1/abinitio/images/twain3.jpg"></center>

[eestlinc]

I could not stand Hawthorne's <i>The Scarlet Letter</i> when I had to read it in school.

I don't like Kurt Vonnegut. It's bizarre because he's very much the type of author I SHOULD love, but I don't. Granted I've only read one book of his (Cat's Cradle), but I hated it deeply and it'll take a lot of convincing for me to read another of his.

Hmm. If you don't like <i>Cat's Cradle</i> then not sure what of his you would like. If you want to try another, <i>The Sirens of Titan</i> would be my recommendation if you want something Sci-Fi and <i>Breakfast of Champions</i> if you want to see wide open beavers.

[Ryth]

I don't like Kurt Vonnegut. It's bizarre because he's very much the type of author I SHOULD love, but I don't. Granted I've only read one book of his (Cat's Cradle), but I hated it deeply and it'll take a lot of convincing for me to read another of his.

There are not many others that I dislike. I'm not a huge fan of Dickens, but I've also never tried very much of him.

I also tried Les Miserable, but considering the first hundreds of pages don't even touch upon the main character(s), I couldn't read it. I lost total interest.

I did not like Sense & Sensibility by Austen one bit. I'll try some of her other stuff sometime, and probably will have to as an English major, but that book did not make a good impression on me. On the contrary, a similar period book The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of my favorite books and one of the only books I like of that style.

I absolutely despised, beyond any other book I have ever read, Heart of Darkness. It is one of the worst written books I have ever had the misfortune of having to read. It should not even have been published. It's not because of its subject matter (English colonists in the congo, controlling the Africans), because controversial and grotesque subject matter often makes the best books (Hello, LO-LITA (seriously, this L-O-L censor is getting on my last nerve), my favorite book of all time, and The Metamorphoses), but the style is just so goddamn AWFUL.

I've only read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and I also don't see the big hub-bub. I didn't hate it at all, but it was pretty much an inferior Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (which you (not just Rye, but anyone currently reading this post) should definitely read).

Les Miserables is worth it. Thats all I have to say. It may not be the greatest book ever written, but it is certainly more than worthwhile.

As for Heart of Darkness, themz fightin' werds! Though, in all fairness, I wasn't a fan of it the first time I read it. Actually, I've yet to find a person who didn't dislike/get it the first go around (I'm assuming you've only read it once, correct me if I'm mistaken). I've read it twice since then and it has become my favorite novella to date. It's utter brilliance. The style of writing is very dense, but it makes it all the more rewarding once you break through it. I find it to be an utter masterpiece. I plan on reading more Conrad sometime. I bought a couple of his novellas at a yard sale.

As for me, Shakespeare doesn't do much for me. However, unlike Bunny, I don't hate him. The Tempest, Hamlet, and King Lear were all pretty enjoyable. I've also never been able to get into Victorian literature, though I plan on reading Jane Eyre soon... hopefully that will change my mind. It always rubs me the wrong way. I also never got THAT into The Great Gatsby, The Divine Comedy, The Scarlet Letter, The Canterbury Tales, The Old Man and the Sea (I actually did like this quite a bit, but its overrated), To Kill a Mockingbird, Watership Down, Sartre's Nausea, and I hated Plato's Republic (not necessarily literature)...


Also \o to L.olita, one of my favorite novels of all time. I adore L olita, Lo-lee-ta.

[TurkSlayer]

How has Steinbeck not been mentioned yet? I've read four of his books (The Pearl, Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden), and only of Mice and Men did I like at all, and the width (107 pages) added to its merit.

Also, I like James Joyce, but his work can be hell to read.